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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 1903)
I miiliM fUJM . t, "to- '-'iwsflwW3wW'F' 6 The Commoner. VOLUME 3, NUMBER 8J, fCURBGNT vS''v P J-!ii'.,''l0X.s.'V':,'ilW.,.1-Jl.,j- fi&Pi2!KVffl PUBLIC ATTENTION WAS RECENTLY AT tracted toan imposing incident that took place at Oyster Bay. The combined squadrons of tho United States navy were assembled in or der, as the Washington correspondent for tho New York World puts it, "to make a holiday for President Roosevelt, "his family,, and a few invited friends." Tho World correspondent says that tho bringing of tho ships to the president's summer homo involved tho expenditure of a largo amount of public money amounting almost to a quarter of a million dollars and' all for tho purpose of pro viding a holiday for tho president, tho members of his family and his guests. Tho World correspon dent says: "Naval ofiicers are especially critical and point out that tho Oyster Bay meeting re sulted not only in valuable loss of time to tho squadron, which was interrupted for one whole week in the summer maneuvers, but also in seri ous damage to several of the ships and small craft. During tho roview 2,604 shots were fired from tho six-pounders. Tho cost of the saluting charge of a six-pounder is 40 cents." ON THE OCCASION OF THIS REMARKABLE oxhibit at the president's summer home, an accident occurred to the Massachusetts. It is said that this great vessel was hurrying out of Bar Harbor in a fog to catch up with the other ships, and that it ran onto Egg Rock, and that had it not been for tho captain's anxiety to reach Oyster Bay. with the rest of the fleet, the Massachusetts would have stayed at anchor until tho thick fog lifted. Tho Barry and Decatur collided and this the World's Washington correspondent attributes to "the enthusiasm of the president to call for a flying wedge." It is estimated that to repair tho damage caused by this maneuver at least $20,000 will bo necessary. It is claimed that the cost of coal in this utterly useless holiday affair will amount to a .very largo sum and altogether it is said that tho people of the United States expended very nearly one quarter of a million dollars in order to provide President Roosevelt and his guests with a day's entertainment. If jc GENERAL DISSATISFACTION HAS BEEN displayed -with respect to the methods emr ployed by the administration in "investigating" the alleged scandals in the postofllce department. It is pointed out that while Mr. Bristow has mani fested very clearly a disposition to go thoroughly into these investigations he has been serious ly handicapped and the results have been by no means satisfactory, although sufficient has been developed to show that in tho postofllce depart ment corruption and dishonesty, prevail to an alarming extent Many have insisted in the light of the disclosures that have been made in the post ofllce department without serious effort on tho part of the administration's representatives, that it is fair to presume that dishonesty and corrup tion might by rigid investigation be exposed in other federal departments, and yet it has not seemed that the administration is at all anxious to probe into other departments. On the, con trary, in spite of the fact that many hints of a serious character have been thrown out relating to the Integrity of the service in several other branches of the federal service, if the representa tives of tho administration have taken any no tice whatever of the situation, it has been for the purpose of discrediting and discouraging in vestigations in that direction. IT LONG AGO THE PEOPLE WERE TOLD that there wore many instances of fraud and corruption in the interior department, buc these charges wro promptly confronted by de nials on the uart of renublican ortmnq wim i sisted that all was well with the interior depart ment But after manv davs. it sooms Hnf t, situation in the interior department is so serious tbVt It will no longer tolerate delays and therefore after republican newspapers have told us that there was nothing to investigate in tho interior deparent, the Washington correspondent for the SU Louis Globe-Democrat, a republican paper under flate of August 15, informs his publication that "onP of tho most sweenln investigations the government has ever undertaken will be starred soon by Ntho interior department in tho Indian territory."1! According to the Globe-Democrat cor respondent, this investigation has be&i decided upon by the secretary of the interior, Mr. Hitch cock, as tho result of sensational charges of irreg ularities involving the chairman and other mem bers and employes of the Dawes commission and other oiHcials of the government in the Indian territory. THE SUBSTANCE OF THESE CHARGES, Ac cording to this republican correspondent, aro tnat republican officeholders have systematically robbed the Indians of their lands, and have in other ways victimized them. The situation, ac cording to this correspondent, has become so serious that Secretary Hitchcock visited Oyster Bay for the purpose of consulting with the presi dent and it Is understood in Washington that the official conduct Qf every government official in the territory from the chairman of the Dawes com mission down to the clerks' and employes of the Indian agencies will be inquired into. The Globe Democrat's correspondent explains: "For nearly a year the interior department has been receiving charges of official misconduct in the Indian terri tory. Some time ago the secretary decided that an investigation should be made, and he requested a Washington man, who is not in the government service, but who is interested in the welfare of the Indians, to take charge of it Failing to enlist' the services of this man, the secretary looked elsewhere for some one who was competent and not connected with the Indian service. Evidently he did not find the right n.an, as the investiga tion was not ordered. An immediate investigation will be forced by the charges just filed at the interior department by S. M. Brosus, special agent of the Indian rights association, who returned to Washington last Tuesday from a tour of the country occupied by the five civilized tribes." IN THIS SAME DISPATCH TO THE GLOBE t.t.. Democrat, it is admitted that "Secretary Hitchcock has known for months that officials in the Indian territory were stockholders in the land and trust companies and that he had notified at least one of these officials that he must sever his connection with the. trust company in which he was a stockholder or resign his place. The official who received this notice was J. George Wright in spector, who is a stockholder in the Muscogee title and trust company. Mr. Wright is still a stockholder in that concern and he "has not re signed." TT IS FURTHER EXPLAINED BY THIS SAME L republican correspondent that for a long time Secretary xxitchcock has had a knowledge of the interests of Tarns Bixby and other members of tho Dawes commission in Indian territory trust companies. It is explained that Secretary Hitch cock has received letter heads of trust companies on which the officials named appeared as directors and officers. One of these letter heads emphasized the fact that Thomas B. Needles, "a member of the Dawes commission," is vice president and a director of the International Bank and Trust com pany. The Globe-Democrat's Washington corre spondent says that recently the, secretary learned that a resolution directing an investigation by a congressional committee would be offered in the house when congress meets and this republican correspondent admits that this knowledge "may have influenced him (Secretary Hitchcock) in his decision to start an investigation." At the same time this republican correspondent expressed the opinion that "even if the investigation is pushed now with the utmost dispatch, it is possible that congress may insist in taking a hand in the pro posed house-cleaning." v PETERBOROUGH, ENGLAND, ACCORDING TO a writer in the Philadelphia Public Ledger makes enough bricks in the course of a year to nut a girdle four times around the earth. This writer says that "it is estimated that the busy brickmak ing yards, which have grown up in great number round the ancient city in the last twenty vearq turn out 800 000,000 bricks annual As the length of a brick is about eight inches, then if Peterborough's annual output were laid out i n a single line it would stretch over 100,000 miles The brick industry has revolutionized I the Trade of Peterborough. Such is the wealth of clay and tho profit to be drawn from it that one part of the Snri111,? dl8,trict ? beon fitly named 'Klon dike. It lies in beds of enormous area and depth, and some of the experts say they could co on taking out the easily accessible- clay for tho next century without taking thought as to whero the next supply of the material is to come from." rr AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY WAS RE cently made during some excavating m Rome. The ancient Roman Forum was the scene of the digging and in the course of the excava tion the base of a statue supjposed to be the cele brated equestrian statue of the Itoman emperor Domitian was found. A writer in the Chicago Chronicle, referring to this discovery, says: "Tho base stands five feet below the present level of tho Forum. It is 40 feet long, 20 wide and over 10 feet high. On the top are three blocks of trans verse stone, showing where the feet of the horse stood. The fourth block is lacking, indicating that the right forefoot of the horse was raised. The distance between the blocks is so great that it is calculated that the statue was six times life size." A CONTEST IS ON FOOT IN REGARD TO THE right of the mayor of -Butte, Mont, to the position he holds. Affidavits have been sent to Washington declaring that the mayor, Mullins by name, has no right to his office because he is not a citizen of Montana. A writer in the Kansas City Journal Bays that Mayor Mullins owns 300 acres of valuable land in Idaho, which he acquired under a desert land law. The affidavits cover a period of five years and Mullins states, under oatn, that he was a resident of Boise, Idaho, and a farmer by occupation. As late as October 4, 1902, he made an affidavit on final proof, in which he set up Boise as his residence and all previous affi davits from tho time of entry, September 19, 1898. These affidavits, it is contended by Mayor Mullin"' political opponents, Invalidate his election as mayor of Butte, where residence and citizenship are required by law as qualification of municipal officials. v t it tr THE USE OF STRAW AND STUBBLE IN THE .making of ancient Egyptian bricks, as nar rated In the fifth chapter of Exodus in the BJble, led E. G. Acheson of Niagara Falls, N. Y., to use this material in the making of crucibles. The Chi cago Chronicle says that Mr. Acheson procured some straw, had it boiled and mixed the dark red liquid thussobtained with clay. He found that the plasticity was greatly increased. Investigation showed that tannin was the active agent and whnn he treated other clay with .a solution of tannin in water he obtained surprising results. The strength and plasticity of the clay are increased and the tendency to shrink and warp is grfcatly reduced. In this process sun drying is far SU ES fl t0 bur,nig an in ten days the clay is bet ter tempered than in months or even years by the old process. CHINA HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN AS ONE of the most densely populated countries in It? J1?and tuis claim woull seem to be sub stantiated by the official census recently published by the imperial treasury department of that far off country The Chicago Chronicle is authority tnLAte,111 the celestial empire con tains 426,000,000 inhabitants and that China proper i rSP T Provinces contains 407,000,000 peo Slhjfn e Ghronicle says: "The number of in w ? Pf S,qua5e kilmeter varies from 201, in ir f ' 1 v. Kansou, and is, on the average, Tmm the eighteen provinces. In Mongolia the TuSSS 0,n;in Manchuria, 9; in Yibet, 5, and in w p tan' H Por comparison we may recall rSfpS 122n?' haSo1i!? habitants per square Kilo meter; Belgium, 220, and the United Kingdom, tf X? SOME TIME AGO MENTION WAS MADE OF nmfcn?e Peat' scarcity in cod-liver oil and that condition has now advanced until there is a fa SJjf ?! Pjoduct The Philadelphia corre l w if Sne GhIcaS mter-Ocean says: "Cod- Nofwi Jf Bl w "? than a year ago. Tjinf vTnJT WV "uw "Otea at ?135 a barrel. 3 Priw w.as $22.50. Even at this pre vailing price it ia almost imnnasihiA tn eat tM
