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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 1909)
B-.T" fWV'fTr'V 12 The Commoner. VOLUME 8, NUMBER 51 17 ; ptWJ" -i t J V. 1 sSi J .. Tho Chicago Itecord-Horald says: "Miijor Orlando Jay Smith, vico pres ident and general manager of the American Press Association, who died at his homo in Dobb's Ferry, N. Y., for moro than forty years was a prominent figure in American jour nalism and, as tho head of tho larg est newspaper syndicate in the United States, held relations with leading publishers throughout the country. Mr. Smith wns born on a farm near Terro Haute, Ind., in 1842, and entered the field of journalism soon aftor tho civil, war. His first position was that of editor of tho Terro Haute Mail. Later ho pur chased the Terro Haute Express, and 'in 1878 removed the paper to Chi cago. In 1882 ho foundod the Amer ican Press Association, with head quarters in Now York City. Major Smith was the author of many art icles on religion, philosophy and economics." Frederick A. Burnham, former president of the Mutual Reserve Life Insurance company, was found dead in bed In his Now York home. It is claimed that ho committed sulcido by Inhaling gas. A, New York dis patch says: "The Mutual Reserve Life Insurance company went Into tho hands of recolvers in February last. President Burnham, his broth er, George Burnham, Jr., the treas urer of tho company, and George D. Eldrege, the actuary, were indicted on charges of larceny and forgery which grew out of an alleged pay ment of tho funds of the company In satisfaction of personal claims against sorao of its officers. George Burnham, Jr., was tried on "the charge of larceny, convicted and sen tenced to serve two years in prison, but the appellate division of the su- .prome court set aside this verdict anct Burnham was released. . The case against Frederick A. Burnham had not come to trial, and it was N understood that it 'would not be pros x ecuted Unless that against his broth er George was eventually won by the prosecution. A civil suit to collect some of the funds alleged to have ,ban paid in settlement of personal 'claims naa lately been Instituted against one of tho officers of the company." AH, Mineo, Patti and Castroreal, Si cilian towns; all badly damaged. Palmi, Bagnara, San Giovanni and Cannitello, Calabrian villages; all in ruins. President Roosevelt cabled America's sympathy to Italy and tho Red Cross society in this country are taking steps to aid in the relief work. The will of the late Claus Spreck ols disinherited two of his sons and it is now promised there will bo a contest over the fifty million dollar estate. Abraham Ruef, once the political boss of San Francisco, has been sen tenced at San Francisco by Judge Lawlor to fourteen years in prison. Tho Kansas state prison Is under investigation by a commission- ap pointed by Governor Hoch. The charge Is cruelty to prisoners. States, to bo expended under the di rection of the secretary of tho treas ury, $10,000." Tho development of the secret ser vice has been gradual. It finally bo came necessary to carry tho monoy for that purpose in two separate bills. The employes and officials of the secret service are taken care of in the legislative, executive and judi cial appropriation bill, the sum al lowed in the last measure being $17,000. The sum allowed for de tecting and punishing counterfeiters was $115,000. The sum allowed by ' A San Francisco dispatch to the Now York World says: "Former Congressman Eugene F. Loud, sixty one years of age, who served twelve years in the house, but was defeated in the fall of 1902 by tho letter car riers, died today at the home of his son-in-law, Captain J. J. Callundine. For several months he had been in poor health, recently aggravated by the death irst of his daughter, and then of his wife. He was born in Abingdon, Mass., went to California when he was thirteen and served in the civil war. Before going to con gress he was the tax collector of San Francisco. In congress he was close ly associated with President McKin ley and his policies. He was promi nent in ail legislation affecting the postal service.' Walter Wellman says the Panama canal has developed Into a vexatious tl problem from tho engineer's stand . point. He says it is now believed in ' many quarters that the present canal scheme may not be safely adhered to. 1 Mr. Taft will visit the canal site ac companied by a number of engineers. Thousands of lives variously esti mated from 100,000 to a quarter of ,a million were lost in an Italian earthquake. Great distress prevails among the people of the various sec tions affected and in all parts of the world organized efforts for relief are being made. Tho cities In which loss iof life was heaviest are as follows: 'Messina, population 100,000; wreck ed by shock and Bwept by tidal wave; Reggio, population "60,000; destroy ed; nearly all Inhabitants dead. .Catania, population 140,000; in ruins. Cassano, population 6,700; in ruins. Cosenza, population 21000; badly wrecked. Sominara, small vil lage, destroyed. Scilla, population 7,800; in ruins. Paterno, popula tion 24,000; in ruins. Vittorla, pop ulation 32,000; badly wrocked. Naro, population .12,800; half destroyed. RIposto, population 7,000; in ruini. An Associated Press dispatch from Cleveland, Ohio, says: "James Cor rigan, 79 years old, who had a bit ter financial struggle with John D. Rockefeller about fifteen years ago and who since has made millions, died here from the effects of a recent operation. He was the leading mem ber of tho firm of Corrlgan, McKin ney & Co.; was president of three Pennsylvania furnaces. Ho leaves one son. His wife and three "chil dren were drowned in a' yachting ac cident several years ago." The jury in the case of Beach Hargis at Irvine, Ky., charged with the murder of his father, the late Judge Hargis, failed to agree and was discharged. HaTgis was re leased on $25,000 bail. Charles P. Taft and Senator For aker have both withdrawn from the senatorial contest in Ohio, thus in suring the nomination and election of Congressman Theodore Burton. SECRET SERVICE ACTIVITY Commoner readers will be inter ested in a story describing the activi ties of tho United States secret ser vice, which story was printed In the New York World: Washington, Dec. 13. The ap propriation of public funds for the purpose of suppressing counterfeit ing, the only employment to which under the law the secret service can bo assigned, began In 1860, when tho legislative, executive and judi cial bill contained this clause; "For the detection and bringing to trial of persons engaged in coun terfeiting tho coin of tho United Jl A ! l.vll Vtlll -Cam 4-Vtj-i ..-, uiu muiuiy uivu ujui j-ui tiio bu pression of crime" was $170,000. Tho aggregate available for detec tives was $302,000. In 1904 the secret service reached high water mark for a thirty-year period, when tho appropriation was $125,000. In forty-four years It climbed all the way from $10,000 to $125,000. This does not take into account anything but the legitimate employment of the secret -service. It is still proposed to enlarge the scope of the secret service r.n'd in crease the number of employes, ac cording to tho estimates furnished by the secretary of the treasury for the fiscal year which will end June 30, 1910. The sum of $135,000 is re quested for that year, which is $10,000 more than for any previous I year and $20,000 more than for the prosonfc fiscal year. No Specific Authority There is no authority in any gen eral statute of the United States for the creation and maintenance of the secret service. It exists simply be cause from year to year provisions In regard to it are carried in two or more of the great supply bills. The secret service division of the treasury department consists of but ten persons one chief, one assistant chief, one custodian and seven clas sified civil service clerks. They are provided for in the legislative, exec utive and judicial appropriation bill. But they are not the individuals whose use has angered the lawmak ers to such an extent that the law makers placed them--on a blacklist and made their employment for any detective purpose impossible. The men who do the investigat ing, the spotting, the keyhole spy ing, the shadowing, are not, strictly speaking, secret service division men at all. They are but day laborers in the treasury department, assigned by the secretary of the treasury to work under the chief of the secret service division. They report to the chief of the secret service division every morning. If he gives them any work to do, they get paid for that day, but not otherwise. The so-called secret service man does not get his pay from the fund used to paying the salaries of the ten persons who constitute the secret service division. The fund amounts to about $17,000 a year. They get paid from the sundry civil appropria tion set aside each year for the de tection, arrest and delivery of coun terfeiters to the United States mar shal having jurisdiction, and "for tho protection of the president" that is, they get paid from that fund if they are employed on work of that kind. Paid by tho Day Every executive department has a miscellaneous or contingent fund. The miscellaneous fund is the liv ing for the so-called" secret service agent, who Is, in the eyes of the law, a by-the-day workman in the treas ury department. If the department of justice wants a man to look up land frauds it asks Chief Wilkie if he knows of a suitable man. He does. If ho doesn't happen to have one handy ho can go out and get him. There are 3,000 men in the country who are on the eligible lists of the civil service commission fit (Continued on Page 14) ' ' 75 FOR THIf NEW LOW D0WH AMbKIGAN CRAM SEPARATOR Separator in the World. 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