6 Conservative *
- THE THRIFTY HULL OF IOWA.
Washington , March 20. The Hon.
John A. T. Hull , of the Seventh con
gressional district of Iowa , is a citizen
who , when lie sees a thing he wants ,
does not hesitate to ask for it. Usually
he gets it. Mr. Hull is chairman of the
House committee 011 military affairs.
He is a friend of Speaker Henderson
and he is on the inside of that close cor
poration of so-called "leaders" of the
House , who , with the Speaker , practical
ly control all legislation in the lower
branch of the national legislature.
His position on the committee on mili
tary affairs in the nature of things ,
brings him constantly in touch with
Secretary Root , the head of the war
department , and Adjutant General
Oorbin , whose influence in the distribu
tion of army patronage is second only to
that of the president. When the amend
ment to the army appropriation bill ad
vancing the adjutant general of the
army from the grade of brigadier gener-
ol to that of major general , came up in
the House last June , Mr. Hull's eloquence
was raised in tribute to General Oorbin's
valuable services during the Spanish-
American war. What was more effec
tive , however , was the quiet work he
did on the floor in support of the amend
ment. It was finally passed. In the
light of what has since happened it
would appear Mr. Hull's support of
General Oorbin was inspired by the sub
stance of things hoped for.
A Son for Judge Advocate General.
When the Fifty-first Iowa regiment
was mustered into the volunteer service
at the beginning of the war with Spain ,
one of its companies had as captain ,
John A. Hull , Representative Hull's
son. Young Hull did not hold a cap
tain's commission long , as he was given
a staff appointment with the rank of
major. Later , on April 17 , 1899 , hovas
transferred to the judge advocate gen
eral's department and became a lieuten
ant colonel. When given his commission
'I
sion lie was but 28 years old. He served
in the Philippines until a few months
ago , when lie was transferred to the
department of California. He lias since
been at General Shafter's headquarters
in San Francisco. Last Saturday , under
the operations of the army reorganiza
tion act , he was appointed a judge advo
cate in the regular army , with the rank
of major. He is the youngest major in
the army and officers in Washington
who have estimated his chances of pro
motion , say in the course of about fifteen
years he will become the judge advocate
general of the army. His appointment
and every step in his promotion were ac
complished by his father's influence
with General Oorbin. It was only
necessary for Mr. Hull to ask these
things. So' far as known' lie did not
hesitate to do this.
A year ago , and while Major Hull
was in the Philippines , the Philippine
Development and Lumber company was
organized , with a capital of five million
dollars , and with these officers : Repre
sentative Hull , J. T. A.president ; John
Bradford , vice president ; Stewart Spalding -
ing , secretary ; John Gibson , treasurer ;
Frank S. Bourns , representative of the
company in Manila ; B. B. Dovener ,
member of congress from West Virginia ,
attorney for the company.
The directors are : Mr. Hull , presi
dent ; John S. Bradford , Bradford &
Sons , bankers , Greenville , 111. ; Stewart
Spalding , secretary and treasurer , Oalu-
met and Chicago Canal and Dock com
pany ; Frank Phillips , stocks and bonds ,
Chicago ; George Bogart , president
Shenandoah National bank , Shenandoah
la. ; M. L. Severance , eastern repre
sentative of the company , Middlebury ,
Vt. ; F. W. Craig , director Capital City
bank , Des Monies ; Isaac Bassford , stocks
and bonds , Chicago , and G. A. Vawter ,
capitalist , Cambridge , 111. The offices
of the company are in the Merchants'
Loan and Trust company building ,
Chicago.
They Have Government Work.
Just before congress adjourned Sena
tor Pettsgrew asked a friend , said to be
Representative Champ Clark , to visit
the Hull Philippine development offices
and secure a prospectus. This was done.
Mr. Pettigrew's friends learned from
the persons in charge of the offices that
the company had immense timber rights
in the Philippines , embracing great
quantities of mahogany , ebony , logwood
and other valuable timber. He also
learned that it had plenty of money and
that Representative Hull , Representa
tive Babcock of Wisconsin and other
prominent members of the House and
Senate were interested. One of the in
ducements held out to prospective pur
chasers of stock was the statement that
through political influence the company
would cbtain land grants of great value ,
and that by the same means they would
sesecure large contracts for lumber for
government work in the Philippines.
The prospectus told a cheerful story of
the humming of sawmills and the mil
lions to be made in developing the lum
ber resources of the archipelago.
On the last day of congress Mr. Petti-
grew spoke in his usual vein concerning
the administration's Philippine policy ,
and as an incident thereto referred to
Mr. Hull and his lumber company.
"Tho company's mills , " said he , "are
running exclusively for the government.
So , it would appear that there is sole
relation between the officers of the gov
ernment and this enterprise. Of course ,
the enterprise can succeed , because of
the appropriation bill prepared by the
military affairs committee in the House.
' 'I do not care to comment upon it at
all , but it seems to me a deplorable state
of affairs that these things can exist and
are satisfactory to an Iowa constituency.
The larger the army in Manila , the
more money appropriated , the greater
the profits of the Philippine Lumber
and Development company , the more
roads built the more shekels pour into
the pockets of the people who vote the
appropriations out of the treasury of
theJJnited States. "
As to the land grants Mr. Hull's lum
ber company holds in the Philippines ,
some interesting stories are told. One
of these stories is that Mr. Hull's son ,
Major Hull , while on duty in the Philip
pines , applied for and was granted leave
of absence for several weeks which he
spent in traversing the islands and in
specting the forestry.
"To Study the People. "
Representative Hull is now on his
way to San Francisco where he will
take a government transport for Manila.
He will not return to this country until
well into the summer. He stated just
before he left Washington , a few days
ago , that ] his trip to our now island
possessions "was for the purpose of
studying the people and the conditions
prevailing there. "
Mr. Hull has another son at the Na
tional Soldiers' home at Leaven worth.
He came as an assistant surgeon , was
transferred to a national home in Illinois
and then sent back to Leavenworth as
chief surgeon. He is in medical charge
of 8,000 veterans and of a hospital con
taining 400 or 500 aged patients. Mr.
Hull has also found places for two or
three relatives in the departments in
Washington.
Mr. Hull is active , alert and enter
prising ; more than that , ho is a natural
born grafter. Kansas City Star.
It is announced from Nebraska City
that the Argo starch works against
which fusion wrath was directed in
the campaign of 1900 , will be doubled
in size. J. Sterling Morton will regard
this as a splendid monument to Bryan
and Smyth's futile efforts to punish him
for his politics. Fremont Tribune.
