Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-12-11
A STARTLING ACCUSATION.
BOW the canadians Swindled the United
States and Corrupted Treasury Clerks
in Washington.

In Washington.
Boston AdUertiser.
We have taken occasion more than once
to refer TO the charges brought bv PROT
Hind against the statistics laid before the
commission at Halifax in 1877. which de-
termined the amount to be paid under the
Treaty of Washington by the United States
for the use of the inshore fisheries. These
charges. at first were directed against the
figures submitted on that occasion. and
argued upon in behalf of the Dominion of
Canada; but Prof. Hind now brings SINH
lar charges against the figures presented
IN behalf of the United States. No suspi-
clon is thrown upon the statistical tables
which made part of the Ameri-
can case as being otherwise
than an accurate compilation of the
efficial returns printed by the Bureau
of Statistics at Washington in its annual
volumes; but the very serious accusation
is brought that these officially printed re-
turns, which formed the basis of the tables
presented at Halifax, had been previously
prepared in cOllusion with Canadian Off
cials, and that they were the result of an
active conspiracy between certain parties
in Washington and in Ottawa. This accu-
satl0n comes in no vague or even general
terms; on the contrary, in eommunica-
tiOns addressed by Professor Hind to Mr..
Frelinghuysen and Sir Leonard Tilley
comparisons between the official figures on
both sides, in their details, are instituted:
positive and definite allegations are made,
and names of parties are given. Under
these circumstances, for the sake of the
honor of both nationalities, and of the
trusted officials employed by them, it
would seem that this very serious matter
should receive more attention than has
yet been given to it. The original charges
which were against the validity and vera
city of the Canadian figures, were inauir-
ed into by direction of Mr.. EVarts, and we
believe they were bound to have a sub
stantial basis; but it was the honor of the
Dominion Government which was COM
promised by them, if established, and not
that of the Government at Washington:
and the Secretary declinad to proceed fur
ther in the matter. Now, however, the
case is very different. The accuracy of
our own official returns is called in ques-
tion, and direct and specific charge of
cOllusiOn and conspiracy is laid at the door
of those who prepared and published them.
Has not the time come for thorough in
vestigatiOn of the ground upon which this
charge is made, either by the Secretary of
State, or the Secretary of the Treasury, or
by some one in behalf of both?
In one of his communications to Mr..
Frelinghuysen Prof. Hind saws: E'In no
single instance have | met with ANYTHING
which gave the faintest color to the suspi-
clon that any other United States officials
but subOrdinatcs in the Bureau of Statis-
tics had the slightest knowledge of the
kind Of work which was going to be there
for several years, in connection with Off
cials in Canada" The specified charge
against this bureau is, that all the United
States values taken from United States
accounts, used in argument at Halifax in
1877, relating to the remission of dutfes
had been manipulated against the in
terests of the United States. On the other
hand, it is charged against the Canadian
officials that the figures used by them in
the same argument, and in the same re-
latiOn, had been manipulated in a kindred
manner in the interest of Canada.
Prof. Hind in his letter to Mr.. Freling-
huysen has thus far confined himself to
the commerce and navigation reports for
1873; but he claims to be able to bring TO
light similar inaccuracies in the reports
both earlier and later than that year. He
presents an array of figures which only an
expert could properly analvZe and pass
upon, and which it would be necessary to
quote at some length, if quoted from at
all. That they are upon their face some.
what startling is the least that can be
said of them; that they cannot be salts
fact0rily explained we will not say until
the attempt has been fairly made.
y certain correspondence and coinci-
dence Is exhibited in the official re-
turns prepared in Washington and at
Ottawa, respectively, which, If acciden,
tai, must be regarded as one of those curl
Osities and mysteries of numbers with
which mathematicians delight to occupy
themselves. Prof, Hind claims to have
discovered what he calls a '"key number"
-, 100. This number, he saws. runs
through all the Canadian returns from
1871 to 1915. This number also. he saws.
he finds in the American returns for
1873, in connection with the exports of
fish, and with the imports Of fish from
Newfoundland, of mackerel from Nova
Scotia and New brunswick, and of fresh
fish from the same provinces. His con
clusiOn is: ''The use and abuse of the kew
number, and similar devices in the trade
and navigation returns of both countries,
is evidently matter of precise, unfet-
tered and intelligent investigation.