The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-05-10
OH, SORGHUM!
DR.. Loring in a Sort of Sweet
Pickle.
The Sorghum Questfon on tie Ram
page--The Vacant Chair Some
Capital Gossip.


s WASHINGTON, May 9.-The st. Louis
c Republican, Washington correspondent tele-
n graphs Dr. Loring has stirred up hornets
: nest by the removal of Prof Collier, chemist
of the agricultural department and the distn-
o Guished sorghum advocate. Loring is natur-
i ally man OF peace. He is diplomatic rather
than quarrelsome. he is much given
to breathing the air. of the foreign
legations, and it fHs him with chagrin
to condescend to a controversy with the
; oultivators of sorghum; but he cannot
avoid it His summary dismissal of Professor
, Collier, whom he regards a Sorghum
, crank, and his undisguised contempt for the
sorghum movement, have already had the eff
feet of arousing the ire of various agricultural
associations in different parts of the country,
and they are giving him notice of their inten-
ton to carry the war into Africa A tester
warrior of one of the most prominent cane
growers organizations of the country,
1 speaking in behalf of his and other
associations has written to a friend
here, saying: 4 am preparing a letter
to the president We propose to make war
| Next winter will have an investigation into
me agricultural department, and we will make
| 1t hot for the Salem witch" This unpleasant
prospect has seriously affected the sensitive
nature of DIR. Loring, aud he is appealing to
his friends and the press for sympathy The
| fact Is, the excessively dignified commissioner
has made an ineXeusable blunder in sighting
and deriding the sorghum industry of the
| country. He has acted very indiscreetly in
| delaying the publication of the sorghum report
of the National Academy of Science 1t Is now
| over year since he requested the academy to
n Investigate reodst the sorghum question and
ITS bearings. A committee. of. that body
responded TO his request. Their report
was ready in April of last year. 1t was APP
| proved by the academy and turned over to the
commissioner. The report decidedly ia
vorabe to sorghum, and, moreover it COM
mended highly the labors of Prof Collier, who
had gwen the subject special attention. II ap-
pears that DIR Loring was grieyously disap-
pointed at this result He even wentsso far as
to enter into controversy with the authors of
the academy report and claimed that they had
not fairly considered the subject Finally they |
consented to 80 over the report again and they |
dldsso, making few changes of minor i'm |
portance The report then returned to |
the commissioner, and he sent it to congress /
last December But for some unaecountable |
reason the order for its printing not made
I'LL the last day of the session. and il is still in
the hands of the public printer. The manu-
script has been mutIlated and in one part of
the report it is ssaid that as many as thirty
pages havo been cut out The friends Of
sorghum, who are Watching the course OF
events, charge this mutilation upon DR. Iorine
and they declane that because of this and other
ot1enses his lot hereafter shall not be happy
one. 1
THAT cOMMISS IONERSHIP.
There is reason to believe that the commis-
sionership of internal revenue will not go to
Illinois, although there isSnothing known as to
where it will go. The president is informed
by the attorney general that he has until the
10th inst in which to act, and. he will no doubt
take all the time at his disposal He likes .
above all mon to have good civil service, and :
is very particular about this place. which he !
regards of great Importance /
There is new clement in this contest which | y
viii tend to further weaken the chances of :
candidates from any state but .New-York siIas ,
z. butcher, an cid internal revenue officer, an 4
intimate friend of Arthur in the days wlfen the )
latter active in New York politics haa 2
within two days announced himself as a can
iieate for.the position, and has strong indolse-
ments. butcher has not been friendly to Fol
ger, but it is reported that the-latter beng .
anxious to enter upon the new policy of
between the New York factions p
which is talked about will volunteer p
butcher, and many think that this movement "
viii result IN the appointment of butcher The -
political Importance to the position of commits b
loner or informal revenue Is not underesti- Of
mated by the president The commissioner ~
las under him 4, 600 oficeholders, a. compact ! =
nd powerful army, and, as point of fact the to
reater practical political influence than any q
abinet officer except the postmaster general ca
ne secretary of the interior and the secretary ca
the treasury. tn
Another strong candidate is John A. J. Cress- | pr
ell He was at the White House yesterday III
nd saw the president CreswelI is able, cour- RI
geous, and discreet. and his exneFience as tn
rants postmaster general svould come into in
plendid play. Some believe that CresswelI tia
1uld mako Republican state out of Maryland he
given control of the revenue machinery, and M
e would exercise corresponding influence co
yer West Virginia and the two Carolinas 81
CIvIL-sERNICE REFORM. tr'
the revised copy of the civil-service rules to eli
= printer for final correction in punctuation VI
'turned to the executive mansion. President - -
rthur there affixed his signature to the Off 10
al draft The official copy of the rules con
in clause, which, in general way, pfovides
n competitivo examinations TO st1atrfess for
romotion in service and another clause pro hu
dies for promotions without examination in soC
noes where a5 examinations for promotion are adj
promulgated 81 ~
Charles Lyman, chief clerk of the United the
ates treasurer's Office, treasury department the
considered tire probable successor of Keir n
chief examiner of the civilservice commits ~ az
Oh. He Is an able pure, honest, consistent ~
tactical civil service reformer He had ex-
nded experience under the old civil-seryice =
assone of its most valued assist 4
It's. He has cool head a judicial mind ana afr;
od executive ability. -;
HAZELToN'S ALLEGED ILLNESS. to {
The reports alleged to he teleoranhaa f,o,, ran
= |
lwaukee to the effect that ex-Congressmar
lzetons life was in danger and he might
We to submit to an an1putation of the leg are
rely fictitious. His knee, which was injured
a ferryboat at New YORK about two months
o, is still disabled so that he has TO go or
utches and he moves about but little on FOOT Bu
rides about the city every day howexeT4
d suffers nothing more than the incopyeni
&c OF lame knee. He told your correspon-
mt to day that he should go home in about -,
o weeks. He
APPOINTED.
The president has appointed the following
strnasters:- 9ohn s. Sproull, Eagle Pass. s
xas; Lewis 2. Hunt Mankato, Mimi /; Ed
I'd NJ. Evans, Vinton, Iowa; David Belts, s..
emOnt, Ohio, vice Krebs suspended; VI
'riarty, Council Grove, Kan J. s Bell mat
nroe Wis; Peter II. Peterson Tekamah Sixt
b.; George Clifford of Maine, United States Tbo
lsul at Cognac France; and John W. Bur-
to, Jr, collector of internal revenue for the rese
1rth district of Iowa. dali