The times., 1898-10-10
ed regular army surgeons. However. 1T
is only fair to General Sternberg to say
he knew the Commission has no desire
to go into such matters.
Mr.. AIger,s Artfui Dodge.

We are sincerely sorry that the New
York World has seen fit to dig up that
old Credit Mobilier matter. in connec-
ton with General CT. NJ. Dodge, presi-
dent of the Alger Relief Commission.
The general public had forgotten all
about it. the Republican press did not
wish to revive it for obvious reasons,
and level-headed persons among Demo
Gratis had quite sufficient grounds for
wishing il to remain in oblivion for the
present
We have sympathized with the more
intelligent Democratic view of the
Dodge question from the outset. Aside
from the political considerations in
volved, The Times has besn satisfied
that the selection of Dodge. as a man
to be finessed into the Craftsmanship of
the whitewash board, was engineered
by Hanna and Alger and conceded by
Mr.. Mckinley without any recollection
at the time, of the relations which the
coming Commissioner" once had with
the Credit Mobilier scandal and Con-
gressonal investigation.
The President is too honest a man
and too good politician knowingly to
have destroyed the last shred of public
confidence in his Alger inquiry, by con-
fidng its conduct to a man of such in
vestigation record as Dodge. 1t would
have been grotesque, not to say foolish,
in him to have said, in effect, to the
country: Here are officials charged
with all manner of incapacity, or cor
rupt interest in contracts. l will have
coroner's jury to sit on them, and the
foreman shall be one who has had ex-
perience I will name Dodge, the man
who was difficult to find when wanted
in the Credit Mobilier case; the man of
whom the Congressional committee in
its report said, in part, that the chief
engineer Dodge) of the road (the Union
Pacific) was largely interested in the
contracts for it's construction, etc.
Mr. Mckinley must have been ignor-
ant of the identity of this General
Dodge, with the artfully lodging Credit
Mobilier person whose whereabouts
were once such a matter of interest to
the sergeant-at-arms and the secret
service agencies used to secure the at
tendance of invisible witnesses. What
ever may have been the Presidential
hope or expectation in creating the AL
ger Relief Commission, it certainly was
not of a kind to be promoted by prom
inence given to a survivor of the Credit
Mobilier unpleasantness
We have often expressed confidence
in Mr. McKinley's personal integrity
and we do not believe that, consciously.
he was TO blame in this matter any
more than he was in being persuaded
into signing the Edmunds- Ireland pro-
tocol So, on his account, we should
have been glad if the identity of Dodge
had not been exploited.
Perhaps we ought TO be honest enough
to state that, while the foregoing is
true, there is yet an element of selfish
ness in our feelings. We greatly object
to having entire discredit thrown upon
the origin, rise, decline and fall of the
AIger Relief Commission, especially
when it comes in a sensational way.
The danger is that the exposure might
result in such a wave of popular indig-
nation as TO give the Democratic party
an unwieldly majority in the next
House.
Unhappily, history. which is liable to
repeat itself, tells us that big Demo-
cratic majorities in Congress generally
have involved fighting. foolishness and
loss of the ensuing Presidential election.