The times., 1898-11-09
Let Them stay a, Home.

Let Them Stay nj Home.
With the elections. the important la |
bors of the Alger Relief Commission |
have been brought to a close-the pur-
pose of its appointment has been
served, however awkwardly and inefh-
ciently-and there is no good reason |
why the weary members should not be
formally discharged. In fact. most of |
them have long since. sought their
homes, under poor pretense of carry
ing on the work in their respective To-
.calities They did not expect so many
difficulties when they undertook the job
which scores of shrewder men stoutly
declined. and they are not to blame Tor
having found it so much of bore. 1t
is easy to criticise them for their FAIL
ure to keep up a pretense of truth-seek-
ing, but when we consider how many
rash witnesses. undeterred by fear of
the War Department, insisted on going
outside the questions ar& voluntarily
offering fatal facts. we can hardly
| blame them. What could they do but
expose their determination to exclude
| evidence that would reflect on the War
Department or anybody but the suffer-
ing soldiers themselves and their imme-
diate officers?
The appointment of the Commission
seemed TO be a political necessity. Sec
retary Alger was opposed to It for at
| least two reasons. A diabolical press
would assert that it.indicated doubt
! in the Presidents s mind as to the super
lative fitness of Alger; and then there
was always a chance that the members
would not be watchful enough to ex-
clude testimony rejecting on his admin
| istration of the department But the
President explained that Secretary Al
ger himself should ask for an investiga-
tion, not of the charges against him.
but of the purchases, contracts and
charters of the department. There was
no reason to think the newspapers had
knowledge of any irregularities in such
matters. The proceedings should be
secret and until after the elections the
public would nurse the fallacy that the
Administration was bent on Furnishing
offenders, If" as Roosevelt says Of the
canal frauds. there are any
The interest OF the newspapers in the
Commission destroyed its usefulness at
the outset. They got up a great sensa-
ton about secret or star-chamber ses-
sions. and by offering larger rooms.
rent free, exposed the perfidy of the
Commissions excuse that the room was
too small They showed that the con-
cession of an abstract of the proceed
ings was fraud. There they made it
perfectly plain that II the Commission
ers were seeking the truth about the
War Department, it was imperative
that Gen. Miles should be examined and
that Col. Roosevelt's suppressed report
should be brought out and entered as
testimony. Either of these things would
kaye made a defense of the War De-
partment futile and would have defeat
ed the Administration in the elections.
Indeed. the amiable Commissioners
have had a hard row to hoe. 1t was
impossible to delude the public INTO the
belief that there was an investigation
going on. Their tempers were Worn to
the keenest edge by the attempt of sim
cere witnesses to get in vital and fatal
facts. Why, at Chattanooga, one of the
Commissioners sensibilities became so
irritable over the determination of the
Rev. Mr.. Hamm to reveal the truth
} about Camp Thomas. that he almost
l collared the preacher. He silenced him
only by making violent assault on
5 everybody in Chattanooga. 1t was then
S that the few remaining Commissioners
: scattered. leaving the secretary to do
: what he could to keep up the poor ap-
, | pearance of labor.
We do no think they are to blame
: for their failure. to deceive anybody
; They did about as well as they could
| in such circumstances. They have
: surely earned release from further
j trials Since the public understands the
: business so thoroughly and knows ex-
actly what to expect if the farce is car
ried to the point of making report
: why not tell them to stay at home and
/ | keep dark until the thing is forgotten
S If there must be pretense of a report
or if Secretary Alger insists on coat
, ing of whitewash, let the paid secretary
I, of the Commission attend to it. Indeed
: we think that is already the purpose OF
the Commissioners.
I