The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1900-08-10
Washington Democrats letter.

ANAt aHNHNAANAAs
A particularly fragrant Instance fl
Just now engaging public attention
There is a bureau Of the treasury de.
partment known as the bureau Of sta.
t~istics. Its function Is to compile sta
tistics relative to commerce. imports
and exports, tho movement of coin and
similar matters. For many years n
was under the control of Worthington
C. Ford. recognized as one of the prin-
cipal statisticians in the United States,
a man of fine character and excellent
ability.
The position came under the civil
service law, and by law could be filled
only by an expert statistician.
After Secretary Gage took office,
with great pretenses as a civil service
reformer, he gave Mr.. Ford assurance
of his high esteem and of his strong
desire that he should remain at the
head OF the bureau of statistics. With
in a few months, however, Mr.. Ford
was forced to resign and a newspaper
man named o. p. Austin, without any
standing whatever as a statistician,
was appointed to the place in clear vio-
lation of the law. Mr.. Austin was ex-
tremely unpopular with his fellow
newspaper men in Washington for
having run for a number Of years a
"scab" newspaper syndicate and for
having tried to get newspapers away
from his fellow journalists by what
they considered unfair methods. But
he had been of service to Hanna
around Republican headquarters in the
campaign Of 1896 and that gave him
his appointment.
From the time he entered Office the
bureau of statistics was run for the
sole purpose of getting up Republican
statistics. In every way that human
ingenuity can devise, figures have been
twisted. warped, distorted and garbled
in order to back up the Republican
position in favor of protection of trusts
and of the gold standard.
Now Mr.. Austin is browning his ser
vice by employing the whole bureau,
with its staff of highly paid experts,
in getting up a campaign text book for
the Republicans, filled with pages Of
statistics and diagrams to prove that
the Mckinley administration is the
greatest three-ring circus that ever
crossed the continent.
His use Of figures is such as to make
the nine digits blush to look the multi
plication table in the face. The book
will be printed in the government
printing Office at government expense
and circulated through the mails at
government expense.
This little job will cost the taxpay-
ers first and last not over $4,000, a
mere drop in the bucket of Republican
extravaganza and misappropriation of
public funds, but when any Democrat
hears a Republican orator quote from
o. P. Austin's book a set Of figures to
sustain any argument ne may advance. ,
~ehe Aforesaid Democrat may call to
mind the Illuminating fact of it's or
igin n TeRt content.
Hanna is occasionally brutal ever to
his slaves. He recently informed
Chairman Babcock Of the Republican
congressional committee that that or
ganizatiOn would have to raise its own
campaign funds, as the national COM
mittee would need all it could get for
its own purposes.
Hanna hasn't much use for congress
anyway. particularly the house of rep
resentatives. 1t wouldn't pass the
Hanna-Payne ship subsidy bill and the
army reorganization bill, both of which
he wanted, and it did pass the Mica
ragua canal bill. the antitrust bill and
the e%ight-hour labor bill, which he bit
terly opposed.
So when Babcock was told to hunt
up his funds he found himself in
the midst of an arid desert with Mark
Hanna standing guard over every
water hole in sight.
There was but a single prickly cac-
tus from which to squeeze a few re-
luctant drops-the employees of the
house Of representatives, Republican to
n man. Babcock had these voted an
extra months salary all around just
before congress adjourned, and then
a smooth and skillful agent at
work to make each employe give up so
per cent of that bonus. This would
have yielded about $4,000 despite the
that 1t was a fragrant violation of
the law against political assessments
there is nothing so ungratefuI as
government employe with an cleo
ton pending, especially when he fig
lres that the election is going against
his party. The employees are refusing
10 give up. They are saving their
money against a rainy day. Almost to
. man they figure that the next house
will be Democratic and that they will
ose their jobs. So Mr.. Babcock's COM
nittee has had to call on each Re
publican member Of congress as wen
Is each Republican candidate for con-
for a special assessment. There
nay be an occasional crumb Of con
ributiOn fall from Mark Hanna's
rust-fed table, but It will not do Bah
ock much good. This business Of be- /
ng jackal to the Mark Hanna lion is
thankless task. ,
h government has spent S10O, 900 I
n transporting troops and bands to !
rochester, N. y to give Gen. Otis a /
ig military reception, celebrating his :
from the Philippines. Gen. ,
TITS Philippine campaign Is the most !
.umiliating military failure in the his
DRY OF the government. but the adj ,
linistrati1 Pm has to stand for Otis be- !,
ause Otis stands for the a~dministra- :
lon. :
But there are ample signs that the I
ountfy has had about all IT wants OF !
lilitarism. Military heroes are at a
iscount, The Republicans do not find
wise 10 put n military man on the