New-York tribune., 1902-03-29
THE CHRISTMAS TALE.

When Mr. Richardson. of Tennessee. the gen
tleman who copyrighted public documents and
made profit from their wide sale under false
pretenceS, assured the Speaker upon his
honor as member of the House that he
had a secret report of Danish agent to his
government charging corruption on the part of
Representatives in connection with the pur-
chase Of St. Thomas, Of course the House i'm
mediately ordered an investigation 1t could
not for an instant afford TO let other members
be charged with falling below Mr. Richardson's
standard OF honor without an inquiry Accord
! ingly committee has been appointed to follow
up the story OF Captain Christmas 1t is an
old story. the chief features of which have been
repeatedly exploited in the newspapers at one
time apparently for the purpose of iniuring
well known business man, who II was said
had declared that he owned a contingent of
Senators and must be paid before anv treaty
could be made and at other times aDparentIy
in an attempt 10 discredt the administration
OF 10 create prejudice against the acquisition
of the Danish Islands
1t may be that this alleged secret report"
is authentic 1t is not impossible that some
body has been trying to ''bunco" the Danish
Government. II that government did send an
unofficial agent here to promote the sale il
may be that the agent, desiring a large commits
sion, felt ii necessary 10 turn in an account of
large expenditures to bribe Congressman. Pos
sibly the Danish Ministry accepted his state
ments and made the promise of a commission
10 be used for that purpose II So It has prob
ably done nothing but promise some of its own
INSCRIPTIONS agents an exorbitant payment for
unnecessary work. There was never any need
for such bribery is charged, or indeed for
such a mission as Captain Christmas is alleged
to have undertaken. If the Danish Govern
ment wished to open negotiations it could do
through regular channels without sending
Captain Christmas as Il private citizen TO hint
TO Secretary Hay that an offer for the islands
would be considered. There nothing to
prevent Danish foreign secretary from I'M
officially suggesting to our Minister in Copen-
hagen that negotiations could be opened when
ever he thought conditions propitious II IS said
that the failure of the Treaty of 1867 forbade
such advances 1t did, perhaps. forbid formal
proposals to sell, but Denmark in 1892 and again
In 1896 found trouble in intimatinC directly to
the State Department its willingness to receive
an offer. There has not been IA Secretary Of
State since the administration Of President
Harrison who did not know that the door WAS
open for negotiation whenever the United
States really was certain what II wanted And
after the Spanish War and the acquisition of
Porto Rico the difficulty not TO get the
United States TO buy but 10 get Denmark 10
come TO acceptable terms. Why the Danish
Government when ii was standing out for a
larger price and making one difficulty after an
other, should have thought it necessary TO bribe
the United States to buy what its officials We're
eagerly trying to purchase is a mystery We
very much doubt its ever having made such an
agreement though some adventurer trying to
magnify his own services may have represented
the necessity for bribery and his claim TO com
pensatOn n briber.
II VIII be well 10 have this ghost laid. and
Mr. Richardson's committee should probe the
whole subject, If for no other reason than TO
dlsaDuse the minds of Europeans who may be-
heNe That American politicians and newspapers
were bought up by Christmas. The chances
are that the whole thing is hoax on some
Dody. lf the Danish Ministry ever did incur
any obligations TO Christmas on accom-. of the