The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1902-11-05

Ani nS tub puuliI IL GOuCeInPO, IOT the uli-
past
One Of the charges against Mr.. Hyde. ac-
eording to publications In the Journal Of
Commerce and one or two other newspa-
pers, is that he refuses to give out The
monthly crop report before { o'clock in the
afternoon, as result OF which the Ameri.
can markets are placed at the mercy of the
foreign markets, the latter. on account az
the difference in time, being enabled to
first act on the information included In
the reports In question. AS II matter of
iact the principal charge of the specu-
lattye interests opposed to Mr.. Hyde is
that he does his best to prevent any
leaks In his department, thus keeping
INSCRIPTIONS persons from getting advance
information and working" the markets
Charges that such 'leaks" have occurred
have been made In the past and one New
orleans hrm which included such o charge
In a circular sent out to its customers Is
now the defendant In a suit for libel
brought by Mr.. Hyde. II such 'Ieaks"
have ever occurred / am confident that
Mr. Hyde has not been responsible ON
more than one occasion in the past official
information, state papers, etc. from va
rlOus government departments, have been
given to the public, or to a part Of the
public, before the appointed time While
the offenders have not always been dis
covered, there are on record two or three
cases In which dishonest clerks sold the
information to INSCRIPTIONS newspapers or
individuals and were detected and pun
lshed. If any advance information has
ever been given out from the division of
statlstlcs-which Is seriously to be doubt
ed-there Is reason to believe that 1t has
not been given out with the knowledge or
consent of the statisticlan, but as n result
OF dishonest practices on the part Of some
employe. In fact, according 70 those who
are acquainted with the methods of tho
division, no one man knows the exact ma
ture OF any crop report until 1t is finally
MADE pubic through the official channel
me reports are made in several sections
anu until these are brought together the
hnal result Is not known All of these VA.
I1ous sections, II they can be called, are in
tne hands OF different individuals and I'M
less there is collision between these in.
diYiduals-an extremely unlikely hypothc-
sis-it is difficult to see how the ''ieaks"
which have been complained of In certain
quarters, can occur
~
One evidence OF Mr.. Hyde's integrity
came under my personal observation re.
Gently A man whose yeraclty can not be
questioned told me that, while engaged in
business in New York not long ago, he
knew of an agent being sent to Mr. Hyde
from certain spectators with a cod-blood.
ed offer to pay the statistician n large
sum of money II he would give out private
ly certain information which the specu.
ators wanted in order to control a certain
market. The agent went to Mr. Hyde,
made his offer and was more or less polite
| ly told to return to his employers and in
form them that the business of the division
| of statistics was not conducted along any
such lines. am not at liberty to give the
] name OF the gentleman who furnished me
with this information, but there is no
| doubt that the statement he made was
| true, or that he thought It was true.
| have never discussed the matter with Mr.
! Hyde and am not Informed as to whether
| he would verify the story or whether he
| knows that 1t has ever been spoken OF out
side the offices Of the individuals who EN-
| ployed the agent referred to,
Additional evidence indicating that Mr..
! Hyde's Integrity Us not to be questioned
| and that his standing among the legitimate
| business men of the country Is OF the high
| est, is not wanting, by any means. one
| such indication is contained IN an ediOrlai
| which appeared in the Cincinnati Price
! Current of October 30. The editor and
! publisher Of this journal is Z. b. Murray,
! one Of the members OF the committee
which made the recent investigation, ana
! there is reason to believe that Mr.. Murray
| himself wrote the editorial in question,
! which is as follows:
John hyde is the statistician OF the de-
| partment OF agriculture whose special
| province is to collect and present to the
public information in regard to the leading
/ crops Of the country. The work OF mis-
| office is important In high degree for much
| of it becomes material for calculations for
| tradesmen and spectators, the latter III
| Guiding many who are not tradesmen In
any significance of the term, and whose
| proper designation would be gamblers
| MIR. Hyde is entitled to credit for hon
esty, for devotion to the duties Of his of
! ice, to efforts for the best obtainabe In
! formation and highest degree OF reliability
/ in deductions and calculations. lie may
| fail OF accuracy of results submitted for
| the Information of the public but none
| before him have done better than he has
IN his office and none have done as much
| as he has In bettering the conditions wnlcn
/ nfrl,a of nU ar
| of value to the general public, of the In
| formation OF his office.
| 'At this time there is campaign OF as
| sault on Mr.. Hyde-not from men who are
| governed by reason, who have just grounds
| for making such attacks. but chiefly ana
| plainly so from q few who include such a
| drudge against him as some newspaper
correspondents acquire against good men
incident to their reprehenabe use Of their
| privileges as reporters for the press ana
! also the sCheming TO secure displacement
| in order 10 AFFORD a possible position Tor
individual ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
| ''naily newspapers in many parts OF the
| country have recently promulgated 'spe-
! cials' from Washington. with all sorts OF
| talk of an unfavorahle nature. In the form
| OF generalities in regard 10 Mr. hyde, ana
with inaccuracy of statement IN the Few
| particulars. AS an illustration Of the lat
! Ter take this declaration: The fnut that
| the grain spectators find with MT. hyde
| is that he refuses TO give out the monthly
crop report which comes out on the lOtn
OF each month before the close OF the
! stock and grain markets. This carries
with It the idea that Mr.. Hyde has the
power TO decide as to when these reports
shall be promulgated, which he has moi
got, and never had,
IF lightning should happen 70 strike
| dead two persons who are now busy II
efforts to make II appear that Mr.. Hyd'
deserves to be invited to yacate his ofnce
there would be a cessation Of news II
regard to the light against Mr. Hyde
~
Mr. Henry A. Wroth OF Baltimore wal
also member OF the investigating commit
tee. The Baltimore sun of October -
contained the following interview with Mr.
wroth:
Mr.. Henry A. wroth, assistant secretary
Of tine Baltimore chamber Of commerce
declares unfair the recent criticisms OF th'
crop reports OF Mr.. john Hyde, chief clerl
of the statistical bureau Of the UniteC
states department Of agriculture
Relative TO a dispatch from Washington
published in the Sun last Sunday Mr.
Wroth yesterday said;
I'm dispatch TO the Sun from Washing
ton the public is informed that III feellni
| exists between the crop statisticians OF tn
| census office and the department of agri