The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-09-04
HITCHCOCK
FROM The CABINET
Secretary of the Treasury Dis
covers Well Developed
Fight Is On.
ENEMIES ON HIS TRAIL
Effort Is Making to Diseredit Him Be.
cause Of His Handling of the In
dian Country Trust Monies
The Situation.

! w WA eSP@
Hitchcock became keenly aware today
of the effort 80 drive him out of The
cabinet. The second attempt to prove
a misapplicaton Of the Kiowa-Coman-
che funds was even more of q fiasco
than the first. Whatever quarrel may
arise over these funds must be directed
toward the treasury department. The
secretary produced a voucher today
showing that h one had been de-
posted in the sub-treasury at st. Louis
and that part OF it had been paid out
for Improvements already made. So
tar as the secretary is involved in the
transaction, the situation is in nowise
6isconcerting. He Is the trustee under
the law for the people Of the Kowa-
Comanche and Caddo countries. The
money, with the exception Of UGH sums
as nave been expended on orders of
the secretary, are still to his credit. The
responsibility OF the secretary ends
with these expenditures. II the money
had been lent to private, banks or dis
sipated in any way, the treasury de-
partment, and not the secretary of the
Interior, Is responsible to h people
and the government.
Like the Bristow Fight.
The concerted movement to dis
credit Secretary Hitchcock Is similar
In It's methods and origin to the effort
made one year G to secure the re-
moval Of the fourth assistant general,
Mr.. Bristow. P%ostoffice thieves had
plundered the treasury. Bristow was
known to be fearless n relentless. So
long as he remained In charge of the
detective force Of the department ev-
cry official thief who had gone into a
combination with contractors for a
share Of the proceeds from ~postcfsce
supplies felt that he was in danger ot
detection. Members of congress-, ig-
norant of the real condition of affairs,
listened to supposed friends who came
to complain about Bristow. They ap-
pealed to the president for Bristow's
removal and were on the eve of sue
Feeding, when the bubble burst ard the
postoff1ce frauds became a matter of
public knowledge. So it has been in
q measure with Secretary Hitchcock.
Whatever have been the merits or de-
merits of his administration, there has
been no c~rookedness within his knowl-
edge. He stood between the home.
steader and the cattlemen and gained
the bitter, aggressive enmity Of SEN
ators and congressman, dominated by
this powerful western influence.
Hitohcoek's Integrity.
He caused agents to go to Oklahoma,
who exposed the methods Of contract
ors who coveted the 100000 to the
credit Of the people Of the Kiowa-Co-
manche and Caddo countries. He de-
gised plans to outwit the land grabbers
in the Indian territory who coveted the
rich farms Of the Indians. His meth
DDS and his manne of doing business
In many cases have been so direct as
to be brutal. He has suspected in
dividuals who were honest and snubbed
persons who deserved consideration.
He has lacked diplomacy, u never in
tegrity n has become oversuspicious
because he has been forced to outwtt
the most clever confidence game that
has ever been devised to defraud inno-
cent homesteaders and helpless Indians.
Secretary Hitchcock's failure, If his
administration can be called a failure,
Is because he has trusted no one. He
endeavored to personally straighten
out all the tangles. He has just permit
ted Indian Commissioner Jones to have
full swing and he tool the responsible
lty on himself for expanding the Kiowa
Comanche funds instead Of passing the
entire matter owe to Ex-Governor
Richards, the. land commissioner, who
understood the people and compre
hended the conditions.
Lootins Plans Failed.
~ AAS AoSI ACllldl1IS -llldI Tie plans
for looting the public treasury and
robbing the Indians have failed. The,
secretary has acted from the first with
the full knowledge Of the president
and If h conditions which now pre-
sent themselves are considered it will
be apparent that he has not gone far
wrong. In the Indian territory the
land grabbers have not secured an acre
OF land which belongs to any Indian
In any one Of the five tribes. In the
kiowa-Comanche country four-ffths of
the money derived from the sale of
town lots in Lawton, Anadarko and
Hobart Is in the United States treas
ury to be expended for public improve
ments in the towns and country.
The secretary is not responsible for
the acts of the members Of the Dawes
commission. That commission vas
created by congress n its members
were appointed by the president.
JOCKEY WAS a BELL BOY