The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-08-18
TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1903.
THE TRAIL OF THE SERPENT.

Every day brings it's own conf1rma-
ton of the suspicion in which the
whole country has come to hold the
departments at Washington. 1t is not
only the grosser forms Of fraud that
flourish. such as those that have been
unearthed in the federal postal service.
but everybody is shown to have been
on the make. 1t has been in the air.
Republican policies have favored it
and Republican officials have winked
at it. What wonder that the average
officeholder has come to regard his
place principally as an opportunity
through which he may enter the larger
field of speculative activity.
This is shown by the first reveIa-
tons made concerning the handling Of
Indian lands. The surface Of this
matter has hardly been scratched. and
yet it is clear that serious things lie
below. The Indian bureau itself does
not regard the charges advanced with
the f1ippancy of Mr. Payne when the
postoffice scandals were first bruited
about. The administration has learned
something since then. Commissioner
Jones admits that no government Of
fetal should be interested in companies
dealing in Indian lands: and while he
repudiates the suggestion that any
body has been acting dishonesty he
declares that conditions in the Indian
territory should have a thorough in
Vestigation and the results be reported
to congress.
III e G b e does not desire to pre-
judge any public question or any pub
lie man; but it submits that not only
the status of affairs in the. Indian ter
ritory and not only the bureau Of In
dian affairs. but every other bureau and
every department of the government at
Washington needs such an overhaul
ing. They require not investigation,
but revolution. They need not
searching among musty pigeonholes
for discriminating evidence. not merely
such an inquiry as a committee select
ed by the party in power would make,
with a national election in prospect,
but they need the reforming hand of a
conduct fresh from the people and en-
powered to correct abuses. There is
nothing that will let fresh air into the
foul recesses of the government as it
is run but change in the authority
by which it is administered.
All of the departments are substan-
TALLY in the same fix. They are COM
panied and syndicated to death. For
years past the country has been crazy
with the idea that you could float any
old kind Of company and get rich by
unloading its stocks on an unsuspect-
ing public. For years past the pre-
vailing idea of the function of public
officials has been that they should do
something handsome for themselves.
Everybody else was getting a slice.
why not the subordinate officials in
the various departments? And we
must say for these Industrious gentle
men that they have not neglected their
opportunities.
It was not fine sense of honor. but
caution and the fear of consequences
that prompted most of them to turn
to the formation of outside companies,
with g. side graft. as the swiftest and
Becurest means of getting rich quickly
at the public expense through the per-
suasive power of their official inf1u-
ence. The grosser and greedier. like
Mr.. Machen, went after the Doodle
direct. The others became stock
holders. directors and officers Of cor
Dorations on the side. Sometimes the |
connection between these companies
and the offieeholder was direct some
times remote; but nobody was slow to |
learn that his name on a company
prospectus. with the title of his Office