Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1903-05-08

Coated-Gen. Miles Report Has Stirred Up
a Hornets Nest-The Race Question
ument to Jefferson.
(From our regular correspondent
WASHINGTON, April 80, 1903.
Your correspondent yesterday inter-
viewed gentleman who happened to
be in Washington at this time, asking
him his opinion in regard to the crop
Of scandals in public service which
have lately sprung to light in official
circles. This man, at one time prom
inen,ly connected with one Of the de-
partments, and in a position to know
whereof he speaks, does not take the
reported Investigations too seriously.
For reasons that will readily be real
lied he does not desire to be directly
quoted, but since he is out Of public
life for good, he can hold an unbiased
opinion of affairs and need have no fear
to speak his mind. He characterizes
the hue and cry over the scandals as II
Republican house cleaning in order
that the party may present clean
sheet to the people. That grave disor-
ders do exist he does not doubt, but
that drastic reform measures will fol-
low he does not believe. 1t was i'm
possible to keep the state of affairs
from being known. and some dismiss
sails from the postOffice will follow, but
these only in the most heinous cases,
the axe falling, for the most part on
the heads of superannuated officers,
and inoffensive women who are not
workers for the party.
The navy is still having its troubles
and the establishment of a general
staff to look into the defects which are
every day more apparent in the con-
duct of the affairs OF the Navy De-
partment is being urged as a cloak
like Charity, to cover the multitude OF
sins under the incompetent regime of
Secretary Moody. Foreign naval Off.
GERS are calling attention TO the great
proportion Of accidents which befall
the American vessels, and almost all
resulting from ignorance either Of
equipment or the fundamental princi-
Piles Of navigation. Not long ago.
there was an epidemic, it seemed, OF
running our best vessels on the rocks,
and at present there is a plethora OF
accidents through defective ordnance
of careless handling OF the same. The
cliques of the Department, and partic.
ularly that which is absolutely con.
trolled by the determination that no
enlisted man shall be able to work up
to an citizenship, as can be done in the
army, ere being openly accused of the
responsibility of much of the rotten
ness that exists.
The administration is making futile
endeavors to keep down the Porto
Rican and Alaskan scandals, and to
some extent they will be able to gloss
things over, but with an answering
sense OF justice the local authorities OF
Porto Rico announce that the course
of justice cannot be interfered with by
departmental orders from Washington,
and announce unhesitatingly that the
judicial branch Of the government can
not fulfill its mission and be subserv-
lent to requests from the executive
branch.
On top OF ell this trouble from forces
which the administration has nur-
tured, there comes additional evidence
against Republican management in
the report of General Miles on the
abuses which he found to exist in the
Philippines. He made tour OF per-
sonal inspection and has his evidence
at first hand, and not from long range
testimony manipulated through Con-
gressional investigation. 1t is signifi-
cant that the War Department has
kept this report from the public for so
long q time, and it may never have
seen the light of publicity if it had not
been repeatedly requested by those
who knew that such q report had been
made, and who wanted what further
light on the question of the manage
ment Of the Philippines as such an
important document would undoubt.
eddy give. The request OF the Boston
Reform Club to the War Department
and the wish of General Miles that a |
copy of the report be sent to the or.
ganization, showed the Department
that it would not be polite to with
hold the information longer. Efforts
are now being made to belittle the evi.
dence it contains on the ground that it
is mere reiteration of facts already
known. but in addition to the charges
of wanton cruelty there is the grave
accusation that commissary officers
trafticed in the rice and provisions
which formed part of the rations, and
also furnished for the famished natives
OF the concentration camps. In spite
of all the efforts Of your correspondent
to get an expression of opinion as to
what course Of action would follow the
charges preferred by the Commanding
General. he could get no satisfactory
answer from officials, high or low. In
the course of his efforts, however, he
learned the significant fact that in this
as in other serious difficulties in which
the administration has been involved,
the course of the Department is out
lined in the following words by Secre-
tary Root, that ono further action is
contemplated"
The decision OF the Supreme Court
on the question of negro suffrage set
ties once and for all the mooted prob.
lem OF reduction OF Congressional Rep
| resentatives in the States which have
taken the stand that they may deter.
mide for themselves who are fit or un-
fit to constitute voters. Representa-
tive Livingston Of Georgia and Swan
son of Virginia, when seen by your
correspondent were much elated over
the action OF the Supreme Court in
unfolding the principle that the peo-
pie of the South we're to determine the
political status of the negro as far as
they were concerned. Both of these
gentlemen see in this test the death of
the Crumpacker agitation, as any re.
duction of representation by the Re-
publicans would simply be recogni.
ton of the principle Of disfranchise.
ment from which there could never ha