Milford chronicle., 1903-05-15
WASHINGTON LETTER.

"a Other happenings in Washington
e have caused more stir during the pas
3 week than the published utterances @
. Mr. 0. P. Austen, Chief of the Treasur
. Bureau of Statistics.
+. He says that he has carefully analyz
g ed the prosperity conditions and in
Il dications and finds that every evidence
s points toward not only a continuauc,
r of present prosperous timesEbut sub
stantial increase in the prosperity J.
conditions are left undisturbed. Will
the knowledge that the Bureau O.
Statistics is concerned only in giving
out facts and figures which bear on the
products, commerce and finances OF
\ the country, your correspondent called
on Mr.. Austin and found that he had
not been! in any way misquOted. 1t
must be remembered that he Is an ex-
pert who has made a study of cOndi-
tions with their bearing on The welfare
of the country and that his conclusions
are based on the most careful of cal
culations. "If | were the only one who
had studied the question, to arrive a
these conclusions" he said, 'I might
feel that there was chance for slight
doubt as to the exceedingly rosy pros
poets. But when l find that Secretary
Wilson, through careful studies Of
crops and markets, makes the same
deductions. I am doubly sure that we
are not tottering on the crest of a wave
OF prosperity before plunge into the
gulf of calamity, as some crOakers are
irving to make the county believe
On the contrary everything points to
our being simply on the rise of long,
smooth ground-swell which will carry
US to an era Of good times of which the
present is only the dawn" He admit
ted that disturbing conditions might
arise, but said that his calculations to
be complete had to take cognizance Of
the possibilities and even with every
thing considered he felt that his pre-
dictions of long period of good times |
was safe one 1t may be added that
the American people have a reputation
FIR knowing and holding to a good |
t ing when they have it.
IIere is no quiet" course Ofleniency /
and suppression being carried Oh in the
Postofiice Department investigation,
b 1t the whole situation is being got e
over thoroughly, disclosing Irregular
tiles which have existed for a long time
Mr.. Roosevelt is too thorough a re-
former to permit the rogues with felt
slippers and their handling with silk
gloves, even if Postmaster General
Payne were himself inclined to keep
things under cover,-which he is not.
Dismissals have followed the finding
of clerks ON "labOreIs rolls IN deiance
of the Civil Service rules, and favored
"loborers" have been given the alterna-
tive of hustling mail sacks and scrub.
Ding the windows, or leaving the |
ervice. The misdemeanors involving
higher officials have been the subject
Of IA long conference between the Post.
master General and Secretary R OF,
who left Immediately after the con-
ference for st. Louis, where he pre-
sented the facts to the facts to the
President in order that the latter might
be acquainted with the steps taken, and
advise the hest cour TO thoroughly
purge the scr ice OF existing evils. 1t
can be stated definitely that the return
Jf the PlesiGent will Lriug forth even
greater activity than has beeu al eady :
shown
The tricky handling of the suffrage q
question by tie Alabama Constitu- ;
ional Convention, it must be admitted,
las practically tied the hands of the
supreme Court, so that its decision on
= e Acknowledgement of the negro in
ii lat-on of the Federal Constitution
iffords no judicial remedy for the
natter; as it declares that the relief for
r ch political wrong must be political.
)n the whole, the decision is most
atisfactiory. 1t plainly points the
way and Congress has full legal power
o enforce political power. Under the
fourteenth Amendment it can reduce
representatives. in States which indis-
disfranchise a large class
t citizens. And as leach House shall
e the judge of elections, returns, and
Publications of its own members"
he House of Representatives can in
uire into the credentials of Alabama
the registration Of voters,
nd can seat or unseat contestants in
ases where lawful voters were deprived
I the right Of suffrage.