Milford chronicle., 1903-10-02
WASHINGTON LETTER.

ii and who will Immediately take
up the case of William Miller and
the whole question Of reforms in
the government Printing Office.
No Official statement has been made
thus far. but the situation may be
summarized as follows, with reason
able accuracy. The discharge of
Miller. followed by his reinstate-
ment Sy the President, has already
been told in these letters. Out of
that incident grew the investigation
recerEly COMPLETED. Miller sent a
long letter to the President in which
he made various charges as to the
domination of the printing Office
by the uuions, the extravagant
methods employed, etc, These
charges caused che PresideHt to
ask Secretary Coctelyou to juvesti-
sgate'th entire printing office, and
Mr.. COrrelyOu assigned the task to
'Comn.is ;ioner General of Immt-
grafton Sargent, and Chief of CO..
porations Garfield. Their report,
which is now in the hands of the
President, substantiates many of
Miller's changes, and points the
way to refonns which promise to
save the government thousands of
dollars per pear. Meanwhile, the
Bookbiners' Union has secured the
past record of Miller, and has filed
many charges against his private
life. Sargent aud Garfield also
found that Miller was of a. quarrel
some disposition, ,dictat0rial and ar
bitrary, and a man who, in the po-
sitiOn of foreman, caused 6rictioO
and dissatisfaction Inc word, he
is a man ill-itted TO mansge men,
quite irrespective of the union fac
tor in the situation. There is littleI
doubt tlznt, under ordinary circum-
stances. Miller wolJd he promptly
discharged. On the other hand.
there are likely to ensue extensive,
and radical reforms az a result of
Miller's having brought the mat
ter to the attention of the PreSl-1
dent, and his interest in his work
and in economical administration
will l,seoure for him more than Or
dinary consideration by the Presi-
dent, Again, the charges preferred
by the Union are SO serious that it
will be almost impossible for the
President to ignore them. In fact,
it is generally believed that they
will compel the President to dis
charge Miller for the good of the
{ l1blic service, but from whatever
tandpOint he looks al it, Mr.. Roose-
welt is bound to find the situation
perplexing.
Although the date0n which Con-
gress will convene inextraordinary
session is still more; than a month
away, November 9th, there are al
ready many indications of ap-
preaching political activity. AT
the capitol all is activity prepar-
ing the chambers end committee
rooms for the advent0f Senate and |
House. Furniture isbeing repolish-
ed, carpets laid, walls repaired and |
decorations touched up while great
quantities of coal areibeing stored in |
the caVernous basement. Represen-
tative Cannon, the speaker to be,
has been in Washington and engag-
ed house, and numerous other
members of Congress Are here look
ing after their winter quarters.
Members of the cabinet are re-
turning to the city, the White
House is radient with new paint /
gildings and the fall flowers in the
White House gardens are showing
q wealth of bloom, especially the
great beds of cosmos at the rear of
TIE House.
Notwithstanding the fact that
Columbia permitted the time stip-
atedfor the ratification of the PAN
q canal to expire, without using
any progress towards ratification
of even asking anextention of time,
there seems to be a general conf
dence that the United States will
eventually build the canal and
build to the Panama route The
explanation that local political con-
ditions ia Columbia prevented the
ratification of the treaty is generally
accepted. together with the asser-
tiOn that Columbia will, after the
presidential election. to occur there
in December, be ready to negotiate
a new treaty on an entirely reason
able basis, the objection to the
present treaty having been that it
was feared by each of several presi-
Dental candidates that it would
mean that one of their competitors
would have the supervision Of the
rSIo, ,ooo, 900 purchase price.
~ Senator Foraker and Representa-
A.. nso1- oc OI,;O have haef1 IN |