The Washington times., 1903-10-01
Mighty Interesting Reading
Which the President Can Find in the
Columns of The Times.

The President Is a busy man the
busiest man, perhaps, in the land. He
will be grateful, therefore, to have
presented to him, III condensed form
for ready reference, a record of some
of the things that have occurred in
the "well-governed District of Column
bia" while he has been absent. We
have given some attention to these
matters in the interest of the taxpay-
ers, and may for that reason, per
haps, be pardoned for saying that in
what follows we speak from the
record
For few days after the Presidents
departure District affairs moved on as
usual. Orations continued with the
regularity of the land and sea breezes.
The skies were blue, birds sang, the
public grounds were never so beauti-
full, and Washington seemed like Par
adise regained. Of a sudden there
came the Watson defaleation, and
then, to use homely phrase, the bot
tom dropped out of the ''well-gov-
erned."
Commissioner West immediately be-
gan a vigorous examination of meth
DDS, and upon finding looseness and
iEefficieney he promptly gave the re
suits of his inquiries to the public. He
wisely determined that, as far as he
was concerned, there should be no
dark-lantern business. The rubber
stamp "Not for Publication he
thought, had been worked sufficiently
hard of late to deserve rest.
And what was it that Mr. West dis
covered2 He discovered that for
years millions of the Districts rev
enues had not been protected by valid
bcnds-all responsible bondsmen be-
ing dead. and their estates having
been settled for five wears.
Next, ii appeared that the books
&C the Collector and Assessor had not
been audited for years. There had
been an order issued at one time, ii IS
true. that this should be done, but as
/ the orations went on there seems %
lave been no opportunity for asking
any questions as TO the business af-
fairs of the District.
Then matters more serious than
carelessness began to crop out with a
rapidity that astonished the commu-
Unity. The Health Officer was discoy-
cred in his official capacity booming
or enterprise of which he was a lead
ing official, commencing it as an at
tractive investment in his official re
Tort to the Commissioners, and cireu-
lating ii under the Commissioners
penalty envelope. And so impressed
were the wise city fathers with their
subordinate's thrift and energy tina;
they forthwith designated him as the
/ chairman of committee to investi-
gate all the other branches Of the Dis
! trict government, with Instructions to
de- it with absolute secrecy. Oh, they
are a trihe deficient in a sense of
humor, these city fathers - but we
haven't the time now to inquire the
why's and wherefores. We can only
briefly state the facts
And now revelation followed upon
revelation
That the District was paying for
undelivered goods
That substantial losses we're In
CURED in the awarding Of contracts
That contractors were not perform
ing their contracts honestly
That school funds were muleted by
false acquisitions and vouchers
That penalty envelopes were turned
over to private citizens
That there existed no proper IN
spection Of elevators
That there prevailed a looseness in
the inspection of buildings
That purchases were made for years
without any sort Of competition
That the District was cheated in ice
cheated IN coal; cheated in wood
cheated in school supplies
That there were countless tax ir-
Irregularities
That property was sold for taxes
after all taxes had been paid
! That grave scandals affected the