Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-09-13
GOVERNMENT FRAUDS,
There Are Scandals In Nearly
Every Department.
Mum THE WORD, BY PARTY ORDERS
The President and the "Dear OLD
Party" Would be BADLY Damaxea
If the Whole Truth Were Known,
The Stables Need CIeaninE-TurA
the Rascals Out.

very unfortunate with the large num-
Der OF scandals that have been ex-
posed In the executive departments
and the extent to which the grafters
had succeeded in looting the govern
lnent Golfers before any effort was
made to stop or punish them. The at
tempt made by the administration to
prevent the exposure of these scandals,
fearing that a thorough investigation
would injnre the Republican party and
throw Il cloud over the political for
tunes Of President Roosevelt, was a
failure. Scandals, like murder. will
out. Postmaster General Payne de-
clared there WAS nothing wrong in the
postotfice department and designated
the Tulloch charges rs hot air, but
the evidence of the extent of the loot
ing became SO apparent that partial
invests igation followed The number Of
officials involved has not yet been Civ
Ell to the public. and the Eristow re-
port on the charges against congress-
men has been used to minimize the
department Wrongdoings
Ii addition to THE postotfice scandals
there are others in other departments
that involve even Il much greater
amonnt Of ]ootng. The interior de-
partment Is honeycombed with hand
frauds. The Indian bureau and the
Dawes commission are both under sus-
picion of grave lnisdoings that are at
tempted to be hushed up, ana only an
impartial investigation will discover
bow great the grating has been. The
ntiicais appointed by President Roose
yell faT ttisD Territory appear to
'iaVt. !#,...ss Ne worst political grafters
!" C.. have discovered to advance
iie e. ii'"e.inu of the wards nf the ma
!,sn
Ter G;lN;;1a:re the crimes OF the Unit
ed St;.v:, siasy,>in.i for the Int;an Terri
tory. .,vu ,,iiii.i II. Colbert. hpca'l!e so
flagitlo,!S ll;;t sp was arrested.
charged with 4isi!l: his power for po-
litica purposes Letting prisoners out
OF Jail ,I,at they might vote was one OF
his pleasing pastmeS; impriSnning In
tlians for not voting according to his
wishes was another. What tue exact sit
uatioIl in the interior department is it is
difficult to Say, for there is an evident
effort to suppress all the evidence Of
the opera TONS of the land ring in the
Indian Territory and the names OF
those implicated, or who have been
asked to ign or have been dismissed,
are unobtalnable. Mum is the word at
the interior department.
The western land frauds have been
Of enormous extent, yet but four per-
SONS have been indicted. There is,
however, evidence that numerous 9th
ers, including Republican members OF
congress, are being shielded for polit-
ical purposes. 1t will be remembered
that Binger Hermann. the commission
er of the general land office, WAS forced
to resign, but has since been elected to
congress. Oregon has been the storm
center Of the land frauds. The New
York World, Oct. 2G said
Letters written by Representative
John Newton Williamson Of the Sec
ond Oregon district have been publish
ed on the Pacific coast showing that he
bought lands from the state - each
state being entitled to two sections Of
each township in the public domain
within its borders Three days after
title for these lands had passed to him
and his partner lie wrote letters TO the
land department here advocating the
inclusion of large tracts of land in
forest reserve Half the land he had
acquired was included in the tract he
recommended for inclusion in the for
est reserve. Whenever a forest re-
serve includes lands that have been
bought from the government either
state or national, the owner is permit.
ted to select an equal number of acres
from any part of the public domain
that has not been entered under any OF
the laws. The theory is that the lands
are of about equal value, but they are
not, and in that lies the opportunity for
fraud
Those charges which involve con-
gressmen and others have not been in
yestlgated. or if they have Secretary
Hitchcock has maintained a censorship
that the newspapers have been unable
to overcome.
The fencing of the public domain in
Nebraska and other states by the great
cattle barons, which Colonel Mosby
was sent to investigate, has been
dropped at the urgent request. 1t is
stated, Of the Republican delegation in
congress from that state, who fear its
effect OH the coming elections. Many
settlers are anxious to go on these
public lands and acquire homesteads,
but are unable to do SO from fear OF
the armed partisans of the cattle bar.
ons.
Then there is the "seed scandal in
the agricultural department and the
charge that the statistics of crop re-
ports have been used for the benefit of
speculators at the expense of the farm
ers.
The smuggling scandals in Porto Ri
co, which involved officers of the army.
navy and civil service, in which indict-