Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1905-12-28
washington LETTER.
WASHINGTON, D. G., Dec. ~, 1905.


There has been a general shifting Of
places in the State Department The
Third Assistant Secretary Herbert H. D.
Pierce has been appointed Minister to Nor
way as it was intimated sometime ago in
these letters that he would be. He will be
succeeded in the Department. by Chas.
DENLY, son of the late Minister to China,
and until recently chief clerk of the depart
ment in succession to Col. Michael, who
was sent to Calcutta as Consul General
more to get him out Of the Department
gracefully than for any desire to promote
him. David Thompson, the former AM
bassador to Brazil will go to Mexico as the
Ambassador there and Lloyd G. Griscom,
who won considerable commentator as
minister to Japan during the Russo-Jap
war, will be raised an ambassadorship and
succeed Thompson in Brazil. The post Of
Minister to Japan, vacated by Mr.. Griscom
is still open. The appointment of Mr..
Griscom is popular as it is generally con-
ceeded that he did excellent work in Tokyo
and the President has been looking for a
chance to acknowledge his services by pro-
noting him. Also the appointments Of Mr..
DENLY in the State Department. is looked
upon as the expected: He has had the widest
possible experience Of Far Eastern politics.
He was Secretary Of Legation in Pekin for
years, was afterward foreign advisor to
Yuan Shat Kai, who succeeded Ii Hing
Chang as the power in foreign affairs at the
court of the Empress Dowager It was un-
derstood when Mr.. DENLY was made chief
clerk some months ago that be would not
remain in the position but that Secretary
Root wanted to avail himself of his exper-
fence as an orientalist and would promote
him as soon as opportunity offered.
There is talk that the Bureau of Corpora
tions in the Department. of Commerce and
Labor has just about completed an investi-
CATION into the affairs of the Standard Oil
Company which will end in the trial of
that noted for notorious corporation for
combination in restraint of trade. Ii is
quite possible that the investigation is I'M
der way. The Commissioner of Corpora
lions would naturally like to have look
into the affairs Of the great oil company.
But it is doubtfully if Mr.. Rockefeller is
losing any sleep over it. It is likely that
the case will never come to trial and if it
does, it is still more unlikely that 4 con
yiction will be secured In the case Of the
latter improbability there is no danger that
the sentence will be any more severe than
it was in the case of the beef trust men who
were fined $4,000 without a jail sentence.
OF course fine would be a great hardship
to Mr. Rockefeller or Mr. Rogers A fine
Of S25, 900 would be almost as much to
either of them as a fine of % cents would
be 20 the average prosperous citizen But
the widest flight of inauguration cou d
not picture anything worse than fine
happening to one Of the big men in the
Standard Oil Company.
The War Department is having all sorts
Of business these days. It has rejected all
the bids for the Philippine railway system
because none Of them came within the pro-
visions Of the specifications. The trouble
with the bidders was that they wanted to
construct fragments of the various lines
that they knew would be paying from she
start and were perfectly willing to leaye
the other sections to be finished up at some
future time as the country developed.
This did not altogether meet the wishes of
the War Department, though Governor
Luke Wright, who is now in Washington,
said that half loaf was better than no
bread and was rather in favor Of allowing
the partial bids to stand But the Score
tary Of War has announced that fresh bids
will be ADVERTISED to be opened January 90
There has been more trouble over that
perennially sore spot, the army canteen.
The officials Of the War Department pro-
TESS themselves deeply grieved, but not in
the least surprised, at the state OF affairs
disclosed by phe investigation in Fort
Sheridan, where it was shown that the
worst sort of grog shops, dives and crooked
gambling joints fourished all around the
post. It was said too that there had been
% homicides in these places within the
past year. All of the officers in the army
want the canteen re-established. As promi-
nent a member of the w. C. T. %. as Miss
Phoebe Cousins said that it was useless 10
blink at matters, and it was better to con-
troll the drinking OF the soldiers than to
drink out Of the garrison. But the mill
tary Committees Of the House and Senate
have not the moral courage to replace the
canteen. So vice of the worst sort will be
allowed to flourish around all of the army
posts because a few good but mistaken
wonapn cannot md orc IA nd fhat ttcinolo