Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-01
mr. WILSON TO STICK
Says he Has No Idea of Re-
signing His Office.
NEW CROP BUREAUPLAN
SYSTEM WILL INSURE ACCURATE
STATISTICS.
he Will Prosecute a Vigorous House
NEW CROP BUREAUPLAN
he Will Prosecute a Vigorous House
Cleaning of His Department
Deplores the Scandals.

they were at luncheon yesterday, which
was briefly reported in The Star Of that
day.
When the Secretary returned to the rail-
way station he was in very cheerful
mood. He willingly posed for his picture
with Baron Rosen, and told the newspaper
men that the reforms he had devised have
received the approval of the President He
will reorganize thoroughly the crop statis-
tics bureau of his department.
Already he Is seeking men of character,
standing and education to conduct the work
OF the bureau-men in whom the farmers
and growers OF the country will have i'm
plicit confidence, and who will place the re-
ports of the bureau on standard of ex-
cellence never heretofore achieved One
man he has found, although he does not at
this time wish to publish his name The
other three he hopes to secure in a short
time. Two Of them will be southern men,
ana both will be experts in cotton and to-
bacco statistics. This, in brief, is one of
the Ideas which Secretary Wilson calculated
to President Roosevelt yesterday.
Prior to his conference with the PresI-
Gent, secretary Wilson was not commune
cative. 1t was known that he had come to
oyster Bay to discuss with the President
the situation in the Department of Agri-
culture as developed by the Investigate
now In progress in the bureaus of statistics
and of plant industry. but he declined to
go Into any details until he had talked with
the President
In addition to the inquiry which is being
made into the alleged Irregularities which
nave developed the Secretary on his own
account, is making rigid investigation OF
other bureaus Of the department, his de-
termination being absolutely to purge it of
any taint of corruption. In his work Sec
rotary Wilson has the approval of the
PRESIDENT. whose direction has been to elm
| mate every form of graft in the depart
ment.
No Intention Of Resigning.
At the conclusion of his conference Sec
| rotary Wilson talked frankly about some
phases of the work in his department. He
was asked whether there was any ukeli-
hood OF his early REIMBURSEMENT of his
| Portfolio as Secretary of Agriculture
Resign No. sir" exclaimed the secre
tary. 1T would be cowardice to resign
| ASIDE from my personal feelings in the
matter I feel that the agricultural in
terests In the country demand that 1 shall
| complete the work which I have com
| menced. Although 1 have reached the AL
lotted span of three score years and ten
am still hale and hearty and feel that 1
am yet good for several years of hard ap-
! plication. After my present term Of office
| has expired l may go back to the peace Of
| my Iowa farm; but quetude never made a
very strong appeal to me- The truth is.
|
| wish Of my life Is to leave the Agricul-
| tural Department clean and sound as my
| chief monument.
Reference to Exposures.
| Speaking of the recent exposures in his
| bureau he said:
| They are mere fyspecks on a plate
! glass window when you compare them
| with the general integrity of my depart
ment. We farmers make mistakes. of
| course, but most of US are honest 1 be-
lieve that blunders rather than down.
| right intentional wrongdong, define the
| limits of the guilt Of the subordinates in
the Agricultural Department who have
come to grief.
II feel sorry for Prof Moore He Is
an able man, and I would have been glad
| to have kept him If he had only been
frank with his superiors. l don't believe
there will be any prosecution President
| Roosevelt has left the whole matter abso-
| lutely to me. He is depending on me to
maintain my department on the high level
| it has heretofore held as the cleanest in
| the government.
1T is a great grief to me, of course. to
! have any suggestion of scandal In my de-
| partment; but there are 5000 persons in
| the agricultural service. and l hardly
be held responsible for every act of every
one of them They come to me from their
| Creator and the civil service
Mr.. Jordan's Complaint.
he did not collect new figures on the cot
| ton acreage, Secretary Wilson said:
| THE reports which were received from
the departments reporters in the field were
| placed in the hands of a board 1 appointed
| to make new estimates from. That board 8
| estimate differed from the estimate made
! by Hyde and Holmes by 3h per cent. That
| 1t Is correct. l believe. but If 1t Is not 1t is
| the report of the field reporters and not of
| the department. Hitherto, 1t is true. the
! figures probably have been jug.eIed and
| changed, but We have eliminated practically
| any future jugglery of that sort. The stu
| alton, you understand, was peculiar We
| probably never would have discovered what
| the difficulty was had 1t not been for the
| fact that two spectators got into a quar-
! rel about woman"
Have you heard anything about Mr..
| Hyde?"
well, he has gone to Europe" replIed
| the Secretary grimly. II had no idea
| he was going away from the country when
he left the department. l received a letter
| from Mrs. Hyde explaining that she was
| responsible for his departure: that she had
| herself purchased his steamship TRANSPORTS
ton and had insisted that he go away on
account Of his health. She said he was in
| danger OF nervous collapse"
| Then Secretary Wilson outlined his new
plan for the bureau Of crop statistics:
To Create New Board of Experts.
ut Is my intention to create a board
| of four men. with Assistant Secretary Hays
at its head. which shall handle all crop
statistics. Two Of the men will be from
| the south. These men will be the best
men we can find in the country, men OF
character. standing and education. scien-
| tifc experts. All reports will be sent to
me from the field and 1 will place them at
| the proper time in the hands of these scien-
lists. Each will make up his estimate and
the four estimates win be resolved either
| by me or by Assistant Secretary Hay
| Through this board / think we shall have
perfectly reliable estimates Of all crop
conditions
Concerning the inquiries now being made
| into the scandals by the Department Of
Justice, Secretary Wilson did not care to
| talk.
"Mantfestly," said he. "it would scarcely
| be proper for me to discuss the work OF
| another department. particularly In the
| present circumstances Only two cases
| now are before the Attorney General from
| my departrnent-that Of Holmes and that
oFT us hot Hc