The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-07-09
SENT ADVANCE
NEWS TO BROKERS
Leaky Vessel Unearthed in the Agri
cultural Department.
CANNOT BE PROSECUTED
HOW THE COTTON MARKET WAS
MANIPULATED.

VkTASHINGTON. July S.-As the re-
Wv suit of the investigation by secret
service agents into the charges
made by Richard Chatham, secretary
of the Cotton Planters association, thai
information had been given to cotton
brokers in New York by some person
or persons in the bureau of statistics
of the department of agriculture, Sec
rotary Wilson today made public an
official report in which he states that
Edwin S Holmes, the associate statis-
tician. has been guilty of Juggling
the ofhcial report. The report says:
Sent Tips to New York.
It has been found that Mr.. Holmes
communicated advance information. if
not to l. G. Van Ripper, New York
broker and NJ. Haas Of New York,
whom MIR. Van Ripper said acted as go
between in conveying Information from
Holmes. to other New York brokers, IN
Guiding Theodore Price Steps have
been taken by Secretary Wilson to pre-
vent any further leakage of the de-
partment figures and an entire re-or-
ganizatiOn of the bureau OF StatlStlcS
and manner of preparing monthly crop
reports has been outlined by MN. j ne
papers in connection with the lnVestl-
6dllOH were ItlCIiCu " NiAN ~tA-N~~-
States attorney for the District OF
Columbia and he has reported that IN
his opinion a criminal prosecution VIII
not lie against Holmes. Holmes has
been dismissed from the service of the
department.
Plenty of Evidence.
According to the report, Wilson Judd
Of New York. formerly in the employ
of L. n. Van Ripper, induced the latter
Ill
and then communicated the informa-
ton TO Mr.. Cheatham. Van Ripper be-
came the principal witness in the in
vestigation conducted by the secret
service and said he was induced to COM
municate the fact that advance infOr-
nation was being given out by Holmes
because he had heard that Holmes and
his associates had intended to try to
manipulate the June cotton report. Us
ing this information as foundation,
the secret service agents interviewed
numerous persons who had been men
toned by Judd and Van Ripper, as well
as gathering a mass of correspondence,
including many letters written by
Holmes to Van Ripper and others
Figures Tempered With.
The charges by Mr.. Cheatham were
backed up with evidence that informa-
ton had been given to cotton brokers
in New York by some person or per-
sons employed in the bureau of stats
tics relative to the acreage and condi-
ton of the cotton crop Of the United
States prior to the official publication
OF the information and that the crop
figures had been tempered with IN the
department in the interest of certain
cotton specUlatOrs Holmes is the only
employee of the government who has
been found to have had any connection
with supplying information TO brokers
prior to the publication of the official
report.
Summary of Testimony.
After reviewing the charges, Secre-
tary Wilson gives a summary of the
testimony adduced before secret service
agents. Mr.. Van Ripper, the New York
broker under examination said he be
came acquainted with Holmes in New
York in August, 1904, through 'mu-
tual friend" According to this testi-
mony, Holmes told Van> Ripper he could
get information concerning the govern
ment crop report principally through
the report Of the general agent and the
reports of the state agents Van Ripper
said Holmes furnished him with infor-
nation from time to time, for several
months, in advance of the publication
of the official figures and that the in
formation furnished by Holmes CORES
pOnded exactly with the figures after
wards published as the official crop
report.
Haas a Go-Between.
Van Riper stated that a Mr. Haas
of New York acted as a go-between for
Holmes and himself. and he was given
to understand that Haas was securing
/ information for Theodore Price, cot
ton broker OF New York The witness
said he met Haas at the hotel Waldorf
ana was told by him that the report for
June 1905. would be IS per cent on con-
/ dition and 1914 or 10 per cent on acre
age. which was as bearish as they could
make it. and that he was going to see
Price with whom he would have an
interview. and wanted to see Van Ripper
after he saw Price. that in about an
hour Haas called on him and said =.
/ the REQUEST of Price he was going to
4 Washington to see . tney could not
I get the percentage a little higher and
the acreage a little smaller to make the
report more bearish. Van Ripper testi-
fed that the official report was more
I bearish than the figures previously
given him and that ne took this TO
mean that the effort TO influence the
I report had succeeded.
Letters in Evidence.
The letters produced by Van Ripper.
which he alleged were written by
Holmes were all signed with the mi
| tial H" Most of these tiers were
for the purpose of making appointments
with Van Ripper. but the following note
dated Aus. 20. 1904, shows the relation
ship between Holmes and Van Ripper:
IF you have bought any OF that stuff
sell il out at once and sell as much as
you can in addition We are going to
show very slight decline and as this
is totally unexpected. il will send things
down like fury. Other parties will close
out tomorrow ana sell on Thursday.
where is P-2 Tear this up 1t NAV
go up little before Friday. but prob
| ably not"
Some Signed Of"
This letter was signed with the ini-
| tial H Van Ripper testified that all
/ of the letters surrendered were from
| Holmes and that their contents had
reference to the state of the cotton
/ report A large number of letters and
! kilograms signed with the initial e -
were sent from New York to Van
/ Ripper Nearly all of these contained
/ information concerning the cotton re-
port together with instructions to sell
| or buy on the market according to the
/ information furnished and all OF them
| closed with the admonition to destroy
| the letter