Evening journal., 1905-06-15
ROOSEVELT AND
MERIT SYSTEM
He Gives Demonstration by
Appointment of Young
Indiana Man
CREATED POST At ST. PETERSBURG
BY William Woln Smith.


Washington, June 14-president
Roosevelt has always believed in the
merit system and his latest demonstra-
tion is found I'm the case Of an Indian
man. This young man IS Paxton Hib-
ben. of indianapolis, graduate from
Princeton. Hibben pursued his collegi-
ate course with an eye single to q
diplomatic career. He came to Wash
ington last spring and succeeded in
getting an interview with President
Roosevelt The President was so favor
ably impressed that he promised tho
young man the first vacancy Hibben
announced that he would take any
post; an he wanted was an oppor-
tunity to enter the service, and he ex-
pressed his willingness to work his way
up.
Vacancies in the diplomatic service
do not frequently occur, so after watt.
ing a time the President created new
office, and made the young Indianian
an additional secretary at ST. Peters
burg. 1t is under stood at the state
Department that In creating this post
the President has i'm mind the gather
Ing Of much usefuf and interesting in
formation concerning Russia, work
that Us usually performed by the
under secretaries. II he makes good"
the rapid promotion of Paxton Hlbben,
of Indiana, may be expected.
The great victory Of Admiral Togo.
and the patriotic devotion Of the Japa-
nese sailors, has created something like
CONSERVATION i'm naval circles of all
other countries improvements I'm guns
have been much more effective than I'm
armor In this country the devotion
Of the japanese sailors has called forth
statements in regard to the personnel
of the sailors of our vessels that are
not warranted by the facts. This dis
cussion has brought out the very grati-
flying fact that of the entire enlisted
force Of 29,321 men, so per cent are
native-born and II per cent are
naturahzed, leaving only nine per cent
foreigners. Among the petty officers
"a per cent are native-born and 20 per
cent naturalized. while Of the 10000 en-.
listed men nearly 79 per cent were
born In this country and SO per cent
are citizens. It is even more instruc-
tive to know that of the 5000 appren-
tees, IS per cent were born in this
country. They are American boys.
Past history. both of the army and
the navy of the United States, proves
that this country has had no cause
to complain of the devotion of its
adopted citizens. They have been
among the bravest OF soldiers and
sailors, and should war ever come
again to this nation, it will witness
Ia devotion on the part of the enlisted
by the Japanese in the late battle.
Another fact has been brought to
the attention of the American people
in this connection, and that is, the
small pay of American seamen. 1t is
thought that the next Congress will
deal liberally in this matter.
The old familiar scheme to break into
the treasury Of Uncle Sam through the
medium of pensions to ex-slaves. was
revived last week when the Mutual
Relief Bounty and Pension Associa-
tion" met at the National Capital and
passed resolutions calling upon Congress
for a portion of the public moneys
This agitation has come to the front
periodically for many years, but no
serious attempt has ever been made to
incorporate it in the legislation OF the
country The resolutions urge Congress
to pension the ex-slaves 'of such age
as Congress may deem advisable" and
all those who subsequently reach that
age.
The address to the American people
submitted at the meeting, points out
that to pension ex-slaves would MOI
impoverish the nation and that the
money paid out would remain in circu-
lation IN this country "to the advant-
lage OF the merchant, planter and
manufactures" The following sample
paragraph taken from the appeal tC
Congress gives an idea of the argument
advanced for this new pension scheme
1--WE served the American people
without munmur except thos'
prayers that rose to Gods thronl
lpeading for freedom. from 1919 to 1865
without one dollar of reward. We werl
faithful in war and ia peace. W.
guarded with vigilance every interes
Of the owner, protecting the welfar'
/ and virtue OF the home, the products
Of the farm and the flag of the union
May we now ask the people and tn
general government to give friend!
consideration to our claims?'