The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-08-03
WASHINGTON.
From our Regular Correspondent.

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The District Attorney and the
special grand jury that has been
summoned to inquire into the cot
ton leak in the Agriculture Depart
ment, have both been very busy and
ultra mysterious. Of course the
proceedings of the grand jury are
of Star Chamber breed and no
one wants to pry too closely into
the preliminary testimony on
which all indictment is founded.
But the air of mystery that has been
thrown around the proceedings in
this case is almost as bad as that
which accompanied the proceedings
of the Keep commission which in
vestigated the Government Printing
Office scandal. There have been
yelled women and mysterious wit.
nesses from New York and there is
nothing allowed to escape from the
grand jury room but the stern init
nation that an indictment for some.
thing is going TO be found against
somebody. Meantime ex.Statisti-
can Hyde is on his way to Europe
to rest his shattered nerves and dis
missed assistant statistician Holmes
rides in his autombile and like the
Shut-Eye Sentry swears that "he
never seen nothin' wrong" Strange
as the ways of the law may seem to
outsiders it is just possible that un-
less the second investigation of the
Secret Service is more productive
than was the first, there may not
be ground for action anyhow. Mr..
Holmes puts up the naive plea that
he did not defraud anybody in par
ticular, that he had the information
and he merely took gambler s
chance with the other gamblers aud
that he was no worse than a man
who thinks he has a good thing
and plays it at the track. This may
sound little strained to ordinarily
honest outsiders who do not have a
chance at advance cotton informa-
ton, but the fact remains that there
is no specific statute against doing
just what Holmes did. However,
the District Attorney thinks that he
is going to get evidence enough to
bring indictments for conspiracy
and bribery against some persons
whose names have not yet been
divulged.
XXX
Representative Livingston Of
Georgia today authorized a long in
terview on the subject of the Treas
ury Deficit. He is in favor of a re-
imposition of the stamp taxes on
patent medicines. checks, and stock
transactions. He says of course
that the tariff ought to be revised
and that the whole country would
be the, gamer, and some trusts
broken up as well as the revenues
increased if this were done. At the
same time he says that this probably
will be impossible with the make
up OF the present Congress and the
next best thing is to reimpose the
stamp tax on the people who can
afford to pay it. He says that the
man who buys bonds is able to pay
a tax on them and that the same is
true Of the man who has bank ac-
count enough to draw a check
against. The same holds good in
dealing with futures of grain or
cotton.
Xxx
Republican Congressman on the
other hand will not talk of tariff re-
vision but confne their energies to
showing how appropriations can be
cut and expenses reduced to make
up for the shortage in revenue.
Representative Patterson of Penna.,
Burton of Ohio, Senator Heming-
way and others all favor reduction
of appropriations. Senator Hem
ingway said: 1--WE are appropriate
ing too much money for battleships
and l think we can make a big cut
in government expenditures of all
kinds. l do not think there is any
doubt that we can catch up with
deficit in that way and if we cannot
then it will be time to try some
other plan"
s*.
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