The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-09
ONE MAN IS DISMISSED
 AND CHEATHAM' 5 CHARGES
 PROVE ID BE WELL FOUNDED
L. c. Van Ripsr Is the Man Who Knew the Inside Workings and Who Was Willing to Tell Secret
 Service Men What
 He Knew.

Washington, July S.--As the result of the Investigation by secret service agents into the charges made by Richard Cheat ham, secretary of the Cotton Planters association, that information had been given to cotton brokers in New York by some person or persons in the bureau of statistics of the Department of Agri- culture. Secretary Wilson today made public an official report in which he states that Edwin S. Holiness the asso- ciate statstician. has been guilty of jug gling" the official report.
 The report says:
 Tt has been found that Mir. Holmes communicated advance information to l.. C, Van Riper. a New York broker, and MT. Haas of New York, whom MT. Riper said acted as a go-between in convey ing information from Holmes to other New York brokers. including Theodore Price. Steps have been taken by Secretary Wilson to prevent any further leakage of the departmental figures, and an entire re- organization of the bureau of statistics, and manner of preparing monthly crop re- ports, has been outlined by him. The pa- pers in connection with the investiga- ton were referred to the United States attorney for the District of Columbia, and he has reported that in his opinion a criminal prosecution will not lie against Holmes Holmes has been dismissed from the service of the department
 / Gave information to Cheatham.
 According to the report Wilson Judd of New York; formerly Tn the employ of T. \ [ lyi lat n tel of his connection with Holmes, and then made the information to MT. Cheatham. Van Riper became the principal witness in the investigation conducted by the sec ret service, and said he was induced to communicate the fact that advance in- formation. was being given out by Holmes, because he had heard that Holmes and his associates had intended to try to man. ipulate the June cotton report. Using this information as a foundation, the secret service agents interviewed numerous per sons who had been mentioned by Judd and Van Riper, as we'll as gathering mass of correspondence, including many letters written by Holmes to Van Riper and others The report made to Secretary Wilson and the Secretary's comments, together with the details of the new plan of conducting the bureau of statistics, makes more than four thousand words. It reviews the entire investigation. be-
 
 before Secretary Wilson by MT Cheatham several weeks ago.
 Backed Up With Evidence.
 The charges by MT. Cheatham were backed up with evidence that certain in- formation had been given to cotton brok- CTS in New York by some person or per- sons employed in the bureau of statistics, relative to the acreage and condition of 1, the cotton crop of the United States prior 1 to the official publication of the informa- tion and that the crop figures had been tampered with in the department in the interset of certain cotton spectators.
 Secretary Wilson determined at once upon thorough investigation and fur nished to officers of the United States secret service all of the evidence which had been given to the department The agents then were put in touch with Mr. Cheatham and ordered to use every pos sible effort to ascertain whether there had been leak in the department and if so, to furnish the secretary with the name of the person or persons responsi- ble. Holmes is the only employe of the government who has been found to have had any connection with the supplying information to brokers prior to the publi- cation of the official report
 Gives Summary of Testimony.
 After reviewing the charges Secretary Wilson gives summary of testimony ad- duced before secret service agents. Mr. Van Riper, the New York broker under examination. said he became acquainted with Holems in New York in August 1904 through a mutual friend. According to this testimony, Holmes told Van. Riper he could get information concerning the government crop report, principally drought the report of the general agents and the reports of the state agents. Van Riper said Holmes furnished him with information from time to time. for several months in advance of the official figures, and that the information furnished by Holmes corresponded exactly with the figures afterward published as the official crop reports.
 Van Riper stated that MT. Haas of New York acted as go-between for Holmes and himself, and he was given to understand that Haas was securing informa tion for Theodore Price, a cotton broker of New York. The witness said that he met Haas at the Hotel Waldorf and was told by him that the report for June, 1905. would be 75 per cent on condition, and 121z or IS per cent on acreage, which was bearish they could make it, and that he was going to see Price with whom he would have an in- teryiew, and wanted to see Van Riper after he saw Price; that in about an hour Haas called on him and said that at the request of Price he was going to Washington to see if they could not get the percentage little higher, aAd the acreage a little smaller, to make the report more bearish. Van Riper testified that the official report was made more bearish than the figures previously given him, and that he took this to mean that the effort to influence the report had succeeded.
 Letters Signed With Initial.
 The letters produced by Van Ripers