Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-07-14

Welt, in which the writer declared
that the members Of the exchange
had been greatly shocked by the
recent disclosures Of venality in the
department of agriculture" and re-
auesting a full investigation Of the
methods which led to the corruption
with a view of preventing the possi-
bility of recurrence. That letter Is
believed here to be the. outcome Il
recent correspond ,Lce between sec
rerary Wilson and Mr.. Hubbard, III
which the latter called upon the sec
retary to make him a public apology
because he had. some years ago call
ed the secretary's attention to al
legged leaks and that no notice had
been given the suggestion. The sec
retary wrote a tart reply, in which
he informed Mr. Hubbard that he
owed no one an apology in the light
of having done his duty to the best
of his ability and that when he got
anything that looked like facts he
pTOIuplly SSlil IL " lic cSSiO Ot SSt WV
officers to hunt down.
The case to which Mr.. Hubbard re-
ferred in his recent letter to the
secretary occurred in 1900. On De-
cember 20 Of that year Mr.. Hubbard
sent the secretary certain papers
showing that a Mr.. Steinberger want
ed to sell information to a New
York cotton brokerage firm, claiming
that he could get 1t In advance from
the department. Secretary Wilson
Immediately turned the matter over
to the secret service officers, but In
about a week Chief Wilkie reported
that 'it looks like an attempt OF
Steinberger to buncoe the New York
firm" After allowing two months to
elapse and not hearing anything
further, the secretary on March 26.
1901, called upon the secret service
for information as to whether they
had made any discoveries. On the
following day Secretary of the Treas
ury Gage replied as follows:
"The action Of this man who want
ed to sell information was done with
the hope of being able to sell infor-
nation but as matter Of fact his
efforts to obtain the advance infor-
nation failed, as he received no as
sistance from the person in Wash
ington upon whom he depended for
information"
This report Of Mr.. Gage was trans
mitted to Mr.. Hubbard by Secretary
Wilson the next day and the matter
was allowed. to drop. But in Janu:-
ary, 1902, Mr.. Hubbard complained
Of having been advised that southern
ginners were sending to the depart
ment returns Of their ginning opera
tions bearing date Of December % or
%, "and," said Mr.. Hubbard, II am
unable to understand why additional
returns from ginneries should be OBJ
tained, since the result Is to be pub
lished." 1t seems, however. that the
department Of agriculture had not
called for any ginners' statistics at
that time but that the circulars had
been issued from the census bureau.
In the same month Mr.. Hubbard
wrote the department Of agriculture
asking for certain information on cot
ton, but the secretary, in. the course
of a sharp letter denying the request
written under date Of January II,
1902, said:
"We take the ground here that
nothing goes out unless 1t goes to
the whole people. We have no favor
ties"
Secretary Wilson today permitted
an examination Of the correspondence
in order to show that as far back as
five years ago he had taken pom PIT
action to discover any leaks III his
office .. ,... .-...