The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1905-07-21
. ---- "a
WASHINGTON LETTER.


attention of the public in Washington to
the exclusion of practically all other in
terests and further developments are
looked for daily. The President has
taken the entire matter out of the hands
of Secretary Wilson and placed it in
charge of the Department of Justice
which, with the assistance of the Secret
Service, is conducting a dual investi-
cation, one for the purpose of securing
sufficient evidence to secure the indict-
ment by the grand jury of Edwin S.
Holmes, the dismissed associate statis-
tician. the other for the purpose of ascer-
tanning if there are any other guilty
employees in the Bureau of Statistics
The utmost secrecy is being thrown
around the investigation and few details
reach the members Of the press. apart
from the daily assurance that the Presi-
dent has ordered that the matter be
probed to the bottom and that no guilty
man be permitted to escape.
NV
The action of the President has been
construed in some quarters to indicate that
he.purposes asking for the resignation of
Secretary of Agriculture, james Wilson.
but that construction does not seem TO be
warranted. 1t is possible that this affair
may demonstrate to the President that
Mr.. Wilson is less competent to handle
cs.I h. "a sc
department than he has been popularity
supposed to be, but it is hardly likely
that the Chief Executive will go so far
as to pry the Secretary of Agriculture
loose from his position, while the Presi-
dent may do what he pleases and Mr..
Wilson will never see in the actions of
his principal any occasion for resentment,
much less for resignation.
~
The opinion of the officials charged
with the investigation is becoming daily
stronger that John Hyde. chief of the
Bureau of Statistics, will be asked to re-
sign when the investigation is completed,
not that Mr.. Hyde has been guilty of any
Improper practice but merely because he
has demonstrated in a superlative degree
his incapacity and his lack of admins
trative ability. Those familiar with the
inside affairs of the Bureau declare that
an investigation of its affairs will reveal
numerous instances of grossly bad judge
ment on the part of Mr.. Hyde, instances
of favoritism and supine faith in EN-.
ployees who i'll deserve his confidence.
Secretary Wilson appears to be sublimely
unconscious of the gravity of the affair
and of the necessity of parting with Mr..
Hyde. but the President is keenly alive
to the exigencies of the situation and has
intimated that he purposes to take dras-
tic measures to prevent repetition of the
offense.
[Mr. Hyde rendered his resignation
and it was accepted on tuesday,
~
Secretary Wilson has devised a scheme
which he believes will prevent any rep
etition of the scandal and so it may for
time but there Is no getting away from
fact it is impossible to conduct work of
this character without trusting some offic.
ials and the only safeguard against scan.
dals are Secretary and q chief of divi-
sion who are sufficiently accurate judges
of men to know whom to trust and whom
not to.
~.
The appointment of M. White, vice M.
Murayieff. as chief Russian plenipoten-
tiary to the peace conference is the occa-
sion of extreme qualification to everyone
interested in the actual accomplishment
of peace In the Orient. M. Muravief
was not an advocate of peace and it was
expected that his influence would be de-
rogatory to the negotiation of peace
treaty, whereas M. White has always been
the leader of the Russian peace party,
was opposed to the policy which precip-
itated the war and appreciates now the
extreme desirability. of perfecting a
treaty which will result in lasting peace
between Russia and Japan. The appoint
ment of White Is great triumph for the
peace party and will materially facilitate
the efforts of his conferrees.
~
Arrangements are now practically COM
plete for the converting of the peace
conference under what are regarded as
ideal conditions. conditions particularly
ideal because they will make it next to
impossible for the newspaper correspon-
dents to secure accurate accounts of the
negotiations. The result is bound to be
a great number of what are called "think
stories." that Is. dispatches written
wholly from the Imagination of the cor
respondents. The meetings of the con-
ference are to be held on an island owned
by the government, which is situated at
the mouth of the Piscataqua River.