The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-08-23

Jury, charged with the inVestisatt'oH " y,
the cotton leak scandals still rcrDa'hs
somewhat chs htoudea In mystery. Win IN
ON marked national tendency to let
onc subject drop fiat the me-
1ncnt something newer ana more
Interesting comes up the recent troubles
A. secretary Wilson'S department appear
a. hive been wiped OF the slate Of public
i. interest Readers OF hewspapers to'aay
find other und livcr" topics served vi,
for their consideration and are apparently
quite content to have 1t so. But It seems
far to conclude. nevertheless, that here
exists III this country n considerable body.
of people who IRE dissatisfied With condl-
ton III the Agricultural Department, and
feel quite strongly In the convenient old
phrase, that something ought to be done
about It."
Precisely what form this Something" IS
TO assume, the future, of course, can
alono reveal. Those who nre by way
of being best Informed OIL the sltuntion
arc convinced that nothing short OF
thorough, departmental DEMONSTRATING
and complete reorganization VIII sufiilce.
These insist that Secretary Wilson VIII
have to go, though> Secretary w lison' lor
his part, fails to see the necessity ior
anything Of that sort. Some further hsht
,vas thrown on the mess yesterday IN the
cah,ea interview with ex-Statistican
HYDE, who, II now develops, Is TO remain
abroad until October LIST, instead OF re-
turning Immediately as was pre-
yiousy given out MIR. Hyde Is not q
nrofound admrer4 of the present system
OF collecting crop reports. 1T is onlS,f3
he says, "by an entire disregard OF the
reports of country and township cores
nondents that the departments acreage
reports can be prevented from once more
becoming the laughing stock Of the the
world
In view of the fact that the government,
In compiling Its figures. has depended
largely, il not wholly on the reports OF
IT'S correspondents throughout the cou ln
trv. this denunciation may be regarded
os fairly complete. Possibly, however, It
IS subject to discount as coming IRON q
dIsgruntled ex-cmploye who has, IN ms
own words, been under fire every DAY
for the last six years.
Meanwhile thelnvestiga ton goes merit lll
" on, Its sureness, we trust, to be lullS
p,,aranteed by its unquestioned slowness,
Our columns OF yesterday contained inc
gratifying Information that the grand
jury is at present making an effort 70
ascertain the financial standing OF Mr..
Edwin S. Holmes, of fragrant memory.
II is generally believed that Mr., Holiness
financial standing is very good. indeed,
being, for teh most obvious reasons, III
Inverse rates to his standing for honesty
and public decency, but the grand Jury
is no doubt right TO scrutinize his banking
connections with greater closeness. an IN
uuiry in this direction at the present mo-
ment may fail to strike. some readers
as evidence OF notably rapid progress and
thorough probing on the part OF the de-
partmental investigators, but In view OF
the previous absence Of any news what
ever, 1t at least serves to remind us that
the investigation Is still there.
------=--=---=-==-
The Functions Of Grand Jury.
we print In another column COM
muncatlon from Mr.. Ernest NJ. Long.
in which he expresses the opinion that
''thc actionfof Judge Witt in refusing
to read or receive the minority report of
the grand Jury was in exact fulillmcnt
OF his duty in the premises" Mr.. Long
proceeds to shy that there exists IN
the public mind misrepresentation re-
specting the duties md functions OF q
grand Jury. He insists that grand
jury Is not, and cannot be perverted into
d mere Investigating committee, and he
is further of opinion that. 1t would be
dangerous to the penco and order Of
| society II such were the case,
The exact functions of a grand jury
| are hard TO define. 1t Is an ancient IN
! stitu,ion and is quite different now from
what it was for example, In England
during the twclfthGcentury. In Tie Eng
! fish law of that time 1t was provided
"That If one Is accused before the JUS
| tice of our Lord the King of murder
| theft or robbery or Of harboring per
sons, committing those crimes, or tor
gerry, or arson by the oath Of twelve
knights of the hundred or lf there are
no knights, by the oath of Twelve othel
inwilnerable mon or By the oath of three
township men, let him come to The orden
of water and II he fails, let him LOST
one foot" 1t was further provided, "fol
/ greater strlctncss of Justice" that III
should lose his right hand at the same
tmo with his foot. and allure the realm
ana exile himself from the realm. within
forty days, 'And IL he Is acquitted D.
the ordeal let him find pledges and lie
him remain IN the kingdom unless he !
accused Of murder and other base felon
by the body or the country and tho law
ful knights of the country. but If h