The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1905-01-08
WHY ROOSEVELT
KEPT HITCHCOCK
III Was to Unearth the Gigantic
Land Fraud Cases
THE SECRETARY DID IT
DESPITE WAR or ENEMIES He
KEPT THE SCENT ONCE
FOUND AND NOTHING
COULD THROW HIM
r@s OFF.

Joseph Oil, the wel-lmowu Wash
ington correspondent of the Atlanta
Constitution, sends his paper the fol
lowing:
Washington has made a highly In.
terestiug discovery. = is the why
az the retention in the cabinet Of
Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Of Missouri
as secretary of the department Of Tie
interior The riddle is solved by tht
action of the Oregon grand mrs
which has found indictments psainst
Senator Mitchell and RepreseR at'Ye
Binger Hermann, Of that state, for
completely in land frauds against
the government. Cases are pending
against other western men OF proalln
ence. The land fraud scandal is pr
nounced the greatest that has ever de
veloped under the interior depart
ment: the men charged with coin
plicity are being pursued With ralent'
less yieor; the man responsible iol
this is Secretary Hitchcock
For three or four years The atrons
est possible pressure has beel
brought to force Mr.. Hitchcock our OF
the cabinet Western men and a so3d
many others Of political prominence
have been hammering at iitchcoaS
who has been pictured aa everything
undesirable distant without
political influence, detriment 70 the
republican party Il has been com.
plained shat his hide is Of rhinocesons
quality, the evidence being his refusal
Ia take to heart the various and sun
dry hints that he should resign, hints
coming from the highest source; The
systematic campaign against him pas
been SO skillfully conducted tina
washington long since accepted the
estimate Of his enemies.
Roosevelt Did Not Like Him.
For time President Roosevelt was
one of those who accepted this
estimate Cold and distant and
uncommunicative he found his secre
tary of the interior; MI Hitchcock
got on his nerves, one pa that gem
fleman's fellow-cabinet members eN
ulained to me, ana trere can be no
doubt that there Were yelled, II MOI
omen. hints suggestive Of withdrawal.
But that time has passed. President
Roosevelt Is now one Of Mr.. Hitch.
cocks strongest admirers, won Pr me
perfect honesty Of the man ana by
his relentless pursuit OF the lana
grafters, high and low. He's luat
like D bully bulldog the president Il
quoted as saying. when he ge.s his
teeth into q grating case, all the Pc
litical influence on earth cannot shake
him loose" And this is true
Now the president Is heart and soul
with Secretary Hitchcock In his de-
termination TO purge the department
of guilty officials and to push 20 pun.
ishment everybody who has been i'm
plicated in the frauds by which the
government hasbeen robbed of hun
dreds Of thousands of acres of yalu-
able western lands.
The fact that Senator Michel and
Congressman Hermann. former head
Of the general land office figure in
the list of those accused with improp.
or transactions make no difierenca
with President Roosevelt any more
than It does with Secretary Hitcn.
cock. These men have not been
proven guilty simply because they
have been indicted; but it is fac,
that both have for long time bal
their knives out for Secretary Hitch
cock which does not help them "a
popular estimation though even
circumstance of this sort must nW be
taken as proof Of guilt of any crime
or even OF direct connection witt
criminals. Both Senator Mitch u ant
Mr. Hermann strongly protest thail
innocence and talk Of per cent o.
and they must be given fin credit
for innocence unless their giil is
proven.
A Gigantic Conspiracy.
But there seems no question ina
somebody. indeed a good many some
bodies. has been engaged in imprope
transactions by which large quaint
ties Of the public lands of the We
have been secured from the govern
ment. There is no direct connectiol
between the land frauds unearthe'
in California and an those alleged i
Oregon. though the methods pursue
were much the same,
When the forest reserves We're Sc
aside in Oregon and California by th
presidents proclamation, a large nun
Der OF claims were at once fled 2
fbc names Of persons who asserie