The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-19
MR. HYDE GIVES UP THE STRUGGLE Staistician Resigns in Letter to Secretary Wilson HE IS ALWAYS UNDER FIRE Secretary Replies TestIfylng to tho Ability With Which MT. Hyde Has
 Discharged Ills DIffi-
 ouIt Duties.
BY wArrERsoN sTEALEY.

BY PATTERSON SIEALErs
 Washington, July S.-(Special0-John Hyde, statistician of the department oi agriculture, resigned today under the ire of the Southern Cotton Growers associa- ton represented by that pluclSy Missis- sinn,an, Richard Cheatham. It came az s,-nrise to every one except MT. Cheat ham
 ..It is only what might nave been eN- pected" said he tonight. MT. Chea,hah did not care to comment further upon the resignation, He has contended Tor re- moyal of Hyde from the very first day ne saw the Secretary of Agricuiture. IL was kind of .shot air to the secretary, and in a half-hearted way ne began tho investigation which disclosed the vena'hy of Holmes Then tne secre.a.y ccnciroed that there must be something rotten Tn hts department.
 Al no time, however, has he suspected MT. Hyde. As for MT. Cheatham, he does not know whether MT. Hyde Is corrupt. hut he does know that Holmes and others holding places immediately under Hyde have been guilty of corruption, and the chief statistician ought to have found It out
 Says Hyde Is incompetent.
 Accordine to cheatham, Hyde was in- competent and should have been removed. The question of his guilt MT. Cheatham is willing to leave in the hands or the Ia" officers of the government, who are now investigating not only Hyde, but every one else connected with the cotton leak. That others besides Holmes were Tn the affair is A certainty. While they havo covered their tracks well, MT. Cheatham believes they will be apprehended before a great while.
 When Mir Cheatham came to Washing ton In compliance with the request or rep resentatives of the press he gave out an interview expressing ~rife opinion that Hyde should be removed on account Of the fraud perpetrated under him. In an. swer Hyde issued an interview impung- ing Cheatham's motives and saying that cheatharns reason for arraigning the de- partment's method Was for the purpose, in all probability. of stimulating the cot ton market"
 cheatham Did Not Forget.
 The interview came near causing MT Cheatham to lose his temper. Secretary Wilson smoothed things over and nothing more was heard of the matter. MT. Cheat ham did not forget It. however, and ar. terwards went after MT. Hyde not only as the representative of the Southern Cotton association, but for MT. Cheatham himself
 The district attorney Is working hard on several Important clues and for the
 
 with stock brokers who profited from the information leaking out of the depart ment. The probable trial of Holmes will likely bring to Washington some of the biggest brokers in Wall street, and the way in which the department has been worked for years by Holmes and other scoundrels will prove an interesting and shocking disclosure.
 Publishes Sensational Letter.
 J. Frasier Richard teacher in one of the local schools and clerk in the census office in 1890 sends to a locaf paper today communication touching upon MT. Hydes connection with that census. After referring to the fact that Campbell Cope land. native of England and chief of one of the census divisions was dismissed for giving out certain census figures. MT Richard says:
 .sAnother division of equal importance was that of agriculture, the special agent in charge of which was John Hyde, an- other Engishman. and now chief statis- tician of the agriculture department. In the mouths of March and April. 1891. as any one can see by reading house report No 1883 of first session Fifty-second Con- gress. dated July Is. 1892, MT Hyde did just what Is charged against his bureau at present, vis: He gave out, without authority and iS violation of his oath of office, the statistics that belonged to the government. In other words he employed three clerks for three weeks from 6 o'clock in the evening until midnight to copy the names. postotfice addresses, acre. age etc, of farmers in the Rocky noun tain and Pacific regions who irrigated their lands This information of the most valuable character. was disposed of to an agricultural paper in Denver, Col, and the men were paid by checks drawn by him on local bank
 ssIn this case the responsibility could not be sifted upon a subcrdinate. Mir. Hyde assumed It all even to the granting of passes to the three men aud the giv- ing of orders to the night watchman to admit the clerks to the rooms containing the schedules Having been a member of Hyde's agricultural division. am per- sonally cognizant of these facts and pro- claimed them at the time. If MT. Hyde ever experienced a change of heart the public has not learned it. In the language of scripture Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse While this evil doing then does not necessarily connect him with the alleged doing now, 1t hints strongly in that direction. It at least gives good reason for suspecting his official integrity and affords a clue for conducting rigid examination in every department of the agricultural institution with which he is or has been connected L<s: no guilty man escape"
 Wilnet N. Hayes. assistant secretary of the department of Agriculture, has been