The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1906-12-29
HITCHCOCK Is
FORCED | OgI
DISCOVERY OF HUGE R0HHERiEs
SAID TO be RE- CAUSE OF
his RETIREMENT.


fairs Of the Department Of the Inter.
ior are gradually confirming the rumor
that has been prevalent in Washing
ton for some days that Secretary
Hitchcock has been forced to resign.
There has been no rupture between
him and the President, nor has there
even been break in their pleasant
relations; bat that the st. Louis states
man has been compelled to lay down
his portfolio is now generally believ.
ed here.
It is not a reflection on Secretary
Hitchcock's integrity in the slightest
that the President has picked out a
younger man for the head Of the great
Interior Department. No man in the
cabinet stands higher in the personal
regard of the President and deserved
| ~ so than does Mr.. Hitchcock,
But, as plain matter Of fact, af
fairs OF the department have got into
such a condition through a long stand
ing system Of loot and graft that a
young, vigorous, athletic reformer
who has an eye single only to carry
ing out set Of policy OF publication
is about the only kind OF Secretary Of
the Interior who, in the mind of the
President, will RlI the bill Just al this
time.
By the side of the grating that is
said to exist in the Interior Depart
ment the work done by Machen and
others at the postofice is petit lar
ceny besides the looting of national
bank. Millions and millions Of dollars
worth of land has been Illegally TAX
en-. A conservative estimate Of thu
actual extent Of the robberies places
the plumber at $100,00O,OOO AL
through the West the public domain
has been grabbed OF by favored poll
ticlans and officials, and owing to the
long range at which most Of this wori
has been carried on, the extension o.
the system into high places in the
government anil Congress has contin
ued practically unchecked.
Even the conviction of the late Sen
ator Mitchell, Of Oregon, as the heat
OF the grafters in his State, has onl,
been a sort of scratching of the slr
face. Secretary Hitchcock has this Wig
orous prosecution and conviction tt
his credit, but there are so many ram
Iifcations Of the land graft that Sec
rotary Hitchcock has been lost In
maze of red tape trying to follow thu
various leads that have come to hin
for further investigation OF the rob
berry of the public domain that ha!
been going on for years past
Instead of checking the graft tb'
prosecutions mp to date seem 10 have
made the grafters more cautious ant
more, rapacious fearing, as they seen
to have done, that the day time fol
the harvest was fast drawing to {
close.
The Indian Territory, Oklahoma
Utah, Washington, Oregon, Kansas
Nebraska, in fact, every one of thu
Western States has been the scent
Of this system Of graft. So broad hal
been the trail left that other bureaus
OF the government have run across /
quite Unexpectedly while nursalnI
other lines of investigation. The mos
startling discoveries were made by TIL
agents Of the Interstate Commerce
Commission while Investigating TIL
relations of the railroads in the ia
West with the coal industry. TIL
commission was simply after fact
that would disclose economic cOndi
tons in this great industry, and TIT
land frauds and illegal practices Il
getting possession Of lands were quit
outside the expected scope Of Its In
curry. But such abuses were discover
al that the matter was brought TO tn
attention OF the President without an;
consultation whatever with the Incl
Tor Department
The announcement Of Secretar
Hitchcock's retirement followed no
long after this, and, while there ma
he no direct connection between thes
two happenings, except as a matte
sequence In point of time, they ar
generally believed TO have some cor
nection. Convincing a batch of Ian
s,afters in one State was well an
good but It is not the administration
idea of doing things. up brown" I
make a horrible example of FEY
wrongdoers to scare all the rest c
the pack out OF the business Pres
dent Roosevelt wants them all sen
to prison, not simply scared into stol
ping their footing Or making ther
more cautions.
Deafness Cannot Be Cured
hy local applications, as they canno
reach the diseased portion Of the cal
There is only one way 10 cure deat