The National tribune., 1907-02-28
A DISCREDITED
S1ATl'lgsTICIAN.
A Boston School Of Figures sRepudiated
in Washington.

All Washington is laughing over q
grave matter of statistics at the Inter-
state Commerce Commission, and the
plight of one Charles Stedman Hanks,
of Boston, in connection Herewith.
Hanks. it should be said, was a college
mate of President Roosevelt. and like>
wise his sparring partner at Harvard.
They had many lively bouts with gloves,
and Hanks is said to have been the best
man of the two. Roosevelt graduated
to devote himself to politics and politi-
cal questions. Hanks graduated to wed
a rich woman and to live life Of lux
ury and ease till he met the President
year or two ago.
In the meantime Hanks had written
a couple of books, one about the game
of golf which he plays with great eff.
cheney and another about life in the
woods. He had a theory or two abou,
railroad statistics, and thought he could
make some Investigations that would
astonish the world. President Roose-
welt invited him down to Washington,
turned him loose in the Commission
and told him to get busy" With Mr..
Hanks was a SIDE partner. George w.
r. Hartman, a civil engineer and stat
istcian of ability from Boston. They
forthwith made complaint against the
present statistician of the Commission,
Mr.. Henry c. Adams. They averred
| that his way of figuring on railroads
was all wrong, and that they could
freight and passenger rates 10 per cent
| without affecting the dividends or the
wages of the employees.
Hanks has labored in Washington for
several months and lived at the bes,
hotels in the meantime. He received nc
salary from the Interstate Commerce
Commission, but was allowed liberia
| leynanSpc for him Golf orvir,,
and for clerk hire. The Commission
became very tired of him, altho the.
dared not drive him away, because the
President had put him there. Finally
after much quiet protesting, the Presi
dent had series of Investigations o.
the work Hanks had done and of the
charges entered against the CORRECTNESS:
of Mr.. Adams's statistics. Mr.. o. P
Austin, the Chief of the Bureau of Sta.
tistics, looked into the charges, ant
averred that Hanks and Hartman hat
worked on wrong lead. That did no
satisfy the two Boston statistfcians
Then the President took them up to tho
White House all of one evening and
labored over the matter himself He
could not understand their theories
Then he turned some more investiga.
tors on the Hanks and Hartman
charges. They found absolutely nothing
in them. 1t soon happened that Hanks
| and Hartman were given their walk
| ing papers, but Hanks went off to Bos-
ton, delivered a speech of two hours
| length before the Merchants Associa-
ton. upholding his theories. That
| speech got into the newspapers, caught
the eye of Texas Senator, Mr.. Culber-
son, who introduced aSreso1ution of in
quiry as to who Hanks3fs. and by what
| authority he was employed by the IN
terstate Commerce Commission. 1t was
not known then that Hanks had been
discharged. IT.
Since then the President has written
a letter to his old sparring partner,
Hanks, veritably hitting him between
the eyes. The letter is being incorpor-
| ated into the report Of the Interstate
Commerce Commission to the Pres,
dent, and therefore is to be printed for
the information of the Senate and the
country. The President tells Hanks in
this letter that his views were all wrong,
and that he is astonished man of such
intelligence as Hanks should have been
drawn into such foolish controversy
with such an able stattsticfan as Henry
c. Adams. e"A.
His critics say that Hanks is a crank
on figures. He, however, is taking tho
rebuke from his old sparring partner.
the President with great good nature,
and says the President could have done
nothing else than have written him that
way. But Hanks asks the public to
wait just a little till he and Hartman
get their statement together, and they
say this will convince the public how
the President. the Interstate Commerce
Commission, and lot of investigating
officials have failed to see a hole that is
as big as the side of barn.