The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1909-04-09

tsry OF the Interior by President Roose-
Welt. March 8. 1906. and served until
March !. 1907, when he was succeeded
by James r. Garfield.
AIr. Hitchcock receive,, the degree of
Ii p. from the University Of Missouri
IN 1879; from Harvard University the
same degree in 1905, and from Washing
ton university. ST. Louis, in 1897 He
Cincinnati, and a truS4ee Of the Car
negie Institution.
Conduct of Office.
Mr.. Hitchcock's remarkable conduct
Of the office OF Secretary Of the Inte-
rf7r. the manner in which he jumped
into the limelight in the conduct Of the
Oregon land-fraud prosecutions, made
him one OF the best-known former Off
Gals In the country His recent reap
pearance in the public eye when Presi-
dent Roosevelt called him 20 Washing
ton 70 reply 20 the charges II Governor
Haskell. OF Oklahoma. anent the Prai-
RE OIL and Gas Company, Had served
also 10 remind Washingtunians of Mr.
Mr. Hitchcocks path as Secretcry or
the Interior was hard; hard even for
Il The descendant OF the conqueror of
TtconderOga and Bennington.
lie came into hts Cabinet post at the
time when the country was awakening
10 the fact that its resources We're not
10 be played with; just as IL had found
out mat ullonS ana millions of tim
her and coal and mineral land in the
West and Northwest had been gOobled
Up by interruptions spectators and
politicians. President Mckinley, slow
moving but fully aroused. had Instituted
reforms which ais successor took up
and carried out with all the spectacuIa
effects which are so well known.
The task of prosecuting the land
their own communities, fell upon Mr..
Hitchcock, and upon him fell the
weight OF the displeasure of the big
men, MS friends in Congress and in
business and social life.
II Is said, and universally believed
among men VINO know, that at the
Republican national convention which
nominated Mr.. Roosevelt for the
Presidency. there was serious talk
among the Northwestern delegations
Of boiling unless Mr.. Roosevelt agreed
70 dispense with the services of Mr..
Hitchcock as Secretary of the Interior.
Prosecuted Senator Mitchell
The prosecution OF Senator John
Mitchell OF Oregon, and Of Binger
Herman, OF the same State. at one
tine Commissioner OF the General
Land Office. We're the most important
aots of the Hitchcock regime in the
Interior Department and probably the
most important prosecutions of land
frauders ever undertaken in this
country
Senator Mitchell, a member Of the
greatest legislative body 81 the world,
en old man. with friends by the score
Sn Oregon. with men back of him who
feared for their own skirts, fought a
great fight, even going so far as to
defend himself on the floor of the
Senate.
Fl No easterner understands the attitude
of the far West on the subject Of land
grabbing. It was done year after
year, openly almost. and there was no
talk Of arrests and Jail sentences until
Hitchcock came into power and until
either he or his chief decided that such
3 condition should not endure.
Press Persecutes Him.
Hitchcock endured all the anathemss
that fertile Western press could in
vent and for years his name was made
the subject Of jests wherever his hand
had reached. In spite Of Il ali he sue
ceeded I'm couvicting Senator Mitchell.
who was sentenced TO six months IN
jail and TO pay a fine OF 81 600. Senator
Mitchell broken by the disgrace, died
p few months later. Binger Herman,
who was tried in Washington, was not
convicted. but the practice of land
grabbing was effectually broken up.
Mr.. Hitchcock came to Washington
after a training. and with the con-
seriousness OF his own worth that made
his hrstffew months here unpleasant