New-York tribune., 1909-05-27
PRESIDENT ACCEPTS HIS
RESIGNATION.
E. D. Durand appointed Head of
Census Bureau-Change Made
for Good Of SerUicc.
LFrorn The Tribunc Bureau l

! ing statement in connection with the case
given out at the White House:
Director, North rendered his resignation as
Director of the Census. It was accepted, and
the name of E. Dana Durand now Deputy Com
missioner of Corporations. has been sent IN TO
the Senate TO succeed him. Mr.. North's resig-
nation director of the census was based on
the ground that on account of condltlons exist.
ing and likely to continue his administrat ton or
the census office would not probably be sue
Cessful.
Mr.. North referred all inquirers to Chief
| Clerk Rossiter of the Census Bureau, who hand
ed out the following typewriter statement
| I have become convinced by the events Of the
| last few weeks that It will be Impossible TOT
me to secure that close cooperation between
the Bureau of the Census and the Department
| of Commerce and Labor which Is essential Tor
| the successful administration or tHe puies'u
during such a critical period as decenhdl
census of the United States. l believe, there-
| fore that public interest, and my own private
| interests az we'll will be best subServed by my
resignation of the Office of the Director ol tlie
Census. which have accordingly tehueleu "
the President. -,
| am grateful 10 all the friends. both in Wash
| ington and throughout the country. VINO nave
earnestly urged my retention at Ihc Itau VI
the Census Bureau 1t has been my shieie ~ ,1
nose to administer the affairs Of the census bu-
reau justly and upon strictly non lt.i Sc
and business basis. 1t is profouhdIy SI1 it7
10 me 10 find that l have so far suCCeeueI u, -
This nurpose that the work of the Census bu-
reau has won the confidence OF the stlIls'lO''
and scientists of the country. :, ,--.l,;,r
II does not seem necessary 10 auu az La,,o
f,,rtber except perhaps, to say that . IA
under consideration business arranse I,or
| a bout which announcement may ne iilid'
RESULT OF INVESTIGATION.
! Tho rostenation Of Mr. North is the outcome OF
tho investigation which the Secretary OF 'o''-
r,erce and Labor has been quietly puL Ie'-
sistentIy pursuing since April u blus "''
| he advertised for on completed machines aC-
IN, f1a
| Tho history, Of the events which have led 10
+,o ras3gnation of Director North and the I'M
mediate nomination OF his successor Is oI Pecu'-
tar interest and serves TO illustrate the OF re-
neated assertion that truth is stranger thali ne
ton The most striking feature OF the lhNeS0-
cation lust closed is the strong light thrown on
the methods and character Of Charles Nase'' 'i'
Missouri member of Mr.. Tafts Cabinet
when s n D. North became head OF the
census Bureau. Just six years ago. he found the
tabulating and computing work being done by
the Tahulatiug Company. which had leased lis
machines 10 the government under an agree
nent which provided that representative OF
the company should supervise the Work. Aiter
a time friction arose between the representative
Of the Tahulating Company and Mr.. North the
former alleging favoritism In the bureau which
,as ,,ret,,diciaI TO efficiency and Mr.. North
charging the representative OF the Taoulatins
$1,000, with officiousness When the time
o,rroacbed for taking the forthcoming census
Mr. North determined to have no more deaIiilsS
with the TabuatinG Company. ana on ms Hio-
tIon and his representation that ne coulo save
the government 81 0O0000 Congress authorized
hin, To conduct experiments with vie" 10 per
fec,inE a tabulating machine on which the gov
eminent would have to pay no royalty. Ger
tain manufacturers of machinery learning OF
the course Of Congress obtained from MI Nor'l
oss,,rsnces that they would In due time have an
o,nortupitv TO bid on the construction OF the
r,ronosed machines Then they were asked TO
submit bids to a private individual whose haiiie
has been given in these dispatches and were
told that TO him had been awarded the contract
for all needed machines at a figure approx
mating $4,000: that it would be useless Tor
them TO come to Washington. as he already had
the contract, although ne had no plant NlcIe-
with to carry it out.
TAKEN TO TASK BY MR. NAGEL~
Tho recu1iarIty of this transaction aroused
both resentment and surprise, and the facts
,,-arA laid before Secretary Nagel last month.
Mr. Nagel took Mr.. North 20 task for granting
CO large q contract without the authority of his
e,,rerior officer. and Mr.. North expressed some
Doubt a. to the right of the Secretary to inter
fere on Saturday. April "a. the facts were
made public in these dispatches. That evening
the President called Mr. North to the White
House and there subjected him to cross-exam-
ination in the presence of Secretary Nagel.
Mr. North contradicted himself on a number
of essentials. and was finally told by the Presi-
dent TO take such time as he needed TO prepare
a statement as to what he had done in the mat
fer il being practically impossible to ascertain
on that occasion whether or not the director
had LET contracts for the construction of the
needed machines Mr.. North assured the Presi-
dent in that interview that he had come to rec
opnize the authority of the Secretary of Com
,,,erce and Labor over the Census Bureau and
that Mr. Nagel would have no occasion to com
plsin of any INSTRUMENTATION his part in the
future.
Mr.. North had numerous and powerful friends
in Congress. and they no sooner learned from
The Tribune that the director under In
vestigation than they focked to the White
House to exert their influence to prevent his
resignation being demanded
Secretary Nage who has at no time felt the
slightest personal animosity to Mr. North, |
showed him every consideration but steadily
prosecuted his Investigations. His manner was
actually gentls. His methods were determined
end searching. He found that contracts had
been let for at least part of the machinery
needed that the contracts called for the con
structlon of unassernbled parts of the machines
which were to be assembled in the machine
shop of the Census Bureau. and that work on
the parts to be paid for according TO the |
time employed in making them.
MR.. NAGEL SUSPENDED CONTRACTS.
These contracts Mr. Nagel promptly sus-
pended He then called TO his assistance a
number of expert mechanics and had the plans
for the proposed machines examined. Incl !
dentally Mr.. Nagel learned many things which |
served to confirm his earlier conviction.
Director North. not being acquainted with Mr.