The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-02-02
Committee Propos s to lnVe :
 tiga'e Site Department
SURPRISE FOR SECRI T..R1
This Department Has Never Been Tam pered With By Committees Hut Certain Things Have Prompt-
 ed An Inquiry.
BY wArTERsoN sTEALEY.

Washington, february 1.-(Speclal-)- Not to be outdone by the industry of oth- CT committees in exposing the extrava- gance in government departments. Rep resentative Edwards of Kentucky, the chairman of the committee on expendi- lures in the state department today called d meeting of his committee at which it was decided to probe the state department MT. Edwards at once com municated with Secretary Knox inform ing him of the committees action and requesting that representative of the Secretary appear before the committee next Tuesday and answer inquiries con corning the abolition of useless offices the economy and retrenchment in the department, if any such virtues exist
 This will probably be the first time in its history that the state department has had it's affairs looked into. As the department has ranked number one in the executive division of the govern ment it has been more free from publicity than any of it's co-ordinates. It's very name is associated with secrecy and lit tie happens in 1t that is not confidential.
 
 tee will come as a surprise to the de- pertinent. Since the days of it's first secretary. Thomas Jefferson, it has been | immune from investiga ton of all char aeter and congressional resolutions ask ing for information have been repeatedly fired back with the curt brief phrase
 Incompatible with the public service, :, | for an answer.
 If reports are to be believed, under
 tho guise of clerkships scores of em-
 bryonic ambassadors and consuls genera
 are sheltered within its walls, their chiel | function being to whirl in the socia
 whirl of the foreign embassy and con sulate. Representative Edwards and his
 fellow members of the committee, Messrs
 Cocks of New York, Davis of Minnesota kopp of Wisconsin, Eamlin of Missouri
 Craig of Alabama, and Dies of Texas have all heard of these things and pur- | pose to find out about them
 The meeting Of the committee on ex-
 penditures in the state department today
 was the second held in 90 vars. 1 The Champ Clark presidential boom has
 been formally launched at Enid, Okla
 The minority house leader received off. eial notification to that effect today. | Champ Clark Club No. has been or. ganized and its Enid members predict tht spirit will become so infectious that by
 the simmer of 1912 Speaker Clark, as it will then be, will be a household wore in every democratic home.
 MT. Clark will send his appreciation te Enid n has to his mail
 There is no joke about Champ Clark presidential boom unless it be on the part of MT. Clark himself. There are very few of his democratic colleagues who would not like to see him in the | White House. His sound democracy and big-brained common sense would assure | the country the best administration ii | has had in many a year.
 l At a meeting of the senators and rep. resentatives from Ala bama today with | Senator Bankhead presiding, the sub | joined resolution offered by MT. Clay | ton and seconded by MT. Underwood was unanimously adopted:
 Resolved, That the senators and rep | resentatives from Alabama heartily favor | legislation for the suppression of gam bling in farm products and will suppor, measure or measures to that end.' | Messrs. Taylor. Hedin. Richardson | Burnett, Underwood, Craig, Dent and | Clayton, and Senators Johnston ano | Bankhead all assured the members of the l Farmers union, who were present at the meeting that they would cooperate most heartily to secure the legislation for the | suppression of the evil of gambling in cotton and other farm prodects. rrha fai1ra If COnRrass tp nrQVfd0 fOf | an increase in the personnel of the army l may result in the withdrawal from state schools and the militia officers who have | been assigned there as military instruc- | tors.
 | This would not be done until the close | of the present scholastic year. There are about 100 such officers.
 | While retired officers might be de- tailed for this duty there are perhaps few of them who would prove as eff | fcient as active officers. The latter keep up necessarily with the profes sionaI advancement and are better fitted to perform the duties devolvine upon instructors of military science. | Major Carson, chief of the bureau oi manufacturers, has issued a bulletin calling attention to the complaint abroad of the improper packing oi United States exports. The United | States sends out something like tw, billions of dollars worth of products natural and manufactured. Twenty mil | lion dollars is low estimate of tn, amount of loss through inferior pack ing in the United States alone. and tho | trip abroad is considered much larger than the domestic loss. Major Carson presents photographs. especially of cot ton bales, showing the great superior ity of the foreign packages.
 | w. c. Swanson is still holding on a: | supervisor of census of the Montgomery district He was appointed by the Pres
 ident upon the recommendation of Sec retary Nagle and Representative Dent and Senators Bankhead and Johnston have not yet dislodged him.
 l The Alabama and Florida senators
 have indorsed c. E. Yancey, a grand l son of William M. YanceX for chiel