El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-02-09

| of great and small import that nave
been made by the government through
| its legislative and executive branches
in the past hundred years. Millions Of
| pages of testimony have been accumu-
lated and embalmed in the records OF
the congress, the executive departments
and the courts, and millions Of dollars
have been spent IN the asking of Ques-
lions and the gathering of facts Osu-
ally it is congress itself that provides
! for Investigations and PROBES, put Oft
en- the departments do 1t on their own
initiative.
Five Investigations.
At the present time there are at least
five important Investigations being
conducted by the government. The
Ballinger- Pinchot controversy is being
| threshed out, the monetary commission
has not finished its work, the Browns
vile court of inquiry is still asking
questions, and the meat trust is being
probed. In addition to these the immi-
grafton commission still has work to
do. AS a rule all governmental investi-
cations come high. but none are so ex-
pensive as the commissions created by
congress.
The immigration commission already
has spent more than 100000 in prob
ing the immigration question, and 1t
wants still more money. The monetary
commission also Is spending money by
the hundreds of thousands of dollars,
and the industrial commission was no
more careful of Uncle Sans pocket
book when 1t made its Investigations
into industrial conditions
Pleasure Junkets.
Usually these commissions are little
more than pleasure junkets. The mem
bers travel abroad in regal style and
nearly all of them are on the rolls at
the capitol. These commissions plan 10
go abroad just about vacation time,
and the senator or representative VINO
is a member manages to find place
for his secretary, who is thus enabled
to draw two salaries from Uncle Sam,
and have his expenses paid while max
ing a trip to Europe Whether these
commissions really are worth what
they cost is a question abou. which
there has been much discussion
FruitIess Probe.
! The senate Brownsville inquiry rep
resents about the most fruitless effort
to get at the truth that has ever re-
suited from a governmental invest
CATION 1t cost several hundred thod-
sand dollars to conduct the hearings
and little more was known of the mat
ter when the senate got through than
before 1t began.
The testimony fills books which
would occupy whole shelf in a sec
tional bookcase, witnesses having been
brought from the four corners Of the
country
The Standard Oil probe made by the
department Of commerce and labor. and
the beef trust investigation by the
same department. are about the most
Important Investigations ever made I'M
der a cabinet officer 1t will Tie re-
called that in the beef trust investiga-
ton commissioner Garfield asserted
that the packers made profit of only
90 cents each on the cattle they
butchered. Few Investigations have
been received with more Incredibly
Nobody believed that Garfield had
reached the bottom OF his subject
The Standard Oil investigation was
the one that resulted in the Kenesaw
Mountain Lands verdict OF sz9.000,000
against the Rockefeller combination
SchIey Court of Inquiry.
The house and the senate have some
times been hoist by their own petard
when asking for information from the
departments. Many readers will re-
call the time when the house asked for
information about the relations OF
members of congress with the post
office department. There was never
more indignant set of men than the
members of the house. when nearly all
of them were embraced in this report
It was then that William Alden Smith
made his sensational speech nominal
ing Uncle Joe Cannon for president
The house that now quarrels with MI.
Cannon applauded itself hoarse that
day.
Few Inquiries have attracted such
~ Il
quiry, in which 1t was attempted TO
settle the controversy growing out or
the battle with the Spanish fleet at
Santiago 1t is not too much to say
that admiral Schley was the popular
hero. whatever may have been the
technicalities of the case. Senator
Rayner of Maryland was his principal
counsel.
The embalmed beef inquiry, after the
close of the Spanish war. was one Oh
the most important army investlga-
tons the service has seen.
Roosevelt Turned Down.
In passing, one might mention the
work of the industrial commission
which IS remembered more for the say
ing Of Henry o. Havemeyer or the
sugar trust. that the protective tariff
IS the mother of trusts. than for all
the other millions of words OF testi-
mOny 1t printed. The report VI inc
commission was at one time the mos.
widely quoted authority on industrial
conditions in the country. but It's vast
volumes are seldom referred to now.
An important investigation was tnat
Of the New York custom house In 1871
Chester A. Arthur was then coHector.
He was identified with Roscoe Cohh-
ling. and president Hayes wanted 10 re-
move him. Conkling fought IL tooti
and nail, but Arthur was forced out
Hayes then sent to the senate Tor con-
firmation as collector. the name Oh q
man who has since become great rae
tor in American politics-Theodore
Roosevelt.
Although no charges were iileu
against him, he failed of confirmation
The failure was not because OF the iach
OF fitness Of the appointee, but oecause
Of the pique Of Roscoe Conklins: II Is
perhaps the only time in the history
OF the country that one future presluen'
OF the United States was removed run.
a coilectorship and another faileu VI
confirmation as his successor THIS
overhauling of the customs offlce was
almost as thorough as the one coliec'-
or Loeb has been making.
Scandals of the Seventies.