The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-02-06
By JAMES b. MORROW.

and wear gray clothing and purple neck
tie is Victor Murdock, OF Wichita. Kans.
Likewise 1t can be said that he is a
very lively beacon and pretty lusty
torch
When did I become an insurgent?"
he repeated IN his fine, deep voice.
Years ago, / was riding across Greer
County Oklahoma. with Dennis T. Flynn. /
Territorial Delegate in Congress. He was |
electiOneering and I was reporting his |
speeches. Dennis was a friend of mine. |
DO you know he asked one day as we |
were dragging through the mud. that the |
United States has ceased 10 have a repre- |
sentative form Of government?
Just then I didn't much care whether |
Flynn was right or wrong, but the bur |
stuck IN my mind and afterward I |
felt It now and then. The Speaker OF
the House Flynn went on to say, is
the whole thing; the members have lost
every particle Of their former influence
Put Mustard In Article.
When I came to Congress, at the age
of thirty-two. I had been a writer for
seventeen years. I wrote what I saw.
The fever was in my fingers and as a
matter of fact is yet. I watched the
House for a week. I didn't care a boot
for the rules or the methods of doing
business, but 7 studied men. As a re-
porter. I had been trained to see pictures, !
90 get quick situations. TO compute and
analyze human nature I thought of
The great characters OF the past and then.
looking around. beheld what I supposed
10 be an assembly Of mighty small men.
So / wrote an article tuned to the theory
of a decadenee of the House. putting
more mustard in my bottle than ink.
Il took the article to Chester I. Long,
then a Senator from Kansas. Don't use
it. he said. You are probably wrong in
your contrasts between the present and
the past Anyway, you may remain in
Congress for some time and the article.
if printed. will live and rise up and cause
yOu unexpected annoyance and embar-
rassment' Consequently. I threw IL in
the fire For three years thereafter 7
was regular I kept on the reservation
like a good Indian. stood by the rules
and worked with the organization,
Presently. I discovered an eXtraOrdI-
nary state Of things that I automatically
called an error IN bookkeeping. 7 didn't
want to attack any one LIVING OF dead,
or TO start a fight. The railways you
understand, are paid for transporting the
mails on a basis of a daily average OF
weights Before the year 1873, mails were
seldom carried on Sundays. Weights
were taken FOR a week on the different
roads al certain times and then divided
by six. the government paying for sc
DAYS i'm the year. multiplied by the aver
age so obtained.
Use six aS DivisOr.
Thus. if the mail carried 10y a railroad
weighed 5000 pounds on Monday. 800
pounds on Tuesday 2So0 pounds On We'd
nesday. 800 pounds on Thursday. S100
pounds on Friday, and 400 pounds on
Saturday, the total for the week would
be 5000 pounds or 5000 pounds "a day.
The year was figured accordingly. Six,
of course. was always the divisor. and il
was proper
After 1S73 however, mails were trans
ported on Sundays. The weights were
ascertained for seven days in the week
but six continued TO be the divisor
Therefore. if a railroad were found TO be
hauling 42CJ0 pounds of mail a week
il would be paid for 7oo0 pounds a day
throughout the year. whereas, it should
have been paid for I0O0 pounds less.
Six into forty-two. goes seven times.
Seven into f0rty-two goes six times. See
the graft?
Il learned that the neglect to change
the divisor from six to seven was costing
the government 100000 year. Figured
roads of the country were getting So
C0OO0O annually from the United States
Treasury and were performing no service
in return. 1t was robbery and nothing
else.
Has ErrGr Corrected.
Il called my discovery an error i'm
bookkeeping. It may have been a clumsy
oversight in the first place, but it was
purposely continued year after year, and
have facts that would blacken the repu-
tatlons of several public officers did !
care to make them known I took the
case TO the post-otfice committee and after
a battle and a close vote had the appro-
priation bill changed SO as to provide
for a correct weighing Of mails in the
future A battle and a close vote Think
Of II!
But the worst is yet 10 come. When
my proposal got before the House OF
Observation-Disclosures the peoples ser
wants and the Custodians Of the general
welfare-aH the parliamentary tricks and
all the Unprecedented tactics that could
be thought Of We're employed to defeat
IT, I made a long and an unsuccessful
struggle and I have been an insurgent
ever since. Theodore Roosevelt was Their
President of the United States, ana by
an executive order instantly stopped the
fraud that I discovered.
whenever need new ardor for tn,
contest in which / am engaged, whenever
I think the clouds are rather thick and
black overhead. I go back in memory Il
the revelation that came TO me IN the
room of the pOst-ofIice committee and OF
The floor Of the House Of Representative!
and. Scotchman. though I am In blood
nv heart beats faster and wilder than i
does when I hear the bagpiDes. and {
bagpipe is always more exciting to ms
than a hfe and drum"
Object of Insurgents.
''Wm YOU explain" I asked lust wha
the insurgents want TO accomplish
I'VE are not in accord among ourselves
with respect TO all things. Mr.. Murdoch
replied. but we agree that a membe
OF the House should arise from his sea
in his own rights and not be denied III
privilege Of the floor when he desires L
address himself to some matter of bust
ness that concerns his country or hi
folks at home Next we would make