The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-02-07


Ballinger- Pinchot controversy is but
one of hundreds of Inquiries of great
and small import that have been made
by the Government through Its leg
islative and executive branches in the
past hundred years. Millions of poges
of testimony have been accumulated
and embalmed In the records of the
Congress-. the executive departments
and the courts, and millions of dol
lars have been spent in the asking of
questions and the gathering of facts.
Usually 1t Is Congress itself that pro-
vides for Investigations and probes,
but often the departments do 1t on
their own initiative.
AT the present time there are at
least FIVE important Investigations be-
Ing conducted by the Government.
The. Ballinger- Pincflot controversy is
being threshed out, the monetary
commission has not finished its work
the Brownsville court of inquiry Is
still asking questions, and the meat
trust Is being probed. In addition to
these the immigration Commission
still has work to do. AS rule. all
governmental Investigations come
high. but none are SO expensive as the
commissions created by Congress. The
Immigration Commission already has
spent more than. 100000 in probing
the immigration question, and 1t
wants still more money. The monetary
commission also -spending- money
by the hundreds of thousands of dol
lars, and the industrial commission
was no more careful of Uncle Sans
pocketbook when 1t made its investi-
cations into industrial conditions.
Usually Pleasure JunkefS.
Usually these commissions are little
more than pleasure junkets. The
members travel abroad in regal style,
and nearly all of them are on the rolls
at the Capitol. These commissions
plan to go abroad just about vacation
time, and the Senator or Representa-
tive who 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 making a trip to Europe.
Whether these commissions really are
worth what they cost is question
about which there has been much dis
cussion.
The Senate Brownsville inquiry rep
resents about the most fruitless effort
to get at the truth that has ever re-
suited from a governmental investi-
CATION. 1t cost several hundred thou
sand dollars to conduct the hearings.
and little more was known of the
matter when the Senate got through
than before 1t began. The testimony
fills books which would occupy "a
whole shelf in a sectional bookcase,
witnesses having been brought from
the four corners of the country
The Standard Oil probe made by
the department of commerce and la
Dor and the beef trust investigation
by the same department are about
the most important investigations
ever n4stde Under Il cabinet officer II
I will he recalled that in the beef trust
/ investigation Commissioner Garfield
asserted that the packers made A
profit of only ninety-niae cents each
on the cattle they butchered. Few
investigations have been received with
more iacredulity. Nobody believed
that Garfield had reached the bottom
/ of his subject. The Standard Oil In
/ vestigation was the one that resulte
in the Kenesaw Mountain Lands YER
diet of S2g; 400 900 against the Rookie
/ feiier combination.
| Congress w. Departments.
| The House and the Senate have
/ sometimes been hoist by, their awn
! petard when asking for information
1 from the departments. Many readers
| Will recall the time when the House
asked for Information about the reia-
! lions Of members of Congress with
| the post-office department. There was
| never q more indignant set of men
/ than the members of the House, when
| nearly all Of them were embraced
| in this report 1t was then that
! William Alden Smith made his sem
sationai speech nominating Uncle Joe
+ ttaHfaestf-se,f- President. House
! that now quarrels with Mr., Cannon
I applauded itself hoarse that day a
Few inquiries have attracted such
/ wide interest as the Schley court OF
| inquiry. in which 1t was attempted to
/ settle the controversy growing out of
the battle with the Spanish fleet at
| Santiago. 1t is not too much to say
that Admiral Schiey was the popular
| hero, whatever may have been the
| technicalities of the case. Senator
| Rayner, of Maryland. was his princi-
/ pal counsel. The embaimed beef fn-
| quiry, after the close of the Spanish
| War. was one of the most important
| army investigations the service has
| seen.
| In passing, one might mention the
| work of the Industrial commission.
which is remembered more for the
saying of Henry o. Havemeycr. of
| the sugar trust. that the protective
/ tariff is the mother of trusts. than for
! all the other millions of words OF
! testimony 1t printed. The report or
| the commission was at one time the
+ most widely quoted authority on in
| dustrial conditions in the country, but
| its vast volumes seldom are referred
/ to now.
| An important investigation was that