The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1911-05-20

lOI lucu Ny MI. ndlucy stildI AAlUsL CT Ellis
land is owned by the Southern Pa6idc
which alone can serve that
territory when 1t begins to be Whe
greatest citrus raising section OF HE
continent.
The stake is big one. The RaiIiey
resolution is intended merely To V1lsi
out whether the government or anyl
fetal is sitting in the game The ap-
resentatiye himself does snot profess
to have any evidence, but like the man
who tired out the circumlocution ~
fee in one of Dickens novels, he iIst
wants to know, don't you know.
Investigations Are Endorsed.
Some people assert that the It
pedal is to be put on the Demo
plan to investigate one after the oSyer
the executive departments Of the gov
eminent. This is wholly without fopn-
dation. The resolution for the INQUIRY
into the department of justice is 9al~
ready before the proper connmittee,
and probably at frequent intervals
resolutions affecting some coordinate
department will be presented.
Republican politicians of the lesser
sort resent these Investigations nt
such distinguished Republican p]iyyll
cists as DR.. Albert Shaw, editor Of The
Review of Reviews, welcome them,
and so also to my certain knowledge
would many of the subordinate chi
of departments. AS DR.. Shaw puts IT.:
After sixteen years of uninterrupted
control Of the government, abuses i'm
executive departments are certain Ito
creep in. There is dead timber In ev-
cry department building There are
places to be abolished and refornl& to
be established. The Republics B
should welcome these Investigations
even though made by the opposing
party"
1t is to be borne In mind, however,
that the immediate effect of such en-
vestigations will be little more than no
advance a Democratic agitation. six
teen years most of them under the up
Grafton of the civil service law, have
pretty securely entrenched in ofHce
the present employees in executive lde-
partments. Nevertheless there is poll.
tical capital to be made, if no political
patronage to be won, out of muckfak-
ing the departments and the task will
be undertaken with avidity by Ike
Democratic house. R
Probe for Costly Commissions
Late in the last session OF
gress a newspaper correspond AN
went to Champ CLARK, then Only
the minority loader, with his
question, How can | find out cw
many commissions, boards or burS y
are there now In existence, cred /.
either by Legislative or executig
ton, and how auch money are
spending
'You will b to organize NJ
into congrs Dnal committee
that Inform sale the ps
speaker. ayS been efv
Glit for thi
ont success ! do not believe ttst afgs
mere unofficial investigator, even
though he represents a great news
paper can secure the information. 7
That was several months ago There
Is now pending before the rules, COM
mfttee Of the house Of representatives
a resolution asking that there shall
be appointed by the speaker a com
mittee Of five members to look Into
this very question; to consider the
work and the expense Of all these
commissions or boards, and parttcll-
larry to report to the house the names
of the commissioners and of their
various employees
Made Up of Beaten Men.
1t is of course matter of common
notoriety that these commissions are
made up today of politicians who have
been discredited by their own con-
stituencies. l do not mean by that
that nationally they are discredited.
For If you take ex-senator Aldrich at
the head Of the monetary commission
or Tom Carter, who heads commits.
sion, to determine the boundary line
between the United States and Can.
ada, there will be none to decry the
ability Of either. But both have been
beaten And II you take the long list
of men serving on these various com.
missions you will find that whether
former senator's or former representa-,
tlves, they have been repudiated by
their own constituencies only to re.
ceive vastly more profitable appoint
ments at the hands of the administra-
ton. The most glazing instances are
those Of former Senator Carter of
Montana and former Representative
Tawney, appointed to the commission
to consider Canadian border lines at
salaries of $4,000 a year each. In
the senate and the house they got
$1,000. There is absolutely no reason
why the United States geological sur
vey should not draw these lines with
out any aid from discredited states
men.
Many Similar Instances.
Probably there are many such In
stances of the way in which the money
OF the country is being spent in taking
care of politicians in their decrepitude
on commissions which are unneces-
sary or which are doing no work
whatsoever For three years the SO. 4
called commission on immigration was
the scandal of congress. 1t travelled