The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-01-22
WILEY VINDICATI0N
MADE PUBLIC TO-DAY
Held "Not Guilty" of Conspiracy to
Evade the Law, and Secretary Will
son of the Agriculture Depart
ment Is Given a Hint on
His Proper Duties.


filed with the House to-day by the com
mittee which conducted an investigation
last August into the charges upon which
President Taft was asked to dismiss the
nations chief chemist from the govern
ment service
Not only does the committee absolve
DR.. Wiley from criticism for the employ.
ment Of DR.. II. II. Rusby of New York
as government expert at technical
rate of $50 per day, but it attacks in
measured terms the whole administra.
tion of the national pure food law and
demands of Congress action to change
the method in the department of agri-
culture by which the law is now applied.
The so-called Wiley investigation arose
from the charges made in the agrieul-
tural department that DIR. Wiley, Dr. w.
| d. Bige1ow and DR.. l.. f. Kebler, Ill of
the bureau of chemistry, had secretly
arranged with Dr. H. H Rusby of New
| York, SO that the latter need work only
/ so days in the year, for an annual sal
| ary of $1,000, This was declared 70 be
deliberate evasion of the established
limit of 50 per day.
"We find from the evidence that the
charges of conspiracy have not been es-
tablished," says the committee reporr,
but on the contrary that the accused
officials were actlated throughout solely
by desire to procure for the bureau Of
chemistry an efficient assistant in the
person of DR.. H. II. Rusby, under terms
and conditions which these officials be-
lieved to be in entire accord with tire
law, regulations and practice of the de-
partment of agriculture,
The report of the committee on ex-
penditures in the agricultural DEPART
ment is signed by all Of the members.
Democrats and Republicans alike II
declares that DR.. Wiley and his associ
ates communicated the facts Of DIR. Rus
by's employment fully to Secretary vii.
son. 1t holds, however. that the CON
tract for the employment of Dir. Rusby
is technically Illegal and recommends
that Congress make specific provision for
the employment OF experts in the 9gri.
cultural department.
"The administration of the pure food
law began with a policy of negotiation
and compromise between the secretary
and the purveyors of our national food
supplies" declares the committee in it's
report.
"Your committee does not question
the motives or the sincerity of the sec
retary of agriculture. whose long service
as the head of the department of agri-
culture has been a signal service to the
American people. From the beginning
however, the honorable secretary has ap-
parently assumed that his duties in the
proper enforcement of the pure food law
are judicial in character, whereas in fact
they are wholly administrative and min.
isterial
"This misconstruction OF the law is
fundamental and has resulted in com
plex organization within the department
of agriculture and in the creation OF
offices and boards to which have been
given, through executive order power to
oyerrule or to annul the findings Of the
bureau of chemistry"
Charges were made during the COM
mittee's hearings that the work OF Dr.
Wiley and his associates was revised
and often rejected, either by Solicitor
McCabe. or by the board OF food and
drug inspection, of which Mr.. McCabe, !
DR.. Wiley and Associate Chemist Dun
lap were the members. The position OF
DR.. Dunlap was variously stated to be
coordinate with, and superior to, that of
DIR. Wiley, who was supposed to be the
supreme officer of the bureau
The committee makes a sweeping crit |
ieism of the methods of the department |
1t recommends that the chief Of the bu- |
reau be ~tyen the full power which the |
law supposes him to have, over all en- |
ployes of the bureau, that the board of |
food and drug inspection be made up |
entirely from within the bureau of |
chemistry, and that the power of The |
solicitor to pass upon the findings of the |
bureau of chemistry be withdrawn
"The hearings disclosed a condition OF /
discord existing in the bureau of chem |
istry, which has lowered the discipline
impaired the efficiency of the service, |
and has added to the cost of admins |
tration," says the committee. at will |
require positive and well considered re-
to restore the efficient serv.
ice to which the public is justly enti.
tied"
The Remsen referee board, around
which much of the investigation cen.
tered last summer, is held to be legally /
but its activities as a super
vising power over the bureau of chem
lStTN are utCldItu " Dt Ohbsihr VI tut
law. This board was created by Presi-
dent Roosevelt, and is composed of emil
nent chemists, to whom are referred de-
bated questions arising under the pure
food law. 1t reversed DIR. Wileys find.
ings on benzoate of soda, and has before
it other questions which the committee
declares to properly belong to the bu
reau of chemistry.
''Ihe secretary of agriculture seems
to have regarded the findings of this
board as conclusive in all cases over the
opinions and findings of the bureau of
the tribunal which by express
terms of statute is vested with author
ty to determine the questions of adul-
teration and misbrandng within the
meaning of the act says the report.
The committee declares the board
should not be continued under the sim.
pie authority of an executive order, TO
exercise such control over the pure food
law.
'If such board be deemed necessary
1r advisable in the proper administra
ton of the pure food law, its authority
should be expressly conferred its scope
and jurisdiction clearly defined, and the
effect of its decisions declared, by act of
Congress-" says the committee.
The payment by the government OF
he expenses of three members of the !
-eferee board who testifedin the Indiana
,to+o ,ogoc ;uvolvipo tha ,,ea of hanzo,4 -, !