Arizona republican., 1916-08-11
Somebody Has WiIfuIIy Lied


 IL was not conceivable that a man with the reputation for accuracy which Charles F.. Hughes enjoys would have made the charges he preferred in his Detroit speech without being fairly well informed. and il turns out that he did not. A question of veracity Is now raised between Secretary .Redfield, of the department of commerce, and Hon. F. Dana Durand, former director of the census. Mir. Hughes charged. among other things, that MT. Durand, the most competent man that had ever directed the affairs of the census. had been dis placed te make room for William J. Harris. Georgia politician without any known qualifications for this important position. Secretary Redfield replied that Mir. Durand retired voluntarily, and Acting Secretary Sweet, of the de- partment, supplemented this reply with the statement that MT. Durand was urged to remain.
 Now comes MT. Durand. a mem Der of the faculty of the Uni versity of Minnesota, in a letter to Mr. Hughes, saying that he desired to remain at the head of the bureau. but he was told that the administration desired a change; that is. it desired. in 4t. lar ,f Ar ndf fr,fn ant. "to create a vacancy" of course. for a deserving democrat" The acting secretary further said that MT. Harris was well qualified, as was proved by his work on the federal trade commission. The inference evidently intended to be drawn from this statement was that proof of Mir. Harris qualification was afforded by his work on the trade com mission. As a matter of fact. MT. liar ris has been federal trade commission CT only one year, since July. 1915. hay ing resigned the directorship of the census to which had been appointed Samuel L. Rogers, of North Carolina. of whom nothing is known. His name does not even appear in the list of SO, 900 found in Who's Who in America" When MT. Harris was appointed his familiarity with public affairs had been gained from one term as chair man of the state democratic commit tee of Georgia and his service as lieu tenant colonel on the staff of the gov fire insurance business.
 Now we have the statements of Secretary Redfield and his assistant. both politicians, to whose interest it Is to controvert the damaging state ment of Mir. Hughes with a lie. and we have against it the voluntary state ment of Professor Durand. an eminent statlstician who has been connected with Harvard and other great uni many learned and scientific societies, who would have no interest in making a statement, and who. if the words of Redfield and Sweet were true, would be estopped by a sense of gratitude from testifiyng against them.
 As 10 the displacement of pr. Titt- man. head of the coast and geodetic survey. an eminent scientist by E. Lester Jones, also of the Sunny South a gtocly braadar and a horaa doctor us have not yet heard from Dr. Tittman But Messrs. Redfield and Sweet, de- nying that MT. Jones was horse doc tor. admit that he was a stock breeder He. too, has been omitted from Who. Who" so that we know nothing of him Messrs. Redfield and Sweet deny that Dr. Tittman, the scientist, was re. moved to make a place for MT. Jones But they also denied that Professor Durand was removed to make plac, for Mir. Harris. the fire insuranc, agent
 Mir Hughes in his Detroit speech re ferred to the maner in which tn, NhSon duH1lnlStTdtlon rom the De ginning had made ducks and drake of the civil service. In that accusation Mir. Hughes had repeated charges tha have been made in the course of de bates in congress. in the public prints fin a review of the acts of the admins traitor by Representative Gillette, am which have never been controverte until now, when denial is made b Messrs. Redfield and Sweet, who mus now be discredited.
 A few days ago MT. Hughes re ferred to the outrages within the dip lomatic service, the most conspicuou