The Ely miner., 1924-02-15

matters which have stirred congress
TO investigation since he entered into
public life, three matters which in
way were akin. In neither of the first
two affairs in which he had a some
what prominent part was there ever
any suspicion of wrongdoing. Men
took sides in the two cases and were
somewhat violent In their denunsia-
tions one of another, but the differ
ences largely were those of. opinion
and of nothing else.
He Sided With BaIlinger.
When the Ballinger-Pinchot trouble
was at its height in the Taft admins
tration DENLY, then member of the
house of representatives, was Bal
linger partisan, or if 1t should be put
In another way, he was partisan of
President William Howard Taft. Dem
by had the views on conservation
that were held by the then president
of the United States, and seemingly
he believed that the Pinchot argu-
ments were Ill based and that Secre-
tary Ballinger simply was man
whose belief led him to espouse
cause which in those progressive days
seemingly was unpopular with the ma
jority of the people.
Some years back of the Ballinger-
Pinchot affair DENLY was the chairman
of committee appointed by the house
to frame resolutions of censure of
hn
dent of the United States. The COM
mittee was called jocosely the spank
ing committee" and Theodore was
spanked" by the house in a resolution
perhaps framed by Chairman Denby-
spanking that it must be said rather
amused than panied the colonel.
Organ Reports on Veterans Bureau.
The United States senate has re-
ceived copies of the report of Maj.
Gen. John F. O'Ryan Of New York,
who commanded a division overseas
and who was counsel TO the senate
committee which investigated the
charges of early incompetence and
worse in the general administration
of the veterans bureau.
The copy which has just been given
to the senate is voluminous, concerning
itself in places with details which
were not given in the first draft of the
document as prepared some time ago.
There is recognition in the report,
as there is in the senate and through
'out the country, that since the change
in the dictatorship of the bureau there
has been. comparatively little reason
for the veterans complaint of delay or
neglect, and of the public complaint OF
the waste of money. 1t still is main
tanned, however, that there are in the
bureau holding their old jobs some
men who are untitled for their tasks
by temperament and training.
1t may be true that there still are
men in the bureau who do not appreci-
ate the nature of their work and do
not know how to do 1t, but it can be
said, and it is a veteran who writes
this, that since the investigation was
made by the senate there has been a
seemingly complete change in the
whole manner of conducting things in
the bureau, that its work seems to be
systematized and that delay, Obstruc-
ton and indifference largely have dis
appeared.
Too Many In Hospitals2
1t must be understood that Major
General Organ is a veteran of the
service, with the good of the veterans
at heart, and that his opinions there
fore must have weight, even If, in a
way, they may be objected to by some
men who served in the war.
1t is said virtually specifically that
pitfalls today are not in need OF hos
pital treatment. This may mean one
of two things, either that some men
have succeeded in getting into hos
pitfalls when their injuries or their ILL.,
nesses did not justify them in making
application for relief, or that, through
laxity In examinations, men who ought
TO have been given outdoor treatment
or left at their homes have been bun
died off to hospitals into which they
never should have been allowed en-
trance.
Washington has he'd one sensation
to follow another this winter, and each
of them has been made the subject of
congressional investigation. 1t was
thought when the charges against the
former director of the veterans bureau
were made that the very height of SEN
sational charges had been reached, but
in a way this matter has been sha-
dowed by the investigation which was
ordered into matter of the leasing of
oil lands to private corporations.
Another sensational matter which
also has been made the subject of In
vestigation was that which had to do
with the charges that soviet Russia
was carrying on communistic propa-
ganda in the United States. Time and
again attention has been called 10 the
Investigating habit of congress, and 1t
has been said that most investigations
never "get anywhere" but this year
seems to have proved an exception to
the investigating rule.
The veterans bureau investigation
and the Teapot Dome and California
oil lease investigations certainly seem
to have got somewhere. 1t will take
some time to determine whether the
Investigation into Russian communistic
propaganda is worth the time and
money that it is to cost.
Not So Bad.