Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 July 1905 — WASHINGTON LETTER. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON LETTER.

Political and General Oosalp of the National Capitol. Special Correspondence to The Democrat: In the opinion not only of Democrats, but of many prominent Republicasas well, President Roosevelt has made the blonder of bis administration by bis refusal to permit bis Secretary of the Navy, Paul Morton, to be prosecuted for his share in the responsibility for the granting of rebates by the Sante Fe road, (for which Morton was vice President in charge of freight traffic) in violation of the law but also of an express injunction of the court. As a result of the President's, refusal Judson Harmon, who sat in Mr. Cleveland's cabinet at the same table as Paul Morton’s father, and Frederick Judson, who together were retained as special counsel to prosecute the case of the government against the Sante Fe, have resigned, and the President has been compelled to make public the correspondence connected with the case, which he does with great gusto and with the apparent conviction that he is entirely in right, but with what competent judges declare to be an aggregation of the most specious arguments which were ever presented by a high official of the government. t t t In the estimation of prominent Democrats, and too of many leading Republicans, the President has seriously weakened, if not destroyed bis power for good. He has established the dangerous precedent that where corporations are caught in flagrant violation of the law the officers responsible for such violations are not to be prosecuted but merely the corporations themselves. Of course this is absolutely farcical as it means merely the infliction of a fine on the corporations, when they are found out, and a fine of such small proportions as to act in no way as a deterrent from a repetition of the crime. With no disgrace following the perpetration of such ille gal practices the officials will naturally regard it is their duty to their stockholders to disregard the law whenever they believe” they are safe from detention. t t t Although Mr. Morton virtually confesses that he knew that his road was guilty of illegal practices and declared that his subordinates, who grunted the rebates, did ‘perfectly right” and that in no other way could the road continue in business? Mr. Roosevelt grants him entire absolution and assures him he need pay no further attention to the accusations which have been made against him. The President also assures Mr. Morton that he will make a splendid head of the Equitable and then proceeds to give him some inexpert advise as to how to conduct the affairs of that instiutiou. t t t Speaking of the Equitable, the President expresses the view that all insurance ought to be conducted under federal supervision despite the fact that the Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly ruled that the federal government cannot, under the constitution, exercise such supervision. ttt _ The President is also bound to be severely censured for the extent which he has attempted to shield his friend Assistant Secretary Loomis of the State Department whose conduct in Venezuela, as exposed by Minister Bowen, while not proven to be dishonest, is shown to have been permeated with that cardinal sin of diplomacy, indiscretion. It is also noteworthy that while Bowen erred in attempting to rid the government of an official whom be regarded as dishonest and a disgrace to the United States, Bowen is ignominiously dismissed. Loomis, on the other hand, whose sins were ail those of seeking for personal gain, is let off with a mild reprimand. t t t Insurance Superintendent Hendricks’ report on the affairs of the Equitable insurance company, just made public, reveals the fact that Senator Depew of New York has been drawing a “retaining fee” of SIO,OOO a year as special counsel for the Equitably and has been accepting this amount of the policy holder’s money for’ twelve years, making a total of $120,000. Moreover, as a director and member of the executive committee, Mr. Depew has also been accepting additional fees of $4,000 a year. It has been sarcastically remarked that in so far as can be ascertained, the only service which Mr. Depew returned, in consideration of his $16,000 a year fees, was to see that the high qfficers were Sot underpaid, and in substantiation of this assertion it is pointed ont that Mr. Alexander drew a salary

of $75,000 a year and Mr. Hyde, four years graduated from college, drew a salary of equal amount. As no one has suggested that the Depew salary wae meant to ipsure no undue interference with the affairs of the Equitable by the State Insurance Commissioner, it would be highly improper for your correspondent to do so, but there seems to be good reason for believing that the honorable junior Senator from New York will be subjected to a certain amount of innocent chffiang when he returns to Congress next winter. t t t The Navy Department is looking for paymasters for that branch of the service and to that end is now bolding examinations in Washington and San Francisco but so difficult are these tests, both mental and physical, that many of the applicants have already failed and it is feared that further examinations will have to be held later on. In July or August there will also be held examinatoins in New York for five naval civil engineers, These will be duly advertised so as to afford an opportunity to compete to all graduates of technical schools. t t t The President is still striving to prevent ,or at least diminish loss of life in Manchuria and while his efforts to lead Russia and Japan to agree on an armistice seem unlikely to meet with success, he is urging as early a date as possible for the coming peace conference.