The Sunday Oregonian., December 21, 1913, SECTION SIX, Page 4, Image 70

THE SUNDAY OREGONTAN", PORTLAND, DECEMBER 21, 1913.
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ONE of the ways in which by Inde
pendent action of the Executive
we were able to accomplish an
Immense amount of work for the public
was through Tolunteer unpaid commis
sions appointed by the President. It
was possible to get the work done by
these volunteer commissions only be
cause of the enthusiasm for the public
service, which, starting In the higher
offices at Washington, made itself felt
throughout the Government depart
ments aa I have said. I never knew
harder and more disinterested work
done by any people than was done by
the men and women of all ranks in
the Government service. The contrast
was really extraordinary between their
live Interest in their work and the tra
ditional clerical apathy, which has so
often been the distinguishing note of
Governmental work In Washington.
Most of the public service performed
by these volunteer commissions, car
ried on without a cent of pay to the
men themselves and wholly without
cost to the Government, was done by
men the great majority of whom were
already in the Government service and
already charged with responsfbilities
amounting each to a full man's Job.
The first of these commissions was
he Commission on the Organisation of
Government Sdenttfio Work, whose
chairman waa diaries D. Walcott. Ap
pointed March II, 1903, Ks duty was to
report directly to the President "upon
the organization, present condition and
needs of the executive Government
work wholly or partly scientlflo in
character, and upon the steps which
Should be taken. If any, to prevent the
duplication of such work, to co-ordinate
Its various branches, to Increase
Its efficiency and economy, and to
promote Us usefulness to the Nation
at large." This commission spent four
months In, an examination which cov
ered the work of about SO of the larger
clentlfle and executive bureaus of the
Government, and prepared a report
which furnished the Basis for numerous
Improvements in the Government
service.
Deftartmeatal Methods.
Another commission, appointed June
. 1905. was that on Department Meth
ods Charles II. Keep, chairman
whose task was to "find out what
changes are needed to place the con
duct of the executive business of the
Government in all its branches an the
most economical and effective basis in
the light of the best modern business
practice." The letter appointing this
commission laid down nine principles
of effective Governmental work, the
most striking of which was. "The ex
istence of any method, standard, cus
tom, or practice is no reason for its
continuance when a better is offered."
This commission, composed, like that
Just described, of men already charged
with important work, performed its
functions wholly without cost to the
Government. It was assisted by a
body of about TO experts in the Gov
ernment departments, ctioaen for their
special qualifications te carry forward
a study of the best methods in busi
ness, and organized Into assistant com
mittees under the leadership of Over
ton W. Price, secretary of the commis
sion. These assistant committees, all
of whose members were still carrying
n their regular work, made their re
ports during the last half of 1S0. The
committee informed Itself fully regard-,
lor th business mstliodj et practically
every Individual branch of the business
of the Government, and effected a
marked Improvement in general effi
ciency throughout the service.
The conduct of the routine business
of the Government had never been
thoroughly overhauled before, and this
examination of it resulted in the pro
mulgation of a set of working princi
ples for the transaction of public busi
ness which are as sound today as they
were when the committee finiahed its
work. The somewhat elaborate and
costly Investigations of Government
business methods since made have
served merely to confirm the findings
of the Committee on Departmental
Methods, which were achieved without
costing the Government a dollar. The
actual saving in the conduct of the
business of the Government through
the better methods thus Introduced
amounted yearly to many hundreds of
thousands of dollars; but a far more
Important gain was due to the remark
able success of the commission In es
tablishing a new point of view in pub
lic servants toward their work.
A Belated Stove.
The need for improvement In the
Governmental methods of transacting
business may be illustrated by an act
ual case. An officer in charge of an
Indian agency made a requisition in
the Autumn for a stove costing $7,
certifying at the same time that it was
needed to keep the infirmary warm
during the Winter, because the old
stove was worn out. Thereupon the
customary papers went through the
customary routine, without unusual de
lay at any point. The transaction
moved like a glacier with dignity to
its appointed end, and the stove reached
the infirmary In good order In time for
the Indian agent to acknowledge its
arrival in these words: "The stove is
here. So 1b Spring."
The Civil Service and Of floe-Seeking.
The Civil Service Commission, under
men like John Mcllhenny and Gar
field, rendered service without which
the Government could have been con
ducted with neither efficiency nor
honesty. The politicians were not the
only persons at fault; almost as much
improper pressure for appointments is
due to mere misplaced sympathy, and
to the spiritless inefficiency which
seeks a Government office as a haven
for the incompetent. An amusing
feature of office-seeking is that each
man desiring an office is apt to look
down on all others with the same
object, as forming an objectionable
class with which he has nothing in
common. At the time of the eruption
ef Mont Pelee, when among others the
American Consul was killed, a man
who had long been seeking an appoint
ment promptly applied for the vacancy.
He was a good man, of persistent
nature, who felt that I had been some
what blind to his merits. The morning
after the catastrophe he wrote, saying
that as the Consul was dead he would
like his place, and that I couW surely
give it to him, because "even the
eftte-okers could not have applied
tor it yetr x
Otaer Commission.
The method of public service In
volved in the appointment and the
work of the two commissions Just
described was applied also in the
establishment of four other commis
sions, each of which performed its
task without salary or expense for its
memjera. i4 wholly without cost to,
the Government. The other four com
missions were:
Commission on Public Land;
Commission on Inland Waterways;
Commission on Country Life, and
Commission on National Conservation
All of these comissios were sug
gested to me bv Gifford Pinchot. who
served upon them all. The work of
the last four will be touched upon In
connection with the chapter on con
servation.
Place-Holders and Politicians Oppose.
These commissions by their reports
and findings directly Interfered with
many place-holders who were doing in
efficient work, and their reports and
the action taken thereon by the Ad
ministration strengthened the hands of
those administrative officers who in
the various departments, and especial
ly In the Secret Service, were proceed
Ins- aeainst land thieves and other cor.
runt wrong-doers. Moreover, the
mere fact that they did efficient work
for the public along lines new to
veteran and cynical politicians of the
old type created vehement hostility to
them. Senators like Mr. iaie ana con
gressmen like Mr. Tawney were espe
cially bitter against these commis
sions, and towards the end of my term
they were followed by the majority of
their fellows in both houses, who had
gradually been sundered from me by
the open or covert hostility of the
flnfini-lnl or Wall street leaders, and
Unf the newsoaner editors and politi
cian, who did their bidding in tne
interest of privilege. These Senators
and Congressmen asserted, that they
had a right to forbid the President
profiting by the unpaid aavice oi ais
interested experts. Of course I de
clined to admit the existence of any
such right, and continued the com
missions. My successor acknowledged
the right, upheld the view of the poli
ticians in question, and abandoned the
commissions, to the lasting detriment
of the people as a whole.
Reducing; the Public Debt. -One
thing Is worth pointing out;
During the seven and a half years of
my administration we greatly and use
fully extended the sphere of Govern
mental action, and yet we reduced the
burden of the taxpayers; for we re
duced the Interest-bearing' debt by
more than $90,000,000. To achieve a
marked increase in efficiency and at
the same time an Increase in economy
Is not an easy feat; but we performed
It.
Rooting Out Coi-raptta-.
There was one ugly and very neces
sary task. This was to discover and
root out corruption wherever it was
found in any of the departments. The
first essential was to make it clearly
understood that no political or busi
ness or social influence of any kind
would for one moment be even con
sidered when the honesty of a public
official was at issue. It took a little
time to get this fact thoroughly drilled
lrtto the heads both of the men within
the service and of the political leaders
without. The feat was accomplished
so thoroughly that every effort to In
terfere In any shape or way with the
course of justice was abandoned defin
itely and for good. Most, although not
all, of the frauds occurred In connec
tion with the Postoffice. Department
and the Land Office.
The Postoffice Frauds.
It was In the Postoffice Department
that we first definitely established the
rule of conduct which became univer
sal throughout the whole service. Ru
mors of corruption -In the department
became rife, and finally I spoke of
them to the then First Assistant Postmaster-General,
afterwards Postmaster-General.
Robert J. Wynne. He
reported to me. after ome investiga
tion, that in his belief there was doubt
less corruption, but that it was very
difficult to set at IV and that, the of-,
zJM&oaom
fenders were confident and defiant be
cause of their great political and busi
ness backing andhe ramifications of
their crimes. Talking the matter over
with him, I came to the conclusion that
the right man to carry on the investi
gation was the then Fourth Assistant
Postmaster - General, now a, senator
from Kansas, Joseph L. Bristow.
who possessed the iron fearlessness
needed to front such a situation, jnr.
Bristow had perforce seen a good deal
of the seamy side of politics, and of the
extent of the unscrupulousness with
which powerful influence was brought
to bear to shield offenders. Bel ore un
dertaking the investigation he came to
see me and said that he did not wish
to go into it unless he could be assured
that I would stand personally behind
him, and, no matter where his inquir
ies led him, " would support him and
prevent interference with him. I an
swered that I would certainly do so.
He went into the Investigation with
relentless energy, dogged courage, and
keen intelligence. His success was com
plete, and the extent of his services to
the Nation are not easily to be exag
gerated. He unearthed a really ap
palling amount of corruption, and he
did his work with such absolute thor
oughness that the corruption was com
pletely eradicated.
He had, of course, the experience
usual in all such investigations. At
first there was popular incredulity
and disbelief that there was much be
hind the charges, or that much could
be unearthed. Then when the corrup
tion was shown there followed a yell
of anger from all directions, and a
period during which any man accused
was forthwith held guilty by the pub
lic; and violent demands were made
by the riewspapers for the prosecution
not only of the men who could be
nrosecuted with a fair chance of secur
ing conviction and imprisonment, but
of other men whose misconduct naa
been such as to warrant my removing
them from oMice, but against whom
It was not possible to get the kind of
evidence which would render likely
conviction in a criminal case.
Suits were brought against all the
officials whom we thought we could
convict; and the public complained bit
terly that we did not bring further
suits. We secured several convictions,
including convictions of the most no
table oflendeT-s. The trials consumed
& good deal of time. Public attention
was attracted to something else. In
difference succeeded to excitement, and
in some subtle way the Juries seemed
to respond to the indifference. One of
the worst offenders was acquitted by
a Jury: whereupon not a few of the
same men who had insisted that the
Government was derelict in not crim
inally procesuting every man whose
misconduct was established so as to
make it necessary to turn htm out of
office, now turned round and, inas
much as the Jury had not found this
man guilty of crime, demanded that
he should be reinstated in office! It
Is needless to say that the demand
was not granted. There were two or
three other acquittals, of prominent
outsiders. Nevertheless the net result
was that the majority of the worst
offenders were sent to prison, and the
remainder dismissed from the Govern
ment service if they were public offi
cials, and, if they were not public of
ficials, at least so advertised as to
render it Impossible that they should!
ever again have dealings with the Bov-i
ernment. -
The department was absolutely
cleaned and became one of the very
best In the Government. Several Sen
ators came te me Mr. Garfield was
present on the occasion and said that
they were glad I was putting a stop to
corruption, but they hoped I would
avoid all scandal: that if I would make
an example of some one man and then
let the ethers quietly resign It would
coope
fifth's; j" "i -Ctetf iA' 'V-vVJI I J
r ' - -..r ?.-.. - T r I
avoid a disturbance which might hurt
the party. They were advising me in
good faith, and I was as courteous as
possible in my answer, but explained
that I would have to act with the ut
most rigor against the offenders, no
matter what the effect on the party,
and, moreover, that I did not believe it
would hurt the party. It did not hurt
the party. It helped the party. A fa
vorite warcryn American political life
has always been, "Turn the rascals
out." We made it evident that, as far
as we were concerned, this warcry was
pointless, for we turned our own ras
cals out.
The "Land Frauds.
There were Important and success
ful land fraud prosecutions in several
Western states. Probably the most im
portant were the cases prosecuted in
Oregon by Francis J. Heney, with the
assistance of William J. Burns, a secret
service agent who at that time began
his career as a great detective. It would
be impossible to overstate the services
rendered to the cause of decency and
honesty by Messrs. Heney and Burns.
Mr. Heney was my close and intimate
adviser professionally and non-prof es
sionally, not only as regards putting a
stop to frauds In the public lands, but
in many other matters of vital interest
to the republic. No man in the country
has waged the battle for National
honesty with greater courage and suc
cess, with more whole-hearted devo
tion to the public good; and no man
has been more traduced and maligned
by the wrong-doing agents and repre
sentatives of the great sinister forces
of evil. He secured the conviction of
various men of high political and finan
cial standing In connection with the
Oregon prosecutions; he and Burns be
haved with scrupulous fairness and
propriety; but their services to the
public caused them to incur the bitter
hatred of those who had wronged the
public and after I left office the Na
tional Administration . turned against
them. One of the most conspicuous of
the men whom they had succeeded in
convicting was pardoned by President
Taft in spite of the fact that the pre
siding judge. Judge Hunt, had held the
evidence amply, warranted the convic
tion, and had sentenced the man to
Imprisonment. As "was natural, the. 146
land-fraud defendants in Oregon, who
included the foremost machine political
leaders in the state, furnished the
backbone of the opposition to me in
the Presidential contest of 1912. The
opposition rallied behind Messrs. Taft
and La Follette; and, although I carried
the primaries handsomely, half of the-l
delegates elected rrom Oregon unaer
instructions to vote for me, sided with
my opponents in the National conven
tion and as regards some of them 1
became convinced that the mainspring
of 'their motive lay In the intrigue for
securing the pardon of certain of the
men whose conviction Heney had" se
cured. Swindlers on a Large Scale.
Land fraud and postoffice cases were
not the only ones. We were especially
zealous in prosecuting all of the "high
er up" offenders in the realms of poli
tics and finance who swindled on a
large scale. Special assistants of the
Attorney-General, such as Frank Kel
logg, of St. Paul, and various first-class
Federal District Attorneys in different
parts of the country, secured notable
results; Mr. Stimson and his assistants,
Messrs. Wise, Denison and Frankfurter,
in New York, for instance, in connec
tion with the prosecution of the sugar
trust and of the banker Morse, and of
a great Metropolitan newspaper for
opening its columns to obscene and
immoral advertisements; and in St.
Louis Messrs. Dyer and Nortonl, who,
among other services, secured the con
viction and imprisonment of Senator
Burton, of Kansas: and In Chicago Mr.
Sims, who raised his office to the high
est pitch of efficiency, seemed the con
viction of the banker Walsh and of the
beef trust, and first broke through the
armor of the Standard .Oil trust. It Is
not too much to say that these men,
and others like them, worked a com
plete revolution in the enforcement of
the Federal laws, and made their offices
organized legal machines St and ready
to conduct smashing fights for the peo
ple's rights and to enforce the laws in
aggressive fashion. When I took the
Presidency, It was a common and bit
ter saying that a big manT a rich man,
could not be put in jalL We put many
bisr and rich men in jail: two United
States Senators, for instance, and among
others two great bankers, one in New
Tprk and one in Chicagp. One of the
United States Senators died, the other
served his term. (One of the bankers
was released from prison by executive
order after I leflt office.) These were
merely individual cases among many
others like them. Moreover, we were
just as relentless in dealing with crimes
of violence among the disorderly and
brutal classes as in dealing with the
crimes of cunning and fraud of which
certain wealthy men and big politicians
were guilty. Mr. Sims in Chicago was
particularly efficient ip sending to the
-penitentiary numbers el -tha . Infamous
T
men who fatten on the "white slave"
traffic, after July, 1908, when by proc
lamation I announced the adherence
of our Government to. the international
agreement for the suppression of the
traffic.
The Question as te Pardons.
The views I then held and now hold
were expressed in a memorandum made
in the case of a negro convicted of
the rape of a young negro girl, prac
tically a child. A petition for his par
don had been sent me.
"White House. Washington, D. C.
Aug. 8. 1904.
"The . application for the commuta
tion of sentence of John W. Burley Is
denied. This man committed the most
hideous crime known to our laws, and
twice before he has committed crimes
of a similar, thoOgh less horrible, char
acter. In my judgment there is no
justification whatever for paying heed
to the allegations that he is not of
sound mind, allegations made after the
trial and conviction. Nobody would pre
tend that there have ever been any such
degree of mental unsoundness shown
as would make people even consider
sending him to an asylum if he had
not committed this crime. Under such
circumstances he should certainly be
esteemed sane enough to suffer the
penalty, for his monstrous deed. I
have scant sympathy with the plea of
insanity advanced to save a man from
the consequences of crime, when un
less that crime had been committed
it would have been impossible to per
suade any responsible authority to
commit him to an asylum as "insane.
Among the most dangerous criminals,
and especially among those prone to
commit this particular kind of offense,
there are plenty of a temper so fiendish
or so brutal as to be Incompatible with
any other than a brutish order or in
telllirence: but these men are neverthe
less responsible for their acts; and
nothlnir more tends to encourage crime
among such men than the belief that
through the plea of insanity or any
other method It Is possible for them to
escape paying the just penalty of their
crimes. The crime in question is one
to the existence of which we largely
owe the existence of that spirit or law
lessness which takes form in lynching.
It Is a crime so revolting that the
criminal Is not entitled to one patrlcle
of svmnathv from any human Deuig
It is essential that the punishment for
it should be not only as certain, but
as swift as possible.' The Jury in tnts
case did their duty by recommending
the infliction of death penalty. It is
to be regretted that we do not have
special provision for more summary
dealing with this type of cases. The
more we do what in us lies to secure
certain and swift justice in dealing
with these cases, the more effectively
do we work against the growth of
that lynching spirit which is so full
of evil omen for this people, because
It seeks to avenge one infamous, crime
by the commission of another of equal
Infamy. :
"The application Is denied and the
sentence will be carried into effect.
"(Signed)
"THEODORE ROOSEVELT."
The Mining War In Nevada.
One of the most curious incidents of
lawlessness with which I had to deal
affected an entire state. The State of
Nevada In the year 1907 was gradually
drifting into utter governmental im
potence and downright aparchy. The
people were at heart all right; but
the forces of evil had been permitted
to get the upper hand, and for the
time being the decent citizens had be
come helpless to assert themselves
either by controlling the greedy cor
porations on the one hand or repress
ing the murderous violence of certain
lawless labor organizations on the
other hand. The Governor of the state
was a Democrat and a Southern man,
and in the abstract a strong believer
in the doctrine of state's rights. But
his experience finally convinced' him
that he could obtain order only through
the intervention of the National Gov
ernment; and then he went over too far
and wished to have the National Gov
ernment do his police work for him.
In the Rocky Mountain States there
had existed for years what was prac
tically a condition of almost constant
war between the wealthy mineowners
and the Western Federatton of Miners,
at whose head stood 'Messrs. Haywood,
Pettlbone and Moyer. who were about
that time indicated for the- murder of
the Governor of Idaho. Much that was
lawless, much that was Indefensible,
had been done by both sides. Tne Leg
islature of Nevada was in sympathy
with, or at least was afraid of not ex
pressing sympathy for, Messrs. Moyer,
Haywood, Pettlbone and their asso
ciates. -
The state was practically without
any poMce.' and the Governor iad rec
ommended the establishment of a
state constabulary, along the lines of
the Texas Rangers: but the Legislature
rejected his request. The Governor re
ported to me the conditions as follows:
During 1907 the Goldfield mining dis
trict became divided into'two hostile
camps. Half of the Western Federa
tion of Miners were constantly armed,
and arms and ammunition were pur
chased and kept by the union as a
body, while he .mineowners on their
r -r
side retained large numbers of watch
men and guards who were also armed
and always on duty. In addition to
these opposing forces there was, as
the Governor reported, an unusually
large number of the violent and crim
inal element, always attracted to a
new and booming mining camp. Un
der such conditions the civil authori
ties were practically powerless, and the
Governor, being helpless to avert civil
war, called on me to keep order. I
accordingly threw in a body of regular
troops under General Funston. These
kept order completely, and the Gov
ernor became so well satisfied that he
thought he would like to have them
there permanently! This seemed to
me unhealthy, and on December 28,
1907. I notified him that while I would
do my duty, the first need was that
the state authorities should do theirs,
and that the first step towards this
was the assembling of the.Legislature.
I concluded my telegram: "If within
five days from receipt of this telegram
you shall have issued the necessary
notice to convene the Legislature of
Nevada, I shall continue the troops '
during the period of three weeks.. If,
when the term of five days has elapsed,
the notice has not been issued, the
troops will be immediately returned to
their former stations." I had already
Investigated the situation through a
committee, composed of the Chief of
the Bureau of Corporations, H. K.
Smith, the Chief of the Bureau of
Labor, C. P. Neill, and the Comptroller
of the Treasury, Lawrence Murray.
These men I could thoroughly trust,
and their report, which was not over
favorable to either side, had convinced
me that the only permanent way to
get good results was to Insist on the
people of the state themselves grap
pling with an wiving their own trou
bles. The Governor summoned the
Legislature, it met, and the constabu
lary bill was passed. The troops re
mained In Nevada until time had been
given for the state authorities to or
ganize their force so that violence
could at once be checked. Then they
were withdrawn.
(To be continued next Sunday.)
A Christmas Storm
- (Continued From Page 3)
better than your wife did," she
answered. "And they will have their
children to amuse them and keep them
busy."
"Teresa," he said, "If I should tell
you that I am on the high road to for
tune now. could you bear It? Well, it
Is the truth. I have made only lucky
strikes of late, miracles of successi In
another year now it is as sure as sun
rise I shall have every debt paid, and
you can go back to the old houBe and
the old life. I'm sorry for Leigh and
Bannock. But I shall help them to
their feet again. I'm where I can."
"Do you want to go back, Rodney?"
"I? Well, no, not particularly. To
tell you the truth, I like here, as the
little girl said."
"So do I, so do I, Rodney, darling! I
have had the greatest Joy of my life
here, here where I saw the storm sur
render you. Hear it roaring on now.
It seems a different thing, and we so
warm and sheltered. I will tell you
what we'll do. We'll Improve the
house and have maids for Caroline to
manage, and have gardens. I will read
with you evenings. I will go about
among the poor. I will teach the farm
ers' girls all I know. Oh, Rodney, I
never bad such a glad and happy
Christmas eve in all my life!"
"Nor V ald her husband, still hold
ing her In his arms.
(Copyright, 1913. All right reserved ) .
"Moral" Playa.
(Chicago Record-Herald.)
Mile. Deslys, the French dancer, is
headed for our shores with a moral
playlet. She will give It on Sunday
evenings in towns that do not permit
Sunday dancing. It is called "Should
a Woman Tell?" and has to do with a
girl whoi on the eve of her wedding,
is asked by her fiance for the story of
her life.
A moral play, like a moral novel.
would appear to have become, by gen
eral consent, one that contrives to end
with conventional decorum, no matter
how long and boldly it may have skirt
ed the edge of evil, nor how many In
timations and insinuations of impro
priety, or worse, It may have provoked
on its course. It is regarded as a ray
of light undergoing refraction; this is
hiii to come from the direction in
which it finally enters the eyes, all In
termediate dlvigations being over
looked or forgiven.
But readers and spectators are as
much influenced by the course taken
In the handling of a theme as by the
end reached. ' Or even more so. Too
m2ny plays and stories are hypocriti
cally trying to settle moral points by
means unsettlingly Immoral. Somehow
we do hot welcome the aid of Mile.
Deslvs and incline to believe that the
most moral plays are those which do
not bring up questions of morals at ail.