Middletown transcript., 1881-06-24
Washington Correspondence Of Phi
lelohiG Times.
Windom's Inquiry Ended.

Washington Correspondence Of RtiIG-
delohiG Times.
WINDOWS Inquiry Ended.
Secretary Windom's efforts to reform
the existing abuses Of the Treasury De
partment have been applauded by all
good citizens of the country, irrespec-
tive of political differences. The start
ling reports of irregularities that have
leaked out from time to time during
the last month, have confirmed popular
belief in a state Of affairs which re-
quires a thorough overhauling and the
stern application of the official pruning
knife. The new Secretary has been
credited with the will and determi-
nation to probe these irregularities to
the bottom. Some doubt has been en-
tertained as to the expediency Of keep
ing his investigation secret. Nobody
has doubted, however, that he would
carry that investigation to the end and,
when that end was reached, make short
work Of culprits. While the public,
who foots the bills, has an unquestion-
able right to know how its affairs are
being managed or mismanaged, it
might be willing to trust to the discre-
tion Of the Secretary Of the Treasury as
to the exact time when that information
should be given. 1t will learn with re
gret that in the face of all these inter-
esting disclosures this discretion is now
used to put an end to the investigation
itself. Yet this is the fact. 1t may
be, as has been limited several times,
that this investigation has developed
too much. 1t may be that the charac-
ters of high officials are too seriously
involved to carry the inquiry to its leg
innate conclusion, or it may be that the
sop of Pitney's removal is deemed sufi-
cient to silence public clamor and put
an end to public curiosity. At any
rate, the investigation has been ordered
stopped. The officials who composed
the investigating committee have been
ordered to their regular desks and the
whole thing ends. This will be a sore
disappointment to Mr.. Windom's
friends, who have pointed to his ener-
getic method of reform with some boast
ing and much pride.
The reason for this sudden change of
tactics the astonished public must fig
ure out for itself. simultaneously with
this discovery new facts are coming to
the surface which show most conGlusi-
vely that the Secretary was on the right
road. A little futher down beneath
the Overcoats ard bay rum and lunches
of fOrty-candle power would have been
found still richer ore. So far the COM
mittee has been surfaGe-mining. a
little deeper and it would have struck O
woman, perhaps two women. There
has been some surprise expressed that
the woman in the case has not been
discovered. She has turned up in q
sealSkin cloak worth $3.50 and diamonds
and other trappings to match. The
same official who passed upon Custodian
Pitney's accounts is alleged to have
passed upon the woman. The sealskin
robe Of $3.50 value is not, it must be
understood, the regulation wrap for
Treasury ladies drawing $3.50 to 5000
per annum, nor is there any law provi-
ding for the same out of the contingent
fund, Where twelve overcoats came
from, charged as billiard cloth, - for
desk covers, it was not impossible to
extract a $3.50 sealskin charged as
something else. The same lady, it is
very properly stated, did not wear the
royal contingent to the Office, but came
in a common $175 affair Of the same
extraction. This precaution was OBJ
served to prevent the inevitable jeal-
Ousy and dangerous envy Of her sister
clerks, The same favored lady is repu-
ted to live in a very handsome estab-
lishment in a fashionable part Of the
town, to support which must require
from five to ten thousand year. The
truth of this is not vouched for, but
the story is not incredible. 1t opens
the way out for the heretofore myste-
Fious disappearance Of carpets and fun,
niture, deodorized alcohol and the
Waste-papeF fund, 1t is evident that
Secretary Window stopped the Trea-
sury investigation a little short Of some
very absorbing discoveries.
With all these developments it would
seem that the official inquiry was really
getting too heavy a contract for Mr.,
WINDOWS young men to handle. Know.
ing ones in the Treasury declare they
have only scratched the surface of |
things.