Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-09-11
Washington Letter.


, Ru'i "ld iepuhllchn party IL brought
to hight The hackneyed metaphor,
o" honey .combed with fraud" is no
tropical exagSeratIon, when applied
to tho Departments, since 1860.
TIE able aud true men placed over
the Departments and Bureaus by
/ rr.sidcut Cleveland have, many vi
/ them. not been IA office five months,
aud they have been impeded 10y the
civil service stumbling block, which
compels them To make their investl-
cations with the knowledge OF, and
/ through. tho very rascals who need
to be Investigated But, in spite of
all obstacles. nearly every day has
It's sensation Of "A gang Of officials
ani clerical bandits dragged from
their Businesses and despoiled of
then booty. Early this week, it was
the Alabama CLAIMS Commission, in
which Walker Blame, the son cf the
Republican candIdntc. held n 50 800
place aud helped many other salaried
fnvoiitea TO do nothing.
The Court which was organized in
1874 to henr proof Of claims to be
pn,d out of the SIS 800 900 awarded
hy tho Geneva uiUitration commits
,lon, was continued 10y varies acts Of
! Congress. In December, 1917, it
wa. constituted of five judges, ut an
annual salary Of 20. 600 each, and a
clo,k at sj 800. aud an attorney at
~. 900. aud stenographer at 81 800.
| Provision was mado Torrent OF court
rooms. printing. stationery, furni-
tuio, fuel aud other incidental neces-
saty expenses all to he paid out Of the
funds before judgments were paid.
The court was ioorganized by
law IN 1882 with tho same officers
aud Salaries as before, except only
three judges. When Controller
Durham came 10 look into the nc
accounts Of the court he found ont.
side of tho Offices named rs author
ised by Congress, 1t had on the pay
rolls an assistant counsel for the
United States, clerk TO the assistant
counsel. experts, assistant experts,
clerk 10 experts. messengers, watch
men. etc, whose salaries amounted
10 t3i 600 per year. The Con-
Ioller also found in the quarterly
returns that there hal been paid to
other assistant counsel over IS. 900
for the quarter ending December 81
1884. and about 81 900 for the quar-
ter ending March 81. 1856, besides
other illegal payments. Among
these special counsel so employed are
Walker Blaine. +. ID. Hunt, Ham.
ilton Fish. Jr.. George +. Freling-
huysen and others. These pay.
msnts were endorsed as correct by
tho presiding Judge Of the Court.
The Controller iinds no law author
ising these payments. and after con.
aul,ing with the Secretary Of the
Treas ury. he has decided to stop all
future payments OF tho claims.
Since the presont Superintendent
II the Pension Bureau building was
appointed. two months ago. discov-
cries have been made, upon which
charges ~ theft. false contracts and
embegxlement will be founded =,
against his predecessor. Mr.. Dicker-
son. Clerks. lnborers aud other EN-.
ploycs are implicated with the Su.
perintendent for the purpose OF
systsma,ic stealing, which has been
carried on Tor yoars.
The investigation is not yet fin
isbed, but a preliminary report has
been made 10y tho Commissioner OF
Pensions. from which il appears that
when Dickerson was Custodian OF
the Pension Bureau buildings, the
carpets that were lifted in the Spring
20 make room for the Summer mat
ting. did not como back 10 their
former places when the Summer was
over. The fag-ends only were pro-
ducei. jus, TO show the necessity for
ordering new carpets.
Several of tho men involved in the
charges have recently built cottages
at Colonial Beach and elsewhere,
aud furnished them on most advan
tageoua terms. Window aud door
cases aud other materials used in
building the cottages are are said to
have been stolen ready. made, or in
handy shape. from the Pension
building. aud carpets, chairs, desks
ani other useful articles OF furniture
which have greatly contributed to
the elegance Of the cottage interiors,
were obtained from the same source.
Most OF the work Of erecting these
cottages Il Is SAID. was done by car
pentera and laborers employed by
the Pension Bureau aud paid by the
United States Government.
Dem.