Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-20
A TWIST FOR RAUM.
The Pension Commissioner Puts in
Another Day on the Rack.
RIDDLED WITH TART QUESTIONS
BE Says He Has Never Made Removals for
Political Reasons,
ASHE is UNABLE TO REMOVE ANYONE

WASHINGTON, March 19.-The e.amina-
ton of Commissioner Raum, of the Pension
Bureau, was resumed to-day by the special
Pension Office Investigating Committee of
the House. The Commissioner said that
Secretary Noble had yesterday disapproved
his recommendation for the appointment of
his daughter, Mrs Walters, as his private
secretary, and had ordered her to return to
her work in the Census Office.
Mr.. Enloe asked the Commissioner if his
sen, when acting as appointment clerk, had
not charged notary fee of 25 cents. He re-
piled that his son was a notary before he
(the sony went into Office, and charged a
fee. The matter was not stopped by the
Secretary of the Interior. There had been
complaint because the chief clerk of the
War Department had charged such fee
for swearing in a great number of persons.
Witness suggested and penned an amendment
which Representative Cannon inserted in
an appropriation bill, stopping the practice
and making il the duty Of officers of the
departments TO do this work without charge.
He did this while his son was in the office.
Mr.. Enloe asked the Commissioner how
much time he had been absent from his
Office since his appointment as Commits
sioner.
Mr. Raum did not know. There was
record of his absence, and he would furnish
it. He mad observed the civil service law
with the same fidelity that he observed
other statutes. He never made removal
except for cause.
Various Causes of Removal.
sioner, were various He did not think the
law defined these causes. 1ncompetencv
and drunkenness were causes. Asked for
other causes, he said: eff man enters
upon an intrigue TO injure the Office or to
iniure the Commissioner and has engaged in
giving out information and giving aid and
comfort to those who are trying to destroy
the Commissioner or throw odium on the
Office, regard that as a cause, and good
one with emphasisl, and have acted on
it in several instances" He had never re-
moved any person because of difference in
politics.
After going into the history of the cir
cumstances connected with the demand for
the resignation of Green B. Raum, Jr., Mr..
Enloe asked if the witness, when he re-
turned to Washington, had seen the Presi-
dent in regard 10 it.
The Commissioner said his son had an ap-
plication pending before the Interior De-
partment to be admitted to the bar of the de-
partment He spoke of this to the Presi-
dent, and took occasion to speak of the serv-
ices his son had rendered in the Pension
Office, saying he had discharged his duties
with energy end intelligence; and told the
President he would be perfectly willing to
have the 800 persons in the Pension Office
examined as TO the correctness OF the man
ner in which they came into the service.
Mr.. Raum's Talk With the President
Witness also spoke to the President of
the charge that his son had attempted to
defraud the government of So which came
into his hands; told the President the
circumstances, and said that in his opinion
no greater outrage had ever been perpetrated
than to charge his son with undertaking to
withhold that money from the government
Witness then spoke of his sons desire to
practice before the Interior Department
Did not speak with reference to his son in
Office, and did not desire that His son was
not admitted to practice. Assistant
Secretary Chandler acted on the application.
Witness had never talked with the Attorney
General or any one else with a view to the
prevention of criminal prosecution of his
son. Had never told his son or any one
else to endeavor to stop prosecution.
Mr.. Enloe asked if, in his interview with
the President, the witness had told him
there was conspiracy in the Pension Office
to break down the witness administration.
Commissioner Raum replied that he did
not remember that in the interview he had
made such statement to the President, but
he had told the President SO at some time.
Mr. Enloe-Did he state that you could
remove anyone hostile to your administra-
tion, regardless of the views of the Secre-
tary?
Raum Cannot Remove ANYBODY
Mr. Raum-I cannot, under the laws and
the Constitution, remove anyone, and of
course the President did not tell me any
such thing. 1 cannot recommend.
Mr. Enloe-Did he say he would have
the Secretary approve your recommenda-
tions?
Mr. Raum-I don't think our converse
tion led to that. 1 don't recall such a state |
ment
Mr.. Enloe next put in evidence affidavits |
made bv Messrs. Howard and Engle CLERKS |
in the Pension Ofice), whose dismissal the |
Commissioner had recommended, making |
charges that Horace G.. Slower had paid |
Theodore Smith $50 to be transferred to the |
field; that they had seen Stover give Smith |
the money. 1t was charged that Green B.
Raum, Jr., got this money and had solicited |
money of Engle.
Mr.. Payson said this related to a matter
long after young Raum was out of |
office, but that he would not object to the
atfldavlts, if it were expected to connect the
Commissioners recommendation for the
dismissal of Howard and Engle with it.
The Commissioner, in explanation of his
recommendation of dismissal, read q letter
dated September 25, 1891, recommending
the dismissal of Special Examiner Francis
NJ Taylor because he was an unsuitable
person to discharge duties in connection
with pension claims and also because he
associated with George B. Fleming, who
had endeavored TO break down the Pension
Office
Dismissals Asked for Conspiracy.
Mr.. Raum also read letters recommending
the dismissal Of j. E. Engle and Edward
Howard because they had conspired with
each other to destroy the character and
standing of Special Examiner Slower by
charging that he had paid to secure his
transfer to the field, and had also tried to
iniure the character Of the Commissioner of
Pensions by charging that he had been i'm
influenced in the matter of Stoyer's
assignment.
The Commissioner said he had thoroughly
this matter, and had come to
The conclusion that Howard and Enple had
made false charges. He then read another |
etter in reference to Taylor, charging that
Tavlor was preiudiced and overbearing in |
lis treatment OF pension claimants; that he
net applicants as if they were frauds, and |
hat he acted as a spy upon the Commits
ioner.
In connection with the recommendation |
nat Engle and Howard be dismissed. the
Commissioner submitted second letter to