St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-06-27
CARAEGIE'S CROOKED JOB.
SUPERINTENDENT CLINE ATTEMPTS
TO DEFEND HIMSELF
EXAMINED BY CUMMINGS.
He Claims Thptthe Changes Made
in the Diagrams We're Not for
Fraudulent Purposes = Cline
Acknowledges That He De
stroyed All HIS Books, as They
Contained "a Lot of stuff"

WASHINGTON. June 26.-Supt. Cline,
in charge of the :armor plate press shops
at the Carnegie works nt'the. time Of the
neutrality-suspicious. in filling govern
ment contracts, began his Testimony be-
fore the congressional investigating
Committee today. The witnesses here
tofore examined had blamed Cline for
most OF the Irregularities, SO that much
interest was attached to his eyamina-
ton. He was cross-examined by Chair
a Cummings. He said he had gen.
eral charge of treating armor plates,
and gave written and verbal directions
to the .workmen. He construed the gov
eminent specification that plates were
to have a~"uniform- treatment" to
mean that there were to be uniform re-
suits. Mr.. Cummings questioned Cline
closely on the charges made by In
former Sill; that Cline changed the rec
O-ds@ of treatments. Cline said he gave
to Sill and other clerks written direc-
tons of how. the plates should be
treated. Then the actual work done
was entered on the workmen's states.
The clerks then returned to Cline a
transcription from the states.
He changed the figures before the
reports of actual work we're submitted to
the government Officers. Cline then
submitted diagrams of the states for
the purpose of showing THAI the changes
he made were not for fraudulent pur-
poses. lie nfa1s the changes, he de-
clared. as a result of practical expert
ence. The changes covered prior work
done on plates. shown by the work
mems figures. Cline charged that SLIPS
testimony as to the states had sup
pressed one-half of the entries on these
states. There had never been a ia lse
entry for the purpose OF fraud. Mr..
Cummings then drew out the statement
that Cline had destroyed all his books.
He said he had-dOne fhisA'because they
contained a lot OF Stuff he knew moth
ing about. Sill and the other clerks
had made these entries. The books
were DESTROYED after the settlement
with the government had been made.
The destruction of the books.
CLINE ASSERTED,
had not7been for the purpose of destroy
ing evidence. He now had no record Of
the treatment of armOr plates.
Cline said that as a whole the sheets
were misleading, II showed cniy a
part of the record of work done. Repre-
sentative Money took mp a specific
charge on a change on a sheet. 1t
showed that all armOr plate was actu-
ally in the furnace eighteen hours.
Gin IS figures on the sheet showed that
he had raised the number of hours to
thirty-six. Representative Talbot asked
why this specific change had been made.
TO prevent 1usSing," answered Cline.
This fuss" he said, would be made
by government officers. He wanted to
please them.
My superiors knew what l was
doing,"- added Cine. He mentioned
Supt. Corrie. of
THE ARMOR SHOPS,
as one who knew what was Icing done.
The clerks did not know the technical
details of the work, and such informa-
tion as they might give the government
inspectors would be misunderstood. and
usedtO create trouble at the ordnance
bureau department. The naval officials
did not understand such information as
they received.
Cline said his changes in records were
based-on starting from a cold furnace,
that is, he added, the time necessary in
getting the furnace hot enough for the
arnlor plates. Witness said he destroyed
the beoks On his own responsibility.
Cline denied that he had stated that the
capacity of the furnaces was insufficient
t. do the government work properly.