Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-21
An Alleged Report on the Case Of
Mr.. Spoford.
TREASURY OFFICIALS ARE RETlCEN1
The Librarian Makes a Frank
Statement of Facts.
ADJ NIT T ED SUM DU E

has made a partial report, but In the alb
sence of Fifth Auditor Holcomb, his dep
uty. Mr.. ]. J. Willie, declines to go into de-
tails pending the receipt of a communica-
ton which he is expecting from Mr.. Spot
ford. Mr.. Willie declined to affirm or deny
the truth of a story printed this morning
by the New York World, which states
that Mr.. Spofford Is short in his accounts,
according to the experts report about
$35 OOe. The. World said that Mr.. Spofford
had utterly failed to account for moneys
received for searching the copyright files
and for furnishing kindred information IN
reply to inquiries. 1t also stated that Mr..
Spofford had carried on the rolls positions
that were untitled, that employees received
salaries much below those credited to them
on the pay rolls, and that Mr.. Spofford had
offered to make good $4,000 of alleged dis
cfepancies.
Refused to Go Into Details.
Deputy Auditor Willie refused to go into
any of these details pending the arrival
of the communication he Is expecting. He
admitted, however, that until the inquiry
instituted several weeks ago Mr.. Spotford
had not made a complete accounting for
several years-how many Mr.. Willie de-
clined to say. Mr.. Spotford handles the
moneys received from copyrights and dis
burses the salaries of the employees in his
office. Mr.. Willie declined to even approx
mate the average receipts of the librarian
for copyright sources, stating thas that
could only be disclosed by the result of the
investigation. With reference to report
that Secretary Carlisle had recommended
Mr.. Spofords immediate removal he called
attention to the fact that Mr.. Spofford is
responsible by law to the President alone.
Signatures on Pay Rolls.
According to the Worlds statement, Mr.
Spofford is alleged to have got the sigma
ture of Mr.. Stroup and other employees
in the library receiving from $40 to s75 per
month to pay roll at the rate of s., 800 a
year in the case of Mr.. Stroup and 500
a month in the case of the other employ es.
1t is stated that this discrepancy between
the actual pay roll and the salaries paid
was discovered by accident through the
interest taken by Senator Jones in Mr..
Stroup. 1t is said that son of Senator
Jones made an investigation at the Treas
Try Department to ascertain what pay
was allowed Mr.: Stroup for his services,
and discovered that the pay roll which he
had signed at the solicitation of Mr.. Spot
ford certified that he had been paid $3.50
for his services during. the months Of
of 81, 800 a year. Mr.. Stroup had not been
employed at the library during the month
of April-in fact, he was in Arkansas part
of that month-and during the months Of
May. June and July he only received $50
i month, making $50 in all.
At the same time. 1t is alleged, Mr.. Jones
discovered that the papers signed by
Messrs. Scott and Mahan certified that
their services during the same months.
when in reality they had never received
mere than SIS month each.
What Mr.. SpOfOrd Says.
Mr.. Spofford, when seen today, dictated
the following statement:
I'm a statement involving SO large a
field in which simple and easily explained
circumstances have been distorted so as
to make the strongest unfavorable impress
sion, it would require more time than this
hasty statement to explain the whole mat
ter.
Regarding the charge as to search fees
for copyrights, which are asserted to be
illegal, they appear to the librarian plainly
authorized by the copyright law, which
provides a fee of fifty cents for copies
Of the records. Copies of the record, IL
they mean anything, mean a statement in
whose hames copyrights are entered or
assigned as the case may be. All fees
charged under this head, like ail others
received on copyright account, have been
regularly recorded iii the books OF daily
cash receipts and paid into the treasury
like other fees.
Regarding the statement that any du-
plicate vouchers have been paid 1t is a
fact that two bills and two only, one of
twenty-five dollars and one of about six
dollars were by mistake of the entering
clerk placed in the accounts a second time
for payment. these bills being found with
out receipts attached, but neither of them
marked as duplicate.
The Payment of Salaries.
"As to the payment of salaries on pay
rolls, the librarian has acted under the
belief that the law Of 1874 is in full force.
This law provides that whenever the duties
of clerk of higher grade can as well be
performed by one of a lower grade it shall
be lawful to SO divide higher salary as
to employ more than one clerk under it.
provided it Is done within the limits of the
not only divided salaries at times, but has
employed Tor longer period at lesser
rate on salary appropriations, thus secur-
ing for the government service twice as
much labor as could have been had had
the full salary been paid to one man. As
he stated to the treasury auditor, it came
to him in the nature of surprise that
this course, securing as 1t did greatly more
service to the library for the same sum,
was either improper or illegal AS soon.
however, as it was made known to him
that it was objected to, which was several
months ago, the librarian Immediately dis
continued the practice.
TT is entirely true that the librarians
accounts have been involved, and, In some
instances, much confused. IN the dis
charge Of the onerous and complicated
duties of his double office as librarian of
Congress and registrar OF copyrights he
has postponed and neglected the regular
balancing of his accounts. The most
pressing and imperative duties of his office,
consisting of the daily registry of copy
rights, examination as to what was or was
not proper legal subject of copyright, the
signing Of all copyright certificates, the
answering of an enormous correspondence,
involving hundreds of thousands of letters,
the purchase of books for the library at
home and abroad, the supervision of the
catalogue work day by day. the examina-
ton of all copyright material received, the
ircessant duty Of prompt answers to all
calls for books and information in every
field of inquiry and the prescribing and
revising Of the work Of his assistants, both
In the library department and the copy
right bureau, all these pressing labors,
from which there was no escape. have led
to the long neglect of accounts which
should have been attended to.
The Discrepancy Due.
.'rhe discrepancies both in the copyright
and the salary accounts, when fully audit
ed, will apparently leave a sum slightly ex
ceediEg $4,000 due to the treasury, which
the librarian is ready promptly to adjust.
Stripped of all sensationalism," concluded
Mr. Spofford, this is succinct account of
the whole matter"
Being questioned regarding the reported
discrepancy as to the number Of employees
authorized by law and the number actually