The herald., 1897-12-26
sPoFFoRD's SHORTAGE
It Was Made Good, But Time Has De
veloped q New Circumstance

Two years or more ago one Of the au-
ditors Of the treasury discovered that
Mr.. A. X. Spofford, the librarian of con-
gress, was several thousand dollars be-
hind in his accounts, and an investiga-
tion was ordered, which developed the
fact that receipts from $4,000 or $4,000
copyrights had never been accounted
for. The discrepancy extended over a
long period Of years, and Mr.. Spofford
was extensively advertised as de-
faulter. Nobody who knows Mr.. Spot
ford would believe him guilty. 1t was
impossible for a man of his character to
have appropriated government money to
his own use, although he could offer no
explanation Like many literary men,
he Is entirely without business ability, is
notoriously absent minded, and, con-
scious of his own integrity, is unsus-
picious Of others. The natural conclu-
sion was. therefore, that the government
had been robbed by dishonest subordi-
mates in the library, and Mr.. Spofford
was permitted to mortgage his home and
sell other property. which represented
the savings of a lifetime, and make up
the deficiency. The confidence of Presi-
dent Cleveland in this theory was SO
6tIOu6 lldl lac WOulu uOL remove nlIn
but congress relieved the librarian of
financial responsibility, as Mr.. Spofford
had repeatedly recommended, and in
trusted the copyright receipts to a bond
ed officer. Although he suffered much
distress Of mind and modification, the
affair has In no way diminished public
esteem for an eminent and useful public
servant.
During the removal Of the books and
documents from the rooms they occu-
pied in the capitol to the new library
building recently the mystery has been
solved Between $4,000 and $4,000 in
checks and money orders have already
been discovered, tucked away in all
sorts of queer places. In an old desk
which Mr.. Spofford has used for a
third Of a century many of them were
found, among letters and other papers; !;
others were between pages of books,
where they were evidently placed by
him for the moment when the volumes
were open, and were then concealed and
forgotten when they were shut. Mr.
Sponord's desk was usually covered
with books, pamphlets, magazines, mu-
sic, letters. papers and other documents,
which were piled up, one on another,
until 1t could not hold any more Then
they would be cleared away in a bundle
and placed upon shelves, to await time
when the busy librarian could find the
opportunity to classify and catalogue
them. That time did not come until the
removal of the library, and among these
miscellaneous collections thousands of
dollars have been discovered, which
shows where the missing money has been
hidden. Some of the checks and money
orders are 25 years old. Many of the
checks are worthless, but the money or
ders and postal notes are still as good as
gold, and are being checked off and paid
at the postoffice department, where there
is fund amounting to several millions
OF dollars. which represents the money
orders and postal notes that have been
Issued from time to time, but have new
er been presented for redemption. Thus
the conhdence.in Mr.. Spofford's honesty
has been justified, and the proceeds will
partially reimburse him for the money
he paid the treasury to settle his ac-
counts two years ago. Some of the
checks were from publishing houses
which do large copyright business. and