The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-08
THE GOVERNMENT ROBBED.
STLRTLINa DISCOVERY IN THE POST
OFFICE DEPARTMENT.

Many Sans stolen At Money order Of
noss-The Losses Way Run Us ruto tho
Theusanas and May Reach rnto the HrMions
Result OF Careless Checking or Accounts.
wAsHNeToN, Jan. 7.-Henry A. Castle, audi
tor for the Post Office Department, has discov-
cred that several Postmasters at money order
Offices have taken advantage Of the careless
system of bookkeeping and checking Of accounts
in vogue under the last Administrative and
have robbed the Government. How much the
Government has lost by these frauds is not
known at present, nor can it DO definitely
known for o long time. but enough frauds have
already been discovered to show that the losses
will run up into the thousands of dollars. II 1t
does not reach into the millions It will DO due to
tho honesty OF ignorance Of tho Postmasters,
and not TO any vigilance on the part Of the Post
ONCE Department. Attention was called to the
necessity for q change in the methods Of keep
ing the accounts and Of q change in the money
order blanks some time ago, and the changes
were put into effect on Monday last.
For three years the department. has been
auditing the accounts Of the money order offices
by means Of stubs. A book of orders was fur
nished each Postmaster. Along the left-hand
side Of the blank is a column Of figures. II no
tore out the blank properly tho figures on tho
right-hand side Of the stub would correspond to
those on tho left-hand margin Of the money
order. and the advice and the account would
tally. But II no chose he could tear off the
order and the advice at the 500 mark and the
stub at the 81 mark, and by selling the order
for 800 pocket the 500 difference. Detection
was almost impossible. for the reason that the
accounts were all audited by means of the
stubs. Tho order In course of time reached
another Office and was paid. 1t was sent with
A.. -1-a.- a. H. ---f- -
tho disbursement Of the money, but they were
never compared with the stub of the office Of
issue. In checking up the amount of money re-
coived for orders the stubs we're compared with
the record furnished by the Postmaster. and II
the accounts Tailed they were accepted. Thus,
II the Postmaster, after filling out an order for
q larger amount Of money than his stub showed.
should make his account correspond to the stub,
there was no means Of detecting him. Few
Postmasters. however, knew this. and conse-
Quently the percentage of loss will be very small.
To determine just how much tho Government
has lost will be q srupendous undertaking.. Tho
accounts for the past three years must be gone
over. During that time 100,0 o0,o 900 money
orders have been issued and redeemed. and tho
transactions amount to hundreds of millions of
dollars. Mr.. Castle has had 300 clerks at work
on them. and it will take 100 clerks q year to
60 over them thoroughly. Several cases were
discovered the first day, two of them being in
ono Nebraska office, whore the Postmaster had
issued money orders for 500 each and charged
himself with two for 81 each. Mr.. Castle said
to-day that MS rapidly as the cases were discov-
cred they would be reported to the Treasury
Department, and then reported back to tho
Post Office Department for prosecution. All
Postmasters at money order offices are bonded
officials and the Government can recover from
their bondsmen.