New-York tribune., 1900-05-22
THE CUBAN SCANDALS.
FRAUD AND EXTRAVAGANCE IN THE
ISLAND ADMINISTRATION.

EXTRAORDINARY EXPENSES OF THE
POSTAL DEPARTMENT, WHICH SPENT
s2,s oao N SALARIES. WHILE IT'S REV
ENrEs AMOUNTED TO ONLY s25o.ooo
yvssbingnon May 2l CSpeciaD.-It is not diff
-. eo- one s.rho is.ln frequent contact with Ad-
4,s--a-.on leaders in WASHINGTON and hears
.o-,s ,f their expressions which are not for the
,,ltc ear 70 Appreciate that they deeply depiore
he C-ulan scandals and keenly realize the fact
that the party in power VIII be held to strict
account by the osuntry for the economical as
well as the honest mana cement and administra-
tion Of the iuaace'of that island, TO say nothing
Of the Philippines This is peculiarly true in the
former case wAlge the United States military
authorities are collecting and disbursing the
public revenues q Cuba and not those OF the
T-nIred states. A keen sense of this peculiar re-
lation and responsibility has already found ex-
,,rassion in both branches Of Congress In propo-
sirlons 20 appropriate money from the National
Treasury 10 make good the losses the Cuban
Treasury has sustained through the dishonesty
Of the agents e the United States. That would
in part repair ne wrong. but only in part for II
already aIpeas only too evident. even from the
imperfect information now accessible that Grim
f1al extravaganza as we'll as official peculation
and plain steling have marked the adninistra-
ton Of CubaI affairs in too many respects.
Ia the Drstal service. for example. which is
carried on ulier the magnificent and imposing
name q Department OF Posts" under an official
described BY the equally magnificent and i'm
3osing title e '-Drec9or-Gsueral OF Posts" Plain
Director Of Posts" was not dignffed enough.
and SO the 'TfneraI' was added-W hereupon the
Official who pore II Immediately proceeded to
sustain his NV dignity by adding TO his official
STAFF and -ssing their salaries. and having his
own iucreasd TO a sum which. together with
his other Official "pe-quisites'' made total ex-
ceeding the official salary OF the Postmaster
General OF ne United States He also set up a
carriage at cOst,of several thousand dollars for
the first yer-to 'the revenues Of Cuba-and his
miscellaneous" official expenditures jumped
from about 81 900 in the first half OF last year
10 nine tins that sum in the second half. The
combined slaries of himself and the clerks and
other enpoyes in his office amounted to more
Than S219..0 last year which was about SAT 600
more thanau the public school teachers in the
island received. and nearly twice much
was paid salaries in the Department Of Ag
riculrure nd Public Works-and salaries there
were OF agenerous scale. No wonder that the
expenditues for salaries under the Director
General Posts were classified b. both the
Military Cvernor and the Auditor Of the island
extraordinary expenditures me SUM OF
S219O00 as expended on the headquarters ad
Ininisrratin OF postal service which consisted
OF SO emioyes besides the sixty-eght az head
quarters: 7tich had go postoffices-fewer than
there are any State in the Union; which COW
cred eigft-one mail routes OF every description.
with toaI mileage OF ABB miles; which had
forty-fve-ailway postal clerks and ninety-six
letter carers. and the total revenues of which
arnountedo $3.50 100 OF course, all the salaries
under the0eparIrneut Of Posts. and many other
expenses the postal service. had TO be met
from thecustoIns revenues other sources.
But the counts Of ali the expenditures until.
within II present month were duly certified
and PASS by the military auditor in Cuba
NaturaE. members OF Congress as well as OF.
the Caloist and other supporters OF the Ad-.
rninistratu are anxious to know what propor--
ton OF Re total expenditures in Cuba other
than thoE on account OF the postal service has
been on ccount OF salaries. With view to~
satisfy III desire in part the following state
n1ents has been compiled from the report sent
70 the Seate by the Secretary Of War the
18th insr The first covers the entire year
1899. an6hows the total amount paid in sala-
rfes on asouut Of each OF the departments and
bureaus entioneI. II is as follows;