Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-26

called upon by Colonel Burton for his au-
thority for this allowance submltted the
letter, 'upprs's.1 that part Of it prohibit
Rnthbone Should Reimburse.
In closing the discussion as to per diem
the report says:
ut appears. therefore, that Director Cen
eral Rathbone dfew from August /, 1890.
to April 80. 1903, the sum of s1.ss5 as a
per diem, which was unauthorized, and
that the drawing Of the same was fraudu-
lent; and l. therefore. recommend that he
required ,t to n retmSar.s the postal reve-
In the bills rendered for the purchase
Of furniture for the official residence there
appear many items that were paid for
from the postal revenues that cannot be
| considered as house furniture. Among
these items are charges for a trunk, gloves
dog collar. overcoat, hats for coachman.
shirts. collars and cuffs for S.-hman etc
Under what authority OF law these ex-
penses for clothing were made. am I'M
able to state. Director General Rathbone
claimed that 1t was the custom of all
| countries that high officials should be fur
nished with such attendants. and that
they should be clothed at the expense OF
| the public revenues
when the character Of these purchases
became known to the Postmaster General
he wrote a letter to Director General Rath-
"I have today for the first time seen
certain Of your bills director general Of
posts. which were brought here by Colonel
| Burton Some of these bills are not only
without authority or Justification. but are
scsnoalous and never should have been
passed or paid. The auditor who is re-
sponsible to different department, was
inexcusable in allowing them. and your
action in presenting them for allowance
was grossly represensible. Without wait
ing for review and reconsideration of
t1,aSa liz, o,o ri 4f,,l 49,,
at once reimburse to the island treasury
the Sums thus improperly paid
Rathbone made numerous official trips
as director general of posts, one in April.
1890, as a tour of Inspection around the
island. He was accompanied by his fam
lily. The report shows that not only Rath-
of his family. on this trip We're paid from
! the postal revenues. He also made a trip
to the United States in April and May,
1899. accompanied by his secretary. The
| report shows that he had no official bust
ness in the United States outside of the
city of Washington, though he charged as
official expenditures his expenses to Gin
cinnau and Hamilton. Ohio. where he went
to attend to private business
The report discusses at length his trip to
Cincinnati. Hamilton and Cleveland and
| closes by saying that Rathbone was aware
at the time that the charging of these ex-
penses to the Cuban postal revenues was
Unauthorized and fraudulent
| Another trip was made to the United
States in October and November 1899 He
was absent from Cuba about month. His
expenses on this trip were sS2S77. one item
of S2I6.15 bein.: Cor his personal hotel ex-
penses for eight days while in New York
! awaiting the sailing of the steamer for
! Havana. Rathbone's family were in New
York with him at this time. He states that
no part of this expense was for his family.
| In discussing the subject, the report says:
II do not think it is reasonable to believe
that the director general expended $3.50
| a day for personal hotel expenses while in
| New York awaiting the sailing of the YES
sci for Havana, but do believe that these
| expenses cover the entire hotei expenses of
himslf and family. and that they have been
fraudulently charged against the postal
revenues Of Cuba
Drew Fraudulent Warrants.
Before starting his tour of inspection
around the island of Cuba Director General
Rathbone drew two warrants. one in favor
of w. E. Wilmotf cashier, for $500. and one
| In favor of himself for like amount. The
expenses Of the trip aggregating S2sO.O7.
were paid from the warrant drawn in favor
of W. E. Wtlmot, cashier. The remaining
S213.93 was returned TO the auditor and
ceipt taken therefor The other warrant
was lost and payment stopped. 1t was
never found or presented for payment On
June 30 following warrant was drawn in
! favor of Z. G. Rathbone for $500 in lieu
| of warrant No. f2Oi, lost: and on July ) it
was ndorsed by Rathbone and cashed No
accounting has ever been made by Rath
bone for this $3.50.
When he made his trip to the United
States in April and May, 1899, he also drew
two warrants in the sum of $500 each. both
payable to himself. One was cashed at Ha-
vana on April Do before he sailed. From
this warrant the expenses of the trip. ag-
grega ting S42J. 40, were paid. and the re-
ma.nder. SIi.o5. appears to have been re-
| turned to the auditor. The second warrant
was cashed In Washington by Rathbone
himself. and no accounting has ever been
made of the $500 received. No part of it
was necessary to defray the expenses of the
/ trip, the expenses having been paid from
the proceeds of the warrant cashed in Ha-
vana.
In discussing this subject the report says:
| Prom the records 1t appears that Direc-
tor General Rathbone has drawn two war
rants to himself in the sum of 5000 each.
received the money thereon and made no
accounting whatever for the same to the
| department of posts There stands against
him. therefore, the charge of unlawfully
appropriating $1,000 of the Cuban postal
! funds to his own USE.
There were many large expenditures by
Rathbone and Nicely for which no vouch-
ers were filed. when vouchers could have
been easily obtained. These expenditures
were usually made by Nicely and approved
by Rathbone. Assistant Auditor Reeves
when asked why he passed such expense
accounts. stated that he did not feel that
he had the right to refuse to allow that
| which the director general of posts had
indicates that he had conception of the
duties and responsibilities Of an accounting
officer
Evidence of COlluxiOn.
The report says: ct do not credit Reeves
statement however; the evidence is too
strong of COLLISION existing between Nicely
Rathbone and Reeves for the purpose of
thus passing these unwarranted expense
accounts
For some months such miscellaneous ex-
penditures aggregated as much as $3.50.
Such items as repairs 5000" freight.
$500 miscellaneous expenses. TS.' ap-
pear without any receipts or accompanying
vouchers whatever. Director General Rath-
bone, on being asked as to these miscel-
| laneous expenditures said that he supposed
Nicely was honest and that the accounts
were right, and he therefore ordered them
paid. The report goes on to say:
Gen. Rathbone has been engaged in the
government service many years. and knows
that such a method of presenting bills and
such expenditures are wholly unwarranted
and bear the strongest evidence Of corrup-
ton. Therefore, for him to approve such
| accounts renders him equally guilty with
Nicely. The total amount of these miscel-