New-York tribune., 1900-05-24
PRICE THREE CENTS.
CUBAN FRAUDS IN SENATE
REPUBLICANS DEMAND MOST RIGID IN
vESTIGATION

VIEWS OF THE MAJORITY EXPRESSED BIZ
MR. PL.ATT. OF CoNNECTICUT-THE IN
sTRUCTIoNs To BRIsTow REAn
IBY TELEGRAPH THE TRIBUxEI
Washington. May 23.-The attitude of the Re-
publican majority in the Senate toward all Sc
rious proposals involving rigid investigation
by Congress of all expenditures made under
military authority in Cuba was adequately
flected in a speech delivered to-day by
Mr.. Patt. of Connecticut. the chairman of
the Senate Committee on Relations with
Cuba. Mr.. Platt took the floor primarily to
repel some of the misleading fnferences drawn
by Senator Bacon. of Georgia, in his recent
speech the Neely postal defalcations. But
though he drew attention to the extravagance
of some of Mr.. BacOn's partisan conclusions and
exonerated the Administration from all charges
of lack of zeal .horoughness in exposing the
frauds of Neely and his associates. the Senator
from Connecticut was equally emphatic in
pressing the Judgment of the Republicans in
Congress that an independent investigation by
one house or the other would have apprecia-
BILE effect in dscouraging extravaganza and re-
storing order in all branches of the Cuban ad-
ministration. AS a whole. Mr.. PIatt contended,
the American occupation had wrought inestima-
BILE benefit in Cuba, and it's record for year
and half of effort which any
Government might look with pardonable pride.
The scandals brought to light in the postal SER
vice were an undoubted blot this record. yet
they had been discovered by the vigilance OF the
Military Governor himself and their recurrence
would probably be rendered impossible by the
example made of the officials who cOnspired to
plunder the insuar treasury. other speeches
will probably be made on the Bacon resolution.
which is expected to pass in some suitable form
before the session terminates.
| THE CONNECTICUT SENATOR'S SPEECH
About month ago" began Mr.. PIatt. Gen
eraI Wood. the Governor General of Cuba. was
led to suppose that there had been irregularities
in that portion of the government of Cuba under
the supervision of the Director of Posts He
Immediately organized an inspection. which has
been unsparngIy pressed The Senator from
Georgia Cdr. Bacon) seems to think. as do some
| of the newspapers that all the malfeasance In
office and fraud have been brought TO light, not
by the United States Government officials. but
by outsiders But it is to General Wood that
the credit of the discovery of these frauds and
| wrong doings belong, and to the Administration
belongs the credit of probing to the bottom these
/ frauds. The Senator from Georgia has no
| monopoly on the shame and humiliation with
/ which every patriotic man is affected by these
| disclosures They are shocking. They are
blow-and a direct blow-to every true citizen
| Of the United States
| IF the wrongdoing-the embezzlement of Mr..
NeeIy-had occurred in Boston. New-York or
! Washington it would have been sad and shame
| full but il would not have been sad and
shameful as 1t is, since ii occurred on the island
| of Cuba where the Administration is engaged
| in a great work of freedom and philanthropy
| But nothing has occurred in the history of
| defalcations that has made such an impression
on the public mind as this-and justly so More
| than ever il is incumbent upon the Government
| TO probe this matter to the bottom. unffinch-
| fngly unsparingly. The Republican party never
| tolerated fraud or peculation embezzlement-
Neither the Republican Administration nor the
| Committee on Relations with Cuba needs any
! prodding from the opposition party TO induce
| IL to make most searching investigation
| and to use every effort 10 punish summarily
| and severely any person guilty Of wrongdoing
| or fraud in the island Of Cuba
! SUGGESTIONS TO SCANDAL HUNTERS
But some things ought TO be remembered by
those patriots who in this Presidential campaign
| year hold up their hands in holy horror and
seize upon what has been disclosed in an eE-
deavor TO cast discredit not only upon the Ad-
| ninistration. but also upon their country It
| ought 10 be remembered that in the three years
| and three months of the present Administration
this is the first opportunity they have had to
| criticise in that respect.
1T ought to be remembered that whenever
| such crimes have been disclosed under Repub-
| lican rule they have been exactingly and rigor-
| ously investigated. IL is rare that there have
| been defalcations and frauds.
There was one during the administration OF
| President Grant-the Star Route fraud-and
| when that distinguished patriot admonished the
| officials Let no guilty man escapei' he had the
| confidence OF the people of the United States.
| and before get through shall show that Pres
| fdent Mckinley has demonstrated his determina-
| tion that no guilty man in these Cuban frauds
| shall escape.
THE amount of the Irregularities in Cuba ap-
| pears to have been about $4,000 during the last
| year The frauds may have begun earlier. But
| IL is not supposed there will be loss to the
| Cuban revenues to the United States Treas
| ury This trouble has been seized upon by our
political opponents TO indicate by innuendo. and
| not by direct charge. that the fraud has been
Wholesale. and that the Cuban people have been
| plundered out of millions of dollars by dishon-
| est contracts and various fraudulent devices
Who knows there have been dishonest contracts
| down there? Nobody But If there have been We
| shall find il OUT
| Speaking of the necessity and desirability of
an investigation OF the situation in Cuba Mr.
Platt said Congress could not we'll interfere with
the investigation instituted by the Postmaster
General To do so. he thought. would very
| largely defeat the ends OF justice. What would
have been said he asked. by the press and by
the Republican partys political opponents IL the
Postoffice Department had not instituted in
stantly a rigorous Investigation? II was a duty
the Department owed to itself and to the coun-
|