Sunday Washington globe., 1902-02-16

You are liarI' said Assistant Secretary
OF the Treasury Allies to Mr.. J. D. O'Con-
nell, dismissed financial clerk of Austins
Bureau of Statistics, when that gentleman
was brought before the personnel commit
tee" of the Treasury Department to learn
his sentence of dismissal because he dared
make charges against 0 p Austin
The committee consisted Of Mr.. Allies APP
pointment clerk, Lyman dismissed officer
of the army) and Mr.. Wallace Hills, Chief
Clerk of the Department aud ex-offcio SUI
perintendent of the building. Judge I'd
Allies sat in all 1.-THE regal dignity Of presiding
Justice, and when Mr.. O'Conneii appeared
before this triumvirate Of satellites he was
asked what he had to say before the SEN
tence agreed upon was pronounced Mr..
O'Connell began by stating that he was
under the impression that an investigation
inro the charges he had preferred against
Chief Austin and which he was prepared TO
establish would be hear by the committee.
In outlining or rather in attempting to out
line his case against Austin, Mr.. O'Connell
referred to the juuketing trip Of Mr. Allies
to the Pacific Coast which he (OConnell)
had illegally paid as financial clerk by order
of his superior when Allies jumped up, red
with anger, aud exclaimed
You are a liar" His colleagues of the
trium virate were astouuded aud gazed
helplessly at Mr.. O'Counell as that gentle
man retored:
Mr.. Allies, you dare not repeat that
offensive term outside this building
whereupon Allies left his judicial seat, and
as he swept from the room, exclaimed:
I will not stay in the same building with
this man" The two assistant judges spoke
soothingly to Mr.. O'Connell after Allies de-
parture, and the investigation into the seri-
Gus charges against Chief Austin came to
an abrupt end
Mr. Allies after leaving the room ran to
Secretary Cages Office and poured into the
ear Of the man who made the New York
Custom House deal with Vanderips bank,
his tale of woe. The result was imme-
diately apparent and an order for the dis
missal Of Mr.. O'COnnell forthwith was duly
signed, sealed and delivered
Thus after thirty six years of faithful and
efficient service Mr O'COnneu was dis
missed from the service for the crime of
having conscience and protesting against
paving out the taxpayers money to iunket-
ers and seeing the bureau in which he had
served since youth demoralized by this
new conner, Austin, and deliberately turned
into a private concern Of that slick and
grasping Hannaite. The charges against o.
p Austin, chief of the Bureau of Statistics,
are of the gravest character and Mr.. O'Con-
nell should be given the opportunity to
establish the same If he can do so. Mr..
Austin is charged generally with running
the bureau as a private enterprise, aud
coming down to specifications Mr.. O'COn-
nell has day and date for a number sufi-
cient TO warrant the instant dismissal from
the public service of both Austin and Allies.
In the execution of his design to utilize
the bureau for private gain, Mr.. Austin
some while back removed Mr.. O'Connell
from his position as chief of the statistical
section. The removal was accomplished by
letter in which Mr. O'Connells efficiency
was eulogized but Mr.. Austin stated that he
(Austin) intended to take direct charge of
the statistics himself, This was a polite
lie He did no such a thing, but Austin
knew he could not manipulate O'Connell,
and that the latter would not be party to
the decentralization of the clerical force I'M
der him in preparing statistics for magazines
and foreign journals, fos (which Austin was
paid on the side. Hence Il was necessary
TO remove the honest old clerk, whose
brother organized and was pioneer chief of
this very bureau, and who had such pride
in his work that he never observed the linn
itation of hours required of the government
clerk. Mr.. ]. d. OConnell being removed
and humiliated by assignment to work
within the capacity of a fourteen-year-old
boy, Austin immediately began the syste-
matte compilation Of the salable statistics
to outsiders, foreign and domestic Austin
could not deprive Mr. O'Connell Of his
position as disbursing officer of the bureau,
and this was a snag which worried and irri-
tated him beyond expression
He did everything he could, however, to
degrade or humiliate Mr. O'Connen aud
every chief Of a section in the Bureau was
soon complaining of being behind or en-
barrassed IN the work of his particular sec
tion by reason Of Austin using the clerks
on his private affairs The ten year report
which the Bureau issues was mouths be
hind and the other reports furnished the
public were discovered 10 be full of errors.
The brain and hand Of O'Connell no longer
prepared and supervised these statistical
reports and the consequence soon appeared
in the errors which crept into the tables.
The Presidents message to Congress con-
tanned errors Of this character furnished by
Mr.. Austin's new statisticians, who, how
ever, were not so much to blame, as besides
their inexperience or unacquaintance with
this particular branch Of the statistical
work, we're so occupied in getting out tabu-
lated statements for London, England,
paper that they had to rush the work re-
quired by the department. All this, Of
course, grieved the accurate and accom-
plished statisician, O'Conuell, but being
no longer responsible, he cousoied himself
BY attending to the new duties assigned