The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-18
DOUBLE PAY GIVEN
 AND NO WORK DONE 
Graft Honeyc0mbed the Wash ingt0n City Post
 office.


 Postmaster General
 Smith, Retired.
 Washington, June 17-Postmaster Gen eral Payne today made public the reply of Fourth Assistant Postmaster Bristow to the charges of Seymour W. Tulloch, former cashier of the Washington City postoff1ce, regarding the irregularities in the postal administration, and also re- ports of inspection and investigation of the Washington postoff1ce by inspectors between June 30, 1899, and July 31. 19OO together with the transcript of the Tul- loch charges made some years ago and the conclusions thereon then reached by Postmaster General Charles Emory Smith.
 These papers constitute by far the most significant documents yet made public as a result of the sweeping postal investi- gation. The reports show the existence of many irregularities during the period involved.
 ORDERS FROM ABOVE"
 The inspector who investigated the ir- regularities reports that the files of the postoffice cashier show direct orders from superior authorities for the disbursement of all the questionable items cited.
 The inspector urged that the respon- sibility for the many illegal appointments, the payment of two salaries to one and the same person, and the disbursement of thousands of dollars for which prac- tically no service was performed, should be placed where 1t properly belongs, and the many abuses corrected"
 In a summary of the several reports the Postmaster General says:
 "The charge of MT. Tulloch is, in its essence. against President Mckinley and Postmaster General Smith, President Me Kinley is no longer hving; Postmaster Smith. who carried out President Mc- Kinley's policy, has answered for him self. ,.--
 With regard to the present manage ment of the Washington postoffice and the conduct of any and all men charged with wrong doing who have been in the postal service under the present admin istration, a thorough and searching in vestigation is now being made"
 The Postmaster General says:
 INVESTIGATED BY SMITH.
 "It will be seen that the whole subject was taken up by Postmaster General Smith and investigated by him. At the same time, all matters referred to in the charges affecting the payment of bills. accounts and financial dealings generally were under investigation by the Comp troller of the Treasury and all the ex- penditures referred to were allowed by the Auditor and Comptroller, with fhe ex- ception of $160."
 Mir. Payne quotes from the recently published reply of Mir. Smith and adds that these papers are now published, fin order to complete the public understand ing of a matter, a large part of which has already been published. The papers lad uyIfh that they relate to the business of a prior administration. The subject mat ter of complaint is four years old, and all action hereunder was closed over two years ago."
 The documents made public today show that on May 1. last, MT. Payne wrote letter to MT. Bristow. calling attention to the published interview with MT. Tul- loch. and asked MT. Bristow. what truth, if any there Is in the statements and particularly upon that part which speaks of your connection and that of the postoffice inspectors.
 MT. Bfistow's reply in full, dated three days later Is as follows:
 ANSWER OF SMITH.
 "In response to your inquiry of May 1, 1908. as to the truth or falsity of the as- in an interview by him in The Wash ington Post of that date, beg to hand you herewith an abstract of three re- ports made by the inspectors on the con dition of the Washington postofhce. The first marked Exhibit A refers to the transfer of the postoffice to Hon. John A. Merritt, incoming postmaster, by James P. Willette, retiring postmaster, which occurred June 30, 1899. At the time this inspection was in progress. as nearly as I can remember, Chief Inspec- tor Cochran and Inspector-in-C Charge Smith called upon me and advised me that the inspectors had discovered many Irregularities of a serious nature which seemed to be authorized by the Depart ment After discussing the matter at some length with them, l directed that a report relating in general to the trans fer be submitted in the regular way and copies of the same referred to the vari- ous divisions or bureaus of the Depart mept.
 I was advised by the chief inspector that GGeorge W. Beavers, chief or the salary and allowance division. had suggested to one of the inspectors that when he came to certain appointments in some of the stations that appeared irregular he had better make no reference to them as they had been ordered personally by the post master.
 WENT TO THE BOTTOM.
 ''I told the chief inspector to instruct the inspectors to report the facts as they would in any other inspections; that did not believe the postmaster had knowing ly authorized any irregularities.
 "Captaln W B. Smith, inspector in charge. submitted a special report July 6 as directed. an abstract of which is here with submitted. marked Exhibit B. This yeport disclosed what seemed to me glar- ing irregularities, and I submitted 1t per sonally to the Postmaster General sug- Kesting at the same time that it con tained matter tn which I thought he would want to give his personal attention.
 'Eeferring to the statement that hai demanded thorough investigation of the office of the First Assistant Postmaster General, I beg to state that Inspector Smith in his special report, heretofore mentioned as Exhibit B., stated that he had discovered a condition of affairs, whiSh in his judgment, required an imme-