Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-16
TULLOCH CHARGES.
Received by the Postmaster
General This Morning.
SOME SHARP COMMENTS
MR.. PAYNE SAYS THEY ARE
MOSTLY WORDS.
Investigation to Be Made-Senator
Bate on the Tennessee
Trouble.
SOME SHARP COMMENTS

| The long -looked-for Tulloch charges were
| received by the Postmaster General this
! morning, and after that official had pc
rused the fifty typewriter pages In which
| they were contained he made the following;
| statement regarding them:
1T is pretty hard to describe this docu-
| ment. 1t is made up of fifty pages. out OF
which / think there may be three pages
| that are germane to this investigation. and
| which will be of some service TO the de-
| partment. The rest of it is devoid of any
| interest
For instance" continued Mr.. Payne,
turning rapidly through the report which
he held in his hand, here is an account
of dinner given to Mr.. Beavers, who was
to sail for Paris. He refers to compli-
mentary speeches made by the postmaster
general, by First Assistant Perry Heath.
by II. Clay Evans and Representatives
Sherman and others. Now what has that
got to do with this investigation. He calls
attention to cablegram which he says
was rumored around the department.
which said Papa, send a transport quick,
l am sick P"
Questions to who the cablegram was
from or to the Postmaster General said he
could not answer, as there was nothing
in the statement to show.
1T is sort of laughable that man should
| furnish such statements continued Mr..
Payne. Then he makes a great long
gument covering two three pages to
| why the Washington postmaster should be-
| a Washington man. That is not germane
to the investigation.
Most of the sta tement is an airing of Mr..
Tulloch's own grievances, commenting on
his. own removal, and putting in lot OF
letters, ETC., concerning 1t.
There also included extracts from
newspapers around the country, published
| in 1900, which deals in glittering generali-
ties in criticisms of Postmaster General
Smith,"
rs there nothing specifc?" was asked
He refers to certain vouchers and pay
ments to certain people, which he claims to
have been Irregular, was the answer. He
reflects severely upon Controller Trace
well of the Treasury Department, but his
statements are very general Referring TO
the matter of the investigation. he offers
no evidence or documents to substantiate
what he says. except to refer to certain
vouchers and people.
Il would say that he makes no new
points, but covers the same ground he has
heretofore in a general way.
Il am very greatly disappointed" re-
| marked Mr.. Payne, for 1 looked for some
help from Mr.. Tulloch.
There are some of these things in here
that need explanation" he continued, still
turning over the pages of the report They
look upon their faces IL there might he
something wrong. and they will be made
the basis of investigation.
Everything contained in Mr. TullochS
statement relates to the administration OF /,
Postmaster General Smith. and it is to be
presumed that the controller of the treas
ury, the auditor for the Post office De-
partment and the postmaster at Washing
ton will be able to throw some light ON
what is charged.
Most of what Mr. Tulloch charges as ir-
regularities occurred during the transfer OF
the accounts at the time the government
took over the Porto Rican postal system.
which was done through the Washington
post office. All these accounts were paid
uCb he Vas
In this connection Mr.. Payne stated that
he anticipated the most of what appeared
10 be irregularities arose from payments be- ,
ing charged to wrong accounts. The final
auditing of these accounts, he said, showed
that less than S100 was disallowed after !,
the proper charges had been made, or after
the accounts had been properly charged.
There was a matter of the promotion OF
some letter-box scheme which, he said, Mr.. /
Tulloch had referred to. Mr.. Tulloch had
also stated that he had other matters which I
he had not Incorporated in his report. What :
there was of tangible charges, he said. f:
would be investigated
In summing the whole thing, however no
said it was mostly words
Senator Bate of Tennessee had an EXTEND
ed conference with Mr.. Payne this morn
ing regarding the suspension of the rural
free delivery route at Gallatin, Tenn.
Senator Bate declared that there was no
section of the south where the whites and 1
blacks got along so well together as fq
this section. He positive that tho
whole trouble was caused by two men.
and urged that the investigation be cor /
cluded as speedily as possible in order that
the whole community might not be made TO
suffer because of the acts of so few.
Mr.. Payne stated that he had received
word from the inspector making the H.
vestigation. asking for more time The in
spector had been given until Tuesday next
to make his report. This report Mr.. Payne
thought would be reliable. he was per-
sonally acquainted with the inspector, who
was former state senator In Wisconsin.