Evening journal., 1903-06-27
SMITH EXPLAINS
TULLOCH CHARGE
Former Postmaster-General
Makes Statement Regard
ing Alleged Irregularities
WERE TAKEN UP ITEM BY ITEM.
MIR. Smith Accepts Responsibility
Which Belongs to Him and Explains
the Difficulty in Establishing the
Military Postal Service.

Military Postal Service.
Philadelphia. June 27-Former Post
master General Charles Emory
Smiths letter to Postmaster General
Pope in connection with the postal
investigation has been made public.
Mr.. Smiths letter is accompanied by
numerous exhibits explaining in dc.
tail the alleged Irregularities in the
military postal affairs during the war
with Spain. The letter in part is as
follows:
Philadelphia, June %. 1903.
Hon. Henry c. Payne. Postmaster Gen
eral;
Sir-In view OF the partial publlca-
ton of the letter OF Fourth Assistant
Postmaster General Bristow on the
so-called Tulloch charges and Of the
accompanying reports of inspectors
made to him in 1899 and 1900. | deem
1t incumbent on me for a right public
understanding to make a further
statement. supplementary to my letter
of May %. and to present the papers
In their proper relation.
It will be seen that the Tulloch
statement and the inspectors report
are practically identical. At many
points the language is exactly the
same. II is as il they were written
by the same hand. Tho Tulloch state
ment was submitted to me. The in
spector's report was submitted to the
fourth assistant II was the business
Of the inspector to find whatever
seemed to call for explanation; II was
left TO the postmaster general to find
| the explanation and the truth.
This was done by probing the Tul
loch statement when it was presented
All of the transactions described az
irregular were examined and a report
was made 10 me which took them M
item by item and groups of items
and gave the facts and explanations In
each case. To this report I direct par
ticular attention. If its statements
I
explanations are satisfactory. It's ac.
curacy in all its specific averments
has never been impeached in any
quarter on the main points it is
believed to be beyond successful chal
lenge
More than one-half of the inspec
tors report is taken up with a minute
and detailed statement as 90 the cases
Of Larner and o. II. Smith. OF the
latter | had no knowledge and say
nothing. OF the former ! have some
recollection, as it was the only one
Of the cases that was appealed to me
Larner had been appointed a military
postal clerk for Porto Rico by the
FIRST assistant bureau. He went under
a promise from that bureau of com
pensatiOn at the rate Of Sl4400 a year
About that time ! fixed the genera
compensation of clerks in Porto Rico
hs | was empowered 10 do by law, a
$1,000 a year When Larner returned
he refused to settle his unsettled
account on that basis, and appealed {,
me. He insisted that he had beer
promised S1400, and l found on in
quiry that this was true. / ordered
that he should be paid what he ha'
been promised, as had a right TO do
Out of that question of rate and out o
the question of the actual length o
his service grew the whole story o
alleged irregularity which takes M
Onequarter of the inspectors report
E except as It involves a few items o
his expense account One of the ques
tions at issue in the latter was tn
question whether in the special Porb
Rican service "seidlitz powders. pills
pennyroyal and calomel" should b.
treated as a personal expense or a
chargeable to the government.
wish to accept the largest measure
Of responsibility which belongs TO M
In connection with all these matters
but it seems due to fairness to stat
certain facts. The war against Spain
/ declared three or four days later, wa
dated back to April 81, 1898. That wa
the very day on which I was sworl
In as postmaster general. My frs
duty, before even familiarizing mysel
with the department, was TO make i'm
mediate provision for the letters o
! the scattered army Of 250,0O0 mel
which was promptly raised, follOwel
by provision for the full mail of th
Islands. The administration had beel
installed for more than a year Tn
n department force had been organized
< and, of course, It was properly accept
e ed as IT. was found. When the immt
$ date duty in hand was taken up, !
r was discovered. curiously enough
that there we're absolutely no record
Of the military postal service in tn
Civil War. There were no know