Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-30

cents for each key ordered. These time re-
corders were first used only In the free de.
livery service. and their purchase was IN
| the hands of Machen: but In 1898 First As.
sistant POSTMASTER General Heath required
post ofnve clerks to use them and the pur-
chase of them was transferred to the salary
and allowance division.
In 1901 an effort made by First AS
| sistant Postmaster General W. NJ John
| son and his chief clerk John NJ. Masten, ia
reduce the price of these time recorders
| but the effort was afterward abandoned.
h J. Trtesdell. who was the agent Of the
company at the time these clocks were first
| adopted. states that he paid Machen $1,000
1 for his services in securing their introduce
ton into the service. Criminal action on
| such payment Is barred by the statute Of
limitations.
| The same reckless waste that character
| lied Beavers administration in other mat
| ters prevailed in the supply Of these time
1 recorders. The Office OF Berkeley. Cal. has
| eleven carriers and seven clerks, yet II has
| been furnished with 3 clocks and 162 keys.
| Los Angeles Cal, with ninety-three car
| rfers and eighty-seven clerks. was supplied
| with thirteen clocks and $40 keys.
Eighty-nine clocks have been sent to st.
Louis. and thousands of keys, while twenty
four We're all that could be used in Balti-
| more.
Fort Collins. Col. with three carriers and
| and siXty-siX keys
Bristol. Conn, with five carriers and four
| clerks, was furnished two clocks, one Of
| which has never been taken from the crate
| Winsted, Conn.,. with five carriers and
| seven clerks. was furnished three clocks
| and 1879 KEYS
Independence. Kan, with three carriers
| and three clerks. sent one clock with
ninety keys.
| A hundred other such instances are cited
Such profigate expenditure is almost in
credible In the state of New York there
are twenty-six offices. with no free delivery,
and therefore no carriers. that have been
supplied with Bundy clocks In less than
SIX years. under Beavers management, the
department has purchased l. 10 of these
time recorders.
George r. Green receives a salary as pres
ldent of the Bundy company and also re-
ceives commission of 10 per cent on all
sales made to the Post Office Department.
In the course of the investigat ton the in
Spectors discovered certain amounts that
had been paid Beavers by Green They
called upon Green and asked as to such
payments. but he declined to make any state
ment whatever in regard TO them. He was
then subpoenaed before the grand Jury ana
sun declined TO answer any questions taxi
ing advantage of the principle that wit
ness can not be compelled to testify where
such testimony would incriminate himself.
The investigation shows that Green paid
Beavers the 10 per cent commission al
lowed him by the company on all sales
made to the department
Beavers and Green Were indicted by the
grand jury of the District of Columbia on
September IL and October L. 1903.
Canceling Machines.
There are eight varieties of machines in
use in the postal service for cancelirg
stamps and postmarking mail matter; six
of these are leased and two are purchased
outright. The appropriation for the rent
and purchase of canceling machines for the
fiscal year 1S96-97 was 10000; for the pres
ent fiscal year it Is $3.50. 900, showing an in
crease in the amount of money expended
for this purpose during the time of the
Beavers administration of the salary and
allowance division of $4,000 or over 800
per cent.
The Barr-Fyke, the Columbia and the
Pneumatic are only used in very limited
manner. The American and Hey-Dolphin
are used extensively, but there is no evil
dence of corrupt of money in securing
their introduction into the service.
The Barry machine was invented by Will
liam Barry of Oswego, n. Y, IN 1888. In
1895 100 of these machines were rented at
$50 per annum. The correspondence OF
Ma jor Ralph Balm. the Washington agent
in 1897, shows that at the suggestion Of
Perry S. Heath the company employed NJ.
d. Helm at salary of 81 200 per year, to
machine. After Helms employment the
contract was renewed and the price raised
from $50 to SI75. and again in 1898 adj
vanced to 500 per annum. In July, 1900
after Heath's retirement from the depart
ment the rent was reduced to $50. The
employment of Helm was in the nature of
a gratuity the part of the company, be-
cause of his relations with the first assist
ant postmaster general
The Hampean.-The Hampden canceling
machine was invented by W. r. Landiear
in 1880. Landfear. in 1897. after Perry s.
Heath became first, assistant postmaster
general offered to sell 100 of these ma
chimes to the department for 500 each,
but the offer was declined.
The company was reorganized in June.
1898. and George N Tyner, a brother OF
the late assistant attorney general, Sc
cured a controlling interest in il. Another
effort was then made to sell the machines
to the department. which resulted in The
purchase of 100 machines at 500 each, the
same machine with few slight changes
that lad been offered at $500 less than
year before and declined.
The machines proved worthless. OF the
100 machines purchased there are at pres
ent only II of them in use. and there is
evidence that their worthless character
was well known to both Heath and
Beavers before they were ordered
The Doremus-The most important con-
tract for canceling machines was that for
the Doremus. Its original promoters were
w. d. Doremus the inventor; l.. T. Mich
ener member of the law firm of Dudley Il
Kitchener of Washington, and VI. j. Trues-
dell of Binghamton. n. Y. The company
was organized August 3, 1889. and capital
lied for 100000 divided into 1000 shares of
SlOc each. OF the 1000 shares, 80 were
reserved treasury stock, the remaining
three-fourths being owned equally by Dore-
mus, Truesdell and the firm OF Dudley IL
Michener The 80 shares of treasury stock
We're transferred shortly after the organ
ization of the company to George E. Green
OF BInS N. l., III cpHSIutfdtoii "
his agreeing to guarantee the expense OF
manufacturing the first 100 machines: and
in December, 1889, he acquired the interest
OF Dudley & Michener.
Truesdell was on intimate personal rela-
tons with Beavers. and in 1899 an order
was given for loo machines, at $50 each.
Long before all of the 100 machines had
been delivered the department received
numerous complaints from postmdsteTs
stating that they were worthless: and on
account of the great dissatisfaction with
this first 100 known as Model No. 1, tne
Doremus company established factory or
its own in Washington and created Model
No 3 and Beavers. without testing is
efficiency on June 20 1880. contracted for
100 of the new machines at $225 each. Model
No. also proved a failure. and Model No.
3 was made, and Beavers promptly gave IN
order for 100 machines of that model at
S225 each.
OF the 200 machines purchased of models
Nos l and 2, but 80 are now in use, the
remaining 1G1 being practically net loss.
Six hundred and seventy-one of these
machines have been ordered by the DEPART
ment. at a net cost of $l43. 475. This is a
repetition of the story of automatic cashiers