The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-27
MIR. SMITH TO MIR. PAYNE
 - EX-POSty$ ster General
 <,S fites Letter HT $ DEFENDS HIMSELF
Ordered an Examination Into
 Tull0ch Charges.
Says Explanations of the Alleged Irregularities Were Made to Him and in Most Instances
 They Were Satisfactory.

Philadelphia, June 2s.-Charles Emory Smith, who was succeeded as Postmaster General by MT. Payne made public today his reply to the charges made by MT. Tulloch in connection with the postofice investigation:
 Philadelphia, June 23 1908. Hon. Henry c. Payne. Postmaster Gen.
 eral:
 Slr-In view of the partial publication of the letter of Forth Assistant Postnas- ter General Bristow on the so-called Tul- loch charges and of the accompanying re- ports of inspectors made to him in 1899 and 1900. I deem it incumbent on me for a right public understanding to make a further statement, supplementary to my letter of May 27, and to present the pa- pers in their proper relation.
 Appended to this letter, and to be treat ed as a part of 1t. will be found, first, Complete copy, marked Exhibit A, of the itemized statement of the Tulloch charges as submitted to me at the time they were made; second, in parallel column. com plete copy (except as indicated in the texD marked Exhibit B, at the conhden- tial report of Inspector-in-Charge smith, which is the main document accompany ing General Bristows letter: third, complete ~opy, marked Exhibit c, of the report which came as a result of the ex- animation made when the Tulloch charges were submitted, and which emoodles the answer, and the explanation of the trans actions referred to.
 Practically Identical.
 It will be seen that the Tulloch state ment and the inspectors report are prac- tically Identical At many points the Ian auage fla exactly the same. It Is as If they were written by the same hand. The Tull.ch statement was submitted 70 me The Inspector's report was Suomitted 10 the Fourth Assistant. It was the pusi- ness Of the inspector to End .WhaleYet seemed to call for explanation IL was leIt to the Postmaster General to ma the eA- planation and the truth.
 This was done by probing the Tuilocn statement when 1t was presented. All oL the transactions described as irregular were examined and a report was made to me which took them up item by Item ana groups of items and gave the tacsS eno the explanations in each case. 10 tn!s report, which appears below as Exhibit c, I direct particular attention. IT lts statements are correct then on most polrts its explanations are satisfactory. Its ac- curacy in all its specific averments has never been impeached in any quarter On the main points 1t is believed to DC beyond successful challenge.
 These main points may be thus summed up. each in a sentence: First, names o1 military postal clerks were put on the general roll till the military appropriation became available; then they were trans ferred to the military roll Second, the bond premiums of military postal clerks were paid for good reasons which are nlainlv set forth and which had the ap- proval of the Comptroller. Third me purchases of Porto Rico supplies were made from the regular Department con tractors named under competition and at regular contract prices. Fourtn' the vouchers for expenses of Department ofii- cials travelling on official business were made as required by the Auditor. f11th' the lease of the Washington postoffice was shown to be entirely justified. Sixth' the apparently double payment of those employed in examining letter carriers claims Is fully explained.
 Appointments All Right.
 These points embrace all that are spec flied in the charges. except the items relating to appointments. including the individual cases of Larner and o. H. Smith, and thus the matters open to ques- ton are reduced to the appointments | which all told involve thirteen clerks and seven cleaners. Even this is not an ire ducible minimum. for several of these ap- pointments, as shown in the explanatory statement, were perfectly right and beyond any question.
 More than one-half of the Inspector 8 report is taken up with minute and de- tailed statement as to the cases Of Larner and O. H. Smith. Of the latter had no knowledge and say nothing. Of the for mer I have some recollection, as 1t was the only one of the eases that was ap- pealed to me. Larner had been appointed a military postal clerk for Porto Rico by | the First Assistants Bureau. He went under a promise from that Bureau of | compensation at the rate of $1. 400 a year. l About that time fixed the general com pensation of Clerks in Porto Rico, as | was empowered to do by law, at H.2OO a year. When Larner returned he refused to settle his unsettled account on that basis, and appealed to me. He insisted that he had been promised $l,4OO, and 1 found on inquiry that this was true. l ordered that he should be paid what he | had been promised, as 1 had right to do. Out Of that question of rTAS and out | of the question of the actual length of his service grew the whole story of all legged irregularity which takes up one quarter of the lnspectors report, except as it involves a few items of his expense account One of the questions at issue in the latter was the question whether ir the special Porto Rican service ''selidtz powders. pills, pennyroyal and calomel' should be treated as a personal expense or as chargeable to the Government.
 Charges Were Investigated.
 When the charges of irregularity wa: made, my duty was plain. It was to have them examined and. if there were irreg
 ularities, to have them corrected. Thi' is exactly what was done. The explana
 tions were reported as they appear in Ex
 hibit C, and to me most of them seemed
 satisfactory. 1 was the more assured II
 this Judgment from the fact that thu
 Comptroller of the Treasury. who mad
 a searching investigation at the time ant
 thoroughly examined all the vouchers
 allowed all except S16g in total amount
 As to those points of the explanation
 which were not satisfactory to me sait
 in my letter of May Eth, and can cnl.
 repeat:
 T should not be altogether candid i
 did not say that in some cases I wa