Evening times-Republican., 1903-11-30

Lamp, his son, who ADVISED the III
spectors that he knew nothing of tn
details of his fathers agreement witt
Machen, but that man named w. {
Long appeared at his fathers office
regular intervals and collected !:
cents for every strap furnished. Dur
ing the nine years that these straps
We're used. Lamb paid Long contribu-
tions aggregatlng about $4,000 a par
of which has been traced to Machen
hands.
Long. Machen and Stern have beer
indicted by the federal grand jury IL
the district of Columbia for conspiracy
TO defraud in connection with thess
transactions.
Painting Of Street Letter Boxes.
In 1897 Machen made verbal ar
rangement with John T. Cupper. o.
Lockhaven. Pa, to paint all the letter
boxes in the United States, allowing
him % cents on each of the posts, OF
each for the letter boxes. and 81 fol
the package boxes; If the work was
done by local painter Cupper was te
furnish the material and receive 81
cents for each letter box and 80 cents
for each package box.
On July "a, 1900. the postmaster al
Springfield. Mass, submitted q propose
from a local painter to furnish the ma
terial and paint the boxes in that city
for l5 cents per letter box and 20 cents
per package box. costing in all s32.2o
On July 81, three days afterwards. ne
was informed by Machen. that John j
Cupper, the contractor. had been In
structed to arrange Immediately fol
painting the boxes. After Cupper nae
completed the work the postmaster was
directed to pay him s1O050 more thar
three times as much as was asked ps
the local painter.
The, manufacturers of letter boxes
by the terms of the contract were re-
aulred to paint the boxes at the rae
tory, but. regardless of this provision
Cupper was ordered in July. 1900. tt
paint all the letter boxes at the factory
where they were made, and he was palu
s16,227.5O for his work.
Bundy Time Recorder.
In 1890. while. John Wanamaker was
postmaster general, an effort was made
to Introduce the Bundy time recorder
for use In the postal service, but 1t fali-
ed. Later. during the administration
Of Postmaster General Wilson. upon th'
recommendation of Machen. 1t was
adopted. Machen estimated that tn:
entire free delivery service could pS
supplied for about $45,oss.6o.
The purpose of this clock was to re-
cord the time of arrival and departure
Of carriers on their official trips. The
price of the clock when first adopted
was s75. which was afterwards lncreas'
ed to 500, and so cents for each Key
ordered.
The same reckless waste that CHAR
aeterigei Beavers administration II
other matters prevailed in the supply
of these time recorders. The office
of Berkeley. Cal, has IL car
rters ana Z clerks, yet u
has been furnished with COCKS ana
162 keys.
Los Angeles. CAL, with 50 carriers
and 81 clerks, was supplied win =
clocks and $40 keys.
Eighty-nine clocks have been SEM
to ST. Louis, and thousands OF Keys
while "a were all that could be us.sa
in Baltimore.
Fort Collins. Col, with carriers
and 3 clerks, has been furnished a clock
and 66 keys.
Bristol. Conn, with carriers and
clocks, was furnished clocks, OF
which has never been taken from the
crate.
wtnsted. Conn, with 5 carriers and
I clerks, was furnished 3 clocks and
13s keys.
independence, Kan, with carriers
and 8 clerks, was sent / clock with
90 keys.
The system Of organized corruption
that has been disclosed began In 1893
and continued until stopped by this in
vestigation. The amount of money Sc
cured by the corrupt officials and their
is small as compared to
the total loss to the government. 10
Illustrate: There is no evidence that
Louis received any compensation from
Ault & Wiborg, yet durin gthe first
year OF his administration the expen-
ditures for canceling ink increased over
SIC. 1000.
1t does not appear that kempner
received money from the manifold COM
pany, yet the cost OF manifold supplies
increased more than $4,000 a year.
Barrett received but $4,000 from Ar
nold, yet that company defrauded the
people out of over s3.000,0O0.
Machen probably did not receive
more than $4,000 from the Croft fast
ener. Yet the government has paid
approximately $4,000 for that device,
which represents a net loss, since the
continued, by the terms Of
the contract for letter boxes, to pay for
the original fasteners.
Beavers and his associates received
less than $4,000 from the automatic
cashier. Yet the department expended
$74,275 for this wholly unnecessary
machine.
The total amount that the perpetra-
tors Of these frauds themselves received
can not be definitely learned, but it
will aggregate between 100000 and
100000. while the loss to the govern
ment, considering the unnecessary sup
plies that have been purchased and the
inferior quality OF those furnished by
contractors can not be es-
timated with any degree of accuracy.
AS the gross abuses have been
to light they have been
corrected by the proper de-
partmental officers. Contracts where
fraud has been discovered have been
AS result of the investigation four
officers and employees of the depart
ment have resigned and thirteen have
have been found, involving thirty-one