The sun., 1903-06-27
REPLY TO TULLOCH CHARGES.
ANOTHER STATEMENT BY CHAS.
EMORY SMITH.
He Shows That TtiliOch's charges anu
Inspector smiths Report Are Iracti'
caliy Identical In Lansuase-E'ery
Charge PrOitcd, Item by Item. and
Full Exp,anattOns Made In Each Casr.

of former POSTMASTER -teheTa >""' ie'
Emory Smith to the Tulloch charges was
made public here to-day. The reply Is
in the form of letter to the Hon. Henry
c. Payne, the present head Of the Depart
ment, and presents in full the views Mr..
Smith takes of every one OF the lulloch
charges, one after another,
The answer is outlined in a formal letter
to the Postmaster General Appended to
the letter are a copy of the Tulloch charges,
alleging Irregularities in the employment
and payment of clerks and laborers, and
miscellaneous charges the report made
on these charges by Inspector Smith, and
the answerand explanation OF the various
Hpansactions that have been characterized
- Irregular.
Mr.. Smiths letter follows in part
PHILADELPHIA, June ~
Hon Henry z. PoVnc. Postmdst er-1enerdi.
SIN. In view of the partial publication OF
the letter OF Fourth Assistant Postmaster
General Bristow on the so-callrd Tulloch
charges, and of the accompanying reports
of INSPECTORS made to him in 1899 and 1900
] deem it incumbent on me for right public
upderst anding to make Il further statement,
supplementary to my letter OF May p. and
to present the papers in their proper relation
IL will be seen that the Tuiloch statement
and Inspector Smith 5 report are practically
identical At many points the language
Is exactly the same. II is as II they were
written by the same hand The Tulloch
statement was submitted to me, The in
spector's report was submitted TO the Fourth
Assistant. 1t the business OF III" inspec-
tor to find whatever seemed to call Tor eN-
PLANTATION, it was left to the Postmaster
General to find the explanation and the truth
This was done by probing the Tulloch
,t...l A nf
the transactions described as irregular were
examined and report was made to Inc which
took them UP item by item and groups OF
items and gave the facts and the explanations
in each case To this report | direct
particular attention. If its statements are
correct, then OH most points its explanations
are satisfactory. Its accuracy in all its
ispecifc averments has never been impeached
n any quarter on the main points it is be-
lieved to be beyond successful challenge.
These main points may be thus summed
up each in sentence: First, names OF
military postal clerks were put on the gem
eral roll till the military appropriation be-
came available; then they were transferred
to the military roll Second, the bond pre-
miums of military postal clerks were paid
for good reasons which are plainly set forth
and which had the approval OF the Comp
troller Third. the purchases of Porto Rico
supplies were made from the regular De-
partment contractors named under COM
petition and at regular contract prices.
Fourth, the vouchers for expenses of De-
partment officials travelling on official busi-
G ssa Of g tb .hr nos @
was shown to be entirely justified. SIXTH
the apparently double payment of those en-
poyed in examining letter carriers Claims
is fully explained.
These points emhrnce all that are specified
in the charges, except the items relating to
inn ha
OF Iarner nnd @ II Smith, and thus the
matters open to question M nre reduced to- the
appointments, which all told involve thirteen
clerks and seven cleaners Even this IL not
an irreducible minimum. for several of these
appointments, as shown in the explanatory
statement, We're perectly right and beyond
any question.
More thnn one half of the inspectors report
@ k Il Up The eaaes Of Lana and O.
Smith. or the latter I 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 . military, postal CLERK M for Porto
compensation at the rate Of H,4oo a year.
About that time ! fixed 9th the p general conl- ON
Empowered to do by lazy. at sl?oo ycar.
When I.srner returned he refused to settle
his unsettled account on that basis, and APP
promised 81 400 and ! found on inquiry that
this, was true, | ordered that b" should be
When the charges Of irreeularity were
h"e them eHamin"d , med and # I there weTe Irregular re-
tiles, to have them CORRECTED. This IL eX-
actly what was done The explanations
were reported, and to me most OF them seemed
satisfactory. | was the more assured in this
Judgment from the fact that the Comptroller
of the Treasury, who made u searching in
vestigation at the time and thoroughly ex-
amined all the vouchers, allowed all except
3l60 in total amount,
ha mn Of
1899 states at the concluson that during the
course of the inspection, he, Beavers, re-
In charge that when he struck the names
Of the Charwomen of the stations it would be
well,not to mention them in his report. as
they were personal appointments of the
do not know whether this statement was
made or not. but the, fact is that of all the
appointments referred to in the report | had
personal knowledge of and personal interest
in only one. That was the case OF most
cstimable newspaper woman, long q sue
cessfnl Wash in gton correspondent. whom
had knowa for Twenty-Five years, and who,
knowing her need and being able to help her
] should have been brute if had failed to
sSe do SO coa A. 1 % S on hs T9 n6d Of
that place should be found for her on the
roll of laborers- Months afterward learned,
cleaner. and, though a refined lady of edn-
cation, had conscienti0usly been doing a
find n place more suitable TO her position and
antecedents and happily succeeded.
wish to accept the largest measure OF
responsibility which belongs to me in COLI
nection with all these matters, but it seems
due to fairness to state certain facts. The
war against Spain. declared three or four
days later. was dated back to April II. 1898,
That was the very day on which was sworn
in as Post ter General. My first duty,
before even familiarinng myself with the
Department was to make immediate pro-
Wis ion for the letters Of the scattered army
of 100000 men which promptly raised.
followed by provision for the full mail of the
Islands. The Administration had been in
stalled for more than year, The Depart.
ment force had been. organized, and. of
course. u was properly accepted as it was
found. When the Immediate duty in hand
was taken up, 1t was discovered curiou-ly
Of the military postal service IN the civil war;
nothing to guide us. We had to make our
own plans The determination OF the general
plan and policy devoved on the Postmaster
General. The execution of tho details de-
yolved on the First Assistants bureau. We
had at first no special appropriation and
so had to meet the requirements out of the
regular appropriation Afterward. when
the special appropriation became available,
we had to recoup the general appropriation
in order that the regular service might not
suffer These things effected In part
through the Washington Office, and orders
were given which subordinate officials neither
did nor were required to understand, and out
OF II has grown n vast deal of unnecessary
Misunderstanding.
1t is my purpose to address you Respecting