The Savannah morning news., 1903-05-20
TULL0CH'S CHARGES
FALSE OR RECKLESS.
So the Auditor for the POstOfice
Depar tment Says.

So the Auditor for the POstOfhce
DEPARTING mt Says.
Washington, May 19.-Henry A. Cas-
tie, the auditor for the Postoffice De-
partment, to-day gave out a statement
in reply to charges made against his
office by ex-Cashier S. w. Tulloch of
the Washington City postof1ce. Mr..
Castle says:
Il have not yet received the Post
master Generals letter transmitting
abstracts of Mr.. Tulloch's complaints
referring to this office, but my reply
will be brief, prompt and, 1 think, con-
elusive.
Under a decision of the Supreme
Court of the United States the ac-
counting officers are not judges of the
necessity or the extravaganza of an ex-
penditure. They are only concerned
with its legality under some available
appropriation and the sufficiency of
the vouchers. Some of Mr.. Tulloeh's
statements are reckless, and others
absurdly false. The controller never
disallowed $4,000 that had been APP
proved by this office. Ny recollection
now is that less than $1,000 was finally
dlsapproved, and that of that amount
2 considerable portion was simply
charged under another head
POSTMASTER General Payne to-day
said that he had not communicated
with ex-First Assistant Postmaster
General Health, but that he thought he
would do so later on.
in connection with the charges of
violations of the civil service law, Mr.
Payne called attention to the appro-
priation of 100000 made in Congress in
Of nfh II IA
the expenditure of that appropriation
Tor mail service of various kinds neces-
STATED by the acquisition of insular
possessions was vested in the discre-
ton OF the Postmaster General, with
out regard to the civil service law.
Postmaster General Payne said to-
day that the inves tigation at some of
the postoffices had been completed in
stancing Milwaukee, where he said,
the accounts had been found to be cor
rect. He said that Controller Trace
well has personally Investigated the ac-
counts of the New York postoffice, and
he added that he understood that the
accounts were found to be straight and
in proper shape.
The postoftice inspectors have finished
the investigation of the Washington
office, and the civil service
commission representatives to-day
were finishing their examination
of the office by taking testi-
mony of clerks appointed at outside
postoffices, who were transferred
through the Washington postoffice into
the Postoffice Department.
Referring to the responsibility of
subordinates in official matters, Mr..
Payne said that the subordinate Off
crals were responsible for their own
acts, and should not obey an order that
was not lawful; that an unlawful or
der was no order at all, so far as the
necessity of a subordinate executing it
was concerned.
Mr.. Tulloch was in Washington to-
day. and in an interview. said. touch
ing the question of expenses for indi-
viduals which auditing officers refused
TO pass:
Il know that in some cases where
these men came in with expenses,
which the accounting officers of the
treasury would not pass, a very ingen-
ious scheme was devised to help them
out. BY direction of First Assistant
Heath, the names of those employees
would be ordered kept on the payrol1s
for time, long enough to make suf-
ficient money in salary to equal the
tabooed accounts. 1 know in one case
a favorite had come back to Washing
ton, and his name had been dropped
from the rolls. He had been drawing
pay at the rate of 81 200 a year, but it
was found that some of his expenses
would not pass the auditing Offices
Forthwith an order came to me to put
him on the rolls at $1,4O0. He perform
ed no additional work. but was paid
a salary till the deficit was made up.
In other words, the government was
made to paw itself "