The Grit-advocate., 1903-12-04

Later, during the administration of Post
master-General Wilson. upon the recon-
menda ton of a. w. Machen, IL was adopt
ed. Machen estimated that the entire
free-delivery service could be supplied for
si5. $3.50
"ln 1901 an effort was made by First
Assistant Postmaster-G General W. NJ.
johnson and his chief clerk, John NJ. Mas
ten. to reduce the price of these time re-
corders, but the effort was afterwards
abandoned.
III. J. Truesdell. who was agent Of the
company at the time these clocks were
first adopted, states that he paid Machen
1900 for his services in securing their
Introduction into the service Criminal
action on such payment is barred by the
statute of limitations.
By the purchasing OF canceiing ma
chimes for use in the postal service 1t is
shown that the government has lost over
500. COO which sum was divided among the
conspira tors interested. Here again GRIM
inal action is barred by the statute of lin
itations.
Says Mr.. Bristow:
THE most important contract for can
ceiling machines was that for the Dore-
mus. Its original promoters were W. D.
Doremus, the inventor: l.. T. Kitchener,
member of the law firm of Dudley 6
Mchener of Washington. and ii. j,
Truesdell, of Binghamton. N. Y. The
company was organized August g. 1893,
and capitalized for 500 600, divided into
lo00 shares of 800 each. Truesdell was on
intimate personal relations with Beavers.
and In 1899 an order was given for 100
machines. at $3.50 each. Long before all
of the 100 machines had been delivered
the department received numerous COM
plants from postmasters stating that
they were worthless; and account OF
the great dissatisfaction with this first
100 known as Model No. l the Doremus
company established a factory of its own
in Washington and created Model No e.
and Beavers. without testing its efficien-
cy on June 80, 1900. contracted for 100 OF
the new machines at s225 each. Model No
also proved a failure, and Model No 8
was made, and Beavers promptly gave an
order for 100 machines of that model at
s225 each.
"Of the 200 machines purchased of mod
els Nos / and but SO are now in use,
the remaining 161 being practically net
loss.
six hundred and seventy-one of these
machines have been ordered by the de-
partment, at a net cost of sl43, ATS. This is
a repetition of the story of automatic
cashiers and Elliott & Hatch typewriters,
except that it is on a larger scale
In 1901 Truesdell and Green became es-
tranged and Truesdell left the employ Of
the Bunday company, and also sold his
interest in the Doremus canceling ma
chine. When interviewed by the inspec-
tors Truesdell stated that before the sec
ond order on June 80. 1900, was given for
100 machines Green told him he had
transferred to Perry S. Heath, First AS
sistant Postmaster General $4,000 worth
of his stock in consideration of receiv-
ing an order for not less than 800 ma
chimes.
Heath refused to make a written state
ment. but said verbally to Inspector Sim
mons that he never received any stock
from the Doremus Canceling Machine
Company or any remuneration of any
kind directly or indirctlye.
ON October 5, 1907 indictments wera
found against Green. Doremus and Beav-
ers for conspiracy to defraud.
The evidence against Heath was also
submitted to the district attorney who
decided that 1t was not sufficient to war
rant his indictment.
The administration of Beavers was. if
possible, more demoralizing upon the in
tegrity of the service than that of Ma.
chen"
In conclusion the report says:
For the purposes of this report, the
investigation ordered by you on March
has been completed. In the preparation
of cases for trial where indictments have
been found, Information may be secured
which VIII necessitate further investiga-
ton and possibly Involve persons not now
/ implicated.
The system of organized corruption
that has been disclosed began in 1893 and
continued until stopped by this investiga-
ton. The amount of money secured by
the corrupt officials and their confedey-
ates is small as compared to the total
loss to the Government. To Illustrate
Barrett received but $4,000 from Ar
mold. yet that company defrauded the
people out Of over s3,00O,0O0 Machen
probably did not receive more than s26-
600 from the Croft fastener. Yet the gov
,.,,t l,,
for that device, which represents a net
loss. since the Department 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 ,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 aggre
gate between $1,000 and $500, 900, while
the loss to the government. considering
the unnecessary supplies that have been
purchased and the inferior quality Of
those furnished by fraudulent contract
ors, can not be estimated with any de-
| gree of accuracy.
| LAS the gross abuses have been
| brought to light they have been prompt
| ly corrected by the proper departmental
officers. Contracts where fraud has been
| discovered have been annulled.
The results of the investigation dem
| onstrate that all travelling agents of the
| Department-such assistant supertn-
| tendents of salaries and allowances of
| the free delivery service. the Railway
| Mail Service, and the registry system.
and inspectors-should be placed under
| one organization.
"A number Of changes should be made
| in the organization of the Department in
order to provide more perfect chocl;
| ~ If rin =
some restrictive legislation affecting the
divisions of salaries and allowance ~
rural free delivery, and possibly others
may be necessary. What the service
| most needs, however, is honest intel
| gent. and vigorous administration The
corruption disclosed is not due to lay
| laws. but to the dishonesty of those WIN
| have been charged with the responsI-
! blity of administering them"