Arizona republican., 1903-11-30
PRESIDENTIAL EXPRESSION.


 Memorandum upon the various pa pers submitted from the department | of justice and the postoffice depart | ment concerning the investigation in- | to the corrupt practices obtaining in | the postoffice department notably in | the office of the first assistant post master general and in the office of the | assistant attorney general for that de- | partment. All the documents in the | case are herewith forwarded to the | postoffice department. and will be held ready for submission to the congress whenever it chooses to ask for them. |
 It appears that in December, 1902, l Postmaster General Payne and Con- gressman E. F. Loud, chairman of the committee on postoffice and post roads, held various consultations re- garding the postal service, and as a result of these interviews it was de- termined that as soon as possible af ter the necessary appropriations could be made by the congress an investi- gation should be made of the service, both Messrs. Payne and Loud agree ing as to the need of the investiga- ticn and the time when it should take place. Accordingly, an increase of S5,000 in the appropriation bill report ed in January was made for tlfe ex- press purpose of carrying on the in vestigation in question. The reasons for the increase in the appropriat ton were known only to the postmaster general, to Congressman Loud, and to Congressman Cromwell.
 Subsequently,, some time in Janu- ary, information was laid before me by MT. Seckendorff tending to show improper conduct by Beavers, general superintendent of the division of sal aries and allowances. and Machen, general superintendent Of the free de- livery system; and by MT. William Allen White tending to show corrup- | tion by or under Tyner, assistant at 1 torney general for the postofice de- partment. First Assistant Postmaster General Wynne also informed me that ! he had become suspicious of the in- | tegrity of both Machen and Beavers. After full consultation with MT. Payne it was decided that Fourth Assistant Postmaster General Bris- ] tow should make a thorough and eX- haustive investigation of the charges | in question and of all matters that might develop in connection with | them. MT. Bristow's report is a record of as thorough a bit Of investigation worl, as has ever been done under ] the government. After this investi- gation had been in progress for about two months it became evident that le- gal proceedings would have to be un- 6ertaken against some of the offenders Owing to the importance of the case it was deemed advisable that special counsel should be employed. and Messrs. Charles J. Bonaparte and
 Holmes Conrad were chosen for this purpose. Messrs. Bonaparte and Con- rad, in view of the report of MT. Bris- taw, speak as follows: We consider the report an exceptionally able, can did, and impartial review of the sub ject- and that 1t shows clearly lreprehensible conduct, amounting in many cases to crime. on the part of a number of public officials. 1t is a vol luminous document. but this arises,
 not from prolixity, but from the na- ture of the matters discussed. l"
 We heartily commend the report and deem it's conclusions fully justified by the facts set forth; and while regret ting in common with all patriotic cit izens that the grave abuses of long standing which it reveals should have
 grown up in the postof1ice department,
 we consider the exposure of these abuses and the attempts made to pun
 ish those responsible for them work
 Of the highest public utility, quickly
 and ably performed" In all that is
 thus said of the report of MT. Bris-
 tow I heartily agree.
 The investigation made by Mir. !, Bristow discloses q condition of gross
 corruption in the office of the first l, assistant postmaster general and in
 that of the assistant attorney gener-
 al for the rostoffice department In the case of the superintendent of the
 free delivery. MaChen, the evidence , shows that his misconduct began inn
 mediately after his appointment in
 September, 1893. In the case of the l general superintendent of salaries and
 allowances, Beavers, it began sooT after he was appointed to that place in 1897. In the case of Assistant At. ) torney General Tyner it has gone or l for a number of years, but it is inn possible to say exactly when it be- gan. A melancholy feature of the case
 is that with one exception all the of , lenders have been fer a number ot . years in the government service. Tho
 following is a list of the fourteen , postoffiCe employees in the service al the llIll6 lniS lnNeSIlSaIlOn was De- gun, who are apparently most seri ously implicated in the wrongdoing ). together with an account of the step: that have been taken by the govern lnent in each case and a statement O. ] the date of original appointment o each man in the service
 ? ('rhe case of eX-Assistant Postmas- L ter General Heath, who had left the service over three years before thi: investigation was begun, is set fortf In the report Of MT Bristow.)
 James N. Tyner. assistant attorney general for postoffice department; ap- pointed special agent. postoffice de | partment, March ', 1861; with inter
 vals of few years has been in the cer-
 vire ever since. and was postmaste' general under President Grant fol l several months: he was removed
 April 2:, 1908; he has since been in- } dicted three times.
 A W. Machen, general superinten- dent free delivery system; appointed r clerk in postoffice in Toledo, Ohio } March l, 1887; continuously in service [ ever since save for three years; re-