The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-06-27


edied and stopped
Denies the Charwoman.
The same report Of the inspector
made in 1898 states at the conclusion
that during the course Of the inspection
he Beavers requested the inspector
TO inform the inspectOr-in-charge that
when he struck the names Of the char
women on the stations il would be
well not to mention them in his report,
as they We're personal appointments of
the postmaster general"
do not know whether this state
ment was made or not, hut the fact Is
that Of all the appointments referred
10 in the report 1 had personal knOwl-
edge of and personal interest in only
enc. That was the case Of most e5-
tlmahle newspaper woman, long sue
cessful Washington correspondent,
whom / had known for twenty-five
years. and who. through misfortune,
was in much distress. knowing her
need and being able to help her, 1
should have been q brute if I had failed
10 DO So As she was not on the roll
Of eligibles, she could not be made
clerk, and / requested that a place
should be found for her on the roll OF
labOrers- Months afterward L learned,
to my surprise, that she was enrolled
as a cleaner, and. though a refined
lady Of education. had conScientiOusly
been doing a cleaners work. Immedi-
ately / sought to find a place more
suita bic to her position and ante
cedents, and happily succeeded. That
was absolutely the only case Of all
involved in which I had any personal
part. If anybody thinks the postmas-
ter general should know the number
OF cleaners and whether they were all
at work, have nothing to say.
Bristow Was Correct.
General Bristow is entirely right in
saying that he spoke to me at the time
about the inspectors report. His
statement would have heen complete
II he had added what I stated in my
letter OF May %. as follows:
About the same time Fourth As
sistaut Postmaster General Bristow in
formed me that inspectors had found
the same apparent or actual irregu-
larities in the Washington office I ad-
VlSed him, according to my recOllec-
ton. Of the investigation which the
comptroller of the treasury had mad
and Of the steps which were being TAX
en- to rectify any wrong"
I wish to accept the largest measure
Of responsibility which belongs 30 me
in connection with all these matters,
but it seems due to fairness 20 state
certain facts. The war against Spain.
declared three or four days ] ter WIS
dated back to April q 1898. was
the very day on which I was sworn IN
as postmaster general. NY 0rSI duty
before even familiaTizing myself with
the department. was to make inmedi-
ate provision for the letters Of the
scattered army of 100000 men which
was promptly raised, followed by pro-
vision for the full mail of the islands
Fhe administration had been installed
for more than a year. The department
force had been organized, and, of
course. it was properly accepted as it
was found
When the immediate duty in hand
was ia ken Up it was discovered, curl
ouSly enough, that there We're absO-
lutely no records Of the military postal
service in the civil war. There were
no known precedents. We had nOUh-
ing to guide US. We had to make our
own plans. The determination Of the
general plan and policy devOlved on
the postmaster general The execution
Of the details deVOlVed on the first as
sistantS bureau. We had at first no
special appropriation and so had -
meet the requirements out Of the reg
ular appropriation. Afterwards, when
the special apprOpria ton became avail
able. We had TO recOup the general ap-
preparation in order that the regular
service might not suffer. These things
were effected in part through the
Washington Office. and orders were
given which subordinate officials
neither did nor were required to un-
QeTSIamQ. ana OUT OF II mas SIOWn a
vast deal of unnecessary misunder-
standing
It is my purpose to address you 70
speeding the letter Of the civil service
commission on the subject. but tEat
will more properly form a separate
communication. The minor and un-
important report of Inspector Little
made in 1900 I shall deal with in diff
ferent Wav.
Respectfully yours,
CHARLES EMORY SMITH.