The Washington times., 1903-04-20
Places Blame on Congress.
Which He Declares Failed
to Provide Him With Suf.
flcient Clerical Force.
Auditor for the Postoffice
Has Made Repeated Rep
reservations of the Cry
ing Needs of His Division.

Auditor Henry B. Castle. of the Post
Office Department. is not disturbed by
the reports published on Sunday of com
plants by special committee OF his
inability to keep track of all the ex-
peudituTes of the department He says
that for the past three or four years ne
has been drawing attention IN his an
nuaI reports to the matters which
caused comment on the part Of the COM
mittee
In explaining his position Mr.. Castle
said:
The Postofice Department is tie
largest business Institution in the world,
but that fact is not appreciated by Con
gress- Last year the business increased
10 per cent and yet ny force was in
creased only per cent.
4 was allowed six additional clerks to
my force Of 600 Congress appropriates
money for the department, yet does not
stop 10 think that il is necessary to have
people who shall see that the money IS
properly expended.
History Of the Department.
When the auditors department was
instituted some sixty years ago, the woEk
/ was light. because the business vas com
parativeIy small. As the years went by
the business increased with leaps and
bounds, put the auditing force did not
grow proportionateIy.
IN the early years il was possible
10 90 into details. and most of the work
vas thoroughly reviewed Gradually he
I
was naturally a decline in the minute
ness OF auditing investigations, together
with a decrease in the amount of re-
! viewing This decrease in reviewing
/ and attention TO detail was necessary
/ because the force was fully occupied
/ with routine transaction.
This has been known to The Post
Office Departm snt and o Congress for
years, as 1 have pointed il out in plain
language in my annual reports, which
are accessible 10 ali Interested.
Two Hundred Clerks Needed.
To handle the business with suf1-
cient minuteness and to allow for re-
view would require At least 29e more
auditing clerks. seventy-fve of whom
should be engaged in nothing hut re-
viewing By this means we could better
keep track of events and could carry
out improvements IL mind
But provision should also be made
for steady and regular strengthening
Of our force to meet the swelling OF
postoffce Transactions fer if this IS
rot done the work viii fall behind. and
get into the same condition IT is now
New departures in postal activity
are constantly being made. Money or
ders rur up into millions OF dollars, the
rural free delivery is causing the ex-
penditure of other millions. street rail-
way collections are coming more and
more into vogue. aud still other i1noya-
tions are contemplate and il is abso-
lutely necessary for US 10 be able 20
meet the modern advances with suit
able auditing department
a Serious Defect
i have explained on numerous oo-
casions that there is a serious defect
in she manner of accounting for stamps.
The first we know Of stamp being 10
existence is when it Is sent to the post
masters. We should have immediate
copies of the invoices OF all stamps
printed in order TO keep check on
them, but the department does NOT fur
nish this.
"A complete system Of checking
stamps should have been inaugurated
when they first came into use but il was
not done then and It viii require a great
amount of detail work 10 establish a
system now. Il must come some day,
and the sooner the better.
Accounting System Weak
The present system OF accounting for
money orders is also weak. Postmasters
send III their accounts Of orders issued
at the end OF a week or a month. as The
case may be- and so vast is the volume
OF the business that is may be fve or
six months before the Office cashing The
order can be checked against that which
issued it, This DELAY opens possibiIi-
ties for extensive frauds on the part of
individual postmasters. who have con-
siderable time within which to carry
out any dishonest schemes they may
concoct. [ have suggested that the
pnstmaSters send 20 this Office each dsy
a brief summary Of their days orders
issued and cashed and these should he
at once compared with one another IN
order to keep a constant watch cH The
money. This would require largo
number OF new clerks and We have moth
ing like the STAFF to deievop such q plsn-
1T is mistaken economy to refuse he
auditor more assistance when that as
sjstance viii probably enable him 10
prevent frauds or thefts which wnI ag-
gregatf mora -fan The additional -olz-
ries. II must be remembered that ths
Postofice Is the only department which
makes money as well as spends Il.
when its expenditures are mentioned
I bear in mind that almost as much Nas
aade and that the auditors thus han