Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1903-12-03


city Of Brooklyn. N. Y"
The report continues:
I'm 1890, while John wanamaker was
Postmaster-General. an effort was made
to Introduce the Bundy time recorder for
use In the postal service, but Il failed
Later. during the administration of POST
master-General Wilson, upon the recon-
mendation Of A. w. Machen, II was adopt
ed. Machen estimated that the entire
S45, 599. so.
I'm 1901 an effort was made by First
Assistant Postmaster-General w. M.
Johnson and his chief clerk, John M. 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
$1,000 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 canceling ma
chimes for use in the postal service 1t is
shown that the government has lost over
100000. which sum was divided among the
conspirators interested. Here again GRIM
inal action is barred by the statute Of linn
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 &
Kitchener, of Washington, and H. J..
Truesdell, of Binghamton. N. Y. The
company was organized August 8, 1899,
and capitalized for sloO, 900, divided into
1000 shares of 500 each Truesdell was on
intimate personal relations with Beavers,
and In 1899 an order was given for 100
machines. at $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 on account Of
the great dissatisfaction with this first
100 known as Model No. the Doremus
company established factory OF it's own
In Washington and created Model No Z
and Beavers, without testing it's efficien-
cy, on June 30, 1900, contracted for 100 Of
the new machines at SIPS each. Model No.
also proved failure, and Model No. :
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. l and 2 but 80 are now in use,
the remaining 161 being practically a net
loss.
six hundred and seventy one of these
machines have been ordered by the de-
partment, at a net cost of $143,475 This is
repetition Of the story of automatic
cashiers and Elliott & Hatch typewriters,
except that 1t 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, $40, 900 worth
of his stock. in consideration of receiv.
ing an order for not less than 800 ma.
chimes.
Heath refused to make written state
ment. but said verbally to Inspector Sim.
mons that he never received any stock
from the Doremus Canceling MHchins
Company or any remuneration of any
kind. directly or indirctlye
On October 5, 1908. indictments were
found against Green. Doremus and Beav.
ers for conspiracy to defraud.
The evidence against Heath was also
submitted to the district attorney, whc
decided that It was not sufficient to war.
rant his Indictment. .......
THE administration Of Beavers was II
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, ths
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 will necessitate further investiga.
ton and possibly involve persons not now
implicated.
"The systern Of oroa ,yzad corr,,r+,o,,
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 confeder.
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 s3,000,O00. Machen
probably did not receive more than sec.
900 from the Croft fastener. Yet the gov.
eminent has paid approximately $130,oOG
for that device, which represents a net
loss. since the Department continued
by the terms of the contract for lettes
boxes, to pay for the original fasteners
Beavers and his associates received less
than $4,000 from the automatic cashier
Yet the Department expended S74,275 fol
this wholly unnecessary machine. The
total amount that the perpetrators OF
these frauds themselves received can no,
be definitely learned, but II will aggre-
gate between 100000 and 100000, while
the loss to the government. considerine
the unnecessary supplies that have beer
| purchased and the inferior quality OF
those furnished by fraudulent contra ct.
| ors, can not be estimated with any de.
| gree Of accuracy.
| LAS the gross abuses have beer
| brought to light they have been prompt.
| ly corrected by the proper departmental
| officers. Contracts where fraud has beer
| discovered have been annulled. ...
THE results of the investigation dem.
onstrate that all travelling agents of tn,
| Department-such as assistant superin.
tendents of salaries and allowances, o.
| 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 mad,
in the organization of the Department II
order to provide a more perfect checl
| on the operations of various divisions, anS
some restrictive legislation affecting tn,
divisions of salaries and allowance, O
rural free delivery, and possibly other.
may be necessary. What the servic,
most needs however. is honest intelli
| gent, and vigorous administration. TIL,
corruption disclosed Is not due to la,
laws. but to the dishonesty Of those VIII,
have been charged with the response
bility Of administering them"