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

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The report continues:
in 1890, while John wanamaker was
Postmaster-General.a an effort was made
to introduce the Bundy time recorder for
use In the postal service. but 1t failed.
Later, during the administration OF Post
master-General Wilson. upon the recon-
mendation of A. w. Machen, 1t was adopt
ed. Machen estimated that the entire
free-delivery service coula be supplied for
SIS, 500. so.
I'm 1901 an effort was made by First
Assistant Postmaster-Gener 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 ait 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 cancelng ma
chimes for use In the postal service It is
shown that the government has lost over
500, 600. which sum was divided among the
conspirators interested. Here again Grim
nal action is barred by the statute of linn
itations.
Says Mr.. Bristow:
THE most important contract for cam
ceiling machines was that for the Dore-
mus. Its original promoters were w. d.
Doremus, the inventor: l.. r. Kitchener,
member of the law firm OF Dudley &
Kitchener. of Washington. and IL. J.
rruesdell. of Binghamton, N. Y. The
company was organized August 8. 1883.
and capitalized for 100000. divided into
loo shares Of 500 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 on account of
the great dissatisfaction with this first
100 known as Model No. I the Doremus
company established factory Of its own
In Washington and created Model No Z,
and Beavers. without testing its efficien-
cy, on June 30. 1900. contracted for 100 Of
the new machines at s225 each. Model No.
also proved failure, and Model No.
was made. and Beavers promptly gave an
order for 100 machines of that model at
sos each.
''Of the 200 machines purchased OF mod
els Nos. l and but 80 are now In use,
the remaining l6l 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 sl4s.i75. This Is
repetition Of the story of automatic
cashiers and Elliott 4 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.
md order on June 30 1900. was given fos
LOO machines Green told him he had
transferred to Perry s. Heath, First As.
-iistant Postmaster General 10000 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 M,chins
Company or any remuneration of any
kind. directly or indirctiye.
"On October S. 1903. indictments were
found against Green. Doremus and Beav.
ers for conspiracy to defraud.
The evidence against Heath was also
submitted to the district attorney, vhe
decided that II was not Sufficient to war.
rant his indictment.
The administration of Beavers was. n
possible. more demoralizing upon the in.
segrity OF the service than that OF Ma.
chen"
III conCiusion tue report says.
For the purposes of this report, ths
investigation ordered by you on March
has been completed. In the preparatiop
Of cases for trial where indictments have
been found. information may be secured
which Will necessitate further inyestiga.
ton and possibly involve persons not now
implicated
The system OF organized corruption
that has been disclosed began In 1898 and
continued until stopped by this investiga.
tiol. 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 Sc, 900 from Ar
mold, yet that company defrauded the
people out of over s3.0oO.O00 Machen
probably did not receive more than 326..
900 from the Grofr fastener. Yet the gov.
eminent has paid approximately 1880, 00e
for that device. which represents 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 100000 from the automatic cashier
Yet tie Department expended S74.215 for
this wholly unnecessary machine. The
total amount that the perpetrators Of
these frauds themselves received can not
be definitely learned. but II will aggre-
gate between 100000 and 100000. 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 prompts
ly corrected by the proper departmental
officers. Contracts where fraud has been
discovered have been annulled
1.-THE results OF the Investigation DEM
onstrate that all travelling agents Of the
Department--such as assistant superin-
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 a more perfect check
on the operations Of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., and
some restrictive legislation affecting the
divisions of salaries and allowance. OF
rural free delivery. and possibly others
may be necessary What the service
most needs. however. Is honest. intelli-
gent. and vigorous administration. The
corruption disclosed Is not due to lax
laws. but to the dishonesty OF those who
have been charged with the RESPONSE
billy OF administering them"