Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-28
A REPLY TO MR. TYNER
The President Criticises the
Methods of Administration.
BRINGS FRESH CHARGES
EFFORTS TO PROCURE THE AP.
POINTMENT OF A DAUGHTER.
Other Acts Cited in Letter Given Out
at the White House This
Morning.
BRINGS FRESH CHARGES

y long and important letter bearing upon
| the Tyner case was given out at the White
! House today 1t is in reply to the letter of
| Gen. Tyner that reached the White House
| this morning and which again upbraids the
| President for not taking back what he had
| to say as to Gen. Tyner in his first state
4, ncnt TO the public on the postal frauds
| The letter is follows. being from Secre-
| tary LoeD, but containing the views Of the
-1es!den,:
White House.
| Washington, October 2S 1904
Sir: The President has received this morn
| ing your .etter dated October s, written in
answer 10 my letter of June "a which you
| never made public. although you did make
public your own letter which IL answered.
In your present letter you again claim that
wrong has been done you, and ask that it
he rjghtSd. AS you out of office. the
lighting Of the wrong could only be effected
| by your reinstatement to Office, a decla-
ration 10y the Pi esident that you were in
| r.ocent. The President instructs me to say
| to you that his emorandum to which you
take exception vas written when three in
| Gictments against you had been returned by
| the grand jury, tie report of Mr. Bristow
| having been submitted to MeSsrs. Bona
J rarte and Conrad and the action taken
| against you by the Department of Justice
berg on the recommendation of Messrs.
Soi.&pafte ana conrad
Reference in Memorandum.
| III his memorandum the President re-
| ferred to your office follows:
1.-The investigation discloses condition
| of gross corruption in the office of the AS
sistant attorney general for the Post Office
| Department. . In the case of Assist
| ant Attorney General Tyner 0he miscon-
ducD has gone on for a number of years
! but it is impossible to say exactly when 1t
began. The three chief offenders IN
| the government service were Tyner, Ma
chen and Beavers. Friends of Tyner have
| advanced the theory that in his case the
| chief offender was really his nephew py
marriage Barrett, who was his assistant III
| his office for part of the term, and that
Tyner's offenses were due to his failing
bodily and mental powers. The facts set
| forth in Mr.. BristoW's report do not tend
to substantiate the validity of these ex-
| cuses for Tyner, while they show literally
astounding misconduct in Barret.
| In the Office of the assistant attorney gen.
eral for the Post Office Department, under
| Tyner and Barrett, far greater wrong was
| inflicted upon the public than could 5e
| measured by a pecuniary standard, for in
| this office the corruption of the government
! officials took the form of favoring get-rleh-
| quick concerns and similar swlndllnS
| schemes; in other words. the criminals,
| whom it was the sworn duty OF these gov
| ernment officials to prosecute, paid them for
| permission to fleece the public unmolested
| of the criminal charges on which you
|
| cent by a jury in a court of law and the
| verdict is final as regards all citizens, in
| Guiding the President. There is, however
| a wide difference between misconduct
| which is criminal, and declared such by
| the courts and misconduct which, though
| it does not render the wrong-doer Liable TO
| the criminal law yet requires his immediate
separation from the government service,
and iustifies his severe condemnation by
| the general community on moral grounds
| You were acquitted of conspiring with
| Barrett to do certain criminal deeds 1cu
were not acquitted of doing the deeds
The Arnold Turf Concern.
That these get-rich-quick concerns which
| employed Mr.. Barrett were improperly
| favored in your Office seems to admit or
no doubt. In the case of the Arnold turf
concern where Mr.. Barrett received $4,000,
a committee of the Missouri senate which
investigated the matter in March 1903,
reported as follows after commenting upon
a report of the post office Inspector ad-
verse to the concern in question:
THAT the ruling of the department was
not in accordance with his recommenda-
ton: that from the evidence II appears
that the department at Washington, by
some process or other unknown to your
committee, overrued the recommendation
of the inspector, dismissed the cases pend
ing against these companies and they We're
allowed to proceed with their process of
absorbing the peoples money. Had the
department at Washington acted prompt
ly and properly upon the recommendation
of the Inspector millions of dollars would
have been saved, the people of the state
of Missouri and other states.
II appears that Mr.. Barrett, your nephew
by marriage and formerly your assistant,
Immediately upon leaving office under you,
made his speciality of practicing before the
department of which you were head, in this
class of cases and with a success which
has seemingly enabled him to make many
thousands of dollars in two years. His
work consisted in preventing the issuance
of or securing the cancellation of the So
called fraud orders against these concerns.
Since Attorney General Robb made
attorney general for the Post Office De-
partment. all the fraud orders the issu-
ance of which Mr.. Barrett prevented or
the cancellation of which he secured have
been issued and in no case has of
them been made void by the courts Some
of the concerns had failed even before At
torney General Robb took office. The con-
trast between what done under your
administration and under his and the con-
duct of Mr.. Barrett, in the Presidents
Judgment warrant the emphatic statement
that Mr. Barrett should never again be al
lowed to practice before the department.
and that your removal was impera lively de-
manded in the interest or honest ana efnci-
ent government.
Opening the Department Safe.
There are certain matters which could not
come before the jury which, nevertheless.
to consider when you request him to take
any action looking to the rehabilitation of
your character. One of these is the burg
larry committed by Mrs. Barrett, Mr.. Bar
retts mother, and by Mrs. Tyner at your
direction, Mrs. Tyner came to the Post
Office Department, entered your private
room in the Office, and then admitted Mrs.
Barrett and a safe expert. and the three
then rified the safe. The Department of
Justice has never been able ito know ex-
actly what documents were at that time alb
stracted from the safe. The President has
the right to assume that they would not
have been distracted in this manner had
they not been of character such would
gravely incriminate you and Mr.. Barrett.
As regards this and all the other actions
the President was at time inclined to
excuse you on the ground of your failing
powers, but you made common cause
with Mr.. Barrett. ii was difficult 10 see how
this excuse could be put forward. Moreover.
certain other actions of yours were brought
to the Presidents attention which seemed
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