Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-12

by no means ayfaet of the first Importance
II, moeed, II. vas not entirely immateriai
NO duty devoVed upon the committee K
use more than.it desired nor to make whole
or any portion of it public
Committees Hand Forced.
The committee conclude that the impress.
sion made upoh 1.-THE minds of the member.
of Mr.. OverstrSet.s committee by the pub.
LEGATION in a newspaper of the fact that the
report was In its possession. together with
the inference that it contained things which
were serfbus4 reflection upon members
was the reafoE flor its publication by the
1t thus came about" the report con-
Iinues. that the report was published
containing the names of many members OF
Congress which never should have been as
sociated with tbs aso-calIed charges set forth
in the Hay RESOLUTION
The report next takes up the three cases
Where members of. the present Congress
were stated t.. have leased property to the
government for post office purposes. The
Ninsted Cenn,.s case being that of Repre-
sentative L:lley; the Geneseo, N. T., case,
inNoiVing Representative Wadsworth AS
10 those two cases, the report says: There
was clearly no intention on the part OF
either OF the gentlemen to violate the law.
IN neither case was there detriment to the
government nor advantage to the other
party. ~
Neither of the members was a lawyer.
ana they shared that ignorance, which is
PROBABLY UNIVERSAL outside and quite gen
eral inside the legal profession, concern
ing the great mass of the statutes of the
United States, In the absence of eknowi-
eage OF the artificial standards created by
act or Congress they could only regulate
their conduct according to correct ideas
ana the principles of natural morality.
But those ideas and principles would lead
them to permit the government to retain
the premises 1t had so long occupied. es-
pecially when Its appointed agents had de-
termined 1t was for the interests of the
government to retain them.
Without reference to the statute. and
purely as d question of what was public
spirited and right to be done, other
decision could have been made.
Mr.. Bristow Mildly Criticised.
Under the circumstances of these cases
the committee are unable to discover any
sufficient Justification for reference to
them of the character of that made by
the fourth assistant postmaster general.
The practice followed. If it was In technical
violation of the statute. might have been
settled to the contrary by the opinion OF
the assistant attorney general for the Post
Office Department and have been discon-
ttnued. II there was any violation of the
statute, 1t was clearly unintended and a
wrong without an injury. Mr.. Bristow
declared after careful investigation that
the department had sustained no money
loss"
In the third case In this class. that of
Representative Bowersock of Lawrence.
Kan. the committee find the property in
question was presented by Mr.. Bowersock
to his daughter and that by reason of his
wealth the gift was of but little conse-
quence to him, which is point bearing on
his good faith in the transaction.
The few cases in the report where men,
fnr OF nfF1 loo
purposes, but where no leases were made.
the postmaster paying the rent out of his
salary, the committee find no criticism,
legal or otherwise.
Recurring to the list of clerk hire cases,
the report states: 1.-The committee are con-
strained to say that the list. with the ac-
companyinEI schedule, is Of the slightest
significance.a either with reference to the
conduct of representatives or OF any other
officers of the government"
Scarcely Temperate Statement"
The report in this connection refers to
the BristoW, statement that the millions
that. have been appropriated for clerk hire
during the pastIifour years ..have been
used by Beavers largely as a political per-
auisite for the benefit of his personal and
political friends. % 1t then gives the total
of excessive allowances $1,000 which,
1t says, would appear to be no more than
the minimum Of error, Inevitable even with
high degree of honesty and efficiency.
THE statement. above quoted, therefore
that the millions allowed for clerk hire in
third and fourth-ciass- offices had been used
largely as an officiai perquisite, would
scarcely seem to he a measured and temper
ate statement, having any intimate relation
tG the actual faets- as shown by the lisi
which the Post Office Department has sent
to the House of Representatives
There is nothing in the clerk hire transac-
tons of members, according to the report
on which single member may be justly
criticised.