The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1904-01-13

ESPECIAL CoRREsPoNDENcE.I
The friends of Captain Castle are
indignant over that portion of the
Bristow report which 10 an indirect
way reflects upon the official record
of Capt. Castle, auditor of the post
Office department at Washington.
Those whose acq uaintance with Mr.
Castle has covered quarter of q
century or more, know him to be a
man of infexible honesty and that
it would be impossible for him to
perform a dishonest official act. In
this case he appears to be the vic
tim of a bad system which he was
powerless to remedy.
/ When Captain Castle went to
Washington to assume his official
position he was well qualified from
the knowledge acquired as post
master of st. Paul, for his duties.
He very soon discovered that many
of the customs prevailing in his de-
partment were lax and unbusiness-
like. So far as he had authority he
made sweeping reforms, and in
matters outside of his authority he
recommended such changes to his
superiors as he thought necessary
for the betterment of his service.
But the head of the postoffice de-
partment, the postmaster-general,
never knows much about the details
of the department, and he is gener-
ally reluctant about overthrowing
customs which received the official
sanction of his predecessors.
In conversation with his close
friends Captain Castle has often
spoken of the loose and Anticipated
methods prevailing in the whole
postoffice department and the OPP
portunities they gave for perpetra-
ton of fraud, and he appeared at
times to be unhappy in his position
because he could find no sympa-
thetic ear into which to make sug-
gestions for needed reforms. In
his last official report, as auditor,
which was conceded by everyone
to be the ablest report that ever
emanated from his branch of the de-
partment, he went into detail con-
corning the laxness of the system
and showed how easy it would be
for dishonest officials to defraud the
government. The report was an
eye-opener.
Before this, however, Mr.. Tul-
loch, the postmaster of the city OIL
Washington, who had been sus.
pended for official irregularity
made counter charges in the news
papers against every official of note
in the department, including Capt
Castle. He accused MIR. Castle d
no specific offense but intimatec
that it was through the official neg
ligence of Castle and others tina
the government had been defraud
ed. In the investigation conducted
by Gen. Bristow that official ap
peared to be content with hearsay
evidence, and Captain Castle, whc
courted the fullest investigation o
his official acts, was neither con
suited nor seen by Gen. Bristov
nor anyone representing him. No
one ever visited his Office.
The Bristow report, recently
made to the president, duplicates
Captain Castle in general way
adopting the substance of the accu
Stations Of official negligence mad,
by Tulloch. To the extent of thil
report Captain Castle is the victim
of a system. He has been accused
II .
of permitting to be done, through
his official negligence, that which
he had, in truth and fact, don,
Everything in his power to max
impossible, through reforms in tn
department system. Being wear.
of Washington life, and DESTROYS Q
returning to Minnesota to live, Mr.
Il - . 4 n .