The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-09-11
PUBLIC PRINTING IS
 NOT WELL MANAGED
REPORT OF KEEP COMMISSION
 ALLEGES PARTIALITY AND :. MALADMLNISTRATI0M.

President Reviews Charges of Corrup-
 ton in Award of Contracts for Type
 Setting -IncidentaIIy the
 Company Making the Allegations is
 Severely scored--Action of Public
 Printer Palmer Characterised as Un-
 just and Unfair-He Has Been Dis
 missed From once.
 Oyster Bay, Sept. 10. President Roosevelt to-day made public the re- port of the Keep commission on its re- cent investigation of affairs in the printing office at Washington The sn- quiry was made by special direction of the president on account of pro- test which he had received from ofii- cials of the MerganthaIer Typesetting Machine company against the,award Of P a contract by Public Printer Frank w. Palmer to the Lanston Monotype com pany for seventy-two machines of It's I,nake.
 By order of the president -she contract with the Lanston conpany was held,np until an Investigation could be made with view of ascertaining whetherlthe charges of favoritism and corruption in the letting of the contract were sub- stantially founded.
 As heretofore chronicIed in these dis~ patches, the president decided after an examination Of the Keep report that the contract for the Lanston machines should stand. The Keep commission reported that if the contract could be set aside ''sIch course would be desir- able,' although the commission states expressly no corrupt Consideration, payment or promise passed from the Lanston Monotye conaany to the ublic printer or to any person in the govern rnent service
 It was developed by the investigation. however, that two important assistants of the public printer were indirectly interested in the Lanston company, their wives being stockholders there.
 The commission shows that fair and importial test of the T4anston and Merganthaler machines was not made and reports that the purchase of So large a number of Lanston machines was .'improvident'' and indicated "great partiality and bias on the part of the publci printer Tie co1isfSS saa2s. lsion regards the purchase as emaiad- 1 ministration.
 The report of the commission is vo- Luminous; containing about 10000 words. IEAccompa it Is a memorandum by President Roosevelt in which he ap- proves the report except as to the diso- sition of the contract for the Lanston machines, which he has directed shall stand. The text of the presidents memorandum follows.
 Oyster Bay, Sept. g, 1905
 aThe conclusions of the commission are hereby approved save the latter part of conclusion first. It does not ap- pear that there is any question as to the validity of the contract in question. If it had not been for the conduct o6 the Merganthaler company in prefer ring the charge discussed by the com mittee on conclusion two, that of cor ruption, should agree with the com mission that it would be desirable to set aside the contract if such course were legal. But second only to cor ruption in a public officer in point of iniquity comes making a baseless charge of corruption, and this is what the committee finds the Merganthaler company has done in this case,
 "In the light of the failure of the company to produce evidence of such tcorruptipn 1t must be held that the charge was made recklessly and the Merganthaler company should be se- verely condemned for including such a | charge in a formal communication to | the president of the United States. made as basis for official action on his part It is fair also to the Ianston Monotype company to say that no evil dence was produced by the Mergan- tkaler company, nor was any obtained by the committee in the course of it's hearing, tending to show any promise, payment or, consideration of any kind whatsoever by the Lalston company, or any of its officers or agents, to any person in the government service
 Had not thi charge of corruption been made should have entirely agreed with the conclusion of the com mittee that if it were possible (which it is not) it would be desirable to cancel the contract in question:
 Public Printer Palmer has been re- moved from office. The cases of the subordinates alluded to in the report must be taken up in connection with, the discipline and reorganization of the bureau when MT. Palrner's successor as- sumes office. Theodore Roosevelt.' :, l 4
 Cholera Aboard Ship.