The National tribune., 1906-03-01
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ed States Courts have grown to be OF
such Importance that the reporting OF
them should be placed in the hands oi
a responsible official, and not left to the
mercy of self-appointed reporters, as tt
the faithfulnesS of whose work there is
no guaranty.
i Rear-Admiral Edwin LongneclSer
late Commandant of the League Island
: Navy Yard. has been placed on the re-
tired list of the Navy. Capt. ]. Fl. Day
|, ton will be thereby promoted to Rear
Admiral, Commander H. Osterhaus Il
Captain, and Lieut-Commander r. S
4 Griffin to Commander.
Il Admiral Longnecker entered the SER
vice of the Navy in 1861. and has had q
total sea service OF II years and six
months.
Although the President will not be
able to attend the operate perform
ance at the Metropolitan Theater in
| New York City on March Is, which is
given for the benefit of charity. Mrs.
Roosevelt has accepted an invitation to
attend. The play to be presented is the
| German fairy story, "Hansel and Gret-
| ell" 1t is given under the auspices of
the Legal Aid Society. and will be one
of the social events of New York.
Washingtons Birthday was celebrat-
ed in Toykio, Japan; in London. Eng
land; in Australia, in Scotland, in
France, in many other foreign cities,
but not by the Congress of the United
States.
| Just now the Post Office Department
is getting a much needed hearing in
| Congress. That Department is the only
one, in one sense of the word, that does
not pay for itself" The expenses of
the Post Office Department each year
grow heavier and heavier, and the in
come is never within half of the out
go for this most necessary of all the
Cabinet Departments. Reasons and
reasons have been advanced for this,
! but none seemed to touch the right
| spot. Each Postmaster-General has
| thought that by another year or two"
| the Department would be able to pay
for its own keep, but it never has, and
under present methods it probably
never will.
Since the graft in the Post Office De-
partment was uncovered two years ago,
when Robert Wynnie, now Consul
General to England, a keen Witted, ac-
tiye-brained newspaper man, went to
the head of it and proceeded to uncov-
er some of the filth and scandal there,
bits of graft have been discovered. Not
in the way of misappropriation of funds
in the Department itself, but in the ex
penditure of money for mail-carrying
and other purposes. 1t is said that the
Government has been made the victim
of one vast steal in this matter. The
mails are weighed once in four years
on all the railroads which have con-
tracts with the Government. Some of
the railroads it is explained, have sub
contracts from the larger roads. The
weighing is done at the distributing
point on the railroad In question, and
is supervised by a Government official.
The process of weighing goes on for six
months, and by a computation on this
six months the Government pays
contract price for four years. The very
serious charge has been made that dur
ing this six months of weighing the
Government is mulcted out of hundreds
of thousands of dollars on the four
years contract through a species of
fraud in which Members of Congress
and Senators are made to play con-
spicuous part
The charge is made, and partially
substantiated, at least, by the testimony
of members of Congress and Senators
themselves, that they have been in
duced to send out thousands of pounds
of Government publications just at the
weighing period. These publications
should go out at a different period, but
through manipulation of interested
parties for the railroads. they are held
back, and enormous quantities of mail
of this character are habitually dumped
into the mails SO that at the distribut-
ing points where the weighing is going
on the total foots up enormously.
Here is the story of one United States
Senator on this point, but he refuses to
give his name at this time. The United
States Senator laughed good deal over
the matter, for he said that all his col
leagues from that State were victimized
by the same man:
This fellow came to me-" said the
Senator, land asked me If | had sup
piled the Agricultural Year Book to
all of my constituents who had applied
for it. 1 told him had not, as the de-
mand for it was very great, and 1 had
exhausted my quota.
That's all right he said; I've got
a lot of copies, and I'll send them out
for you
81 thanked him, and offered to pay
him a reasonable sum for the books,
but he declined the offer, and said he
would be glad TO accommodate me. I
paid little attention to the matter.
thinking that some Senator or Member
had turned over to the fellow a lot of
books, which is not a remarkable oc-
currence. Several of my colleagues
happened to mention that the same fell
low had accommodated them in the
same manner. We regarded it as quite
a favor, and / took 1t for granted that
that was what the fellow wanted-to
put US under small obligation to him.
This thing occurred several years in
succession. as l remember it now.
Finally one Spring the fellow came to
me again and asked if ! had exhausted
my quota of Diseases of the Horse or
the Year Book, or whatever II was AS
usual. l had, and as usual, he offered to
supply a lot. I had my secretary turn
over to him whole lot of franks. al
ready addressed TO people in my State,
as this man said 1t would be more con-
venient for him to handle the books
himself.
"a week or so later I asked him If
the books had gone out, and he said no.
He gave some excuse that / cannot re-
call. A few days after that / met him
| again, and he said: Those books have
all gone out / offered to pay him for
! his trouble, but he declined payment
l said to myself: That is a pretty nice
kind of fellow, and I'll try to help
him when l can
1.-THE next day / happened to see an
| item in the newspaper to the effect that
the Post Office Department had begun
the weighing of the mails in the sec
| ton that includes my State. A light
suddenly dawned upon me. Aha!' said
i to myself; this explains possibly
why I have been getting something for
nothing.'