Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-25
NO PROFIT ON FASTENERS
Commissioner bennett Answers An
other of Hitchoock's Charges.
INVENTION OF AN EMPLoYE
Resents Statement Hitchcock Was
Not wanted at Land Office
Truth About Tele-

WASHINGTON, Jan. 2.--Admitting that
the paper fasteners used by the general
land office were the invention Of his chief
Of accounts, Irving c. Rittenhouse and
declaring the latter made no profit on
them, Commissioner bennett answeredan-
other Of the charges made against the In
terror department by Representative Hitch
cock of Nebraska when the hearings be-
ing conducted by the house committee on
expenditures in the Interior department
were resumed today.
Mr.. bennett said he was careful to as
certain that 1t was no violation Of law be-
fore the purchase was made and required
Mr.. Rittenhouse to waive his royalty.
Mr.. bennett resented the suggestion that
Mr.. Hitchcock was persona non grata al
the land office and that he could not get
information he wanted, Mr.. Hitchcock,
who for a time examined the witness. said
he had been asked his statement on the
presidents recent order against subor-
dinates divulging information. Because OF
this and the peculiar position he occupied
in having presented charges he had not
applied for information. rt1
Condensation of the testimony OF the
last hearih gof the comittee as reported
4
an important statement OF CommLssioner
bennett of general land office regarding
the charge that private kilograms were
paid out of the funds Of the department.
This is what the commissioner said as
shown by the stenographer's record;
Il have no knowledge Of any such tele-
grams being sent, with the exception of
two kilograms which were sent to the
-
at critical time, stating certain remarks
which were being made in a paper These
kilograms after having been received were
taken to the chief of field service and
the Western Union were notified that they
must not be charged to the public land
appropriation; that they related to private
which was submitted for those te,egrams." "
1t appears from the record that this state
ment was substantiated by Mr.. New
burgh, assistant chief of the accounts di-
vision; the purport of the testimony of
both being that the kilograms referred to as
transmitting newspaper articles were not
paid for by the department at all.
Examined by Mr. Hitchcock, Commits
sioner bennett agreed to furnish detailed
statement of all expenditures from the
lhllllOI-uOlldT IuHu around which Ine
charges resolve on the claim of improper
use and also to furnish a list OF trans
fers and promotions of employees between
and on the statutory civil service rolls and
the special milllon-dollar fund or "Schwartz
rolls" He denied that salaries were geneP-
ally increased when employees were trans
ferred to the "Schwartz rolls"
Mr.. Hitchcock explained that he could
not agree to answer all questions because
of the naturally confidential character OF
his sources Of information in the Interior
department and the punishment that would
follow exposure OF these sources.
Mr.. bennett said that little over Zoo
worth OF furniture, including carpets and
rugs, had been bought for use in the gen.
eral land office under the $1,OO0OOO public
domain protection fund, but that 1t was
all incidental TO the work under that ap-
preparation and was OF the cheapest kind
Of material and bought under the regular
contract system.
He said the 100000 appropriation had
enabled the bureau to catch up largely
with the work Of protecting the public
domain.