The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-06-23
MUCH INTEREST
IN THE PROBERS
COMMITTEE INVESTIGATIONS ARE
A SOURCE or HILARITY AT
WARRINGTON.

CMail Special % The AdveTtiseT)

WASHINGTON, June e.--rhe proc
oss Of peeping into the government
books IL making lot Of hilarity In
other quarters at Washington. Per
hapa most Of the disclosures are Of the
peanut variety, but that does not al
together Distract from their value as
matters Of human interest in the oper.
alton Of great governmental machine.
They certainly are keeping some 10000
government clerks in the departments
and Offices by the Potomac entertained
at the expense bf officials and former
officials. ~
There is something fOhny, for ex.
ample, in almost every page of the tes-
timony taken by the house committee
on expenditures in the postofiee depart.
ment. The capers Of that commission,
appointed more than two years ago "to
investigate thoroughly the subject Of
time recordeTBv and consisting Of Post
masters d. G. Owen of Milwaukee, Har
ny BacbaTaeh Of Atlantic City; George
w. Bean Of Tampa, and Postoflice In
spector John X. Harrison, are more
humorous IMAM joke DOCK.
Owen turned in bill of two dollars
for barbeTs services. Bacharach, who
perhapa had wrinkles in his digestive
apparatus when he departed from At
lantic City on bis official journey, began
piIine M accounts for SS.O5 i1ncheons
and for break fasts and dinners in pro-
portion. Owen, by the Official figures
was consuming 1898 a day for sub.
sistence alone and kept II mp for forty.
eight days. Bacharaeh. on time limit
Of tbirty.three days, "Rot away" with
1914 for sustenance every twenty-four
hours while Bean got his subsistence
allowance up to 5000 per day as an
average for 6fty.tbree days. One day
when BacbaTacb was living high AZ the
most fashionable hotel in Washington
he had q breakfast that cost 1910;
luncheon that cost $2.65, and dinner
that cost 1920. Bean was gorging him.
self about the same time with break.
fast Mt $l.75; luncheon at 1920, and
dinner at $3.50.
They were running up other expenses
on a similar scale and, when the audi
tor turned the accounts back TO Post
master General Hitchcock for scrutiny.
the latter held them up a year or so
and then the money was allowed and
paid. Otherwise, II was asserted the
three hungry postmasteTs could have
gone to the court Of claims and forced
the government TO pay the last penny,
although that Is disputed.
Stories about such wastefulncss MS
J this Of the three p0stmhsters are nearly
always Whispered around Washington.
but the investigating committees Of
the house, such as are now operating,
bring the facts out into the open and
also make them q matter of record.
For the testimony is printed, where IL
may be seen Of all men, and naturally
makes n lot Of officials squirm uncom-
fortably. Someone is generally TO
blame but only an investigating com
mittee or some stern superior official
can often make II plain just whore the
blame belongs.
II was well known at Washington. for
example, that Third Assistant Postnas
ter.General A. w. Lawshe was absent
from Washington for months and
months and II was supposed that he
had been drawing his full official salary
Of $4,000 year all the time. The house
investigating committee however
dragged al the details TO light and
testimony indicated that Mr. Lawshe
whose illness Of tuberculosis supposed
TO have been contracted in the govern
ment service, was rather pitiable, had
been absent quite sixteen months. The
Democratic congressman, while hand
ling the case delicately, went TO som,
pains to indicate that the exercise OF
such authority by the postmaster. gen
cral could lead to notable abuses.
off tho p0Btmaater.geneTa coul,
grant q leave Of absence for ono year,
suggested Representative Alexander o.
Missouri "he might grant II for tw,
or three or four years, might he notf
II was claimed, In palliation, tina
tho poStmaster-ReneTal during tina
time himBelf performed much Of tn
work ordinarily falling TO the third az
slstant, but that was disputed.
Sugar Trust PEGS.
Similarly the reports Of Attorney
General WiekOrsham' legal service
for tho sugar trust have been give
Newspaper circulation In different part
OF the country again and again. Nov
however, tho committee on expendI
lures has gotten II In an authentic wa
from the attorney'general himself as
sworn witn0as Parts Of his etatcmen
how, while q former "advisern Of Oh
sugar trust, for which he received
fec Of several thousand dollars, no, o
att0rney'general accepted a particula
settlement for frauds perpetrated b.
the same trust, will probably appear I
the Democratic campaign text book !
due season,
Many high ofieiala over al the stat
department, ana lihewite men VII