The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-06-16

Secretary of State Is Wit
ness In Day aI'irdii Case.
HAS COMPLIMENT FOR HAMLlN
Little Light 10 shed on Recent Reoov-
cry Of Long Lost Voucher - Office
Boy Knew Exact Time II Was
Found and Tells Why.

Washington, June 15.-"You've play.
ed this up In first class style. If you
ever get out of congress you ought to
manage a theatrical company" was
Secretary of State Knox's greeting to
Chairman Hamlin as he seated himself
IN the witness chair before the house
committee on expenditures in the state
department.
Secretary Knox was referring prin-
cipally to the chairman's conduct of
the inquiry into the so called Day por-
trait case. Secretary Knox thereupon
laid before the committee the long
lost voucher for $2,450 and other docu.
ments In the case that have reappeared
after having been missing for five
years.
The documents submitted by Secre.
tary Knox threw no definite light upon
the final disposition of the $1,000 that
was paid out by the treasury on the
voucher over and beyond the $3.50
charged by Albert Rosenthal, the Phil
adelphia artist, for painting the por-
trait of William Day, then secretary
Of state and now associate Justice of
the supreme court.
A letter from William H. Michael
who was chief clerk of the state de-
partment at the time and who In the
first instance received the 2,450, says
that the difference of $1,000 was turn.
ed over to Secretary Of State Hay to
pay confidential accounts of the state
department, as he recalls 1t, in connec.
tion with Chinese affairs. The entire
$2,450 was drawn from a fund author
lied by congress for expenditures of
confidential character and for which
the secretary of state is required to
make no public accounting. Mr..
Michael adds that signing of the
voucher by Rosenthal must have been
an inadyertence, as 1t was to have
been signed by Michael himself. Mr..
Michael is now consul at Calcutta.
Secretary Knox acknowledged that
the only information that the depart
ment had as to what had become of
the $1,000 was In Mr.. Michaels own
statement
AS to the mysterious finding of the
voucher on the floor Of the disbursing
clerks room In the state department
after 1t had been missing for years.
Mr.. Knox could give no explanation.
On this point he could throw no more
light than the Office boy who found
the document at 5:05 O'clock ON re-
cent afternoon and who testified when
asked how he knew the exact time
that he was always looking at the
clock when he had to work late'
"Do you think that the voucher has
been in the state department all this
time" asked Chairman Hamlin.
Eyes, there is no doubt of it," said
Mr.. Knox.
The voucher was withdrawn from
the departments file about five years
ago, when Elihu Root, then secretary
Of state, undertook an investigation of
the Day portrait case. The present
state department authorities do not
know whether 1t had been in its regu~
lar place in the files since that time.
AS soon as Secretary Knox heard of
the questionable character of the
voucher through the house committees
activities he instituted an investiga-
ton and could get no trace of it. That
was two weeks or more ago.
Il directed" said Secretary Knox
"that a most thorough search should
be made m the state department, and
l personally inquired from day to day
as to the progress that was made
Every place in the department was
hunted, even the old safe in the base
ment"