Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-06-05
Hitchcock Refutes Charges
Contained in the State
ment Published by Post
master Burleson.
CALLS COMPILERS OF
REPORT INCOMPETENT
Says Present Postmaster
Generals Subordinates
are Unable to Discern
Efficiency. ~

Silver City, n. NJ, June 4.-On ar
rival at Silver City yesterday from the
Mogollon mountains, where he has
been spending some weeks, former
Postmaster General Frank H. Hitch.
cock was shown for the first time the
statement issued a few days ! ago by
Postmaster General Burleson, attack.
ing his administration of the postoff1ce
department. After reading the
charges, Mr.. Hitchcock issued the fol-
lowing statement:
IA committee composed In the main
Of newly appointed assistants, having
less than three months experience In
postofflce business, attempts in re-
port to the present head OF the depart
ment to discredit the financial showing
made by the postal service under
President Taft's administration. After
reporting alleged discrepancies that
are insignificant, when compared with
the great sums known to have been
saved by their predecessors, this COM
mittee of novitiates proceeds In It's
published statement to enlighten the
American people as to the character of
the postal service they have been re-
ceiving. @
Report Inaccurate.
Their statement Is as inaccurate as
It Is gratuitous, for the public well
knows that~p was the postal serv-
Ice conducted more efficiently, or mail
handled with greater. precision and dis
patch than in the closing years Of the
Taft administration. During that ad-
n1inistration nearly 5000 new post
ohices were established, delivery by
@@A IN
300 additional cities and over 5000 new
rural routes, aggregating about 10000
miles, were authorized.
Notwithstanding these great exten-
sions of service and the heavy in
crease in expenditures they required,
the postofice department was placed
on sef-sustaining basis, and that was
its condition when, on the 4th OF March
It passed into the hands Of newly ap-
pointed officers, who have been ex-
hausting their time and their energy
III vain attempt to detract from the
record made by the devoted public SER
wants they succeeded.
'The postal committee Of demo-
cratic house of congress endeavored
last year In q similar manner to at
tack the audited accounts of the pos
tai service, but after investigation that
committee was fair enough to admit
that the department had become sub
stantially ~self-sustaining. The returns
as to surplus or deficit are made up
not by the postoff1ce department, but
by the treasury department, where all
postal income is received and all pos
tai accounts finally audited.
No Postal Deficit.
"The secretary of the treasury re-
ported the wiping out of the postal de-
ficit and the record thus certified to in
his fiscal report is likely to stand in
history. II the postoffice department
could have received a proper allow
ance for the cost of carrying franked
mail the postal surplus would have
been much larger than that recorded
and this Is true after deducting the
expense incurred on account Of the
postal service by the treasury depart
ment for the free quartering of GER
tain postoffices in federal buildings,
an expense that is less than half the
cost Of the franking privilege. In the