Evening star., 1918-01-25
LAW BANS OFFICIAL
BUYERS OF BONDS
Statute of 1889, Never Re-
pealed, Makes 1t a
Penalty.
MANY ARE NOW LIABLE

Whoever needs a bit of change and is
careless as to ways and means of acqulr-
ing it might make quite few ood
thousand dollars by giving information
against certain officials of the federal gov
eminent calculated to make them lose
their Jobs and forever afterward bar them
from public service. If one reads the
laws of the land correctly there seems
lust such a chance for an fnformer.
For instance, does not the Secretary OF
the Treasury, not only own. but does not
he brag that he owns big block of lib
erty loan bonds? And does the general
nublic view this with alarm? And was
not he purchaser of the very first war
savings stamp at the cost OF 50, Whlch ne
has given over to his infant daughter,
Eleanor Wilson McAdoo, granddaughter
of the President? He said he did. ana II
was so published abroad without his dis
sent.
Does not the treasurer of the United
States own some liberty loan ponds
and war savings stamps 10 NOT diso
the register of the Treasury, the con.
froller of the Treasury, the auditors OF
the various executive departments ana
other. government establishments, and
other accounting officers attached TO
tho Treasury Department.!
ship. information that can bring
about prosecution and convictlon-
there's the rub-of each one OF these
accounting officers will net the m
former half Of the $1,000 nne 10 Wnich
each will be subjected. Such owner
ship is a matter of common knowledge,
without attempt at concealment .oy
those involved-in fact. an offending.
If offending. in which they express
pride and self-righteousness.
Are not all or most of them. too,
trafficking in liberty loan bonds and
war savings stamps and war tnrlIs
stamps? Is there not actually ana
avowedly a national propaganda aho
money passed. through agencies ere
ated by the Secretary of the Treasury.
in which other accounting officers are
directly or indirectly concerned?
Read the Law for Yourself.
Is not this unlawful? Read the law:
NO person appointed to the once OF
Secretary of the Treasury, or hrst
comptroiler, or first auditor, or treas
urer, or register shall, directly or indl-
rectly, be concerned in the purchase or
disposal of any public securities or any
state or of the United States.
That seems as positive and definite as
written words can make law. Inc same
law provides the penalty:
"And any person who offendS against
any of the prohibitions of this section
shall be deemed guilty of high miSde-
meanor and forfeit the penalty of $4,000.
and shall, upon conviction. be removed
from office and forever thereafter be m
capable Of holding any office under the
United States"
Pretty tough to be high misde-
meanant-tough to give up $4,000 for
q crime that seemed virtue to be vain
of when performed-tough to lose a
nice fat plum of job in the publ1c
ther stigmatized as unworthy of fur
ther confidence of the people and fed
era1 employment. Pretty tough! And
the informer has this chance under this
law to make it tough for them:
And il any other person than pub
lie prosecutor shall give information of
any such offense upon which pros
ecution and conviction can be had. half
the aforesaid penalty of $4,000, when
recovered, shall be for the use of the
person giving such information"
That was written into the law Of Sep
tember 9, 1883, creating the Treasury De-
partment. At that time bond issues Of
the states and of the United States were
syndicated: nothing was there to pre-
vent tuntil the law was made) Secre-
tary of the Treasury from selling such a
bond issue to a syndicate and getting rich
quick by a little speculation on the side.
the Revised Statutes. 1t has never been
amended or revoked-so that it remains
the law of the land, even if a dead letter.
There seems to be no interpre-
tation Of the law that does not indicate
q belief that 1t meant to forbid any per-
sonal ownership and traffic in United
States securities of whatever kind. Note
the opinion Of the Attorney General in
1347. given when asked to say what he
thought about it:
The object Of the law was to withdraw
from the accounting officers every motive
Of private interest in the performance Of
their duties.
Whatever private interest the account
ing officers may have in holding liberty
loan bonds and war savings stamps and
war thrift stamps 1t will hardly be
charged to account of cupidity. Their pri-
vate interests, apparently, at this time
are largely for personal service for the
common veal, to be on the right side,
individually, of the burning questions of
the hour. and to practice what they preach
to the public-thrift, economy and aid to
our nation in war.
The courts never took any other than
a literal view of the statute The Supreme
Court Of the United States is cited:
The evident purpose Of Congress in
all this class of enactments has been to
promote efficiency and integrity in the
discharge Of official duties and to main
tain proper discipline in the public serv-
fee. Clearly such purpose is within the
nf iclo