New-York tribune., 1919-06-21
Burleson Answers
Callivan; Charges
Personal Motive
Says Massachusetts Man Is
Angry Because Ending of
Pneumatic Tube Service
Made Stock Worthless
Nesr York Tribxns
WdshfrQton Bureot

WASHINGTON, June 20.-Postmas-
ter General Burleson to-day answered
the attack made on him in the House
Thursday by Representative Gallivan,
Of Massachusetts. In q letter to Rep
resentative Buchanan. Of Texas, Dem
ocrat, Burleson attributed the attitude
of the Massachusetts member to dis
pleasure over the discontinuance Of the
pneumatic mail tube service in Boston,
as recommended by Mr.. Burleson.
In a memorandum from The Con-
gressional Record" attached to his
letter Burleson said the real reason
ment and rage was that Mr.. Gallivan
had owned shares of pneumatic tube
stock
II feel honored by the disapproba-
tion of such man." wrote Mr.. Burle-
son.
Postmaster General Burleson's letter
to Representative Buchanan, dated
June 10, 1919, follows:
"My Dear Mr.. Buchanan: In reply
to your telephone inquiry as to the
reason for the hostile feeling of the
gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr..
Gallivan, toward the postal service
1lAo dle.CuldIly coward lne foSllnaS-
ter General, l beg leave to direct your
attention to the fact that upon my
recommendation the pneumatic tube
service has been discontinued.
Enmity an Honor
"For years this useless appliance
was an incubus on the postal service,
occasioning waste of millions Of dol
lars of postal revenue. Every postal
that ~ rroI; ;nff
of the late Mr.. Justice Moody, made
when he was member of the House
and at the time this bankrupt COM
mercial concern was unloaded on the
department, that it would ultimately
prove q stain on the postal SERVICE
has been thoroughly verified. Repre-
sentative Moody then stated that a
prominent member of Congress, pend
ing the adoption of this tube service
by the government, had been offered
as a gift stock in this concern and that
the scheme to fasten it on the postal
service had been conceived in sin and
born Of iniquity.'
AS stated above on my recommenda-
ton, this stain on the postal service
was removed by the last Congress- If
you will now turn to page 1873 of the
Record Of the last Congress under date
Of January Is, 1917, and run your
finger down the second column to the
18th line you Will find the real
reason of Representative Gallivan's
resentment and rage
Il feel honored by the disapproba-
tlon of such a man. I would not ask
you to waste your time in making
reply to any statement he might make. j"
memorandum for Representative
Buchanan:
Record Quoted
"The Record discloses that Mr.. Gal
livan was elected a member of Con-
gress on April 7, 1914. to fill an unex-
pired term in the 63d Congress. He
has been a member of Congress since
that day. On January 13, 1917, at
tinuance of the pneumatic tube ser
vice, he said:
/ will say to the gentleman in re-
sponse to has inquiry, that when l came
to Congress the present postmast ster at
Boston was my guide, counsellor and
friend. (Laughter) He made me a
very strong advocate Of the pneumatic
tube service. Years ago, before | be-
came member of Congress, had been
a stockholder in one of the companies
and | had lost almost my inside shirt.
lLaughter) STOCK Tor which had paid
$50 share went down to little or
nothing when l disposed of it for
keeps. was Street Commits
sioner there (Boston) for fourteen
years before I came to Congress-
"On January Is, two days after this
speech was delivered list OF the
stockholders of the American Pneu-
matte Service Company on June 10,
1915, was printed in the Record 1t
shows among the list OF stockholders
James A. Gallivan, address, House Of
fee Building, Washington, D. c., and
that he owned eighty shares"