Evening journal., 1919-06-26
.BURLESON HID AERO
MAIL LOSS, CHARGE
Hartman Banks Consign.
ment. Worth $63. 900
Burned in Ohio
DEPARTMENT is
FORMALLY ACCUSED


the Post Office Department. without
the knowledge or consent Of the ad-
dresser, has taken from trains, valuable
mail sent as first-class matter. trans
ferred Il 10 the experimental air mail
service, lost 10 through destruction by
/ fire Of the airplane 10 which II was
transferred and then sought 10 keep the
facts from the addressOr are contained
/ in letters made public Yesterday from
J. W Hartman, president Of the lIar-
riman National Bank Of New York. TO
senator WadswOFth ~. y and TO pos
tai officials
The correspondence was made pub
! lie in connection with a resolution in
/ troduced by Chairman Steenerson
! MINI OF the House Committee on
Post Onlces and Post Roads demand
ing the facts In the incident. which is
said 90 involve remittance letters,
drafts and checks aggregating $4,000 in
value. addressed by the New York in
stiluiion 10 the Federal Reserve Bank,
the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank and
the Union Trust Company, all OF Chi
cago.
, According TO the information CON
tanned in the Hartman correspondence
she POST Onlce Department has sought
20 cover the trail Of the transaction
which involved taking flrst-class mail
matter from a train en- route between
New York and Chicago and starting II
from Cleveland in an airplane.
The correspondence includes ca
changes between Mr.. Hartman and
I.Tst Assistant Postmaster General
Rooms and Second Assistant Postmas-
| ter-General Praeger, and indicates
clearly that neither OF these officials
was prepared TO deal frankly with Mr..
Hartman while the latter was seeking
TO ascertain what had become Of the
lost mail matter. In a letter 10 Sena-
tor Wadsworth Mr.. Hartman wrote:
"On May 2i last we mailed 20 our
correspondents I'm Chicago our regular
remittance letters containing drafts.
checks. &c, TO an amount aggregating
$4,000 odd which letters were never
received
we have been tracing the thing and
1lnd that there were other letters from
this city lost in the same mail. The
only satisfaction we could get from the
Post Onlce Department was that some
OF the mail had been lost.
a rumor came 10 US that the Post
Ofllce Department has not been frank
In its statement, and upon investigation
we ascertained that some Of the mail on
the train en- route 10 Chicago was taken
/ Off TO go by way Of aeroplane from
Cleveland TO Chicago The aeroplane
caught fire and a portion Of the mail
was destroyed
Il have wired the Postmaster-Gen-
eral asking by what authority the de.
partment hazards bank mail in expert
ment. and stating that I considered 10 q
high handed outrage. In any event. wh,
was this loss mysteriOusly covered M
from the banks. not even being report
ed 20 the press, so that the bank
could protect themselves with thei
> customers against possible loss and in
convenience. but got no satisfaction.
"This seems 70 he a new BurlesoT
game. and ! ask that you investigate 81
that a repetition Of the offense may noi
be in order"
In a letter 20 First Assistant Post
: masier-General Rooms Mr.. Hartman
pointed out that the Federal Reserve
Bank Of Chicago had been responsible
for his first information as 10 the prob
able fate OF the lost mail after he had
failed 10 get such Information from
the Post Oflce Department.
1T would appear from the above
that responsibility for the loss Of our
letters is pretty generally recognized
by various Government agencies, al
thought we are kept in the dark. ] do
. not believe any further comment j.
necessary just at this time. but / will
assure you that II I cannot get sat
isfaction ! will go further.
81 am very hot under the collar
over this matter. and J cannot yet un-
derstand why the Government lends
itself to experimenting with valuable
mail. and When accidents occur IL en-
deavors 10 hide the performance and
give misleading accounts OF losses.
we have suffered 10 a considerable
extent due 10 this experiment which
has ended so dsastrously, and I can
not even get the assistance OF thos.
in your department who are respon-
sble for the loss
J In his letter TO Mr.. Steenerson Mr.
Hartman said
The matter is so serious that thinl
some action should be taken so tina
we make be assured that in the future
such experiments will not be mad
with valuable mail matter. putting tn
hanks % extreme Inconvenience an,
3 possible loss
The Steenerson resolution, which is
privileged measure and may be calle'
p llp and passed at the end Of a weel
81 without committee action, In addition
TO asking for the facts in the case o
fhe lost Hartman letters, asks by wha
authority first class mail without air
plane mail stamps affixed, is trans
ported by airplane; 10 what extent thl
practice extends; whether the depart
ment refused or neglected to inform Tn
Hartman Bank Of the facts In connec
+ iiop with the loss Of its mail; whethe
!. ID is an established policy OF the de
b. partment 10 transport mail by airplan
!. without the consent Of the sender, an
S under the rules Of the department, wha
g precaution a sender can take agains
2 having his mail transported by air
e plane.