New-York tribune., 1921-01-11
Craig Accused
OF Illegal Act
By La Cuardia
Publication of Personal Tel.
egrams by Comptroller
Is Declared To Be q Vio-
lation Of the Penal Code
Secretary Takes Blame
O'Connor Says He Was Told
to Keep Messages Sep
arate, but Neglected 1t


Charging that the publication OF his
Yersonal kilograms was in violation of
Paragraph 8, Section 553, of the Penal
Code, Aldermanic President F. II. La
Guardia last night sent letter to
Comptroller Charles j.. Craig, who last
Saturday accused Mr. La Guardia of
having charged to the city numerous
kilograms that had nothi.g to do with
the conduct of municipal affairs. More
than score of the messages were pub
iished with the ComRtroller's COM
Inents.
William o'Connor, legislative secre-
tary Of the Board Of Aldermen, issued
statement saying that responsibility
for the failure to segregate the per-
sonal from the official messages of Mr..
La Guardia was chargeable to him, as
the board president several times had
instructed that the utmost care be ex-
ercised in keeping the items separate
In answer to the charge of the Alder
manic President that the text Of the
messages was published in violation of
the penal code, Mr. Craig, it is under
stood, will contend that any CORE
spondence charge to the municipality
becomes public property. The para
graph referred to in Mr.. La Guardia's S
letter sets forth that it shall be unlaw-
ful for any person without authority
TO make public the context Of private
correspondence. Mr.. Craig's position,
it is understood, is that his official
obligations and the circumstances sur
rounding the incident clothed him with
the authority specified.
Text of La Guardia's Letter
Mr.. La Guardia, in his answer to the
Comptroller, says:
"Dear Sir-I beg to acknowledge re-
ceipt of your letter of January s, 1921,
which reached me this morning. 1t bears
postmark of January 8, 8 p. m, and
therefore could not reach me before,
although copies of it were sent to the
press late Saturday night.
"Your statement to the press in con-
nection with the letter that the mes
sages amount to $500, was, of course,
untrue, and you must have known it at
the time you made it. One item alone
amounts to S2O9. This was the tele-
graphic communication of resolution
of the Board Of Aldermen signed jointly
by the Acting President, majority and
minority leaders of the board, in the
matter of rent legislation at the time
that delegation of New York City Of
sicials was in Albany, and messages,
same subject, amount to ST. Another
item, which amounts to S25, was the
telegraphic message calling a special
meeting on August ~, 1920, of the
Board of Aldermen.
These two items alone figure al
most twe-thirds of the total amount
for the period Of the voucher. l have
not as yet had an opportunity to get
complete list of all messages sent. Mr.
OConnor, of this Office. who has charge.
of this matter, called at your Office
to-day in accordance with the stote-
anent contained in your letter, but wa
unable to examine the records which
you have, so that We might pick out
the messages erroneously billed. He
vas told that ne could not have access
until he had seen you first and that
he could not see you until 10 o'clock
tomorrow, Tuesday.
Ordered Messages Separated
instructions were given by me
#hen first assumed Office to keep my
matter entirely in the charge of Will
liam O'Connor. who has been in h
present office for nineteen years.
did rot know that the voucher cover
ing these kilograms had been sent to
you II was contrary to my orders.
After / had learned that it was sent
| again ordered Mr.. O'Connor to take
the matter up with the telegraph com
pany and obtain originals in order that
large number of kilograms were taken
of the bills and my secretary was
Getting the originals out of the files in
order to complete the work, when the
voucher was inadvertently sent
.hrrugn
IL you had informed me of the mat
ter would have known that I'll
youcher had gone through without thu
complete elimination of my personal
messages: II you had done SO, of course
you would not have had the oppor-
sunity to examine my personal mes.
sages, and it is apparent that your only
desire was to publish my personal con-
Inunications. This you did contrary to
Inc provisions of paragraph 8 of Sec
ton 553 of the penal Law. A great
many of the messages which you pub.
lished are personal. You concede that
they are not official, and yet you sent
copies of them to the press.
II do not expect that the messages
Will amount to more than So or 81 a
month. will take the matter up with
the telegraph company, 80 that any IN
proper item on the bill to the city mey
berectiiied byit Some Of these message. |.
already have been paid for, and xhere-
fore it is n matter of the telegraph
company strengthening out it's bill.
"As to personalities in which you in
oulge, giving vent to your feelings BY
publication OF these personal communi-
cations, rest assured you will hear
from me later. Yours very truly,
"F. LA GUARDIA."
Xiniinisf AnnlnudoI Aro:.