Evening star., 1922-06-17
MYSTERY SHROUDS
TREASURY CHARGES
Representative Begg Denies
Authorship of Anonymous
Petition.

Petition.
Mystery as to the authorship of
the sensational anonymous charges
against the Treasury Department
dcepened today.
Representative James T. Begg, re-
publican. Ohio, who yesterday pre-
| sented to President Harding q petit
tion concerning policies in the Treas
ury Department. today emphatically
denied authorship OF the sensational
document circulated in the Capitol.
which charged democrats held key
positions in the Treasury. and indig-
nantly denounced charges of the
anonymous document as pure bunk
While withholding the exact con-
( tents of his petition, now on the
Presidents desk. Representative Begg
| statement and said that he had alb
solutely nothing to do with it,
OnIy Policies Concerned.
The request that has been present
ed to the President, however, Mr..
! Begg explained. was backed by prac-
| tically the unanimous opinion of re-
publicans in the House, was signed
|
| able to Mr.. Dover" The request con-
cerned policies more than men, Mr.
| Begg said.
Where the anonymous document
came from. Mt. Begg said he did not
| know, as 1t had appeared on his desk
| in a similar manner as II had been
sent to other members of the House.
! Commissioner of Internal Revenue
| Blair. whose bureau was attacked in
the anonymous petition. declared to-
n
the document had been sent out in
ranked envelopes bea ring Mr.. Begg's
| name.
Regard Matter Closed.
In official circles at the Treasury
! today. the tendency was to regard
| the matter as a closed incident for
| the present. With Secretary Mel
Ions statement of yesterday. there
was feeling of relief.
There was no disposition or the
| part OF officials at the Treasury 70
| search out the authors of the docu-
| cles. that officials had no further
| stuff"
The fact seemed fairly we'll es-
! tablished through statements at the
| Treasury and from Representative
Begs. that the strange statement was
| never signed by any congressman at
all. or IL IL had been they were not
yet willing to admit Il. II have
heard of none who signed it," said
! Mr.. Begg.
Deny Being Democrats.
Several persons listed in the docu-
| ment as alleged democrats have de-
nied the charge. stating they were
republicans.
Chief Of these was Cndersecretary
| S. P. Gilbert. who, in letter to Rep
resentative James r. Begg of Ohio.
says:
Through the courtesy of various
republican senators and representa-
tives. l have had brought to my at
tention statement entitled The
treasury Department-survey of the
! personnel Of the bureau of internal
held by officials OF a former admins
tration and named and checked from
! the official records of the department.
which is being circulated in en-
velopes bearing your frank. Item l
Personnel of Secretary Melons once
contains the following paragraph:
81. Mr.. Paul Gilbert, active demo-
cratic politician. taking the stump for
Gov Cox in the campaign of 1920. At
present holding the position of the
Undersecretary of the Treasury:
Il do not know Paul Gilbert. but
assume from the context that the
/ item may have reference to me. The
statement Is of no concern whatever
to me. but should like to state for
your own information that IL IL does
/ refer to me il is absolutely false in
every respect Since you are lending
| your name to it's circulation you may
possibly be interested in the facts.
Did Not support Cox.
/ Il am not a democrat, am not a poll
. politics. did not take the stump in
1920 for Mr.. Cox and had no interest
whatever in his campaign. / am life
| long republican. nave never voted any
thing but the republican ticket and my
/ father was for thirty years one of the
most active republican leaders in the
state Of New Jersey.
! Il was appointed assistant secretary
of the Treasury by President Wilson in
1920. as republican. was reappotnted
by President Harding in March, 1921,
and subsequently appointed undersecre-
| tary of the Treasury In June, 1921.
; Il should have thought that before you
permitted ignorant libels to circulate
under your name. you would first have
made at least some effort to ascertain
/ the facts"
| Although saying he wished to make no
personal statement, Assistant Undersec-
| retary Croxton. named as democrat,
declared the statement made by Secre-
| tary Mellon yesterday should explain the
situation.
Melons Secretary silent.
| John Kiley. private secretary to Mr..
Mellon continued his reserved silence.
but friends Of his everywhere were loud
! in proclamation Of Mr.. Kileys loyal re-
publicanisr.
Others who denied they were demo
Gratis included: c. p. Smith. assistant to
Commissioner Haynes; Deputy Commis-
! sioner E H Batson. J. w. Beers. L. +.
Rush, Carl A. Mapes. w. b. Hinman,
/ Newton X Fox. S. T. De la Mater, Ches-
| ter A. Bennett Charles Ballen. Capt. o.
! c. Luxford. Miss Grace NJ. Henderson,
! Miss Florence McGraw.
! Many persons named on the list
democrats preferred to say nothing,
while their friends assured inQuirers
that they were republicans.
FoULKE RAPS PETITION.