Evening star., 1924-02-14
MAI. W. W. KIRBY.t
NAMED TO SUCCEED
L. A. HILL Ar BUREAU

A(Continued from First Page.)
evidence had been found of any dupli.
cate issues or other fraudulent over
issue of liberty bonds or other gov
them from tSe reeord thpp apPesfs Moar9er fqe
had been for a time assistant regis
ter of the Treasury Ander the demo-
cratic administrator; that his con-
duct In Office had betn inefficient 3and
generally unsatisfactory, and that, in
July Of 1920 he hail been permitted
70 resign. though Secretary Glass had
nrSt asked and obtained authority
from president Wilson to remove him
from office for reasbns which he sum-
married. as followsf
Glass' Re4sonx Cited.
Il am obliged toiask your authority
10 remove from office James w, Nc
carter. assistant register of the
treasury. He haf conducted himself
IN his office in D manner not only
wholly inefficient but grossly often
siNe to the members of his organiza-
ion. He has been given war41ing and
ample opportunity to amend his ways
tory action will make 1t possible to
restore the efficiency of the organi-
cation.
shorty after hi j. withdrawal from
office McCarter published his charges
of duplication in the issues Of lib
erty bonds. and Brewer. to whose at
tentfon they subsequently came, has
since been endea.oring to develop
them through his Investigations.
Hns Made Investigation.
For the most part. the charges Of
McCarter and Brewer relate to mat
ters preceding my administration of
the Treasury. as to which l have no
personal knowledge. l have made
independent investigation. however,
with all the facilities at my command,
and 1 am satisfied that the charges
are unfounded, that there has been no
fraudulent duplication or overiSsue of
the public debt, and that there is no
the integrity Of either the govern
ments outstanding obligations or
those branches of the Treasury Serv-
ice which have been engaged in the
handling of the public debt securities.
The Treasury has been on the alert
at all times to guard against fraudu-
lent dealings in public debt securities.
and has been at the greatest pains to
provide for handling both security Is
sues and security redemptions in such
ments interests at every point. Its
record in this regard invites the full
est inspection, and the results which
it has achieved in dealing with the
unparalleled issues of war ponds and
other securities do it thes greatest
credit.
Names Securities Attacked.
1T should be clear. in the first place.
that the securities to which the
charges principally relate are the So
called temporary liberty bonds. which
We're issued in 1917 and 1918. with
only the first few coupons attached,
and the victory notes. which were is
N vi 1,a,
since matured and been paid off in
1928. The temporary liberty bonds
became eXchangeable for permanent
bonds. with all coupons to maturity
attached, in 1919 and 1920, and the eX-
changes of temporary for permanent
bonds are now practically complete.
only about S37.050.000 face amount OF
temporary bonds being still outstand-
ing out of a total of nearly $4,000
600, 900 of outstanding liberty bonds.
in the hands of the public are prac-
tically all permanent bonds, which
are not in any way affected by the
charges, SO that there is no occasion
for any public nneasiness in this re-
gard.
Check on Integrity of Bonds.
"The exchange of temporary FOR
permanent bonds has also given an
excellent check upon the integrity Of
the issue VI ana IL
furnishes a conclusive answer to the
charges Of duplication in the public
debt. 1t has involved practically Il
complete turnover of the coupon lib
erty bonds originally issued, az a
result of which the temporary bonds
have been Surrendered to the Treas-
ury for retirement. Over 10l.000,000
pieces of temporary bonds were de-
li:ered in the first instances by the
bureau OF engraving and printing. OF
these there were outstanding in the
hands of the public on November 80,
1923, only 4s1,241 bonds. having an
aggregate face value of s37.10S,450.
In other words, over 100. 600. 900 pieces
Of temporary bonds have already been
retired and delivered to the registrar
of the Trcasurytfor final examination
and audit. The examination of these
millions Of pieces is practically cur
rent, and since it involves a check in
each case against the numerical rec
ords. it would te certain to disclose
duplicate issues: if any had been
made. AS a matter of fact, the ex-
animation has not disclosed any du-
plication and SLOWS that the issues
and retirements' check up, by loans
and denominations, without any over
issue.
Another Check Furnished.
Another ChecH on the integrity of
the liberty loan issues is furnished
by the accounts of the interest ac-
crued and unpaid on the public debt.
These figures indicate that ins' 'ead Of
the excessive payments of interest,
which would be. expected If there
were large duplicate issues Of bonds,
the interest payments, as matter of
fact, have constantly been far below
the actual accruals upon tho out
standing public debt. For example,
according to tie public debt state
ment for November 80, 1923. the latest
available. there were outstanding on
that date matured interest coupons
and interest checks to an aggregate
of s64.6G4, 4,0S5.s5. In other
words, instead of IAN overpayment of
interest, the government has actually
had to pay considerably less interest
than has accrued on the bonds and
other securities, which are admitted
ly outstanding. The public debt
sta Elements, moreover. are made UP
on a cash basis. the amounts shown
as issued being taken uD only against
cash actually received. The figures
for the public debt on this basis
agree with the figures reached in
by the division of loans
and currency on the basis of securi-
ties issued, and this Of itself furnishes
proof that there have been
no over issues
Bureau Accounts Audited.
Beyond all this, the audits which
have been made OF the paper accounts
of the bureau of engraving and print
ing over the whole period since the
beginning of the war show that there
are: no discrepancies in these ac-
counts beyond the petty discrepancies
that would naturally be expected In
transactions involving several hun
dred million pieces of distinctive
paper. The balances of distinctive