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The Commoner
. VOLUME 3, NUMBER 19.
CURR8NT
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SERIOUS CHARGES RELATING TO IRREG
ularltics in tho administration of the postal
altairs have been formally preferred by Seymour
W. Tulloch, formerly cashier of tho Washington
city postomce. In a letter to tho postmaster gen
eral, Mr. Tulloch says that in all instances of ir
regularities and favoritism, tho proper allowances,
records, vouchors, etc., were carefully executed
and little Information can be ascertained by their
Investigation. Ho says that tho real facts behind
these allowances and vouchers are known to few,
"those Interested who will not and others, clerks,
who dare not talk." This was probably meant
as a broad hint to the postmaster general to make
it easy for tho clerks "who dare not talk," to
speak without fear of injury to themselves.
THE THING WHICH LED TO SUBSEQUENT
irregularities, abuses, and extravagances
and Anally Mr. Tulloch's removal from office, re
lated, according to the former cashier's state
ment, to tho purchase of a piece of office furni
ture. The chief of the salary and allowance di
vision of tho postofflce department desired a file
case, but his requisitions were rejected by his su
perior officer. Ar. Tulloch Eays that subsequent
ly vouchers were presented to him for this file
caso accompanied by an allowance for itB pay
ment out of the funds of th? Washington city
postofflce. Mr. Tulloch says that he directed the
contractor to obtain a certificate of delivery of
tho goods from tho chief of tho salary and al
lowance division, but that officer refused to ac
copt tho receipt fearing exposure during the audit
of tho vouchors and Tulloch says that ho refused
to pay for tho caso until some one was willing to
sign tho receipt. Mr. Tulloch further charges
that on one occasion tho first assistant postmaster
general sent his clerk to Tulloch with a voucher
for a lump sum for traveling expenses accompa
nied by an allowance for its payment from the
funds of the Washington city postofflce. Knowing
that such a demand was irregular, on its face,
Tulloch protested. Ho says that official became
very angry at the idea of a mere cashier at
tempting to make any suggestions to him and
refused to amend and itemize his voucher. Tho
Washington city postmaster sustained the posi
tion taken by tho cashier, but finally the auditor
of tle postofflce department sent word to the
cashier that if he would enclose the voucher in
his next account, the informality would be over
looked. Mr. Tulloch says that an inspection of
tho Washington accounts will show many similar
subsequent payments of traveling and other ex
penses on account of departmental officials with
out tho usual departmental checks.
rHAT POSTOFFIQE EMPLOYES WERE RE
quired to furnish a bond, the same to be
provided by a single recognized company, irre
spective of tho fact that such employes could fur
nish good personal bonds or might desire to avail
themselves of the competition in premiums be
tween other bonding companies, is another charge
made by Mr. Tulloch. He says that the Washing.
ton city postmaster had a conference with George
W. Beaver, then chief of the salary and allow
ance division, and reported that Mr. Beaver had
said "Senator Piatt of New York would appre
ciate the fact if ho would select the senator's
company." Mr. Tulloch admits that tho original
circular was subsequently modified by allowing
employes to select their own bonds or bonding
companies.
SEVERAL MYSTERIOUS TRANSACTIONS
with relation to the purchase of high-priced
furniture are referred to by Mr. Tulloch. In these
the name of Perry S. Heath, formerly first as
sistant postmaster general, figures, and not entire
ly In a creditable way, if Mr. Tulloch's statements
are to bo relied upon. That a complimentary pay
roll was maintained in the postofflce department.
Is another charge made by Mr. Tulloch. In thi3
it is, claimed that certain men and women wero
paid money out of the public treasury without
doing any work. It is also charged that a num
bor of persons designated as finance clerks, audi
tors, etc., wero paid from $200 to $300 each per
annum more than their lawful salary. Mr. Tul
loch says that with only on 3 or two exceptions,
the positions as cleaners, char-women, laborers,
etc, were evasions of the civil service law and
the parties did not perform their duties Implied
in their official designations and often no ser
vice whatever. It is further charged that on one
occasion, a Porto Rican official was called dowa
sharply by the Washington office with reference
to irregularities in. his money order account Ho
wrote back, "Perhaps if you knew who my in
fluence is, you would not write to me In such a
manner." Mr. Tulloch says the postal accounts
of this official became so confused and full of
errors that ho refused to pay his salary. Re
f erring to this official, Tulloch says: "He sur
prised me one day by calling and demanding his
back pay. This was refused until his accounts
had been audited. He replied, 'Very well, at your
convenience. I have been appointed to a $1,400
position in the land office.' " Mr. Tulloch says
that at the time of his removal most of the offi
ces in Porto Rico were in arrears, some of them
for a considerable amount, and that the accounts
were very much confused. Mr. Tulloch goes into
details, making many charges affecting the reg
ularity and honesty of the postal service and
among other things charges that during the last
four years the members of tLe household of the
postmaster at Washington city have drawn' for
their services $40,000 from the local postal rev
enue. ? &
IN RESPONSE TO THE CHAKGES MADE BY
Former Cashier Tulloch, Postmaster Gen
eral Payne has sent a letter to the comptroller
of the treasury, the auditor of f-3 postofflce de
partment, and other officials calling their atten
tion to Mr. Tulloch's statements and asking for
any explanation or further information that might
throw light on the subject Mr. Payne says that
"if those officials allow improper accounts to be
audited or suppressed, what might be called 'pay .
dirt' had been found In tho charges itapugning
their good faith and integrity." Mr. Payne added
that irregularities do not necessarily mean any
thing unlawful. The department may pay out of.
its own fund either. by accident or design and
that need not be unlawful. Mr. Payne says tie
charges will be thoroughly investigated and Sena
tor Thomas C. Piatt takes a hand in the discus .
sion to enter a flat denial of Mr. Tulloch's state
ment relating to the bonding companies. Sena
tor Piatt says that he has no interest in any such
company.
A BILL IS PENDING IN THE LEGISLATIVE
assembly at Melbourne providing for a sup
pression of the strike. In this bill it is provided
that an employe leaving his work without giving
four nights' notice is to be assumed to have
joined the strike and will incur the penalty of
500 fine or a year's imprisonment with loss of
pension and will be ineligible in the future for
government employment The bill also forbids
interference with employes, the collection ot
strike funds or encouraging the strike in any man
ner. The bill further empowers the police to
destroy documents encouraging tho strike, makes
printers thereof offenders against the law and
declares meetings to be unlawful if four strikers
are present All persons refusing to disperse
are liable to arrest without warrants and the po
lice are empowered to forcibly enter meetings.
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THE WORK OF RECONSTRUCTING THE
Campanile at Venice is progressing and a
' Home cablegram to the Chicago Tribune says
that in the course of a lecture on various data
provided by the examination of tho remains of
the fallen tower it was said that the shape of the
bricks proved them to have been used for various
purposes at a previous stage. Their use was for
arches, fortifications, the tops of walls, etc. A
. most important fact is that they are not Ven
etian, but Roman bricks. Moreover, when they
were manufactured they were not manipulated
like modern bricks, but were formed from slices
of clay as it was found, without the natural lay
ers being disturbed. This process resulted in
each individual brick being able to support a
weight quite four times as great as the modern
ones. Tho bricks examined are of the first cen
tury. One bore the impression of a' horseshoe,
conclusively proving the debated point that horse
shoes then were in use.
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THE DESCENDANTS OF JAMES AND
Henry Leonard, who were the first iron
masters in America, have undertaken - to com
memorate the establishment of the iron industry
in tho United States by tho erection of a monu
ment at Taunton, Mass. Tho sum of $40,000 has
already been pledged to this plan. The Taunton
correspondent for the Chicago Inter-Ocean says:
"A design has been completed by Mr. Charles
Henry Niehaus of New York. It shows a shaft,
which may be of marble or granite, intended to
be seventy-five feet in height, resting on a granito
pedestal. Around the base ot the shaft are
grouped twenty-one figures, representing iron
workers and phases of the iron industry in early
days. The first iron works in the United States
were established at Saugus, mass., In 1643. Three
years later a furnace and forge were put in oper
ation at Braintree, and in 1G53 the industry was
established on a more extensive scale at Taun
ton. A portion of the plant stood for more than
200 years."
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DO DIAMONDS COME FROM THE SKIES? IS
an interesting question dealt with by a
writer in the Chicago Inter-Ocean. This writer
says that the 'theory was first broached by Mey
denhauer. According to this authority, the dia
mond can be of cosmic origin only, having fallen
as a meteorite at a late period of the earth's
formation. The localities where diamonds are
found contain tue residues of riot very compact
meteoric masses which may have fallen in his
toric ages and penetrated more or less deeply
according to the more or less resistent character
of the surface where they fell, 'juie Inter-Ocean,
writer adds: "The most striking confirmation of
the theory comes from Arizona. Here on
broad plain over an area about five miles in
diameter were scattered 1,000 to 2,000 masses of
metallic iron, the fragments weighing from half
a ton to a fraction of an ounce. There is littlo
doubt these masses formed part of meteoric
shower, although no record exists as to when the
fall took place. Curiously enough, near the cen
ter where most of the meteorites have been found
is a crater with ragged edges, three-quarters of a
mile in diameter and about 600 feet deep, bear
ing exactly the appearance which would be pro
duced had a mighty mass of iron or falling star
struck the ground, scattering in all directions,
and burled itself under the surface. Dr. Foote
in cutting a section of this meteorite, found the
tools were injured by something vastly harder
than metallic iron. He examined the specimea
chemically and soon afte- announced to the scien
tific world that the Arizona meteorite contained
black and transparent diamonds. This discovery
was verified by Professors Friedel' and Noissan,
who found that it contained three varieties oJ
carbon, diamond, graphite, and amorphous car-
A REPORT RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY THE
.London county council presents Some in
teresting information concerning the city -of Lon
don. According to this report, in the adminis-
?ai9ye, ounty of London. there are 571,768 in
habited houses, which shelter 4,536,541 persons, or
an average of 7.93 as compared with 7.74 ten years
iJL-5: xdustr,ial workers aggregate 1,013,177,
less than three-fourths of whom are males. Tho
S tamy in London during that year was greater
Qwiri f A,msterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen,
pKS If' ?erlin' but less than that of
Kj1. Petersburg, Vienna, and New York.
n-L inLLnd,n'i' e" the count7 council-will
?WVni 8&miles of tramways and light railways.
?' , , thtgl proflt on tbose then in opera
tion was 147,797. In the last ten years there
thf i a general decrease in offenses against
wLf 8ave druntenness, and arrests .for these
fi4fi nlTeaS?d from 537 Per 100'000 Population to
mh, J Ver 50 per cent The ratable value of the
m,m ai9oi from 19'96'3'285 in 1891 " to 39,-
THE OFFICIAL FIGURES OF THE ITALIAN
,.,, enss shows. 16,151,130 males and 16,320,
m females, or a total population of 32,475,253.
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