The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1903. THE AMERICAN POST OFFICE SCANDAL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 216, 10 September 1903, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1903. THE AMERICAN POST OFFICE SCANDAL.

For the cause that looks assistance, For the icrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that ice can da.

President Roosevelt is a bold man, but he has never given better proof of his courage than in his determined and successful onslaught upon the abuses that have long prevailed in the American postal service. The General Post Office of the United States is often described by enthusiastic Americans as the largest business enterprise in the world. Its employees are equal in number to those of all the other Civil Service departments combined. It handles more money and property than any other government office except the Treasury. Its total expenditure last year amounted to £25,000,000 sterling. The business of the post office has constantly expanded in a very irregular and spasmodic wny through the necessity of providing transport for mails in newly-settled districts. Over this vast and chaotic. service it is almost impossible" for .the head of the department to maintain absolute control. And it happens that the present Postmaster-General, Mr Payne, oweshis appointment not to knowledge of postal work, or to administrative ability, butto the fact that he has been vice-chair-man of the Republican National Committee, and therefore plays an important part in the working , of the Republican, "machine." The post office has been more notoriously exposed to political '•influence" for some time past th.an any other department of the public service,; and though Mr Payne lmnself has not been implicated in the charge's laid against; his officials, there is a general impression in America that political reasons have had much to do with the impunity hitherto enjoyed by Messrs. Beavers, Maerien, and their fraudulent accomplices. Within the last five years several <atteftipts have bean made to bring to light ■the corruption that was known to be practised in certain sections of the postal service. In 189S Mr Tulloeh, then Cashier of Washington City Post Office, laid charges of improper disbursement of funds and favouritism in appointments; \ but the then Postmaster-General succeeded in getting the results of the investigation suppressed. In 1809 Mr Gilmcr,' an accountant engaged as auditor in the Postal Department, began to ask inconvenient questions, and to demand papers that it would have been difficult to supply; and he was promptly transferred and disrated on a charge of insolence to his superiors. About the same time an attempt to investigate, the Baltimore Post Office was nipped in the bud by an order from Washington. But gradually the evil odour of the postal, service became too_ strong for even well-j tried American susceptibilities; and last) yenr the head of the Law Department of the Post Office was formally accused of accepting bribes to allow an illegal use of the mails. Then Mr Wynne, the First Assistant of the PostmasterGeneral, being a new man in his office , , was shocked at the discovery of many irregularities, and demanded '.a wider j inquiry. The attention of the President • was at last forcibly directed towards these 'proceedings, and from that moment the case of the offenders' became desperate. Four important divisions of the postal service wore put under ev-j animation, and in nil ' very serious j charges were hiid.' These' wore the division? of Free Delivery, A. W. Machon. general superintendent; of Supplies, of Salaries and Allowances, George WBeavers, general superintendent, resign,p(l; and the Law Department of the Post Office, James X. Tyner, Assistant Attorney-General,' removed. The most important scandals in which these officials were concerned came under the •following heads: — Collusion of the chief of the Law Department with illegal concerns denied the use of the mails. Opera!ions of the alleged MaehenBeaver "ring" for the distribution, of patronage and the selling of the post office promotions. Unusual and illegal methods employed in the division of salaries and allowances. . ■ ■ •. Alleged connection of Superintendent 3facb.cn with mail box companies av 1 other contractors ■ for supplies in his division. Distribution of supplies to various post olfices in the country in excess of their needs. Collusion in the Supply Department with favoured contractors. Full details of the results of the inquiry are not yet to hand, but-the dismissal of Beaver and Machen, just cabled, and the complete re-organisation of. the service, now promised may be taken as conclusive proof that the charges have been in many cases fully substantiated. Some idea of the enormous scope.yi the American Postal Department and the opportunities it offers for "graft" and "boodle" may be gained from the ease of Messrs Beavers and Machen. Both, as are Democrats and "hold-overs"—that is to say, they were Civil Servants left in office by President Mclvinley when he came to power. Mr Machen had under his control the ap-: pointment of all the. Jettcr carriers in

the* service of the Post Office. As. there are over 18,000 of them extending through nearly 1000 towns, it is easy to understand how, in the words of an American critic, "there is no division or bureau in the Department Which affords ■an opportunity like this for the playing of 'politics. , " Further, Mr Machen had a great deal to do with the equipment of the rural free delivery service, which includes 11,650 postal routes, and employes Scores of thousands of officials. The salaries of these oSicers came through the hands of Mr Beavers, who had risen from the lowest post in the. New York office to the head of his division in the service. The annual salaries for postmasters alone comes to over £5,000,000, and the hire of clerks comes to nearly £4,000,----000 more; while the total esti-, mates for the next fiscal year in this department alone are over £9,000,000.. Never, eA'en in America, was a better field offered for unscrupulous men to enrich themselves at the expense of an

unsuspecting people

But the excesses of the postal officials at last startled, even the easy-going and rather cynical American public. Last year the total expenditure of tbe post office had grown to £ 25,000,000, and there was a deficit of nearly one million sterling. A very casual examination of -the departmental statistics showed that 'the post office was paying far more than H fair -rate to the railroad companies for the transportation of mails. The New York .".World" .seems to have proved that half the amount thus spent was really a fair and just charge; and it is calculated that the post office has lost perhaps £.3,000,000 a year for the last 10 or 15 .yearn in excessive railway rates. It is generally assumed that much of this surplus charge came back to the departmental officials in the form of "consideration," and nothing lias so deeply roused popular.' indignation against the post ofiice as the proof that the tyrannical railroad trusts have been, assisted by them to plunder the country. President Rooaevelt's investigation has disclosed'a bewildering maze of conspiracy and corruption, .undermining thi whole postal service; and seldom in the history of America, has there been so widespread a desire to inflict stern.justice upon public officials who have betrayed the confidence reposed in them. '•The country," says a Western newspaper, "trusts the President. He has jnade partisan criticism seem, perfectly contemptible." President Roosevelt's personal prestige and reputation have been immensely enhanced by his bold stand against dishonesty in high places, and the punishment of Beavers and Machen will be greeted with hearty satisfaction through the length and breadth of the United States;