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Show ! WWitt-on of Terry Heath's Gang. , Something is the trouble with the Washington j & correspondent of the Salt Lake Tribune or else ; I , , '' the Associated Frees is negligent in sending news f . to that Journal. There are many things happenings happen-ings at the national capital of late which seem I u to he entirely overlooked on the pages of the local U , paper, of which Perry Heath is the manager. But ?y the Louisville Courier Journal has the stories, the $ Indianapolis News does not overlook the matter, " rfV and the Philadelphia North American, and other f journals of equal standing, do not let the story pass. The wires tell it in this way. First an As- v sociated Press dispatch to the Courier Journal, which reads: v 5 5 "Washington, March 2G. Judge James N. Ty-ner, Ty-ner, Assistant Attorney General for the Postofflce Department, has resigned, to take effect on the , appointment of his successor, who has not yet been chosen. Mr. Tyner is in a serious physical condition, and owing to that fact and his advanced age he has not been able to discharge the duties ot his office for a long time, and he will not again visit the Postofflce Department officially. Then this Corrupt Practises Said to Have Been in Progress. Indianapolis, Ind., March 26. (Special.) The News this afternoon prints the following from its Washington correspondent The scandal in the Postofflce Department promises prom-ises to be far-reaching. Charges have been lodged against a large number of employes In. the department, and George W. Beavers, chief of the salaries and allowance division, has resigned as the result of the general investigation under way. Formal request for the resignation of James N. Tyner, of Peru, and assistant attorney general gen-eral for the department, was made today. He h'as consented to comply with the request. On account of his age and physical condition he will not be pursued after he leaves the department. The irregularities charged against his office have no connection with charges made against other heads of departments and subordinates. The Tyner case is only an incident compared with what is to come. The rural free delivery service is now under investigation. Whether A. W. Machen, superin- tendent of free delivery, and at the head of the rural service will resign, as did Beavers, without waiting to be called on, remains to be seeen. It is certain that if he does not voluntarily quit, his resignation will be asked for. Followed by , e Heath Tried to Stop. If he goes several persons under him will probably prob-ably go with him. investigation of his department extends back to the rural free delivery box business, busi-ness, about which there was so much gossip two or three years ago. The inquiry has been extended to every high officer who has to do with the purchasing of supplies sup-plies for the department. The crowd under investigation is the one that flourished while Perry S. Heath was First Assistant Assist-ant Postmaster General. It is alleged that Heath's business here for three months during the winter was to prevent the investigation that is now being be-ing conduced. When he went away he, thought he had effectually put a stop to the movement for a general inquiry. First Assistant Postmaster General Wynne, who holds the position Heath had in the department, depart-ment, is conducting the inquiry. It is authoritatively authorita-tively stated that he Is acting by direction of the Postmaster General and with the approval of the President, who has directed that every crooked thing discovered in the department be uncovered. And next: & g & Outsiders Held Up. It is alleged that many persons who deal with the department have systematically been held up tor years. The probing and revelations promised will furnish the sequel to the factional strife that has been going on in the office for several years. Certain subordinates, including the chief of the salaries and allowances division and the superintendent super-intendent of free delivery, it is charged, courted Congress, and reached the conclusion that they were not answerable to the Postmaster General or the First Assistant, who is their immediate superior. su-perior. Both Beavers and Machen went to Congress Con-gress for an increase in salary over the heads of their superior. When they found they could not make use of H the First Assistant it is alleged they turned on H him and were bragging that they proposed to get H his head. H Wynne then started the investigation, which H has been under way only a few days, but has al- VH ready caused such a stir as no department of the H Government has felt for years. H Three months ago a local newspaper man H started in to uncover the doings in the depart- H ment. The cabal was powerful enough to hush H the paper and to secure the discharge of the man H who undertook the investigation. There is to be a H clean sweep in the office of Assistant Attorney jH General Tyner. New appointments will not be jH made until after Postmaster General Payne re- H turns April 1. jH President Roosevelt is shocked at the revela- jvfl H Nothing like the foregoing articles have ap- BVJ peared in the Tribune, for some reason or other, H nor the following paragraphs from the Philadel- H phia North American: H & & & H To Spare Former Administrations. H It is known, however, that the chief officers of H the Postofflce Department and the President de- PB sire, as far as possible, to avoid casting reflec- H tions upon the capacity or diligence of members H of preceding administiations, and for this reason H reforms may be instituted without any great ef- H fort to discover how great have been the evils re- H suiting from the methods and practices com- H plained of. 'H Strong influence has already been enlisted to H prevent the investigation from resulting in any- IvH thing more than the changes in contemplation. A. fl W. Machen, chief of the free delivery service, it H is expected, will be asked to resign, or will be de- IH prived of the absolute power he has heretofore ex- lH ercised regarding the establishment of free deliv- 11 i dbbi ery postal routes, and the appointment of em- BB ployes in his branch of the service.. This will aS probably not be done until Postmaster General SbV Payne returns from his trip to the West Indies. IIV Earl Gained Powr Under Heath. 91 The two chiefs of division, Beavers and Ma- Infl chen, whose retirement from office is considered lawl essential to the establishment of a better system nfl in the department, really gained their power in ! Continued on page t4.) faV Itlde 'J fixation Continued, the, last administration, and while Perry S. Heath was First Assistant Postmaster General they were directly under his supervision, and were given almost al-most a freo rein to conduct their branches of the service as they saw fit. Before Heath retired from office these two men had established themselves them-selves so strongly with members of Congress, for whom they weie able to perform favors, that the influence they commanded was greater than that v of the Postmaster General himself. The Postmaster Postmas-ter General was called upon to sign the paper for them, but beyond this his supervision of their work was only nominal. They were in absolute control and they did not intend to relinquish a ( particle of their power. The immediate successors ; of Perry Heath, who were under rules of the de partment in direct charge of the bureaus of free delivery, and salaries and allowances, made no attempt to interfere with the work of the two chiefs. It was not until the present First Assistant As-sistant Postmaster General was appointed that anyone displayed tho slightest desire to inquire into the details of the work performed by them." J In the usual annual statement of the Postmas- I ter General, we will probably read the usual statc- I m'ent that the department does not pay expenses. |