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Show " II I ... .JlLu ..... WA:ilNGTG.;. May I.-Ca; t. ILirry A. Ca.'.e, auJ'.tor for the rosto.'.hce Dt,-;t-tik nt,' h.s" flven out a statement la re-r'.y re-r'.y to chaxr-s r: a ! a - ilnst ! orr.a by former Cah!or Tulhxh of the V.'a?h-lr.gton V.'a?h-lr.gton city poatorrice. Capt. Ctstle lays: "Some of llr. Tulloch's statemenU are reckless and others abf?urd:y false. . The Comptroller never disallowed $k0 that had been approved by this omce. My recollection now is that less than $1000 was finally disapproved, and that of that amount a considerable portion was dimply dim-ply charred under another bead." In connection with the charges of violations vio-lations of the civil service law, Postmaster-General Payne has called attention o the appropriation of $300,000 made by Congress In March. 1W9, aa well as several sev-eral smaller appropriations for the 'same purpose in 1S38 and 1809. "By their terms," be said, "the expenditure of that appropriation appro-priation for mail service of various kinds necessitated by the acquisition of insular insu-lar possessions, was vested in tbe discretion discre-tion of the Postmaster-General, without regard to the civil service law." Postmaster-General' Payne said today that the investigation at some of the post-offices post-offices had been completed, ' instancing Milwaukee, where, he said, the accounts had been found to be correct. He said that Comptroller Tracewell .has personally person-ally Investigated the accounts of . the New York postofftce, and the Postmaster-General Postmaster-General added that he understands the accounts were found to be straight and in proper shape. The postoffice inspectors have finished the investigation of the W ashington postoffice, and the Civil Service Ser-vice commission expert today were finishing fin-ishing their, examination of their office by taking testimony, of clerks appointed at outside postofflces who are transferred through Washington port office into the Postoffice Department. Referring to the responsibility of subordinates in official matters, the Postmaster-General said that, the subordinate officials would be held responsible for their own acts and should not obey sn order that was not according to law; that an unlawful order was no order st all, so far as the necessity of a subordinate executing it was concerned. Ex-Cashier Tulloch was in Washington' today, and in an interview said: "I notice Mr. Payne observes that. I could know nothing i more about the postal service in Porto Rico than about the poetal service ser-vice of Chicago. Perhaps Mr. Payne is not aware that as cashier of the Washington Wash-ington city postoffice no postmaster there could even secure a box of matches that I did not pay for. Money, for tbe salaries of the postmasters, clerks, carriers, route men and ,other employes for every office in the island passed through my hands, and the postmaster of Washington city was responsible on his bond for the proper 1 disbursement of It. "Not only was I. the cashier for every postoffice in Porto Rico, but I was also auditor of the accounts, which I had to watch carefully, lest some employe might double up on me. - I was required to look out that there were.no double payments, either for services or materials; that not more than one building In one town or city was rented for a postoffice, and scores of other things. Often these vouchers vouch-ers were not In satisfactory shape and had to be returned, not once, hut twice or thrice, and corrected. "I acted likewise in a third capacity in keeping accounts of the aupplles sent to every office in Porto Rico. A postmaster, for instance, whose bond was kX, might be furnished 32500 worth of stamps and ' other postal materials In going to the island. This sum of money was turned over and over again. He would send me cash which be had realised on these materials, ma-terials, or voucher for expenditures, as the case . might be. and I had to send him still further supplies, always watching watch-ing out that the amount entrusted to his care did not exceed the amount of hla bond. If I did not know more about Porto Rlcan postal affairs than about postal affairs In Chicago," declared Mr. Tulloch. "I was not fit to be cashier. That's all there is to It" . Touching tbe question of expenses for individuals, which auditing officers refused re-fused to pass, Mr. Tulloch said: "I know that in some cases where these men came in with expenses which the accounting account-ing officers of the Treasury would not pass, a very Ingenious scheme was devised de-vised to help them out. By direction of First Assistant Heath the names of these employes would be ordered kept on the pay-rolls, for a time, long enough to make sufficient money in salary to equal the tabooed accounts. I know In one case a favorite had come back to Washington and his name had beAi dropped from the rolls. He had been drawing pay at the rate of 31300 a year, but it was found that some of his expenses would not pass the auditing officers. Forthwith an order came to me to put him on the rolls at 31400. He performed no additional work, but was paid a salary till the deficiency de-ficiency was made up." |