Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 June 1903 — POSTAL SCANDAL GROWS. [ARTICLE]

POSTAL SCANDAL GROWS.

Bristow** Kxpm* off Corruption Stirs tk# Capitol. Postmaster General Payne Wednesday announced the summary dismissal of Jams* T. Metcalf, chief of the money order division. Mr. Metcalf has been in the employ of the department for ths last twenty-one gears, moat of the time in the money order division, of which he haa been chief for several years. For efficiency, honesty and integrity he haa had an enviable record. The division under his charge handles annually enormous sums of money, last year the ■mount of money orders reaching $700,-000,-000, and the loss through fraud haa been Infinitesimally email. Action in the case of Metcalf was taken after President Roosevelt had bfc*n consulted by Postmaster General Payne and a full investigation of the case will be made later. The dismiisal la the result of acta of Mr. Metcalf in opposition to the bid of Paul Herman of Rutherford, N. J., the lowest bidder by $45,000, and in favor of the next highest bidder, the Wynkoop, Hallenbeck, Crawford Company of New York, of which Mr. Metcalf’s son is an employe. Mr. Met<hdf indignantly denies being influenced by this fact and claims that he was actuated solely by his desire to eee the government best served. In connection with the new developments Postmaster General Payne made public all the documents and reports of Fourth Assistant Postmaster General Bristow bearing on the Tulloch charges as they are known. The features of those documents are: Mr. Psyns In a memorandum aocompanytog the report ssrys some of Tulloeh'a charges are directed against the late President McKinley, who needs no defense, and against former Postmaster General Smith, who has replied for himself. The report of Fourth Assistant Postmaster General Bristow tells In detail how the Inquiry was started at the time the Washington postoffice was transferred from Postmaster Mlllett to Postmaster Merritt. Various exhibits are attached to the report composing the results of Investigations by inspectors showing that efforts were made by Mr. Beg vers and others to have irregularities overlooked, and that In one case the names of Perry S. Heath and of the Postmaster General himself were used to back up threats. The Inspector, It Is shown, urged "that the responsibility for the many illegal appointments, the payment of two salaries to one and the same person, and the disbursement of thousands of dollars for which praotlcalaly no service waa performed, should be placed where it properly belongs and the many abuses corrected.”