HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 109 TO INVESTIGATE THE POST OFFICE NOVEMBER 9, 1911 WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1911 HE6331 COMMITTEE ON EXPENDITURES IN THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. [Committee room, room 293, House Office Building. Telephone 589. WILLIAM A. ASHBROOK, Ohio, Chairman. JOSHUA W. ALEXANDER, Missouri. ERNEST Meets on call.] RICHARD W. AUSTIN, Tennessee. CORNELL, Clerk. COMMITTEE ON EXPENDITURES IN THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, St. Louis, Mo., Thursday, November 9, 1911. The committee met at 9.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. William A. Ashbrook (chairman) presiding. Present: Representatives Ashbrook, Alexander, Redfield, McCoy, and Towner. There were also present Mr. W. D. Wheeler, of the office of the Third Assistant Postmaster General; Mr. E. C. Madden, attorney in fact for the Lewis Publishing Co.; and Mr. Louis Cohen. The CHAIRMAN. We have met here, pursuant to the agreement had at the adjournment of this committee in Washington, to resume the hearing in the Lewis Publishing Co. case. I wish to state to the committee that I have received a telegram from Mr. Slemp, a member of the committee, advising that on account of delay in his trains it will be impossible for him to be here before this evening. I have also been advised by Mr. Austin, the other absent member of the committee, that it will be impossible for him to reach this city before next Sunday. I have also received a telegram from Mr. Britt, Third Assistant Postmaster General, to the effect that he has been unavoidably detained for the day, but will arrive on the afternoon of the 9th. Mr. Wheeler, who is associated with Mr. Britt, Third Assistant Postmaster General, is here, and I am informed by Mr. Wheeler, and also by a letter from Mr. Britt, that it is the desire of the Post Office Department here to first conclude the evidence of Mr. Stice. I will insert the letter received from Mr. Britt, and we will now call upon Mr. Stice to resume his evidence before this committee. (The letter referred to is printed in full, as follows:) Hon. WILLIAM A. ASHBROOK, POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, Chairman Committee on Expenditures in the Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MR. ASHBROOK: Receipt is acknowledged of your letter of the 2d instant, informing me that the House Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department will resume hearings in the Lewis Publishing Co. case at the Jefferson Hotel, St. Louis, Mo., on November 9, and suggesting that witnesses on behalf of the department be notified to appear before the committee at that time and place, and in reply I have to inform you that the department desires to have Inspector James L. Stice, ex-Inspector in Charge Robert M. Fulton, exPostmaster Frank Wyman, and probably others to testify at St. Louis, and that they have been notified accordingly. The department will open with a continuation of the testimony of Mr. Stice, as his testimony was incomplete at the time of the adjournment of the hearings. Very respectfully, JAMES J. BRITT, Third Assistant Postmaster General. TESTIMONY OF MR. JAMES L. STICE-Continued. Mr. McCoy. I just want to say, Mr. Chairman, that if what Mr. Stice is planning to give here in the way of evidence can just as well be given in Washington as here I think we had better do it, particularly if it is going to consist of the reading of a lot of documents and papers of one kind and another, such as he was reading in Washington, because otherwise we may be here a week on his testimony, and the time might better be given to the testimony which can be gotten only here, practically. How about that, Mr. Wheeler? Mr. WHEELER. Mr. Britt regards Mr. Stice in the nature of a continuing witness, and this testimony that Mr. Stice is desirous of giving now is necessary in order that the committee may fully understand the testimony of the succeeding Government witnesses; and I am informed by Mr. Stice that he will conclude in [to Mr. Stice] how long? Mr. STICE. It will take me all day. Mr. WHEELER. That it will take him all day to conclude his testimony. Mr. REDFIELD. You mean his direct statement? Mr. WHEELER. Yes, sir. Mr. REDFIELD. Then I join in Mr. McCoy's suggestion, to the effect that the reading of documents, which can be filed with the committee, be omitted. Mr. McCoy. Except such portion as ought to be read. Mr. WHEELER. I think it is Mr. Stice's intention not to read anything except what is necessary, and which can not be simply inserted in the record. Mr. TOWNER. I entirely agree with the suggestion made by my colleagues on the committee. It appears to me at this hearing now we ought to confine it as nearly as may be to the things that can be best heard and perhaps investigated at St. Louis. There is no reason why we should continue here to listen to testimony that can as well be delivered in Washington. Mr. WHEELER. Well, to such testimony, I understand, as is necessary in order that you may understand the testimony of witnesses here in St. Louis. The CHAIRMAN. May I inquire, either of Mr. Wheeler or Mr. Stice, why the evidence that he is about to offer to the committee was not inserted in the hearings of the committee, opportunity having been given to Mr. Stice to insert in the hearings any evidence that he might wish to offer in the way of documents and letters and other correspondence? Mr. STICE. Mr. Chairman, what I have prepared here is just a brief of what I intend to testify from. I do not intend to follow this literally, and in connection with that I want to introduce such exhibits as will support the statements verbally that I want to make to the committee. |