As stated above, the sum of $2,300 represents the lowest estimated cost of replacing the girder. From other estimates it appears that the cost of repairing the girder would be $2,093. The Works Progress Administration Engineering Division is of the opinion that, from an engineering standpoint, the replacement of the girder rather than its repair is advisable. However, in connection with this work, it appears that the salvage value of the damaged girder will be approximately $100. Although claimant has indicated its willingness to surrender this material to the Administration, it is believed that it should be retained by claimant and that a deduction of $100 should be made from the estimated cost of replacement. In addition, it is possible that your committee may deem the charges of $102 for "supervision, tools, etc., 15 percent," and $67 for "contingencies," as listed in the break-down of the estimated railroad labor made by claimant, too indefinite. There are enclosed herewith photostatic copies of pertinent papers and original photographs and blueprints. Sincerely yours, CORRINGTON GILL, The WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTR⚫TION, Washington, D. C.: Ashbel B. Newell, being first duly sworn upon oath, says that he is president and general manager of the Toledo Terminal Railroad Co., an Ohio corporation, with its principal office at Toledo, Ohio, and that there is justly and truly due said company the sum of $2,300, as a result of damage sustained to its Navarre Avenue Bridge, Toledo, Ohio, when struck by Osgood gas shovel, loaded on Works Progress Administration Ohio trailer 4352-U. S. G., license No. 63, and which was being towed by G. M. C. truck, license U. S. G. No. 54, on July 7, 1938, at about 2 p. m., which was in charge of H. C. Millspaugh, 2428 Bucklew Street, and Charles Jamison, 2447 Albion Street, Toledo, Ohio. This affiant further says that said truck and trailer was being operated from Schmidlin Road to 314 Division Street, over Navarre Avenue, in a westerly direction, and shell or bucket came in contact with the east girder supporting the westerly track on said bridge, causing said girder to be bent, resulting in both vertical and horizontal deflection, which materially weakens girder and necessitates its replacement. This affiant further says that said property was not insured, and that the expense to be incurred in the replacement of said girder is set forth in exhibit A, which has been made a part hereof. STATE OF OHIO, Lucas County, ss: ASHBEL B. NEWELL. Ashbel B. Newell, being first duly sworn, upon oath says that he is the president and general manager of the Toledo Terminal Railroad Co., and to the best of his knowledge the above is a true and correct statement of the circumstances surrounding the damage sustained; that he is not aware of any material fact contributing either directly or indirectly to the cause of said damage which is not particularly set forth herein or in attached papers; that the Toledo Terminal Railroad Co. has received no payment from any source for the whole or any part of the damage sustained. Ohio. ASHBEL B. NEWELL. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 31st day of January 1939, at Toledo, [SEAL L. A. HORRIGAN, Notary Public. My commission expires December 26, 1939. EXHIBIT A Cost of structural steel (being lowest of 3 bids) Remove track, deck, and walk....... Replace track, deck, and walk upon completion of work (labor only).. Total__ $745 740 300 100 100 110 66 102 67 2,300 WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION, Washington, D. C., November 15, 1938. The TOLEDO TERMINAL RAILROAD CO., Toledo, Ohio. (Attention: Mr. Ashbel B. Newell, president and general manager.) GENTLEMEN: There has been received in this office for consideration your claim for damages to your Navarre Avenue Bridge, Toledo, Ohio. The only authority of law under which this Administration may consider claims for damage to privately owned property is contained in the act of December 28, 1922 (42 Stat. 1066), and section 20 of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1938 (52 Stat. 809). The authority conferred by these statutes is limited by the former to claims for $1,000, or less, and by the latter to claims not in excess of $500. Since the amount claimed in the instant case exceeds the jurisdictional sums specified, this Administration is without authority of law to entertain same. Yours very truly. WM. E. LINDEN, о JAMES W. GILSON JULY 13, 1939.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed Mr. ROCKEFELLER, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 4726] The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 4726) for the relief of James W. Gilson, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. This Committee favorably reported a similar bill in the Seventy-fifth Congress, and the facts are set forth in detail in House Report No. 1824, Seventy-fifth Congress, third session, which is appended hereto and made a part of this report. (H. Rept. No. 1824, 75th Cong., 1st sess.] STATEMENT OF FACTS This bill directs the Comptroller General to credit the account of James W. Gilson, former postmaster at Hartford, Conn., in the sum of $682.64, representing the balance of a shortage in his account caused by embezzlement of post-office funds by a postal clerk, and provides that any recovery hereafter made by the Government in respect of such shortage may, in the discretion of the Comptroller General, be credited to the account of said former postmaster in the event that any additional shortage in his account is disclosed, if same has occurred without fault or negligence on his part. The facts supporting this measure appear in the report of the Senate Committee on Claims which is, accordingly, appended hereto and made a part of this report. [S. Rept. No. 1131, 75th Cong., 1st sess.] The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (S. 2504) for the relief of James W. Gilson, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with the recommendation that the bill do pass with the following amendment: In line 5 strike out the figures "$688.96" and insert in lieu thereof "$682.64". Under the terms of the bill the Comptroller General is authorized and directed to credit the account of James W. Gilson, former postmaster at Hartford, Conn., in the sum of $682.64. This sum represents the balance of a shortage in such account caused by the embezzlement of post-office funds by one of the postal clerks at said post office. The Postmaster General reports that the records of the Department show that the shortage in the account of the late postmaster at Hartford, Conn., was caused by embezzlement of money-order funds by Joseph P. Monney, a former clerk; that after careful investigation of the manner in which the funds were embezzled the inspector who made the inquiry expressed the opinion that the loss did not result from the negligence of the postmaster or any of the supervisors. The Postmaster General further states that "We concur in the inspector's opinion and believe that the bill introduced to relieve the postmaster is a meritorious one and that it should be enacted into law." In this recommendation your committee concur. The following communications are appended hereto and made a part of this report: POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., June 25, 1937. Hon. JOSIAH W. BAILEY, Chairman, Committee on Claims, United States Senate. MY DEAR SENATOR: The receipt is acknowledged of your request of the 3d instant for a report upon S. 2504, a bill for the relief of James W. Gilson. The records of the Department show that the shortage in the account of the late postmaster at Hartford, Conn., was caused by embezzlement of money-order funds by Joseph P. Monney, a former clerk. After careful investigation of the manner in which the funds were embezzled, the inspector who made the inquiry, expressed the opinion that the loss did not result from the negligence of the postmaster or any of the supervisors. We concur in the inspector's opinion and believe that the bill introduced to relieve the postmaster is a meritorious one and that it should be enacted into law. Very truly yours, JAMES A. FARLEY, Postmaster General. COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, Hon. JOSIAH W. BAILEY, Chairman, Committee on Claims, United States Senate. MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Further reference is made to your letter of June 3, 1937, acknowledged June 4, requesting report on S. 2504 (75th Cong.), entitled "A bill for the relief of James W. Gilson," which bill is as follows: "That the Comptroller General is authorized and directed to credit the account of James W. Gilson, former postmaster at Hartford, Conn., in the sum of $688.96. Such sum represents the balance of a shortage in such account caused by the embezzlement of post-office funds by one of the postal clerks at such post office. Any recovery hereafter made by the Government in respect of such shortage, may, in the discretion of the Comptroller General, be credited to the ac count of such former postmaster in the event that any additional shortage in his account is disclosed, if such additional shortage has occurred without fault or negligence on the part of such former postmaster." It is noted that a companion bill H. R. 7031 was introduced in the House of Representatives on May 13, 1937, and was referred to the Committee on Claims. At this time the balance shown to be due to the United States on the account of James W. Gilson, former postmaster at Hartford, Conn., resulting from the defalcation of Joseph P. Mooney, a former clerk in that post office, is $682.64. The items making up the said balance are as follows: Erroneous claim in Mr. Gilson's money-order account for credit for amount due to embezzlement of the former clerk. Funds received from the sale of money orders, together with $2,818. 22 the prescribed fees, and not accounted for: Quarter ended Sept. 30, 1934. Dec. 31, 1934. Total... $768. 01 695. 63 595. 98 1. 57 2, 061. 19 4,879. 41 Deduct: Balance in retirement fund to Mooney's credit applied Balance of salary due Mooney Balance due former postmaster on postal account_- quarter, 1935 Deposited June 30, 1936... Balance due United States____. $3,000. 00 1, 126. 45 13. 43 7.90 1. 51 $4, 196. 77 682. 64 Mr. Mooney in his affidavit of March 18, 1935, relates the following facts and circumstances regarding his defalcations of Government funds: "Since December 1933, while employed as a clerk in the money-order section of the Hartford, Conn., post office, I have taken Government money and used same for my own personal use. I do not know the exact amount of Government money I have misappropriated to my personal use, but I am satisfied that the amount will be over $4,000. I have been shown certain money-order applications and other papers relative thereto, such as the stubs and I am positive that the money orders covered by these applications were issued by me. The amount of money misappropriated by me is shown in the following table: "From the above table, I am satisfied that the total amount of Government funds misappropriated by me as far as is known at this time is $4,776.40. "Part of this money was spent by me in paying notes that I owed which were contracted in certain real estate deals. I think about $2,000 was spent by me in the year 1934 in paying these notes and the remainder was used for living purposes. In December 1933, when I took the first money out of the moneyorder funds I made my wife acquainted with my purpose and she is familiar with the fact that I am short in my accounts. Before I began misappropriating funds, I endeavored to raise the money from other sources, but was unable to do so, and when I took the first $300 in December 1933, I intended to repay it before it was time to submit the monthly money-order statement. My wife's aunt had made a tentative promise that she would give my wife a sum of money which would have been sufficient to repay the $300, but she failed to do so and I was unable to make good the amount.' The Post Office inspector's report of March 18, 1935, in regard to the matter here involved, is in pertinent part, as follows: "3. The usual method followed by Clerk Mooney was to accept a money-order application, with the cash, for a large amount, issue a money order for such amount, withdraw the application from the files and substitute an application for a smaller amount. In most instances, after the substituted application had been listed, he replaced the original application in the permanent files of the office. In a few instances, however, the substituted application, calling for a smaller amount, was left in the files. In a few instances the order having been drawn for $100 the marginal check was correctly torn. The stub was then altered by attaching thereto a new margin, so that at first glance the stub indicated issuance for $1. The new margin, according to Mooney, was obtained from another order, probably a 'not issued' order. "4. It was also determined that in a number of instances Mooney falsified his daily report to the money-order cashier on Form 6741 C/A. In accordance with the method followed at this office, each window clerk submits a full report of all money-order transactions on station Form 6019. On these forms, in some instances Mooney listed correctly the amounts of the money orders he had issued, but brought down a total consistent with the substituted applications. In other instances he entered the improper amount of the money order on the form." It is reported that Mooney was arrested March 18, 1935, and that he was indicted, entered a plea of guilty, and was sentenced to serve 1 year in the Middlesex County Jail, Haddam, Conn. Regarding the postmaster's responsibility in this matter, the post-office inspectors, in report dated March 20, 1935, stated: "2. It has been the practice at this office for the abstract of issued money orders to be prepared by two clerks, both of whom were also employed in the H. Repts., 76-1, vol. 5-74 |