has done any corrupt act of any kind, I will ask the Senate to reject and not confirm him. I would not be a party to putting a man on the people of Memphis as postmaster who is not the right kind of a man, for anything in the world.

Mr. WELLFORD. Mr. Sheely's appointment was brought about, and he acknowledges that it came through Bob Church and Congressman J. Will Taylor; and in proof of that I will give you photostatic copies of his own signature sent around to the newspapers two hours after he was notified that he was nominated, unsolicited, and that speaks for itself. [Producing copies of statement, as follows:]

MEMPHIS, TENN., March 8, 1928.

When asked for a statement Mr. Sheely said: "I am deeply obligated to J. Will Taylor and R. R. Church, to whom I owe my appo.ntment. I will strive to give the patrons of the Memphis post office a service second to none anywhere."

EDW. V. SHEELY.

Senator MCKELLAR. Perhaps you had better explain to the committee who Bob Church is.

Mr. WELLFORD. I will explain who Bob Church is. Bob Church is a negro who lived about a block, or maybe a half block from Mr. Sheely's drug store. Bob Church's father lived right in the same place for a great many years. Just about three blocks down this same street Senator McKellar lived for 25 years, not, probably, more than three blocks from Mr. Sheely's drug store. That is no reflection on the Senator, that he lived only three blocks from Bob Church. We have a witness here who will swear that he was a presidential elector in the last election, and he will say who he is. He will swear that Bob Church, on the day before Mr. Sheely was appointed, asked for the payment of $2,800 for the purpose of giving him the appointment to that post office.

G. Tom Taylor has made an affidavit-I have not seen it, but it has been published-in which he states that he was not confirmed, and that because Church came to him a few days before he knew that he was not going to be confirmed, and asked for $1,000 from him.

In addition to that he asked that he carry out his promises to let him, Bob Church, run the post office.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, I do not follow you on that statement, Mr. Wellford. You say that Mr. G. Tom Taylor made an affidavit that Church asked him for money, knowing that Taylor was not going to be confirmed?

Mr. WELLFORD. No; that was what he said turned the trick and kept him from being confirmed. Now, I am just telling you that from G. Tom. I am not a sponsor for G. Tom. I never saw him, and have just as little respect for him as Senator McKellar has.

The CHAIRMAN. I am frank to say that in that confirmation matter Mr. Taylor was as active as a man could be; and I was a member of the subcommittee that dealt with that case, and know what I am talking about.

Senator MCKELLAR. I think the chairman will let me say that he was rejected on other matters.

The CHAIRMAN. Certainly, on a record presented here.

Senator HEFLIN. And Church was proposing his nomination?

The CHAIRMAN. J. Will Taylor and Church were both urging his confirmation with great vigor, and Senator McKellar was just as vigorous against him. Now they are on the same side.

Senator McKELLAR. I am with him now because he has nominated a straightforward man and an upstanding man. And I have told him so.

Senator HEFLIN. When he is right you are with him and when he is wrong you are against him?

Senator MCKELLAR. When he is right I am for him and when he is wrong I am against him.

Senator FRAZIER. You have not the affidavit of G. Tom Taylor? Mr. WELLFORD. No, sir..

Senator FRAZIER. Have you the newspaper report of it?

Mr. WELLFORD. Yes; we will have that later to show you.

Now, I want to read this letter to you. This is from the United States Civil Service Commission, and it is signed by W. C. Deming, the president of the Civil Service Commission. [Reading:]

Mr. JOHN W. FARLEY,

UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
Washington, D. C., December 3, 1928.

Attorney, Exchange Building, Memphis, Tenn.

MY DEAR MR. FARLEY: On November 17 you wrote me, as president of the Civil Service Commission, as follows:

"If it is consistent, will you please advise if the Civil Service Commission will hold another examination to fill the vacancies in the eligible list in the post office at Memphis? It is my understanding that there are two vacancies in the list of names certified to the Postmaster General to fill the office of postmaster at Memphis.

"Will you also advise if the applications now on file for the office of postmaster at Memphis will be regarded?"

As you know, of course, presidential postmasters--to wit, those in the first, second, and third class-are not in the competitive classified service. The Civil Service Commission, however, holds an examination upon the request of the Post Office Department under an Executive order as amended July 27, 1921, and certifies the results of its findings to the Post Office Department. According to the terms of the order, the Postmaster General is entitled to three eligibles. In the Memphis case the commission certified on June 24, 1926, three eligibles: Solomon Seches, Hugh C. McKellar, and Louis E. Rugg.

Subsequently Mr. Rugg withdrew, and the commission, giving careful consideration to the remaining applications, certified George Thomas Taylor to the Post Office Department on June 18, 1927, as the third eligible. Mr. Taylor was nominated by the President but his name was rejected by the Senate.

On March 9, 1928, the Post Office Department wrote the Civil Service Commission as follows:

You certified three eligibles for postmaster at Memphis, Tenn., and the nomination of Mr. George T. Taylor, one of the three, has been rejected by the Senate. This leaves only two eligibles on the list and I am therefore writing to request that you hold a new examination and furnish a register of three eligibles from which to make the appointment.

It is desired that the examination be held and the list furnished as promptly as possible.

The commission, following its usual practice in these matters when all of the applicants have not been rated, considered the remaining applicants and decided to conduct a further personal investigation of those who had previously taken the examination but who had not received a numerical rating. Before this investigation was finished, however, indeed, while our investigator was in Memphis, to wit, on May 22, 1928, the department wrote the commission as follows: The department hereby withdraws its request made on the commission for a new examination for postmaster at Memphis, Tenn., and for a review of the papers of those who, at the former examination, were not rated among the highest three eligibles.

The commission, being in doubt as to the department's meaning with respect to the last clause in the letter, made inquiry at the Post Office Department and was informed that the Post Office Department requested the commission not to proceed any further with the Memphis postmastership case. This is the latest information we have concerning the desires of the Post Office Department. The Executive order of July 27, 1921, contains two directory clauses.

(1) When a vacancy exists or hereafter occurs in the position of postmaster at an office of the first, second, or third class, if such vacancy is not filled by nomination of some person within the competitive classified civil service who has the required qualifications, then the Postmaster General shall certify the fact to the Civil Service Commission, (2) which shall forthwith hold an open competitive examination to test the fitness of applicants to fill such vacancy, and so forth.

Under the order, the first duty is imposed upon the Post Office Department. In other words, it must act first.

Under present conditions, the Civil Service Commission, after careful consideration of the terms of the Executive order, believes that it has no duty in the premises until further advised as to the desires of the Post Office Department. As the matter stands, two eligibles have been certified and the Post Office Department, in lieu of another examination, or further action on the part of the commission is certifying a third eligible, could make an appointment from either one of these two eligibles already certified.

Yours very truly,

W. C. DEMING, President.

Now you can see that the people of Memphis have not had a chance to have a postmaster examination there since 1926. There has been no examination there since 1926 to certify to the Postmaster General an eligible man for the post office. And here is a man who, according to his own statement, was first approached on the 6th of March, and was appointed, apparently, on the 7th, the day that Taylor was rejected; and was sworn in at Memphis on the 9th. I assume that he was appointed on the 7th, because if would be impossible for a commission to have reached Memphis unless it was mailed on the midnight train going to Memphis the night of the 7th.

Senator HEFLIN. There was a vacancy in the office, then, at that time?

Mr. WELLFORD. There was a vacancy, because G. Tom Taylor had been rejected; and I assume the minute a man is rejected he is out. I do not know.

Senator HEFLIN. And this man was sworn in on the 9th?

Mr. WELLFORD. On the 9th. Now, then, Congress was in session up until June, I believe. That was in March. Congress was in session up until June, and that name was not sent in to Congress, and he held over during the summer, and it was sent in here on the 14th of January of this year.

in?

Senator HEFLIN. You mean, the President did not send his name

Mr. WELLFORD. No, sir; it was not sent in.

Senator MCKELLAR. You mean the 12th of January?

Mr. WELLFORD. The 12th of January. The Executive order was signed, relieving him of the civil-service examination on the 12th, and then his name was sent in.

Senator MCKELLAR. I do not remember about that.

Mr. WELLFORD. Well, it is immaterial. It is just a few days one way or the other.

But what we are protesting against is that a city of the size of Memphis, and doing the business it is doing-I believe a lot of these

letters say $3,000,000. I do not know how he increased it. I understood it is judged by the number of stamps that people buy. Just because he is postmaster, I do not presume the people went in to buy stamps.

The CHAIRMAN. As a matter of fact, if a postmaster tried to boost his salary by the sale of stamps, he would find the postal laws against him.

Senator MCKELLAR. I do not think you will find any charge like that.

Mr. WELLFORD. Now, gentlemen, we have a man here who, according to his own statement, owes his appointment to Bob Church of Memphis, and we are going to show by the witness produced here, and other witnesses we can get here, that he has been selling offices there. And if we can get this information, we are not going to stop at the post office.

Senator MCKELLAR. If you can get it, we want it before the other committee.

Mr. WELLFORD. We are going to get it, and we are not going to stop there. We are going to go after the whole structure and start at the flagpole and go to the basement.

Senator MCKELLAR. If you have any evidence of a sale, you do not have to have any other evidence, because this man will be at once rejected.

Mr. WELLFORD. I do not want to take up a lot of the committee's time talking to them, and I am going to ask Mr. George H. Poole to be heard, and you can put him under oath if you will.

The CHAIRMAN. No; we do not swear the witnesses.

Senator MCKELLAR. That is not necessary. Mr. Poole will tell the truth.

STATEMENT OF GEORGE H. POOLE, ATTORNEY AT LAW, MEMPHIS, TENN.

The CHAIRMAN. First give your name and address and occupation for the record, Mr. Poole.

Mr. POOLE. My name is George H. Poole. My address is Memphis, Tenn. An attorney at law.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Poole, are you the Mr. Poole referred to in I. J. Harwood's letter?

Mr. POOLE. I presume I am. I am the only Mr. Poole down there, that I know of, that is connected with politics in any way. There are some other Pooles down there. I do not know what letter you have reference to.

The CHAIRMAN. You may make your statement, Mr. Poole.

Mr. POOLE. First, if I may be permitted to do so, I would like to disabuse the minds of the committee that might be present from my appearance here and my testimony by reason of the fact that I was mixed up in this recent post-office fight at Memphis, by stating that when this Hoover-Curtis Club at Memphis requested me to come here and give my testimony in the case, I asked them to have me subpoenaed, and then later I was told by members of the club that this committee was without authority to summon witnesses to appear in Washington.

The CHAIRMAN. No; that is not the case, Mr. Poole. We have the authority, but it is not our practice in post-office cases to issue subpœnas.

Mr. POOLE. Well, I was then solicited and requested to appear here and give my testimony. And I want to say, too, that in view of the fact that I have been interested, in a way, in politics, and have been aligned somewhat with my friend over there, J. Will Taylor, I unfortunately got mixed up with this negro, Bob Church, in this post-office fight.

Now, with reference to the post office proposition, I would like to state what caused me to get into that fight for the post office. When Judge Anderson was appointed Federal judge, Bob Church and Frank Elgin, and several other people, some of whom were my friends, were in Washington, and they told me that in a conference on that occasion here in Washington at some time that Bob Church told them that he was going to go to President Coolidge, if necessary, and get down on his knees and ask him to give a new postmaster at Memphis. Mr. Sol Seches was at that time postmaster. Now, Bob Church didn't tell me these things. But Mr. Elgin on one or two occasions before his death told me. Judge Anderson, on one occasion told me practically the same thing. Bob was friendly to him. The fight was made on Seches. At that time I did not understand the reasons for it. So when the examination was held at Memphis some of my friends requested me to file an application. I did so

Senator FRAZIER (interposing). You mean for the appointment as postmaster?

Mr. POOLE. For the appointment as postmaster, succeeding Mr. Seches. Along with a number of other fellows I filed my application. I think there were some 10 or 12 people that filed applications. The result of that was-they called it a field survey, that is what I think they called it-the Civil Service Commission sent representatives to Memphis and made a field survey, and I was advised by them that my name was not one of the three highest, and the name of Sol Seches, the old postmaster, Mr. Clint McKellar, a brother of Senator McKellar, and a man by the name of Rugg, the manager of the Simmons Bed Co. at Memphis, were certified by the Civil Service Commission as the three highest from which the Postmaster General might make a recommendation for post

master.

For some reason Mr. Rugg wrote a letter, so I have been told, to the Civil Service Commission, stating that he could not accept appointment if it was made, if he received it. And in some way Mr. G. Tom Taylor, who was one of the applicants, along with myself, after he had furnished certain affidavits and letters to the Civil Service Commission, in answer to some charges that had been filed against him-his name was eventually certified by the Civil Service Commission to the Postmaster General's office as the third man in the room, instead of Mr. Rugg's name. As soon as Mr. G. Tom Taylor's name went to the Postmaster General's office, or shortly thereafter, from the newspaper reports, and from information which I had from Mr. J. Will Taylor, who is referee of patronage in Tennessee, and Bob Church got busy and got the Postmaster Gen