police unit and present with claimant at the time the automobile chassis was handled. Claimant was the only one of them wearing coveralls and, therefore, took upon himself the heavier part of the lifting and other dirty work. The persons above mentioned assisted claimant in lifting the automobile chassis, and each testified that it required unusual effort and exertion. Not only claimant but the above-named men all considered they were engaged in the discharge of official duty at the time, they having received notice to assist in the scrap drive from their superiors. Claimant, as had all other members of the unit, had undergone a course of training wherein he was instructed as to his duties as a member of the auxiliary police. Mrs. Elizabeth C. Hamm, secretary of the director, Captain Atkinson, of the Defense Corps, testified that the duties performed by claimant and others engaged with him in the scrap drive on November 19, 1943, were in furtherance of the war effort, in her opinion. Due notice of the injury was received in the director's office on March 17, 1944, and authorization for medical care was given. Claimant stated at the hearing that he has been able to go about his usua work but has had to wear a truss because of the pain. He added that Dr. Drennen advised against wearing a truss and, further, that he must undergo an operation. Such operation has been put off because of lack of finances. Claimant's average monthly earnings at the time of the alleged injury varied from $75 to $100 a month. He has expended a total of $18.30, of which amount he paid Dr. Drennen $3 and paid $15.30 for the truss At the time of the alleged injury claimant was 41 years of age. He had had no medical attention in some 2 years prior to the date on which he was engaged in the scrap drive. While there is much testimony in the record and certain instruments in writing offered by the claimant. the above and foregoing constitutes the material facts. Regulations No. 3 of the United States Citizens Defense Corps, issued by the Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, establishes the protective units and defines their duties. According to said Regulations No. 3, revised August 1943, "protective services" means "the emergency services and units engaged in taking precautionary measures against air raids or other enemy action and minimizing losses to persons and property resulting therefrom, which protective services include those emergency services and units specified in section 3 of these regulations now established and such additional emergency services and units as shall hereafter be established within the Defense Corps by order of the Director." In the instant case the claimant contends that the hernia from which he has been suffering was caused by the heavy lifting and bodily exertion put forth by him during the scrap drive of November 19, 1943. Some 41⁄2 months elapsed from the time he claims he was injured before he consulted a physician, he having attributed his pain to an old glandular ailment. He made no complaint of any injury during that entire period other than to his wife. Be that as it may, it is entirely possible that the hernia was caused in the way and manner alleged. Such an injury may be thus caused, according to the medical authorities. Assum ing that the claimant was injured as claimed, the question arises as to whether such injury so sustained was incurred while he was engaged in "protective services." Office of Civilian Defense Circular, General Serices No. 13, dated December 27, 1943, further explains the limitation of coverage under the war civilian security program with respect to protective services and provides in part: * * nor are members of, or trainees for, the United States Citizens Defense Corps covered by the program when engaged in duties of the United States Citizens Service Corps participating in scrap-collection drives, distributing war-bond literature, etc." While the claimant in this case was a member of a protective unit and was called to aid in the scrap drive by a civilian defense official, nevertheless since the collection of scrap has been determined not to be a protective duty under the regulations of the Office of Civilian Defense, it is the finding of the referee that he was not injured while engaged in protective services. In view of this finding of the referee, it becomes unnecessary to determine the percentage of disability suffered, if any, and the disability rating applicable. It is the decision of the referee, in view of the provisions of Office of Civilian Defense circular, general series No. 13, dated December 27, 1943, that even though claimant was a regularly enrolled member of a protective unit, yet at the time of his injury he was not engaged in protective services and, therefore, is not entitled to benefits as are provided by the above-mentioned allocations. AGNESE R. MUNDY JUNE 15, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed Mr. LANE, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT To accompany H. R. 10551 The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 1055) for the relief of Agnese R. Mundy, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with an amendment and recommend that the bill as amended do pass. The amendment is as follows: At the end of the bill add: SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to pay, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to Agnese R. Mundy an amount equal to any sum refunded to the United States by the said Agnese R. Mundy as a result of the shortage in her accounts as postmaster at Rockmart. Georgia. caused by the theft of postal notes and stamps on May 21. 1947. The purpose of the proposed legislation is to relieve Mrs. Agnes R. Mundy, postmaster at Rockmart, Ga., of all liability to refund to the United States the whole or any part of such sum of $679.25. STATEMENT OF FACTS It appears that on May 21, 1947, the post office at Rockmart, Ga., was entered by forcing open a basement window. The iron bolts were removed from rods, which held rods in place to protect the window. The screws were removed from the lock on the door leading from the boiler room up the stairway to the workroom. All bolts and screws were carried away. The door to the finance department was fastened, but entrance was forced and holes bored into the drawers. One of the clerks kept the fixed credit of postal notes and revenue stamps in a steel cabinet, which weighed 45 pounds when empty. This cabinet has remained on the money-order cabinet during the service of former postmasters, and when Mrs. Mundy was sworn in as postmaster it was convenient for her to continue keeping the cabinet in the same place. She states that she was never told by anyone to keep this cabinet in the vault at night; it was much too heavy for a woman to lift, and she thought it was in a safe place; a clerk in charge locked the cabinet when not on duty and no one had access to it but the money-order clerk. It appears that the postmaster made every effort to have this office protected, and she came down every night to seelif the doors had been locked at the proper time. On this particular night everything was locked and every precaution had been taken. However, she could not prevent someone removing iron bolts. The records do not indicate that there was any negligence whatever on the part of Mrs. Mundy, and the Postmaster General has no objection to the enactment of this bill. Therefore, your committee recommend favorable consideration to this bill. Hon. EMANUel Celler, House of Representatives. OFFICE OF THE POSTMASTER GENERAL, DEAR CONGRESSMAN: This will acknowledge your letter of February 4, 1949, requesting a report on H. R. 1055, a bill for the relief of Agnese R. Mundy, postmaster at Rockmart, Ga. The purpose of this measure is to relieve Postmaster Mundy of liability to refund to the United States "the sum of $679.25," which sum represents a shortage in Postmaster Munday's accounts caused by the theft of postal notes and stamps on May 21, 1947. The measure also would release Postmaster Mundy's sureties from liability "to refund to the United States the whole or any part of such sum of $679.25." The records of the Department disclose that the Post Office at Rockmart, Ga.. was burglarized on May 21, 1947, and that a loss was sustained as follows: Type of stock: Internal revenue stamps.. Type of cash: Postal notes_. Trust funds: Postage due... $10.00 669. 14 10. 11 3. 49 Total loss.... 692. 74 The records of this Department do not disclose the reason for reducing Postmaster Mundy's claim from $692.74, the aggregate amount of the loss as a result of the burglary, to $679.25, the amount appropriated in H. R. 1055. It was found necessary to disallow Postmaster Mundy's claims for credit because the evidence submitted disclosed that the loss resulted from negligence, inasmuch as the public funds and valuable papers were not afforded the protection required by the regulations. The postal notes, funds, and stamps, and the internal-revenue stamps belonged to the fixed credit assigned to a clerk and had been left in a locked steel cabinet, although the post office was provided with a vault in which the cabinet could have been placed and which was not opened by the burglars. The $3.49 in trust funds had been left in an unlocked drawer. Section 106. Postal Laws and Regulations, requires postmasters to exercise all possible care for the protection of public funds and valuable paper in their custody by keeping them in locked iron safes or vaults, if such have been provided, and specifically directs that stamp stock and funds derived from the sales thereof belonging to the fixed credit of clerks shall not be allowed to remain overnight in cabinets outside the vault. For the reasons stated the Department may not allow credit under the law. I am transmitting herewith photostatic copies of the pertinent papers from the files of the Department. Included in the papers are photostatic copies of letters from Postmaster Mundy dated May 26, 1947, and January 11, 1948, in which she states that the steel cabinet, wherein the fixed credit of postal notes and internal-revenue stamps were stored, weighed 45 pounds when empty. She states that the cabinet "was just too heavy for a woman to lift. She also indicates that this cabinet remained outside the vault for many years prior to the burglary, and that she was never told to keep the cabinet in the vault at night. From paragraph 6 of the inspector's report, copy herewith, it appears that lighter cabinets had been assigned to the male employees of the office. However, this Department will interpose no objections to the enactment of H. R. 1055, if it be the judgment of Congress that the measure is meritorious. This Department has been advised by the Bureau of the Budget that there would be no objection to the presentation of this report to the committee. Sincerely yours, J. M. DONALDSON, OFFICE OF THE POSTMASTER GENERAL, Hon. EMANUEL CELLER, Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Reference is made to my report of March 29, 1949, regarding H. R. 1055, a bill for the relief of Agnese R. Mundy, postmaster at Rockmart, Ga. In the third paragraph of my report, reference is made to the loss of internalrevenue stamps in the amount of $10 which was sustained at the time the post office at Rockmart, Ga., was burglarized on May 21, 1947. Since the submission of my report on this measure, the Department has received information that the sum of $10, covering the loss of documentary internal-revenue stamps, was paid by Mrs. Mundy to the central accounting postmaster at Atlanta, Ga., and was deposited to the credit of the Postmaster General on March 16. 1949. This balances Mrs. Mundy's accountability for these stamps. If the Congress determines that H. R. 1055 is meritorious, it would seem desirable to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to refund to Mrs. Mundy any amount paid by her to the United States as a result of the shortage in her accounts caused by the theft of the postal notes and stamps on May 21, 1947 It is believed that this could be accomplished by the addition of the following language to H. R. 1055 "The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to pay, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to Agnese R. Mundy an amount equal to any sum refunded to the United States by the said Agnese R. Mundy as a result of the shortage in her accounts as postmaster at Rockmart, Georgia, caused by the theft of postal notes and stamps on May 21, 1947." This Department has been advised by the Bureau of the Budget that there would be no objection to the submission of the report to the.committee Sincerely yours, The SOLICITOR, J. M. DONALDSON, UNITED STATES POST OFFICE, Post Office Department, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: It was quite a surprise to receive your letter of January 8, 1948, informing me that I would be held responsible for the stolen goods. The steel cabinet which weighs 45 pounds has been used by clerk for her fixed credit since I first started working as a clerk in this office in 1934. She always kept it by the money-order drawer so she would have stamps and so forth, without having to leave her chair All the years I was clerk this cabinet remained in this position. When I became postmaster a little over 2 years when the burglary occurred it never occurred to me to have the clerk put the cabinet in the vault at night as it was too heavy to ask a lady to move it. If you have a wife, you would not have wanted her lifting heavy cabinets at night. She and I were always the last to leave the office at night I always kept up with the cash and replenished her with stock. There was no cash in the drawer, perhaps a few cents, as I had checked the cabinet before she went off duty. I know ignorance isn't an excuse, but I do feel that I should not be held responsible, since the cabinet had never been moved during former postmasters' service and I worked where I could see the cabinet every day. |