EXPENDITURES IN THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. COMMITTEE ON EXPENDITURES IN THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, The committee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. Jack Beall (chairman) presiding. TESTIMONY OF MR. HENRY C. GAUSS. (The witness was duly sworn by the chairman.) The CHAIRMAN. How long have you been connected with the Department of Justice, Mr. Gauss? Mr. GAUSS. Since December, 1906; December 19, I think. The CHAIRMAN. In what capacity were you first connected with it? The CHAIRMAN. Where had your residence been prior to that time? Mr. GAUSS. It had been Washington for some four or five years prior. The CHAIRMAN. Were you attorney here in Washington? Mr. GAUSS. No, sir; I was private secretary to the Secretary of the Navy when Mr. Bonaparte was Secretary of the Navy. I was in Mr. Moody's office prior to that, when he was Secretary of the Navy. The CHAIRMAN. In what capacity? Mr. GAUSS. I was confidential clerk. And prior to that I was assistant enrolling clerk of the House of Representatives. The CHAIRMAN. How long have you resided in Washington? Mr. GAUSS. A little over 10 years. The CHAIRMAN. And have been connected with the service in some form or other for 10 years? Mr. GAUSS. Over 10 years; yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. From what State did you come? Mr. GAUSS. Massachusetts. Mr. MURRAY. What part of Massachusetts? Mr. GAUSS. Salem. The CHAIRMAN. Were you attorney there before coming here? Mr. GAUSS. No, sir; I am not an attorney now. The CHAIRMAN. You are not an attorney now? Mr. GAUSS. No, sir. I am appointed in an investigative capacity. I was formerly administrative assistant to the Attorney General. The CHAIRMAN. You say now you are administrative assistant to the Attorney General? Mr. GAUSS. No, sir; I formerly was. for investigation. I am now appointed assistant The CHAIRMAN. For what length of time did you occupy the firstnamed position, administrative assistant to the Attorney General? Mr. GAUSS. In title about two months. Prior to that the title had been private secretary and assistant to the Attorney General while Mr. Bonaparte was Attorney General. I took, by his direction, a considerable portion of the administrative work of the department; that is to say, during, I suppose, a year, I signed a good deal of the routine mail, under a form, by direction of the Attorney General; and a great many of the administrative duties were turned over to me. The CHAIRMAN. That was the character of duty that you performed while you were administrative assistant? Mr. GAUSS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. And that continued for how long? Mr. GAUSS. I think practically almost all the time I was with Mr. Bonaparte there. I took it up very shortly after I came in as private secretary, and then he recommended a change in the law which made my title private secretary and assistant to the Attorney General; and then, subsequently, for a short time prior to Mr. Wickersham's coming in, he made me special assistant for administrative purposes. The CHAIRMAN. Had these particular positions that you have named existed prior to Mr. Bonaparte's service as Attorney General? Mr. GAUSS. No. The first one was created by law; that is, the private secretary and assistant to the Attorney General. The CHAIRMAN. That was created by statute? Mr. GAUSS. Yes; by statute, in an appropriation bill. Mr. GAUSS. I can give you the date of my appointment to that office [referring to paper]. I was appointed to that office June 24, 1908, as private secretary. The CHAIRMAN. Were you the first appointee under that official designation? Mr. GAUSS. I was the first appointee; yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What had you been called prior to that time? Mr. GAUSS. Private secretary. The CHAIRMAN. Now, let us see. When you first went with Mr. Bonaparte, you were private secretary? Mr. GAUSS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. And about 1908 the designation of the place was changed and became private secretary and special assistant? Mr. GAUSS. And assistant to the Attorney General. The CHAIRMAN. Assistant to the Attorney General. How long did that title remain? Mr. GAUSS. That remained until January 27, 1909. The CHAIRMAN. Less than a year? Mr. GAUSS. Yes; less than a year. The CHAIRMAN. Then what was it changed to? Mr. GAUSS. Changed to special assistant in charge of administrative and other matters. The CHAIRMAN. Was that changed by statute? Mr. GAUSS. No; that was an appointment by the Attorney General. The CHAIRMAN. What became of that place with the statutory designation? Mr. GAUSS. That lapsed, I think, until the change of the administration. That is, there was no appointment made, so far as I recollect. The CHAIRMAN. Why was the title of the position changed? Mr. GAUSS. Why was I given the new office? The CHAIRMAN. No; why were you given a new name? Mr. GAUSS. So that I could get more money. I got $3,000 as the assistant, and he increased my salary to $3,500 because he thought I was worth it. The CHAIRMAN. Had there been such a position as that prior to that time? Mr. GAUSS. There had been special assistants to the Attorney General, of course. The CHAIRMAN. I mean this particular designation. Mr. GAUSS. No; because the work that I did, or a good deal of the work, if you will allow me to say so-I do not want to appear egotistical but a good deal of that work had been done by the law officers of the department, and it was Mr. Bonaparte's view that I could do that, and that it would relieve the law officers to that extent. I think probably they found the same condition since. The CHAIRMAN. The statutory place that you held had a salary that was fixed by law? Mr. GAUSS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. At $3,000? Mr. GAUSS. At $3,000; yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. This change of name was not in obedience to any statute? Mr. GAUSS. No. The CHAIRMAN. But the change of name did carry with it some additional duties and additional compensation, as I understand it. Mr. GAUSS. It carried with it additional compensation for additional duties that I was performing. The CHAIRMAN. You had been performing all those duties under the $3,000 compensation? Mr. GAUSS. Practically all; yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. While you held that $3,500 position the statutory position was not filled? Mr. GAUSS. Not filled, as I understand; yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. And that change of title was made by the Attorney General, and the statutory position left vacant, in order to give you an increase of salary? Mr. GAUSS. I presume that was the effect of it. The CHAIRMAN. Was there any discussion of the irregularity of that at the time the change was made? Mr. GAUSS. I do not think there was any irregularity. The CHAIRMAN. It is rather unusual, leaving a statutory position unfilled, is it not? Mr. GAUSS. No; I have known it to be done in a number of cases, where there has been a different arrangement, where somebody got a promotion, and they did not want to fill the salary; I have known it to be done frequently. The CHAIRMAN. Have you ever known it to be done where the salary of the statutory position was smaller than the salary of the position that was filled? Mr. GAUSS. Yes, I think so. The CHAIRMAN. Have you ever known it to be done where the statutory salary was larger than the salary of the position that was specially created? Mr. GAUSS. I would not say that. I never knew a man to be demoted for merit. Generally, when a change is made, it is in approval of services. The CHAIRMAN. Always to get increased salaries; it always has that result, has it not? Mr. GAUSS. I could not say about that. The CHAIRMAN. Have you ever known of an instance where that was not the result? Mr. GAUSS. No; I can not say that I have. The CHAIRMAN. Or an increased expenditure to the Government? After this nonstatutory position was created and you were assigned to fill it, did you devote any more of your time to the service of the Government than you had previously_devoted? Mr. GAUSS. I could not, because I was devoting all the time I could spare from my sleep. The CHAIRMAN. So really the Government did not get any more service out of you at $3,500 than it had at $3,000? Mr. GAUSS. No; but I got a fair rate of pay for the work I was doing. The CHAIRMAN. Do you not think it was a matter for the legislative department to fix the compensation? Mr. GAUSS. No; I think it was a matter for the Attorney General, as the administrative officer. The CHAIRMAN. Out of what fund were you paid that $3,500? Mr. GAUSS. Out of the regular fund for special assistants to the Attorney General; that is my recollection. I presume that is so. The CHAIRMAN. A great part of your duties were the duties of private secretary? Mr. GAUSS. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. And there had been a special fund appropriated for the pay of private secretary? Mr. GAUSS. There had been a position created of private secretary and assistant to the Attorney General; yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. How long did you occupy that particular position at $3,500? Mr. GAUSS. I kept that until March 11, 1909. The CHAIRMAN. You took it in January, I believe? Mr. GAUSS. Yes. I ought to explain that Mr. Bonaparte, in order not to hamper his successor, specifically made that appointment for two months only. It was a temporary appointment, and expired two months from its date. On March 5, 1909, the present Attorney General extended the appointment temporarily so that it would not run out on the 27th of the month, to include matters relating to the examination of titles of land in the District of Columbia. I had been, in connection with somewhat miscellaneous duties prior to that, secretary of a commission of which the Attorney General was chairman. The commission was created by an act in 1908 to investigate the titles of the United States to lands here in the District. The United States originally owned one-half, besides the streets, of the building lots in the original city of Washington. A good many of the questions relating to the titles to that land have never been settled. That commission had been in effect a year, about, while I was occupying the position of private secretary and assistant and also special assistant for administrative matters, and I was secretary to the commission, and had oversight of the work, but necessarily did not do a great deal of the detail work myself. The CHAIRMAN. Who constituted that commission? Mr. GAUSS. The Attorney General, the Secretary of War, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, the chairman of the House Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, and the chairman of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia. The CHAIRMAN. As secretary of that commission, did you receive any additional salary? Mr. GAUSS. No, sir; no compensation for that. There was a certain amount of preliminary work done during the year following the establishment of the commission, and on March 5, 1909, when Mr. Wickersham came in, and I, of course, gave up to his private secretary the administrative work that I had been doing, he extended the appointment to include the active work in connection with the examination of these titles. The CHAIRMAN. How had that appointment been arranged for? Mr. GAUSS. I told Mr. Wickersham I would like to have something to do, and he said he would appoint me to that work. Mr. MURRAY. Let me understand clearly. You say you did not get any compensation at all as secretary of this commission? Mr. GAUSS. No extra compensation. I did it as a part of my work. The Attorney General was chairman, and I was secretary, and I did whatever work there was to be done as a part of my regular work. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Wickersham came in on the 5th day of March, 1909 ? Mr. GAUSS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. And you received the extension of your appointment to duty in connection with this commission on that date? Mr. GAUSS. On that date; yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Had there been any previous consultation between you and the incoming Attorney General? Mr. GAUSS. I think the day before, a day or two before that, I saw Mr. Wickersham, yes; sir. I am not so positive what day it was, but it was somewhere along about the 1st of March. The CHAIRMAN. Was there any change in the title of the position you held on the 5th of March? Mr. GAUSS. Not at that time. That appointment of assistant in charge of administrative details was simply extended temporarily to include these matters of investigation. On the 11th of March the temporary appointment which had been made by Mr. Bonaparte and extended by Mr. Wickersham was terminated, and I was appointed special assistant to the Attorney General to assist in the investigation of the title of the United States to lands in the District of Columbia. The CHAIRMAN. Had there been any position of that kind prior to March 11, 1909? Mr. GAUSS. Except so far as I had been doing that work, so far as it had been covered by my prior appointment. |