I desire to call your attention to the case of W.S.  Carpenter, Gilman and Springfield R.P.O., as follows:  October 10 he was requested to appear at the post-office at Springfield, Ill., for examination on Illinois scheme.  I went to Springfield for the purpose of examining him, but he failed to put in an appearance.  Upon my return home I found a letter from him stating that he did not expect to remain in the service, hence his failure to report for examination; and, furthermore, that he would send in his resignation to your office by the first of the following week.  This he had not done the 12th instant.  He has not been on duty but two days since October 1.  He left the run in charge of Mr. Jones, of the same line, telling him he did not know when he would return, and for Jones to keep up the run.  He has no leave of absence, either verbally or otherwise.  What his motives are for conducting himself in this manner I can not imagine.  I have written him on the subject, but can not hear from him.  When in Springfield the 3d instant, I requested the postmaster there to not pay Carpenter for October until he received notice to do so.  I then notified you of the facts in the matter.  I would respectfully recommend that Carpenter be relieved from further duty and a successor be appointed.  He is of no account at the best; he has no interest in the work, and should be removed.  I would also recommend that he be paid for but the two days’ run in the month of October.

Four days after the date of this letter Mr. Carpenter was notified that an order had been issued discontinuing his pay and services.

These facts stated present the case of an employee of the Government abandoning his duties without leave or notice, in direct violation of rules, and claiming compensation for work done in his absence by another employee whose entire services were due the Government.

To allow a claim so lacking in merit would endanger discipline and invite irregularity and loose methods in a very important branch of the public service.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, August 27, 1888.

To the House of Representatives: 

I return without approval House bill No. 2524, entitled “An act for the relief of Clement A. Lounsberry.”

This bill appropriates the sum of $1,214.51 to reimburse him for clerk hire and fuel and lights in excess of allowances made to him by the Post-Office Department while he was postmaster at Bismarck, in the Territory of Dakota.

Seven hundred and fifty dollars of this sum is appropriated on account of clerk hire paid out from April 1, 1881, to June 30, 1882, and $464.51 for lights and fuel from July 1, 1883, to September 30, 1885.

As a general rule the allowances made by the Post-Office Department in these cases ought not to be interfered with.  But sometimes a sudden rush of settlement in a locality, or some other cause, will so increase unexpectedly the need of clerks to distribute and handle the mails that the employment of more than have been provided for is absolutely necessary.