Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/230

 202 THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

He was a member of the general Committee of control of the Inaugura- tion Reception and Procession, March, 1S69, and was secretary of the execu- tive committee and chairman of the auditing committee.

He was one of the managers selected for the Inaugural Reception of Presi- dent Lincoln in 1861. After the inauguration of President Grant, Mr. Tullock was urgently recommended by all the Union members of Congress and senators from the reconstructed States and the entire Congressional Committee, as a suitable person for the office of first assistant postmaster-general, but failed to to receive the appointment, as Mr. Cresswell had made a designation simulta- neously with being commissioned as postmaster-general, and without knowledge of the application which was about to be filed. Mr. Tullock was not anxious to hold a government position, and purposed returning to New Hampshire and en- gaging in business, but was invited to accept the ofiice of Chief of the appoint- ment division of the United States Treasury department, by Secretary Boutwel), whom he greatly respects, regarding him as one of the ablest officers who have held that important position, and his administration as eminently suc- cessful.

March 20, 1869, ^^- Tullock accepted what proved to be a most perplexing and difficult trust. It not only covered the thousands of employees in Wash- ington, but the appointments controlled by the Treasury Department through- out the country. A large reduction of the local force in Washington had to be made to conform to the appropriations for the ensuing fiscal year, and the pressure for appointments, retention, promotion, and restoration was very great and urgent. Good judgment, patient investigation and just discrimination were requisite to effectually promote the efficiency of the service and mete out justice. Mr. Tullock, however, discharged the delicate duties of his office to the satisfaction of the Secretary, who was aware of his desire to be relieved at the earliest practical moment.

The appointment division of the Treasury Department never had a more efficient, impartial, and discriminating chief. Although in designating to honorable trusts and in the retention of incumbents in important clerical and other public positions, he favored those whose undoubted loyalty to the Union and unswerving fidelity to the Republican party were unquestioned, yet his discrimination and critical judgment as to their fitness and qualifications won for him the confidence and approval of the administration.

On the 17th of August, 1869, Mr. Tullock was appointed by Secretary Boutwell, collector of internal revenue for the District of Columbia, then an important office, which he held until September 30, 1876, when, on account of the great reduction of taxes, the District was consolidated with the Third District of Maryland, and the main office located at Baltimore. In April, 1873, he was designated by Secretary Richardson, of thq Treasury Depaitment, to convey to London a large amount of government securities, which service he performed, and returned to Washington in August with a large quantity of cancelled United States bonds, after visiting the continent with his family.

He was for a short time superintendent of the Labor Exchange of Washing- ton, from its organization until Oct. 8, 1877, declining to receive any com- pensation. Afterwards he served the Exchange as director and treasurer. On the 8th of October, 1877, he was offered by the postmaster of Washington, the late Judge J. M. Edmunds, the office of assistant-postmaster, which he accepted and retained until August, 1880, when he took charge of the financial department of the office, being now the auditor of the city post-office. After the death of Judge Edmunds, Mr. Tullock was acting postmaster from Dec. 15, 1879, to January 13, 1880.

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