Image provided by: Langlois Public Library; Langlois, OR
About Southwest Oregon recorder. (Denmark, Curry County, Or.) 188?-18?? | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1884)
CM REPUBLICS THEFTS, Defalcations Under Various Administrations. Store Hloney Stolen ruder Uepubli' can Administration Than m all the Previous Years of the Republic. At a grand open-air Democratic ratifi cation meeting in "Washington, one of the speakers was Congressman Post, of Pennsylvania, secretary, of the Demo cratic Congressional committee. In the course of his speech he said : Secretary McPherson, of the Republi can Congressional committee, has issued a circular purporting to show the losses of the government from Washington's administration down to June 30, 1883, by reason of defalcations of public offi cers, and figures out a very discreditable state of affairs for "Washington's admin istration compared with the present ad ministration and the preceding immacu late administrations of Hayes and Grant. He says the percentage of losses, based upon the receipts and disbursements of the government, was, under Washington $2.80 on the $1,000, while under Arthur it is only one and one-tenths of a mill on he $1,000. He reports the total amounts Btolen under "Washington during his eight years to be $250,970.30, while all that has been stolen under Arthur's ad ministration, down to June 30, 1883, ia $5,304.09; and on this insignificant sum he bases his percentage of loss on the enormous receipts and disbursements, and thus gets his one and eight tenths of a mill as the percentage of loss on $1,000. The acting secretary of the treasury, Charles E. Coon, certifies to the correct ness of this statement, August 10, 1884. This statement of Secretary McPher son and the acting secretary of the treasury as to the amount stolen under Arthur's administration is so utterly at variance with the knowledge of every person who has read the current news of the past six months that its falsity was exposed with the statement. But an examination of the annual reports of the solicitor of the treasury, who is the law officer of the treasury department, charged with the prosecution of the de faulting officers of the government in civic suits, to the attorney general for the three fiscal years preceding June 30, 1883, shows this McPherson-Coon state ment to be absolutely false so far a3 the amount they report as stolen under Ar thur's administration is concerned. FIGURES OF THE SOLICITOR OF THE TREASURY. The following are the figures of the solicitor of the treasury, taken from his otficial printed reports : Amount of defalcations for the year end ins June 30,18S1, upon which suit has been entered by the United States attorney general to recover $4SS,477 97 Collected on the same by suits. . 11,785 04 Total loss on same $476,092 93 Amount of defalcations during the fiscal year euding June 30, 1882, upon which suit has been entored to recover $427,420 24 Collected by suit on same 1,224 14 Total loss to the goverment. . . $126,196 10 Defalcations during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1883, amount sued on to recover .... $653,S35 56 Collections by suit on same 5,924 32 Total loss $(547,911 24 Total amount of defalcations during the three years preced ing June oO. 1883, upon which the United States has sued to recover in Unite! States courts.. $1,509,733 77 Total amount of collections on same 18,933 50 Total loss to the government. .$1,550,800 27 HOW SUITS ARE BROUGHT. These suits against defaulting public officers are brought upon a transcript of account made by the first comptroller of the treasury, who certifies to the set lement of the account and that the of ficer has defaulted for the balance stated, and the comptroller, who is the final ac counting officer of the government, re commends suit to be entered against the defaulter to recover the amount of the defalcation. The solicitor of the trea sury, if he coincides with the view of the comptroller on the expediency of bring ing suit, forwards the comptroller a statement of account or transcript to the proper United States District Attorney, and directs him to enter suit to recover the amount stolen as certified by the comptroller. ' The statement of the amount of defal cations above given is shown to be cor rect, as suits have been filed by the gov ernment in the various United States courts to recover that amount. In those cases wheie, on grounds of personal or Eolitical expediency, suits have not been rought, the names of the officers and the amounts stolen cannot be ascertained from any official publication. The total loss of the government for the three fis cal years preceding June 1, 1883, as shown by the certificates of the First Comptroller of the Treasury, filed in the United States courts and sued on by di rection of the solicitor of the treasury, the-law officer of the government in charge, is $1,509,733.77. From which deduct collections, $18,933.50, leaving a total loss of $1,550,800.27 to the United States from the thefts of its disbursing officers for the time stated by McPherson and Cocn, instead of $5,304.09, as they certify. ADDITIONAL LOSSES COMPROMISES. If we add to the amount certified by the first comptroller and solicitor of the treasury as having been stolen viz., $1,550,800.27, the amount stated by Attorney-General Brewster as stolen by the star routers, 1,000,000, which is proper ly chargeable to the Arthur administra tion for its failure to collect it by an en ergetic prosecution; the steal of Burn side, disbursing officer of the postoffice department in 1884, $85,000; defalca tion of Morgan, disbursing officer of the state department in 1884, $18,000; navy department medical bureau frauds in 1884, estimated at $200,000; defalcation of United States Marshal Hall, of Pitts burgh, in 1883, and reported by attorney-general to be $153,000, we have the amount stolen under Arthur $5,004,387, 27, instead of $5,634.09, as stated by Secretary McPherson and certified as correct by Acting Secretary of the Treas ury Coon. The falsity of this McPherson-Coon statement is still further proven by the following statement, the fig Jres of which are taken from the annual reports of the solicitor of the treasury to the attorney general, who reports the compromises of official defalcations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1881, 1882 and 1883: For the year ending June 30, 1881, defalcation of $615,963 10 Compromised for 105,058 18 Loss to the government $510,904 82 For the year ending June 30, 1882, defalcations of $814,521 62 Compromised for 224,215 68 JjOSS to the government $590,305 94 For the year ending June 30, 1833, defalcations of $423,915 03 Compromised for 112,064 92 Loss to the government $311,850 16 Total amount of defalcations com promised during the fiscal years ending Jnne 30, 18Sl, 1882 and 18fe3. $1,854,399 80 Compromised for 441,338 78 Loss to the government $1,413,061 02 LOSSES UNDER VARIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS. Assuming that the McPherson-Coon statement is correct as to the loss to the government by reason of defalcation of hited States officers from the com mencement of "Washington's administra tion down to 18G1, which they make $24,441,829 82 for a period embracing 6eventy-two years, we will now show by the reports of the solicitor of the treasury, which have been transmitted to Congress by the secretary of the treasury and the attorney-general in their annual reports, that the McPherson-Coon state ment is flatly contradictory of the reports of those cabinet officers from Lincoln's first inauguration down to June 30, 1883. These reports show a total loss under the eight years of Lincoln's administration from official defalcations, after deduct ing collections, of $24,657,972 16. Stolen under Grant (first term), $8, 765,729 77. Stolen under. Grant (second" term), $4,374,599 26. Stolen under Hayes, $1,725,523 81. Stolen under Arthur's three years, $6,004,800 27. Total loss, after deducting collections, $15,527,625 27. It is thus shown by the official reports to Congress of the different secretaries of the treasury and solicitors of the treasury from 1861 to 1863, that during the twenty-three years of Republican ad ministration of the government the thefts of public money aggregated $45,527, 625 27, while from Washington's ad ministration down to Buchanan's, both Inclusive, a period of seventy-two years, there was a loss of but $24,441,829 32, an excess of $21,065,795 95 stolen in twenty-three years of Republican admin istration over seventy-two years of pre vious administrations, covering every President from Washington to Buchanan, both inclusive. LET TnE BOOKS BE OPEN. The acting secretary of the treasury having lent his signature to the McPher son statement as correct, and thus certi fied to a flagrant falsehood, as is shown by the reports of the comptrolling of ficers, the law officers and secretaries of the treasury, including such men aa Salmon P. Chase, "Willian Pitt Fessenden, Hugh McCulloch and Lot M. Morrill, it furnishes another strong reason why the books of the treasury should be opened for inspection by new parties. In this connection it would be well to refer to the following fact: Four years ago Senator Davis, of West Virginia, when chairman of the committee on appropriations of the United States Sen. ate, overhauled thoroughly the accounts j oi tne treasury department, lie forced from unwilling witnesses, all of whom were officers of the treasury department, the testimony that there were 1,300 treasurers on the treasurer's book, and millions of dollars entered so as to make the books balance without a single item to show when the entries were so made or what had become of the money. This extraordinary showing did not receive proper attention at the time because we were in the midst of great prosperity. MAGNITUDE OF THE THEFTS. The magnitude of the amount stolen in the twenty-three years of Republican administration can be estimated in the following manner: If the amount stated namely, $45,527,625.57 was invested in standard silver dollars and stored in the treasury, subject to the order of the Star routers and the other Republican thieves who have taken it, calculating that one thousand pounds would make a fair load for a horse and cart, and that $16,000 weighs one thousand pounds, it would take 2,845 loads of $16,000 each to haul it to Republican headquarters. Estimating a cart and norse to be four teen feet long, and allowing four feet between each cart, if placed in single file this Republican stealing would make a procession nine miles and three-quarters long. Estimating the procession would move at the rate of three miles an hour, it would take Mr. Elkins at Republican headquarters three hours and fifteen min utes to review it, and the line would ex tend from the battery in New York city to beyond Harlem, and yet Senator Haw ley said in his Brooklyn speech that "stealing under Republican administra tion had been reduced to a minimum." Boy. Cleveland to the Farmers. Thousands of people from Southern New York and Northern Pennsylvania came in special trains to participate in the demonstration in Governor Cleve land's honor at the Elmira (N. Y.) State Fair. The governor received a perfect ovation on his arrival at the fair grounds. Crowds followed the carriages in which the party rode from point to point, and there was continual cheering for Cleve land. The governor spoke from his car riage, which stood in front of Manufac turers' hall. He was introduced by the president of the Fair association and was welcomed with repeated rounds of cheers, the great crowds being ex tremely enthusiastic. Hi3 speech was frequently interrupted by cheers and liberal applause. He spoke as follows: "It affords me great pleasure to meet you here to-dav, and to have an oppor tunity of inspecting the annual exhibi tion which illustrates the condition of the agriculture of our State. I regard these annual fairs as something con nected with the State government, because, to some extent at least they are fostered and aided by publio funds, and I am sure that no good citizen is inclined to complain of the appropriation of a small part of the people's money to the encouragement of this important interest. The fact that this is done furnishes a distinct recog nition by the State of the valuable relation which the farmers and its farms bear to the prosperity and welfare of the Commonwealth. We boast of our manu factures, exceeding, as they largely do, those of any other State, but our su premacy i3 clearly shown when we recall the fact that in addition to our lead in manufactures the value of our farms and their products is second only among the States. There is a fixedness and relia bility in agricultural pursuits which are not always found in other branches of industry and human effort. The soil remains in its place ready to be tilled, and the farmer witn ruddy health and brawny arm depends alone upon the work of his hands and tne aid of a kind Providence for a reward of his labor. Thus our farmers are the most independ ent of our citizens. They produce or have within their reach all they need for their necessities and for their comfort. Their crops may be more abundant at one harvest than at another, and their products may command a higher price at one market time than another. These conditions may expand or contract the it ability to indulge in luxuries or in ex penditures nqt absolutely needful, but they should never be in want of the necessities or comforts of life. This is the sure result of patient and well-regulated farming. When the far mer fails and becomes bankrupt in his business, we may, I think, confidently look for shiftlessness, or a too ambitious desire to own more land or stock than he can pay for, or an intermeddling with matters that bear no relation to his farm, or such mismanagement and ignorance as demonstrate that he has mistaken hia vocation. Fortunes may be quickly amassed in speculations, and lost in a day, leaving a bad example and perhaps demoralization and crime. The trades, man or the manufacturer, by the vicissi tudes of trade, or through the allure ments of the short road to wealth, may in a day be overcome and bring disaster and ruin upon hundreds of his neighbors. But in the industrious, intelligent, and contented farmer the State finds a safe and profitable citizen, always contribut ing to its wealth and prosperity. The real value of the farmer to the State and nation is not, however, fully appreciated until we consider that he feeds the mil lions of our people who are engaged in other pursuits, that the product of his labor fills the avenues of our commerce and supplies an important factor in our financial relations with other nations. ' 'I have not come here to attempt to please you with cheap and fulsome prac tice, nor to magnify your worth and your importance ; but I have come as the chief executive of the State to acknowledge on its own behalf that our farmers yield full return for the benefits they receive from the State government. I have come to remind you of the importance of the interests which you have in charge, and to suggest that notwithstanding the far mer's independence he cannot and must not be entirely unmindful of the value and importance to the interests he holds of a just and economical government. It is his right and his duty to demand that all unjust and inequitable burdens upon agriculture and its products, however caused, should be removed, and that, while the furtherance of the other inter ests of the State have due regard, this important one should not be neglected. Thus by his labor as a farmer ancT in the full performance of his duty as a citizen he will create and secure to himself his share of the result of his toil and save and guard for all the people a most im portant element in the prosperity of the State." Blaine's Dodging. There is some outcry about Mr. Blaine shameless "dodging" the prohibition ballot in Maine. But what did those who ignorantly admire him expect? He dodged General Butler by climbing out of the window of a committee room. He dodged the Mulligan letter inquiry by adroitly getting himself transferred to the Senate and thus putting himself outside the jurisdiction and powers of the House. He has been a dodger and trickster all his life a "smart" politi cian. Between Mr. Blaine and Gover nor Cleveland there is in this matter a difference wide as that between Jupiter and a mud puddle. Let any one com pare these following dncuments and de cide for himself about the character of the two men: VETO XESSAGE OT LETTER OF SPEAKER MAYOR CLEVELAND. BLAINE. Buffalo, June 26, '82. Augusta, J une 29, '69. I return, without my Mr Deab Mr. Fish- approval, the resolu- eb. I thank you for tion of your honorable the article from Mr, body, passed at its last Lewis. It is rood in meeting.awardingthe itself and will do good, contracts for cleaning He writes like a man the paved streets and of large intelligence alleys of the city for and comprehension, the ensuing five years Your offer to admit to at his bid of me to a participation four hundred and in the new railroad en-twenty-two thousand, terprise is in every re and five hundred dol- spect as generous as I lars. could expect or desire. The bid thus accepted I thank you very sin by your honorable cerly for it, and in body is more than one this connection I wish hundred thousand dol- to make a suggestion lars higher than that of a somewhat selfish of another perfectly character. It is this: responsible party for You spoke of Mr. the same work ; and a Caldwell's offer to dis worse and more sus- pose of a share of his picious feature in this interest to me. If he transaction is that the really desires to do so bid now accepted is I wish he would make fifty thousand dollars the proposition deft more than that made nite, so that I could by himself with- know just what to de- in a very few weeks, pend on. Perhaps if openly and publicly, he waits till the full to your honorable development of the en body, for performing terprise he may grow precisf ly the same ser- reluctant to part with vices. the share, and I do not The charter of your by this mean any dis city requires that the trust of him. I do not mayor, when he dis- feel that I shall prove approves any resolu- a deadhead in the en tion of your honorable terprise if I once em body, shall return the bark in it I see vari same with his objec- ous channels in which tions. I know I can be use- This is a time for a f ul plain speech, and my Very hastily and sin objection to the action cerely your friend, of your honor able jamks a. blaine. body now under con sider ati on shall be plainly stated. I with hold my assent from the same because I re gard it as the culmina nution of a most bare faced, impudent and shameless scheme to betray the interests of the people and to worse than squander the public money. GROVER CLEVELAND, Mayor. Docs anyone believe that-Oovernor Cleveland would write such a letter aa this to "My dear Mr. Fisher?" Or does any one believe Mr. Blaine capable of sending in so vigorous and manly a veto message? New York Herald. Labor's Voice for Cleveland. F. F. Donovan, of Brooklyn, has re ceived a letter from Walter N. Thayer, in charge of the executive department of the Workingmen's assembly, in which this representative of the labor interests shows why Cleveland should be elected. The letter is dated Troy,' and says : "While I am in full sympathy with the object of your meeting I feel it to be my duty to decline the invitation to participate in it for the reason that, being at the head of a powerful organization in this State, my presence might be con strued as voicing the sentiment of that organization and pledging its support to a certain candidate. This I have no right to do, for no person has the right to pledge the labor vote to any party or candidate. The great majority of the members of labor organizations are in telligent, thinking people, who will permit no man nor party to own them, and 1 nonor tnera for it. Were I occupy ing an unofficial position in the ranks of labor I should gladly avail mysjlf of the opportunity to talk to the workingmen of Brooklyn and compare the records of the presidential candidates on labor measures. In determining for myself which of the candidates I should support I carefully looked over the record of the three principal candidates, viz., Cleve land, Blaine and Butler. "The former I find has been less than two years in official position where he could benefit or injure labor, and I find him credited with having placed on the statute-books of the State laws giving to the workingmen a bureau of labor statis tics, abolishing the manufacture of hats in State prison, prohibiting the manu facture of cigars in tenement-houses, making workingmen preferred creditors in cases of assignments or failure, and the bill abolishing contract labor in the prisons and penitentiaries of the State. So I find in eighteen months Governor Cleveland has given to labor five very important laws. "Messrs. Blaine and Butler have held public positions nearly all their lives, either under national or State govern ment, and I have yet to be shown a sin gle law that either of these gentlemen has ever been instrumental in passing that was especially beneficial to labor. Can it be possible that in a life almost wholly passed in public service the op portunity never presented itself to either Mr. Blaine or Mr. Butler to lighten by legislation the burdens borne by labor? It so, they have been very unfortunate indeed. ' "These are my reasons, briefly stated, whv I shall support Governor Cleve land." Genaral George B. McClellan Campaign Issues. on General George B. McClellan has sounded the key-note of the political sit uation in the following words : "This contest now is the mighty, and, I firmly believe, the crucial effort of the honest, the self-respecting, the patriotic classes of this people to overthrow an oligarchy of office-holders which, in allots tendencies and manifestations, is uarepublican is fatal to the permanence of Republican institutions. I believe in the integrity of this people. I believe that, awakened to a realizing sense of the danger that threatens them, they will sweep away as chaff this das3 that threatens their liberties and is disgrac: ing them at home and abroad. I believe': they are awake to the danger. They proved it ten years ago by the indignant' uprising against the infamies at Wash ington. They proved it two years later by electing the candidate whose promise' was 'reform.' They proved it in 1878.' In 1880 the vote for the President elected' was a minority by over half a million! of the total vote cast. In 1882 they proved it by the election of Cleveland in New York, of Pattison in Pennsylvania two men known only by the reforms which simple honesty and a high sense) of official duty and responsibility had enabled them to work in corrupt muni cipal governments. Both were elected by an internecine revolt against corrup tion in the party opposed to them. As I have said, this tendency has been uni form, and, though not given to exploit itself except in acts, all powerful. It is the patriotism of ! the American people asserting itself. It now supports the man who most admirably represents it and is fighting for the principles, clear cut and defined, which account for its existence and its strength." "Save Me From My Friends." If Mr. Blaine wishes to make any head" way between the present time and elec tion day, he had better borrow General Butler's infallible receipt for bottling up the too exhuberant "Joe" Hawley, who put his foot into it incontinently at a Blaine meeting in Brooklyn. After ring ing the changes on slavery and the war until his hearers became bored with sub jects dead and buried, Senator Hawley broke forth into the alarming remarks: "Our party can purify itself. It is doing it; it has been doing it. I was not a Blaine man, but I tell you that I never had the idea that James G. Blaine made a dishonest dollar in the world." This was not enough for the effusive nawley, but he must add to it by suggesting that Blaine had said in a privete letter some thing that indicated that he might have been tempted to do so. "I wish he hadn't written that," continues this indiscreet orator. "It would have been better if he had not connected his private with his public business." Such language from the Blaine stump is calculated to give the candidate another sunstroke like that which the Mulligan letters produced, and to make him groan in bitterness of spirit, "Save me from my friends." New Tori Telegram. Appealing to the Criminal Classes. It's saying a good deal, we admit, but on the whole the most disreputable and abandoned act of this most disreputable of campaigns has been perpetrated by the New York Fun in trying to get votes against Cleveland among the criminal classes by republishing a column and a half story of the executions of two men in Buffalo at which Governor Cleveland officiated, as sheriff. This is the first case, that we can recall when a direct appeal has been made by any . newspaper to thieves, burglars and murderers to vote down a man because he performed his simple duty as a representative of the law. Cleveland hung these convicted murderers In exactly the same sense that the judge hung them, that the jailor, the night watch, or the gallows itself hung them. The Sun's depraved story may be effective among jailbirds and evil-doers who dread the halter of justice; but how does it strike reputable citizens who believe in pains, penalties and prisons as a protection against crime? New Haven (Conn.) News. Tracing Freight Cars. Since the establishment of long freight lines, some of which extend from one end of the country to the other, it is very common for freight cars to be lost. They may, and a great many of them do, stray into places where they should not have gone. It is "nobody's business" to send them back. To meet this difficulty most of the large companies now employ "car tracers," whose sole occupation it is to look up and secure the return of vagrant cars. It is a queer vocation. One of these car-tracers said to a St. Louis re porter: "Some people think I have light work, but they are not familiar with my duties. I have been car-tracer a long time, and am compelled to say that some of the cars I was sent out to find nearly a year ago are still missing. The other day I struck a junction on one of the railroads running through Illinois, whcn'l hap pened to see a strange-looking object near the track that looked like a sort of canal -boat with windows in it. Out of curiosity I walked up to the concern, in order to get a better view of it. On close examination I found it contained letters and a number on its side. Refer ring to my book, I discovered it was the identical car I had been trying to find for six months. The railroad company had es tablished .a station there, it appears, without building a station-house. De termined to supply the deficiency, the residents of the neighborhood had con fiscated the car, placed it near the track, cut holes in for windows, and converted it into a depot. I reported my discovery, and shortly afterward the company hauled the car away. Sometimes we find the remains of the demolished cars at the foot of some high embankment, sometimes cars with the roofs sticking above the surface of some ponds, and sometimes we never find them at all."