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."