The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-04-13
FOR TEE ENQUIRER.
TO THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA.
No. XII.

NOT be asce,taiHed their present situation, sith-
our great labor, ard THEN De, haps rot accurately
10 Prore this, jour Con,.nttee beg feave refer to
the statement ,sae BY the superirtendant
nai'see Of the Hosse Of Delegates iast yea,.tions
thar It Gppears, thar the first day of October,
1s07-s725 nnu.ket. With basone,s. had been .fa.
Iihed Ana from the books 9205, APPEARS is be the
actual number: fhis variance 6ettpeen the supe,
snfenddnts reports and the books, existed as early
as Deeensbs, 1. 1904 Tbs reports state, thar,
from the commencement to thar day, 1855 uskes
6ad been fnished, the book. state 4I65 only ;"
There is no act in the management of that insti-
sutton, OF which the prejudiced trainers of that
report do not complain.
The manner Of keeping the books and accounts
at the Virginia mandatory Of arms, while was
The superintendent, was adopted from the mode
pursued at the United States mandatory of
arms at Springfield, Massachusetts,, which is the
oldest and most experienced institution of the
KIND IN the union, rs have before stated.
mad made some alterations, which thought
were improvements, and that method with those
Improvements, was the plan 1 pursued: and
which, IN my Judgment Gas we'll as in the judg
ana book-ssepe-s,) is the most explicit & proper
mode in which the books and accounts of such q
mandatory could be kept,
But to shew, thatth books and accounts were
improperly kept, the report goes on to state as
follows -" To prove this, your committee beg
ieave to refer to tho statement made by the su.
Perntenuant to committee OF the House of
Delegates last year-from that it appears, that
on the first day Of October, 1SO7-9725 muskets
with bayonets, had been finished. And from the
BOOKS S205 appears to be the actual number {:
ehis variance between the superintendants re-
ports and the books, existed as early as Decem.
Der l, 1861" IF by this variance between the
books and the reports, the committee were led
70 oeheve, that the books had been improperly
Kept, as they have stated, and also stated the
particular circumstances of that variance, as q
proof Of their having been improperly kept ;
now does 1t happen, that, in subsequent part
of their report, Immediately below their pre-
tended valuation of the arms,) they observe as
follows -" Your committee have taken the
number of muskets finished, from the books of
the institution, and have disregarded the number
stated in the reports, because on examination of
the payrolls filed in the Auditors Office, it ap-
peared that the books in that particular, gave the
true number" Does this prose that the books
were improperly kept lit appears that the COM
nittee compared the books, with the vouchers
IN the Auditors office, and in the instance ius,
mentioned, found them correct; but if they had
found them wrong in any particular whatever,
would not these prejudced reporters have pro-
claimed 1T, and stated the identical case in which
they were wrong 3! But to prove Gas they
term it,) that the books were wrong, the COM
mttee state their Sdridnce it'll The reports and
10 prove that the reports were wrong, they state,
lfrom an examination ofthe payrolls,) that the
DOCKS are correct. I ask if this is a candid
and manly mode of investigating the truth
win now explain the cause of the sariare-
alluded to by the committee, between the mum.
Der of muskets stated in my report to have been
MADE and the number mentioned in the books
and Payrolls, to have been .fnisie4. e.. :;
In the early operations OF that institution,
had to superintend the erection of the manufac-
tory ; the erection of the penitentiary; the cree
lyQrA h0ttce th1,
the operations of the mandatory Of arms DC.
rupisd with those variots services, had bat lit
ale time for arranging the branches, and making
she proper division of labor, in the various pro.
cess OF making arms moreover, the institution
was new, and it required some experience, to
enabls US to decide upon the best measures to Sa
pursued in its naanagement.--It wa. not until
the year 1905, that we had the operations tolera-
bly, organized at the close of that year made q
special and detailed report, of the whole cost of
every article manufactured in tbs preceding
year, including every expsnce which report
was addressed to the governor, and was laid by
him before the Legislature lit commences
thus =" Sir, begieave to present you state
rnent OF the operations of the mandatory of
arms in the year commencing with the LIST Dec
1904, and terminating with the S0th Nov 1905
In forming this statement, ! deem It proper to
present q more comprehensive and explanatory
view OF the institution and the principles upon
which it is conducted, than my annual reports
upon this subject have heretofore exhib tied. I"
This was my flrst report after the operations had
been systematically arranged, and Iquote this
passage, merely to shew, that in my reports
made previous to that time, l had not detailed
the particular manner in which the operations
had been conducted-The annual report from
which make this quotation is dated January
18th, 1906 1T is the first in which have ap-
piled the term finished to the muskets made at
that mandatory; and the first which exhibited
the cost, well the number Of every arti.
Gle made in each branch Of the manufacture
The other annual reports which / have since
made, contain similar information--all OF them
vsre printed by order of the Legislature, and
may therefore, easily be referred to
a For the inform alton of those who are unac-
quainted with the process of making arms ;
II may be proper to mention, that the labor ne
ccssary to the making of a musket. is divided in.
TO many branches the last of which, is called
finishing which is, polishing the mrsket after
ITS being stocked The work done in every
branch of the manufacture, is placed in the books
OF the institution, to the credit Of each person BY
whom it was executed and from those books
the payrols for the payment Of the artfcers is
made out; So that by looking into the books at
the mandatory, or the payrolls deposited in the
Auditors Office the number Of any article, such
for instance, as the number Of barrels which have
been welded, the number oflocks filed, the NUN.
Der of muskets stocked, or the number faished,)
may be easily ascertained When the compo-
nent parts are fxed together the musket is made
though it be not tnishsd, that is, eoHshcd In nv
EARLIEST reports, when mentioned the number
of muskets we had manufactured" stated the
whole number that were stocked, although
part OF them had not been polished, or fuishes-
Thus IN making out my reports. which preceded