Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1835-02-10

Mr.. Grundy said ,st i; bad urged the Committee, as
ect what he 'o 'y, said in debate at 4, dislan,
period.
the charge OF corruption He condemned many Of the
acts OF the Department but he did believe the Head
of the Department T., be- corrupt lie believed him BE-,
,ncorrupt nii inc'rfu?iblc There was not an hour.
however, during the Investigation in winch he did
Gembc for the Postmaster General He feared perjury.
The appointment Of the (onni list stssi wa an
invitation to all crs % come forward before that Co
mi'ter, aud sat AL they could against that officer. To
the honor OF the country. well the officer
u'd so conc forward lie wished the corrupt nivdu Il
I, be pointed OUT If corruption really existed. lie tool;
distinction between corruption and wascful cxpcndi-
ture of the public money IL was only corruption when
the individual himself particpator in the money so
wasted lie condemned the conduct of O. B Brown in
having AN interest in Portcrs contract But he denied
that the public had lost any thing by the transaction
lie advcrtcd to other transactions nudcious and inn
proper. Interruption be found in department
1t was IN Others than the Head OF it.
In reply 10 the question of the Senator from New Jcr-
sey (Mr Southard) whether the people, seeing all they
had seen, would be satisfied with the turning of
single clerk, he could not tell what the people would
think but he himself satisfied lie knew that the
Senator would not b. satisfied would he be satisfied
If every clerk and the Head of the Department were
turned out Even il the President turn himself
out or to lay down his life satisfy the Senator he could
not do IT. because the gentleman who occupies the Chair
of the Senate would turn himself in that the Prcs-
dent could, in no way, satisfy The Senator.
He afterwards made observations the
~ of making provision for the debts OF the Department
MIR Leigh said, that If the Postmaster General had
unconsttutionally and unlawuly borrowed money from
the Banks the Government responsible
debt But the money iirly disbursed for the pub
lie service, the government from policy should repay the
loan to the Banks lie would be willing, in that case
- vote for appropriation for that purpose. But he
had understood the gentleman tom Tennessee dccar.
ing that no appropriation would be asked for
In reference TO the debts of the Department no c
schedule TO be made out to the Senate containing a
statement how they contracted and list the per-
sons to whom they arc due Ii he satisfied with
this schedule, he would vote the money the creditors
and not TO the Department., and hc would thea consent
TO liberal appropriation As the question whether
tnrre was coirnpiionn the Department he not
called on To look into IT. and he would not lie dis
posed to judge fayorably ofa He did. lie did not
think that Obadiah had tied all these knots and therefore
all the curses and an1hemas ought be directed
against him.
Mr.. Ewing replied to what had fallen from the chair
of the Committee mir GrundyA DENYING that the
report OF the last session condemned the Postmaster.
General for sending daily mail to New Orleans. The
complaint was that public competition had notbccn inv
ted to the contracts, and that although the 10 900 dol.
lars had been paid the contractor according to his con-
tract there had been $50 failures in the course of the
year lie instanccd in which large sums had been
paid where no service had been rendered lie replied
to the remark of the chairman that he feared perjury
would be resorted to for the purpose of eliminating the
head OF the Department These fears ill-groundcd
Ii was certain that examinations had developed verse
state of thngsin the Department than had been repre-
scented in any oral or written communication The DIFF.
fcuty the Committee had encounter was in wrnginu
from the many persons dependent on the Department
any information against the mass of power which sup
Piled them with bread. He expressed his views on The
conduct OF Mr. Brown, indcang that the presumption
was lustiiiabe that the public had suffered from his mis-
ne Then stated The facts concerning the application for
relief in order to scw that the committee had not any in
enhon to force any appropriation the Department
TIC showed that the committee had authorized step in
reference to any appropriation further than giving per
mission to the Chairman 10 obtain from the Departing nj
an estimate of it5-responsbilitics He stated that tho
principal debts due before January 1924 were these Of
small contractors, who had been ruined by the withhold
ing OF their small quarterly pittance These persons did
not come here but merely communicated by letter They
would not be paid by the Department which would take
care in the first place of the large contractors who pre-
scented themselves at the Department. Another cLarac-
ter of debts accepted drafts of contractors for SER
vices not yet performed, amounting the LIST of April
last $i6OOOo How; then, could provision be made
y, this o'i Tor the - Mt OF all these debts? He hoped
,n's SpsndneaN- rSSieeted and he would then
h iu 10y c. an ., amer Tor an appropriation
MIR. Buchanan l.,o,ss,;o, -
expressed his anxiety TO pass the bill in for action
and improper to go into upon the Department on
this BILL but to that for the discussion on the re-
solutions offered by Senator from Connecticut mir
Smith) lie hoped the bill would be discussed on its
own merits, and suggested that it might be well to pro.
vide for the debts due to the small contractors before 1884
Mr. Kane said he could not vote for this amendment
as ~ stood lie moved to amend the amendment by in
frauds.
Mr. Grundy accepted the amendment as a mod6ca.
ton OF the original resolution.
MIR Bib said he would never for the payment of
one OF these debts of the Treasury They oiiobt
10 be paid of funds of thr Pos. lice as fast nc cv
could bc paid He believed the Postmaster General to
be honest and upright of heart hut he had not admins
suffered himself be prcyod by the vile miscrcamis
who had fastened themselves upon him He then moved
TO amend the amendment
The amendment provides for the payment of the
debts due to contractors giving the smallest debts the
preference where there has been fraud or extra nl-
lowance, but where they shall be honestly due II pro
vsdes that the large debts shall be lqudatcd but not paid
out OF funds of the Post Office until repor shall have
been made of them to C0ngrcss1
MIR Southard objected to the amendment on the
ground OF the improperly of inserting an appropriation
IN Dill to organize department Nor did he think the
appropriation necessary TO be introduced Should n be-
come necessary before the close of the Sc son another
Dill could be passed Neither the accepted amendment
nor me proposed one relieved him from another difficulty
The appropriation to be made without KIN ,,vi, II
what amount the debts extended.
lie would vote for appropriation until nc knew the
amount to be paid He believed there was fraud cor
ruption, gross ubusc in many of the large debts TO con
tractors, and he willing to appropriate for them
without further information He thought that this amend
inent would enable the Postmaster General to nav off all
the claims lie wished the Department TO say il was
embai rassed and TO ask for relief He would conluc
the Department TO rctract its assertion that Committee
OF tins House lars before he would vote the an
preparation. IL would be competent to the Head of the
department IN eight and forty hours rive an estimate
winch would form the basis of an appropriation He
wished Inc organization to be completed before any hinc
else was done. lnrcply TO the Senator from Tennessee
that he MIR. 81 would be satisfied with the turning
OUT OF clerk he said that be had heard of turning
out lie had heard, indeed, Of resignation but there
appeared TO he nothing like compulson on the face of
ne also remarked on the further comment made BIZ Tie
Senator on the point
MI Webster suggested that it would have been more
Wise n the Senator from Tennessee ,nadn fhe