Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1838-07-13


pears to have been receiving salary OF
81 500 year as Librarian Of the House OF
representatives !! 1t would seem that
| Mr. Secretary Forsyth is MT a stranger to
this convenient mode Of sending favorites
abroad, to travel for their pleasure, health,
or instruction, on; Of the public Golfers
also find that S2,5l5 are charged for
contingent expenses Of William II. Barry,
late Minister 10 Spain. Now. sir, it is
well known that Mr.. Barry never reached
Spain, but died on his way there. He, Of
course, received the usual salary and out
ft; and am at loss to know what con
tingent expenses. incurred by him, could
justly be charged to the United States.
There appears, also, to have been'pad to
John r. Clay, in 1886 1891 Al, as com,
pensa.ion for certain di pomatic services"
This gentleman, at that time, held the lace
Of Secretary Of Legation at 81. Petersburg.
with salery of $4,000 year, and the pay.
ment TO him of the further sum of S3 ,361
al may be justly questioned.
Other items, indicative Of extravaganza
or tavoriteism, may be seen in this coutn
gent expense account of foreign missions,
1t will also be found thai, in the DAYS of
this searching operation and reform, the
standing committees of this House on the
expenditures of the several departments
attended to their vocation. But, very soon
after General Jackson came into power,
these committees became SO much n mat
ter Of mere form that the chairman Of one
Of them declared here, during the las,
Congress. he had never even thought it
worth his while to convene his committee.
and he appeared quite surprised, or u, oil
events amused, that any inquiry was ex
pected to be made IN regard to the expenses
of these departments! This state of
things forms strong contrast with the
report made here in April, 1928, by Mr.
Blair, of Tennessee. chairman of the Com
mjttee Oh PnblC Accounts and expenditures
IN the State d 'partmen' lie you know Mr.
Speaker. was a jack N rctormer; Ike Ihe
Select Committee, b, found every ina !!
wrong. and promised to correct it, The
purchase Of books, the employment of a
librarian, and many other things. were
censurcd-even The right to purchase n
print or i,k Of Gen, Washington, to
BE- suspended ia tn Dsparlm'nt, wa qies
!
WAY, large sums of money are y"ady
expended for the hbrarv Of the Sat"
Department., and mang k purchased,
winch are certainly u0a'cr -lrv.
Besides the purchase Of books. p,rinii-
cas-, aud ne wspaprts, made fox THIS De
partment by its dlsburslng agent at home,
there wa. expended inv London, during last,
year. for similar objac.s, nearly $500 A
Librarian is employed, at salary of 81 $40,
equal to that paid to the librarian of the
great public library of Congress. All this
too, sir, under the auspices Of gentlemen
who said that this part Of the expenses of
that Department was censurable, and ought
to be dispensed with, as all the officers of
the Government could well avail them
selves of the public library at the Capitol.
But, Mr. Speaker, the times changed, and
Mr. Van Buren, and Mr. Forsyth changed
with them. The State Department is now
laid off into grand divisions. When Mr.
Clay had charge Of it, the Blue Book
exhibited list of dozen names, all under
translator for the Department, and his
salary was Sl,l50; another paid out the
funds, and was charged with the contln-
gent expense accounts, and he received
Sl.l5O a year. How soon is all this sim,
plicny and econsmy forgotten! The Blue
Book of last year divides this Department
into Diplomatic Bureau, 'Consuar
Bureau Home Bureau Translator,
whose salary is SLIGO. 'Disbursng
Agent whose salary is 81 sos, a Libra
ran whose salary is 81 $40, Keeper OF
the Archives,' whose salary is 81 $40, and
gives one man 5000 year for packing,
filing, arranging, and preserving newspa-
pers and printed Documents This is
done by that boosted democratic party
which affects such holy horror at any
appearance of what they call 'aristocralic
grandeur 1fthe Turk, whose letters are
found in Salmagundi, had seen this display
Of Bureaus in The Safe Depar'men he
would have been better justified in his
admiration at the grand and magnificent
scale on which these Americans transact
T their business But | have yet to add
that those who questioned the right Of the
State Department to purchase a print OF
) the immortal Washington have used the
money of the people to buy prints of Gen
Jackson, and now of Martin Van Buren,
for almost every room in each of the De
parlments
Mr. Speaker, during this searching ope,
> ration and cap'ous fault finding every pet
~ expense o., the several Departments wa:
| looked upon with open censure. | wei
) remember that an item of some few dollars
paid aborer for destroying the grass
! which growing between the bricks of the
. paved walk leading 10 the State Depart
} ment, held up to public view as piece o
arstocratic extravaganza. Now, sir, sup
} pose were to cite to you many similar ant
equally IF not morel Objectionable charges
in the present accounts of these Depart
ments-such as cash paid for clearing thu