The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1848-06-25
CITY OF WASHINGTON, SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE rs, I84s

hand. and which was report of the Secretary of
the Treasury, made TO Congress the 18th Of De-
cember last only FIVE days after his annual repor
had been sent in This document the Secretary re-
CURED by law to furnish to Congress 1t contained up
wards of 400 pages and in il might be found much OF
the very information which the committee had accused
the Secretary with emitting. This important document,
in which the very information which the committee
could not hnd is literally piled up to their hand they
had entirely overlooked and the gentleman from Penn
syvania had frankly confessed that he did not know it
was in existence until he had found on his table some
five or six days ago, as if it had been mushroom that
had sprung up there in the night Why SIR it had been
laid on your table ON the l4h OF December last and al
though it may not have been printed until recently yet
there was and il the duty of the gentleman and
OF the committee to have procured and carefully exam
med IT. before they attempted their attack upon the Secre
OF the Secretary 10 furnish this document every year. and
consequently every member should have known OF its
istence the gentleman from Pennsy lvania Mr. STRoHM]
frankly confessed that neither he his attacking commit
tee knew OF it's existence until the other day And here
the gentlemans friend from New York lM CosoEsl had
had a aG
the hands OF the printers after had been sent to Them
and had retained the index. though they had repeatedly
sent to him f9r and thus they were prevented from
Now, Mr.. b. would inform the gentleman from New
York that he was entirely mistaken; and he (Mr B.
undertook there upon the responsibility of the Secretary
Of the Treasury unequyocay to deny the correctness Of
that statement The Secretary never had touched or
that document after he had sent it to the House He
else to DO So He had u sen for
any proofs Of the document nor had he in any
nterered with it, or with the printing Of it, since he first
Mr.. CONGER begged permission to say word by
way of explanation. He desired to say that in the re-
mark which he made yesterday, there in
atiOn the index to that work In making his expana
ton yesterday. he msook the document and to set him.
self and the House right that subject it should
be necessary that he should hereafter have occasion
make explanations, he this morning called on the public
printer to make further inquiries and he found he in
error the subject of that index being in the hands of
the Secretary OF the Treasury for the period he yesterday
named. There was index to this document. But he
stated the authority of the Printers-and he knew
nothing about tthat proofs Of that document had
been in the hands OF the Secretary that they remained
the delay in furnishing them to the House This explain
alton he made in Justice to the printers and if there was
question of veracity between them; that must rest with
the printers and the Secretary OF the Treasury
Mr.. BEDlNGER again asserted, on the responsibility
of the Secretary Of the Treasury that the Secretary
DID se q s be for the report
but the authority OF the printers, he stated that proofs
Mr.. BEDTNGER cared not what the printers nigh,
say The printers testimony in this case was somewhat
like the manifested authority of clerk with which
the Committee on Public Expenditures sought to af6x
blame on the o Of the Treasury 5 the
and he furnished the authority of the printers but
he, (Mr b. on the authority OF the Secretary OF the
ny G0aa be S
cared it not the Secretary, nor was it done by
his authority He then read several extracts from the
COMMITTEES accused the sasrs.alsy with having Omitted
therein contained and he again asked what reliance
This then. was sf he .nf rs great
very outset by the committee; and il fatal to the
whole report.
The next error to which he would advert Che had not
time even to mention all of rhem,) was error which
the gentleman from Pennsylvania lMr STRoHml frankly
admitted yesterday, of 1857 900 in the amount OF stock
under the act OF ISi7. exchange
ring the quarter ending September 30, which the commit
tee have left entirely out Of their calculation Now, this
the case' Here certain gentlemen who undertook
crtcise and hold up to public condemnation the
nual report of the Secretary They had taken whole
succeeded in finding but (not the report, but in
of the tables which had been discovered by other per-
sons and long since satisfactorily accounted for Yet
the very first bush the report made by these gentlemen
was found to contain an enormous error in one single
calculation of $557,90O and palpable and glazing
this that the authors Of the report were compelled
to admit it at once. And this was error, not in
the tables of third person. but made by the com
mittee themselves, admitted by them, and for which
they alone are responsible This error, the committee
subsequent proceedings II the eaven eavenng the
whole lump-t was the poison killing their whole work.
It. They ne ro
port The gentleman from Pennsylvania mr. SrRoHMl
shook his head he did not admit then. Mr. B. thought
he had done so-it was error nevertheless Did not
the gentleman admit the of three charged
page 81 of minority report' He wanted to show the
House that the minority had been particular, and
had detected the small as well as the great blunders
of the committee. One other error, not admitted,
might be SEEM charged page 40 of the minority
from $4,339s56, and make the difference $l,l43,35s,
instead of $,l53,356; in other words, the gentlemen
had taken from 10, and left4! Now, it had been
said of him, (Mr 3D. by those disposed to Islander
him. that he better figures of rhetoric than figures
of arithmetic and that his calculations Of "eagles were
better than any he could make of dollars and cents.
Nevertheless, his powers of computing were sufcient to
discover the monstrous the calculations OF the
committee He could least subtract from ID, and not
leave the remainder 4! Now, this not very great
error of the committee; it was only $4,000 He would
call the attention of the House to OF much greater
magnitude In table d. stated in their printed report,
here Mr. B. held it up, and invited any one to examine
it, they stated the amount of means in the first division
of the table at $O2, 657 49, and in the second divi
sion OF table, it is stated at $12 657-makng
difference of only 100000 table They accused
the Secreiarys report of errors but here was Dhdpp
in their own
Mr.. STROHM reminded Mr. B. that he had explained
this on the day before The gentleman would find that,
when the amount was brought the next page it
was stated correctly; that the result renamed un-
changed.
not their falling into great as this IN their own
figures teach them extend little charity to the
statements of others Mr.. b. had as much right to
charge this upon the majority report as the majority had
to charge similar mistakes ut any such there were) upon
the Secretary OF the Treasury.
The gentleman [Mr SrRoHMl had said that porton OF
the minority report which said the committee had been
very lucky or very Fortunate in balancing one error py
another, was particularly rich. Now, he M p nougnt