Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1848-08-10

charge OF his duty. be the consequences what they
may. 1t was to the extra charges he wished 10
call the especial attentlun of his friends, and he
would be glad if they could furnish some satisfac-
tory explanation of these extraordinary charges
which he feared they could not and would not give
| lie hoped the friends of Gen. Cass would exam
inc these matters and be able to give some expla-
nation of them. The people OF this country would
expect it To be cleared up some how or other
though he believed it would be found that there
were no vouchers to sustain these extra charges
not the oath of single witness to establish their
justice, but they we're left to depend mainly II no,
altogether on the statements made Sy Gen. Cass
himself, on his own ipse ditn. But his hour was
fast wasting away and he must hurry on.
| There was another thing to which he desired to
refer. Ii he had the time he would refer to the
expenditures during the present war with Mexico.
He, however, had not the time to refer satsfacto-
ry 10 the wasteful expenditure of money, There
had been much of it squandered amongst Presl-
dental paftizans and fa' orites; some rewarded
with high offices, such as Pillow e. Co., and 9TH
ers with fat contracts. They had paid for the
hire of steamboats, alone 1851 ,63l month, and
tie sum of $ll5,900 had been paid for old and
worthless vessels. But he had not time to refer
to these matters in detail, which he had before
him he might put them in his speech should ne
ever write it out But he must hasten to advert
to another thing, which would show how the great
economists of this Administration spent "the peo-
pies money for the peoples benefit His atten-
tion has been called to the fact that this Govern
ment has been expending the peoples money for
the benefit of hundreds of their partizans and pets
for actually doing nothing; and in many of the
custom houses in the country at this time the re-
ceipts were wholly inadequate to the payment OF
the officers who were quartered on the public
For instance, there were fifty custom houses, OF
which he had made list, that collected the sum
of S74 ,42577; to collect which an expense had
incurred of 1851 ,o7539 over and above the entire
recepts-a clear loss to the Treasury ofths amount
to support the party; making, therefore, an ex-
penditure of $l35.50I ,l6 paid to support custom
houses that paid not one cent into the Treasury.
There were twenty lone custom houses whose ag-
gregate receipts were $32,2l8,39, the whole of
which, together with S270, ,2S0,2S, was paid to a
set of idle officers Ostensby employed in its col
lection, but actually doing little or nothing; a
gross sum, without any receipts to meet the ex-
penditures, of $500 ,49S 81 thrown away on favor
ties There were likewise ten custom houses
which collected the sum of 1857, l9, which cost
the Government S36,24s,32 or $35,3sl,I3 over
and above the whole receipts. And that was using
the peoples money for the peoples benefit" ac-
cording to the Baltimore resolutions. Oh, say
they, you must take care to spend the peoples
money for the peoples benefit, and here as an ex-
ample. was an expenditure of S36,24s,32 to col
lect $s67,I9! If gentlemen had any doubt on
this subject he had before him transcript from
the official statements, made out by an officer of
this House, he would hand to the Reporter: he
had not time now to read it. Here is portion
of the list:
Statement showing the gross amount of revenue
collected in the following Districts, and the ex-
cess of expenditure beyond the duties received
for the year lS45: