The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-02-18

alone, and then he claims that the whole con-
tract shall ON that ground DO entirely set aside
Mr. MARSHALL said The resolution that
is now pending before the House, introduced by
the Committee on Printing, Of which my col
league is a member, is in fact resolution 10
change and nulity the existing laws of the land
! want to call the attention Of gentlemen in this
House who are in favor of this resolution, TO
what nj the last session Of Congress denounced
coalition among the metropolitan printers,
tor the purpose of breaking down the laws
through the nstrumentality Of this House.
want them to come upto their work in the broad
light Of open day. The gentleman from Mary
land, Mr.. McLAsE,] who has just addressed the
House, undertook to say that Congress, ut its
last session, would have been liberal in It's de-
Examinations, but for an impu,ation which he
says cast out against Mr.. Ritchie
have re-rcad the remarks that made upon
that occasion. | now endorse them, letter for
letter, aud will stand by their variety. l never
said this contract was going at suinous rates.
do not believe it,
again call for the exhibit of this specific
loss. again call upon those who are about to
vote this bonus to Mr. Richie to exhibit to the
country the sources of this loss Well may
my colleague stand up in his place and say that
he announce to the country that he cannot de-
pend upon paper calculations to Justify the vote
which he was ready to give at the last session
Of Congress, and is ready to give now.
No matter what diatribes have appeared in the
Union, care nothing about them. Whatever
they are they. will not affect me in the slightest
degree. am not animated by any luminosity
towards the editor of the Union. ! am only
DESTROYS, in the presence Of the country and the
House, to maintain the law as it stands, and to
prevent this man from going hand over hand
into the public treasury. | said, ut the last SEES
sion of Congress, that when these contracts
were given out they were improperly procured;
and according to the testimony which was be-
fore the committee it appeared to me that they
did not intend to perform this contract. And
repeat that statement now.
But defy the gentlemen who pretend to ar
que this case on the part of Mr.. Richie, to take
the testimony of Mr. Wendell and others upon
this point. And lest they may have forgotten
it, will read a single passage on this point
From this passage we shall see how they ex-
pected to get rid Of the contract, and the source
from which assistance was to be derived.
"Trenholm has repeatedly said to me that the
reason for such low bidding was to break up
the contract system. never saw Bet--do not
know him.
ssThe way Trenholm stated in which they de-
signed to break up the contract system was by
bidding low, and, the Democratic party having
majority in Congress, the contract system would
be broken up by the party, and the old man
(meaning Mr.. Ritchie) would get the benefit oft,
and would then be elected printer to Congress.
This scheme was conveyed to me by Trenholm
in frequent conversations, always alluding to
Richie as being the real contractor for the public
printing, and he never lntlmated that he or Belt
had any interest in the contract; and Trenholm
declared several days before the contract was Civ
en- in form to Trenholm ard Belt, and on the days
the bids were opened, that Richie meant to hare
the contract ifhe took it for hundred thousand dol
lars less than the ,oork could be done for. Since the
meeting Of the present Congress, Mr.. Trenholm
has suggested to me that, if the contract system
could be broken up, Father Richie might be
elected printer to the House, and Gales and Sea-
ton printers to the Senate, and if would aid in
accomplishing the object, two papers-that IS, the
Union and National Intelligencer-and their
friends would aid in getting US such an aowance
as would make up our losses for printing for the
last Congress, and that, in breaking up the con-
tract system, the printing for the Departments
would also be broken up, and Gideon, of the Re-
public, could in that way get rid Of his contracts,
and be restored to the old system, and this in
ducement would keep him still, and induce him
to 60 with u.s."
~ have conversed with Trenholm since this
committee was appointed, and he stated that he
hoped the investigation would result in breaking
up the contract system"
What nm expose is this :! What condition
of things, sir, to call forth the legislation upon
which we are about to enter! And appeal to
members of this House, and to the country, to
know whether, having been member OF the
committee before which such facts were elected,
it did not become me-inasmuch as time was
not allowed to bring this fact to the attention OF
every member Of the House, repeat, did it
not become me to say that believed that this
contract had been taken without bona tide in
tent to carry it ont! Why, MIR. Speaker, this
little volume is replete with evidence tending to
the same point Twill not detan the House by
reading MIR. Truman Smiths testimony. But |
will call the attention Of the House, and the
country, to the testimony of Mr.. Seaton upon
the same subject Mr.. Seaton and Mr.. Ritcbie
had an interview, and Mr. Seaton swears:
"Mr. Trenholm stated that it was impossible
for them to carry out the contract at the prices
without ruinous LOSSES, and he wished to know,
il Congress would relieve them, and would place
the business on different footing, whether we
would agree to execute part OF 1t In conjunction
with the contractors, or with Mr. Richie, who
Che gave me to understand) was the responsible
man."
NOW, ask tnc members Oh IDlS I1ouSc, IL IL
requires any arithmetic tor the purpose of show
ING whether Mr.. Richie intended to get rid of
the contract by the mode in which Mr. Tren-
holm said that he intended to getrid of it! The
idea of conference out of doors between the
editor of Wing paper and the editor of a
Democratic paper, and of their arranging how
the legislation of this country shall be con-
ducted--the idea of their comforting with their
friends upon the other side of this House, with
an intent to force position, or to command a
position, on the introduction of resolutions eX-
actly carrying out their Notwithstanding in
their printing offices, to break down the law OF
the country, in order that they may get more
profit by altering the basis on which they are
paid say it would be dcrogatory to the char
meter and the dignity of this tribunal that such
things should ever be carried out here.
Mr.. Seaton swears:
q MIR. Richie asked me il | would confer with
my friends in Congress, and see # the arrange
ment which would suit me could be effected
which l agreed to do. 1t was UNDERSTOOD of
course, that he should confer with his The idea
was, that Mr.. Richie to be released from the
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