The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1852-02-06

mol integrity enough as iahiully anu jusuy 10 ufdw up
contract any officer OF this house IL is preposterous
No man who has any respect for his own feelings or Tor
those OF his colleagues would say such thing. take
that the execution OF this contract i intrustsd TO the
Committee Pfinling-pancuarly when u contains so
able aad willing The senator ilom Connecticut TO
watch them-would be well done as II conhded 10 any
officer from the President down 10 the lowest officer
II the term low" be applied 10 an ofhcer-to any
ofncer IN the government
Well, sir, Messrs Donelson Il Armstrong are desg-
mated in the resolution the parties with whom the
tract is 10 be made. Every one knows that they
ready at once TO go on with the work. They have all
the materials; they have the presses and the honoa
Bile senator from North Carolina states that they have the
bindery Therefore they designated; and what is
CURED IS merely that Just and proper contract shall be
made with them by six members OF Congress, who are
responsible both TO the Senate and the House Of Repre-
senlaives and 10 the whole country Tor their own action
IN this matter All have TO say is, that any member
OF the Senate rises in his place and says thai we cannot
safely trust these SIX, such as constitute this commit
lee, his opinion OF members of Congress and OF their in
tegny Is lower than mine.
Another point well made by the senator from North
Carolina, was simply this that the power OF supervision
should be vested in the Secretary OF the Interior This
all right II is precisely what it should be and under
stand that The gentlemen named in the resolution, and
proposed TO be contractors, are perfectly willing that II
should be They willing thai the materials and work
should be checked by high officer OF the government II
is too preposerous TO talk about insulting officer by
stating to him his duty Any officer who would thus
consider himself nsulted has one asuficent remedy
TO quit his Office. But know very well that the very
respectable gentleman who now holds the Office OF
would execute your laws. He would execute the law
curing him to supenend the execution of contract in
which hundred thousand dollars will be
pended, and would see tina. II would be properly done
The higher the amount the greater would be The espon
sbty the greater the confidence and the less the insult
But how could committee oil Congress execute this
duty We all agreed that there should be agents to
supervise the work Tor we want good paper, proper
printing, and the work done in time How could com
the honorable senator from North Carolina they could
not go and attend to this duty day by day. would be
attended by the Secretary OF the INTERIOR or by the head
of the Census Bureau The Superintendent OF the Cen
sus would see TO il that the work upon which he had
spent much time should be properly published. Be-
sides the contractor would not wish 10 go on and have
half reeourhs of the work executed and then per-
haps rejected He would wish, from time to tme the
execution OF the work proceeded TO ascertain the opn
ion OF the officer, and to proceed accordingly II il is in
the hands OF a committee during the laboTs of session.
how is he TO know what will be their Judgment upon the
work And more especially, as presume the work will
not be finished until alter the close Of the session. shall
the committee meet here daily during the recess, and
ceive their per diem, instead OF giving this matter into the
hands OF very proper and responsible officer Of the gov
ernmen OF the very department from which originated
this whole work, and who will take deep interest in
the manner in which it is 10 be printed
Upon reviewing the whole matter, see no reasonable
objection to the course now proPosed-no sacrifice OF the
public interest and no risk. know OF no reason why a
committee should not make Just and proper contract
upon their responsibility, and just safely if this
power should be given 10 any other officer OF the govern
ment.
Mr.. BORLAND. | am sorry to have to trouble the
Senate by any further remarks upon this subject,
on account OF the time | consumed when it was IN
der consideration IN the Senate before. IL is with great
reluctance, upon many accounts that rise but seems
10 me that the views suggested at the close of this de-
bate, when II was before the Senate some three weeks
ago. apply TO the subject as is now presented 10
that we are proposing TO do what not prepared to
do; Wea proposing 10 do work which we have not
before u.s. and the character and extent of which we do
not yet understand Will any senator on this floor tell
me- or state 10 the Senate what propose to print,
how much there OF IT, what is the probable character
OF the work, what number OF voames il will make what
number OF pages il will occupy Does anybody know
anything about IL II so, should be glad TO hear; for
Outing the last three weeks have examined it closely.
and investigated il thoroughly as am capable of do
ing, and cannot for my life find ont what proposed
be printed, And venture TO say that if any senator
should rise here and give his opinion with regard To H.
ne would not hnd any Two senators present VINO would
agree with um.
II we proceed now to order the execution OF this
work, without knowing anything more about II than
do al present, we shall be doing very much like old
geDtenan In my native State oil Virginia a certain &C.
casion and hope the Senate will for rea.
ting the anecdote il suggests itself to me as illus
ratng very clearly the position in which is proposed
TO place The Senate II is stated that IN certain part OF
the Old Dominion there at one time existed conviyal
club, consisting OF a dozen more gentlemen who at
stated perods-oncea week pehsps-met each other Tor
the purpose OF enjoying together gool dinner wine, &c;
but the wine probably predomnated at the entertainment
In the OF the existence OF this club, happened
that there was great drought in the country For some
weeks they had had no rain at all and great concern
felt throughout all that neghborhood, not only for
crops, Dul PROSPERITY VI
people AT OF the meetings OF this conviyia club. in
consequence of the generally prevailing distress and APP
prehenson, IL suggested that perhaps At would pro-
pitate the Almighty IL they should moderate their ndal
gences a little; and the proposition therefore made
and az reed TO that they should drink liquor OF
any until il should have rained The drought con-
tnued. They held three or four meetings; but they
could not drink together on account OF their pledge Al
last an old gentleman, who seemed to have suffered
great deal both in mind and body from the want OF his
accustomed simulan and said to the audience that
these tenacious droughs had nlerfered with his usual
indulgence until he could stand IL no longer; and he
could see but one remedy lie would therefore propose
this resolution Resolved by this association, that IL
has raIned" Laughter They adopted II unanimously,
and returned 10 their usual indulgence IN their pota
tons
Now sir think the Senate is about to place ITSELF by
its present action, a very similar position We have TO
resolve, in the beginning that thing has taken place
which has not taken place The census bill requires that
the shall be laid before Congress, and then they
TO be ordered to be printed. They TO be brought
here for the that should know what Is TO be
printed before undertake 10 make general contract
We properly order be printed matter which is
not here and the only way TO do IS first TO resolve that
the returns here when they not For one,
am unwilling to place myself in that position II true
that have bad brought before here the digest OF the
for the State OF Maryland specimen OF
the work Have senators examined this book Is this
specimen OF the work that IS TO be printed Tor each
State Will any senator open IT, and look al II,
and say that he is willing 10 print the State OF
other States upon the plan II he should, he
differs very widely in his opinion OF what should be
printed from my own views. | hnd in lt--perhaps
shutting the larger portion OF l-maters which, IN my
judgment, altogether unsuitable for publicaton-such
as were not contemplated by the law, and such as the