The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1852-05-22

OF the Navy should send 10 a gross estimate for the pa
OF officers IN the navy and should specify OF go int
the minute ealeuiatonslheTe may be deaths, and Their
may pc fesgnaons and suppose Congress should appro
pirate ior pay OF officers in the navy 100000 thar
was necessary according 10 the act OF 1885 them accord
ing to this doctrine OF the senator from North Carolina
Mr. bADGEa,l the Secretary must SIT down and appor
ton out pro raa because Congress have appropriate,
the money That is the case.
disclaim altogether the idea OF making attack upor
the Navy Department or anybody else. But will gC
further and say that the idea that any for M
can be found in the estimates has foundation in fact
none at all hold the estimate Ia my hand, sir. The
estimate IS Tor calculating, printing and publishing the
Nautical Almanac. including the ay OF the superin.
iendea, The sum OF $1,000 Whether his pay be
800 or 900 does not appear upon the estimates But
sir, the estimates 20 further than that they expressly
negative the idea that there is any lieutenant WI is
receive above $780, with the exception OF Leulena nj
/ Maury, who is al the head OF bureau.
Here is an appropriation OF S6l 2o0, and list OF the
olcers who are TO be paid--lhe officers who EN-.
ployed al the Observatory making part OF this SG4 200
and Hsuienant at So, 900 year,, who is a dstn-
gushed officer, and whom the senator from North Caro-
lima has complinented-Lie Maury. He to re.
ceIye that compensation under existing law
These estimates, instead OF specifying that Lieutenant
Davis was 10 have $4,000 per year, expressly exclude
him IN the list, leaving by the estimates but lieu
tenant TO receive it. and that was Lieuienan, Maury
| The honorable senator asks upon what authority
cay that these estimates are filed away in the Offices
and kept secret state it upon the authority OF docu-
mens submitted to Congress of the estimates that are
printed asking for $64 O0o and the letter OF the Secre-
iary Of the Navy to the Comptroller in which he tells
paid and that it is the wish OF the department that the
office OF superintendent OF the Nautical Almanac should
occupy the position and be placed upon the footing orgi
nally contemplated both here and in Congress- And in
that letter he says that m appears from the files OF the
department. &c and we'll he might say because the
estimates submitted to Congress and printed which |
hold 10 my hand do not contain any such specification
OF the money that to be appropriated This specif-
cation asks in the gross for $4,000 for preparing the
Nautical Almanac, and gives list OF officers employed,
and IN this list Puts down one officer Lieutenant Maury,
at $4,000 and excludes the conclusion that nybody else
was 10 receive three thousand dollars
Now, Mr. President, all this talk about the high
attanments OF these officers, the great value OF their
services to the country, and the good they are
doing, may do very well when that appeal is made
Congress to induce them to raise the salary but in the
very document which the Secretary OF the Navy has
submitted, he tells you that when this appropriation
passed, Lieutenant Davis applied to the Treasury De-
partment and then to the Comptroller of The Treasury
and the then Comptroller venture to say, OF the
most faithful, intelligent and lncorrupble officers that
ever presided over the head OF department. U mean Gov
ernor Paris land he decided against being contrary
TO law. And what did Lieutenant Davis then do He
came and asked Congress 10 authorize The payment
What did Congress do They refused IT, as the journals
show How idle 1t 49, then, 10 get up here and say Con-
gress intended to make this exception when officers OF
the department said tha, The law authorized them to
ercse no sach power. and the applicants subsequently
petoBed Congress, and Congress said " no, will not
pay il :; and after that they made application again TO
the House OF Representatives and the committee refused
to insert II in the appropriation bill and after all that,
new application is made TO the department. who then go
back and pay the sum OF 50 900 year from lSi9 to this
present time
And then, sir, it is said that this is no abuse-in fact
rather censuTed for undertaking bring such things
before the Senate II is thought that have committed all
offence against the proprety and decorum which due
be observed towards the heads OF departments in calling
the attention OF the Senate to these things and If under
stand the senator from North Carolina, Mr.. BADGER
he does contend that il within the discretion of The
Secretary OF The Navyaad it clearly il this
struciion is irue-to pay this man $500 year. Sir
when want TO know how money goes, and for
what, what we TO look TO To the law No, sir ;
the law does not tell anything about T. You go to the
estimates submitted to Congress and printed among your
documents, and they say nothing about it, But in the
language OF the Secretary OF the Navy il appears from
the files OF the dsparment-not from the printed doeu-
ments anything submitted TO Congress, but from
pigeon-hole in the Navy Deparment-that there
estimates submitted in si9 paying this salary OF $4,000
We the officer then at the head OF the department
fused TO pay H. Application was made 10 Congress year
alter year, and they refused IT, Still. in the face OF
these refusas application made the head OF the
department, and the case reopened, and not only Is
this salary OF 80 900 paid but the department goes back
and everses the administration OF the department for
years before.
This is the case as il stands this is the fact that
here presents itself But, sir, look at this: Was II
heard before that the head OF department, in
deciding what was the true construction OF an act in
relation TO the salary OF public officer not only went
beyond the law but back TO the estimates called upon
the draughlsman that draughed the bill introduced
Lieut. Maury, who comes in and says, 81 know IT was
the object oil The amer OF the law TO give the S3 900 y
and Mr. Dayton Auditor OF the Treasury, who submits
letter that submitted to him in confirmation OF this
officers right to receive this salary; and, that is not
an ex.member OF the committee, Mr.. Vinton,1 who
tells him that il his expectation. and he had
doubt the rest OF the committee thought so, that
this sum OF money was 10 be paid and then, upon
the expectations OF what the intentions OF past
committee OF another Congress- raised the salary hf-
teen hundred dollars year when applications have been
made year after year Congress 10 il, and they
have refused Now, do ask il Congress viii
ling TO sink and submerge themselves In entire subsar-
vency 10 this executive officer, that they will vndcae
the law from such-I will not call them abssesbut such
constructions this ask the Congress of the United
Sates who hold the purse strings 10 say TO the depart
menis that when they appropriate money they must know
upon adavts OF the draughsmen Of blls and members
Of by. gone Congress, and specifications filed in the
dark pigeon-hoes, 10 be told that they appropriated
money which they never knew anything about
Well sir, IL this thing good for anything il could
no, extend TO ls49. There s not word in The law Of
isie about the salary, but simply the authority TO the
Secretary OF the Navy to appoint somebody and S6 900
appropriated in the whole for the purpose
/ But do not want 10 dwell upon this amendment any
North Carolina [Mr. BADesRl can apply to such an
humble individual as myself can strike from this thing
the bald features which Il presents, or cover them up
They there. Here ls appropriation not al all specl
flying this oiicer-not saying word about him Tie
thinks he has intimatlon that u authorizes greater
salary be paid him than he has been receiving He
applies TO the proper officer the head Of the department
and he negatives IT, The Comptroller says He then
comes 10 Congress, and Congress says no He cones
second time and Congress says no. And while this Con-
gress s in session, after these repeated refusashe
refusal of the department and OF Congress TO
ton the paymentthen the department makes the pay
menf going back TO 1919 and coming up 10 the present
time Now, sir, every word is here printed. There s
no idle rumorthere is no doubt, mistake, no msap
aho nd "a