Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1858-06-12

action OF the late and present Secretaries ol
! the Treasury, may rest satisfied that those
officers have acted strictly up to the letter r1
the law, drawn by late wing President OF
the United States. ;;4
Mr. STANTON. Did the law a1tlorisc
the appropriation in 1857 for the expenses
Of the Kansas, legislature Of anoshcr item
designed for another purpose?
Mr.. LETCIIER. Well, sir, I do mol
know that it does exactly. | wish to deal
! fairly with the gentleman about it. Now,
as one good turn deserves another, docs il
not justify every other transfer made by
Howell Cobb or James Guthrie?
Mr.. STANTON. Indeed, do not know,
as / have not examined it.
Mr.. LETCHEk. It seems to me that
my friend ought to be examining into the
facts, and ought not TO conhnc his sight to
this little isolated expenditure for the legis-
lature Of Kansas That is but mote float
ing upon the surface. There arc other large
expenditures. can remind him of one
which occurs to me just now, (and it is the
only one that does where an appropriation
made for one purpose was transferred for the
purpose Of keeping up the armories of the
United States, the appropriation for which
was omitted by mistake in enrolling the bill.
Let me say to my friend from Ohio Mr..
SHERMAN that he had chance to raise this
question when the bill to restore the appro-
priation for the armories was introduced DUR
ing this session by my colleague Of the Har-
pcr's Ferry district, Mr.. FAULKNER l be-
licvc that bill passed with general concur
renee, Or with such general concurrence that
even the yeas and nays were not called on it.
Mr.. STANTON. They were called.
Mr. LETCHER. What was the vote.
Mr.. STANTON. | know that made a
speech againt it. and ! know that voted
against it.
Mr.. LETCHER. know that my friend
was in lean minority Of the Committee on
Military Affairs on that bill. / do not think
shat he then carried his party with him !;
and certainly, if there is any man in this
House who can cary his party followers, by
the force Of his intellect, he is tic man
No man descrvodly yields more power with
his party in this House, thar he does. If he
could not save his own household on that
occasion, if they endorsed this policy of the
administration in defiance Of his wishes and
advice, how is it that lie undertakes here,
months afterwards, to arraign the admins
tration for a policy which his friends en-
dorscd?
But my friend from Ohio Mr.. SnEnmAS1
undertakes to arraign the Committee OF
Ways and Means on the same ground that
has been taken ever since this session OPEN
ed Tie says that We arc in the habit Of re-
porting bills in conformity with the estimates
which came down to US from the other end
Of the avenue: that VIC do not inquire about
them; that we willing to take their say
so, al 4 conform our action to it, and report
accordingly to this House. tsH.:a.
Mr.. SHERMAN, Of Ohio. do not want
my friend from Virginia to misintcrprct
what | said. l said, from the burden of
business thrown upon them by the House.
that they could not properly attend to it
[ think that the Committee of Ways and
Means arc always willing to perform their
duty.
Mr.. LETCHER. The result is exactly
this' We have not done cur duty. Itcomcs
down to that poiat-that we have not done
our duty; because, ne says, we have not
had time. take it that my friend from
Ohio can lay his finger upon some one re-
COMMUNICATION from tie Committee of Ways
and Mems which is not warranted by the
law. What one does be name?
Mr.. SHERMAN, of Ohio. M remark
was not that they reported what is not war
rantcd by law; that is not it, but that they
did not cut down the appropriations. The
appropriations are at the pleasure of the
House, and they may be cut down at any
time. We may reduce, by a single stroke
Of the pen, the expenses Ct this govern
ment $40, 100000, if we choose. The APP
Preparations can be cut down in various
ways. | could suggest to the gentleman
many places where there might be reduc-
ton. If it is the pleasure Of the commit
tee, | have no doubt that, by Topping off a
number Of contingencies and miscellaneous
items, We might reduce the appropriations
tor the government nearly ten million dol
lars. I had prepared table of contingent
cics which | can furnish the gentleman with.
Mr. LETCHER, Let US sec what we
have done when We. have undertaken to
make recommendations. Ny friend will ad-
init that, where the law fixes the amount,
we arc bound to conform to that amount in
the bill. That, | take it, he will assent to.
| refer to salaries and such matters, where
q definite amount is fixed by law.
Mr.. SHERMAN, of Ohio. The COM
mittce has reported bill appropriating
81 ,00o, 900 fer collecting the revenue I
have shown that here it has increased the
officers over FIVE hundred. IF tic commit
tee has the power to Increase, it. has the
power to decrease. One implies the other.
Why, then, did it not appropriate S., OOO.-
900 or $4,000, 900, instead of 81, 900, 900?
And why were not specific items given to
US, 50 that we might be able to tell which
Of those amounts ought to be appropriated
Why, in this season Of want, when loan
bills are the order of the day, ask the House
to appropriate more than was eyer before
appropriated for this object Is it because
the committee has not time to sift the mat
tor as it should be sifted, and as it would
have been if it had been sent to some other
committee having charge Of this distinct
matter? believe, for instance, that if
this army appropriation bill had been refer
red to tie Committee on Military Affairs
which is composed Of gcntlcmcn familiar
with the details Of the army, they could
have cut it down, when the Committee Of