The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1858-12-22
FEJNbhRINa PRACTICES
IN AND ABOUT CONGRESS-

IN AND ABOUT CONGRESS-
AMaAinktss esEresspsasus d b..
Richmond Enquirer Tin detailing some
Of the plunderfng practices in and about
yHQpgssS saysEa T83WoA ARgY.Y
A most monstroua abuse Of the mi
slsags system. and At which Mr.. Houstop,
soF Alabsms,de alt D very effectiye blow,
isinTthe efices Of ale ~Sergeantrat Arms.
thus ohiser vas charged With the duty
Of sumudonina the clouds of witnesses
that attendedto nesiast ~session ; and
.ssithoaehhe never went out Of his Office
to make service yitiis said thatshe clear
ed noze than Sz50no by The little Job
esThs esyit vas managed was this :ys
.sz The SeTgeantatsArms is allowed
t~3e1tytaceBts on q mile, eomiugsto and
fro, ,fsreaasmouine witnesses. He would
sfeadil y ebtai8 apersou TO go the round,
aud snmmon alarga humber of witnes
sesLiu one trip, and he would charge
mileage on anumber of trips equalto
the number of witnesses. About fifteen
EitnessesKsfs summo6ed fromthe neigh
boriroods at Fort Smelling {; and so the
.ZSsi6gantsatsArmsa charged mileage for
saffteen trips. and he was allowed it. bsa
e sfnsthes Watrous case, about twenty
saRitnesses were summoned at one time
from the distant State Of Texas, and the
Sergeant at Arms greatly felicitated
himself on the prospect of a morstrous
fee by charging for about twenty conse-
cuGpe trips To Texas Mr.. Houston,
however, opposed this, compelled the
Sergeant at Arms to succumb, and saved
the Governments nearly. SIC. 600 by his
uphInching economy in this instance.
/ might pursue the general subject of
.eorfapS{aod differing practices in and
Sabout Congress by giving an account of
The crowds Of sinecures kept on the
i. prenises-messengers who get 1900 and
1900 per annum, and porters vino are
paid f2o0s year for doing nothing, all
of whom are, Of course too proud to
do mcnial Offices; but are politicians, or
by Informing your readers of the faba-
lous cost of gorgeous furniture, mirrors,
Brussels carpets, aud book cases costing
500 each fyeu can see one in the Claims
committee room,1 which adorn the com
fsnittee and private drinking rooms or
by detailing the thousand and one petty
.plnnders by which Uncle Sam is made TO
bleed at every pre- by a swarm of
subalterpsg hangers on sui stnumeraries,
md 8batn not. 81 sel ss
THERE'S 10 exsaea5seratiOn 10 The shove,
the half i. not told ,
Che extrasagance. P.pfissacy and pro-
digafify of the officers and sttendants "a
both Houses ofGoDgress oad their reck-
desc aud criminal waste of 1.-THE bubble
moBs7Swoaldscarcsly be believed. Sim
ecgTes abound, and every officer down
. to the porters and pages becomes q leech
Hrspthe treasury, deEisiDg all kinds of
pefeEts0s schemes to draw extra pay or
grataitiesSdy faw, or to cheat the treas
nry without Iaasssas 1sbag &df ~ Z
h Rhezcon;fngent expenses of one house
Of Gongress fora siDgfeper4 will great
iy,exceed the annual expenses of our
State government, and not ore fifth
part Of these expenses are necessary or
propersto be ineurred.
So far as the above article refers to
che oatfageous charges by, and allow
anccto the Sergeant at Arms for con
ar1ctive mileage, it is strictly true, to
our own knowledge. : ,E1
The eBcomiums bestowed upon Mr..
Heustss Eepld have been better deser.
If bus action In committee had been
carrier. zErso - 1-wzE ssssa
an The Rort Smelling case we remem
Der that the Sergeant at Arms charge,
for serving subpoenas- and constructive
mileage amounted 90 e1eten thousand
dpthnrs5 of which large sum, fprobabIy
i've bupdfed dollars would have been
equitabiy due the-ofhcer, land not even
that amount legally. Yet the commit
tee on accounts of the House allowed
and certified these charges.
ssThe Comptroller, Gov. MED1LL,
promptly stopped them, and refused to
pay them, The officer procured a ref.
erepee of tho matter to the Attorney
General who decided that the allowapce
blythe committee on accounts was con-.
elusive upon the Comptroller, aud that
the claim shouldE be paid by hin, and
thus this, enormous sum was transferred
from the Treasuryto the pockets of Mr..
Glossbrenner, without consideration,
wholly BY the acts of the committee of
which Mr.. Houston was q member
Verify, there is a laxness of public
moralsEsnmongs honorable Lmen.@L0n
easter Ohio Eook II Lnr S 9sR-