Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1858-07-30
DEMOCRATIC PLUMBER.

nc enormous expenses OF the bucnanan
administrations far ahead Of what the ma
ton has ever known before---are wonder to
many simple minded and honest people
The Boston Atlas throws light on the sub
ject after this manner -
"We are satisfied that there is one anewcr
which will explain much Of this mystery
and that is, the money is stolen by and squan-
dered upon political iavorites and partisans
We do not make this charge upon suspicion,
but upon the most irrefragable evidence
The Fort Smelling, Willot Point and New
Bedford cases. Of purchase and sale are fresh
in the recollection of all who read. and they
proved that in these cases some half a dozen
Buchananites pocketed about half million Of
the money which rightly belongs to the gov
ernment or rather to the country. But it is
not only in these grand hauls these whole
sale stealings, that the Administration of Blu
chanan is making itself famous; in the mat
ter Of contracts mail lettings and all similar
transactions. full opportunity seems to be
afforded TO the followers of Buchanan and Lc-
compton 10 push their hands into the nation
al treasury and take them out with all they
can grab. In the matter of the wagon road
to Arzonia. nearly half million has been
spent already, not a dollar Of which has done
any good to anybody but the Buchanan parti-
sans who got the contracts. nor has it at all
advanced the work for which it was ostensi-
bly, spent In one instance the contract for
transporting provisions from Memphis, Ten
nessee. was given to a Democrat at the rate
of Slip per h. freight when parties offered
to carry the same supplies from lndianOla
Texas, for ] ? cents pound.
Take a case Of awarding a mail contract,
for the facts Of which the Kentucky newspa-
pcrs vouch. The mail route from Sanford TO
Albany, in Kentucky. was let to II. T. Gof
of Albany for the sum of S1780 per annum,
which was the lowest and best bid. This let
ting was mentioned in the official announce
ment of mail-letting in tho Washington pa
pcrs in the latter part Of April, and repub-
lished in the Louisville Journal and other pa
pers in that State early in May Mr.. Golf,
the contractor Immediately commenced pre-
parations for carrying out the contract, but
subsequently, TO his great surprise, he found
the route was secretly offered to be re-let by
the Department, and was afterwards actually
re-let to a Democratic partisan for the sum Of
sereH thousand dollars per annum.
Mr.. Goff is an American. and when this
fact was made known TO the Department by
the Democratic member Of Congress from
that district after the route had been given
% Gof. and he had filed the necessary vouch-
crs and securities. without notice to him the
contract was arbitrarily rescinded by the
Postmaster General and advertised to be re-
let. not in the ordinary manner, but in an er-
fro Of an insignificant country Democratic pa
per, which was placed in the hands Of only a
few faithful Democratic partisans. and the
contract. which Mr.. Gof was willing to per-
form for serentecn hundred and eighty-nino
dollars year, was given to one Of these Dem
ocratic partsans at the price of sere'i thousand
dollars year.
Comment upon such a scandalous proceed
ing as this is unnecessary But the transac-
ton proves our charge against the Admins
tration, and there are multitudes of similar
and equally disreputable cases Of cheating and
robbery. This is one of the ways in which
the peoples money goes, and shows how it is
that Mr.. Buchanan and his party manage to
use up money by the million. With some
thousands Of hungry Democrats plundering at
the same rate as in the case of the Kentucky
mail contract, the grand total Of ninety or
one hundred millions is easily made up. 1t
is as easy to account for as in the case Of the
merchant. who asked his clerk ''how it hap
pcnod that cash always came out short -
"Oh. sir. said the young man. lit must be
because have found it necessary 10 use con-
siderable out of the drawer for my personal
expenses ~