New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-03-03
DEMOCRATIC CORRUPTION
IN THE
PUBLIC PRINTING.
REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE
The Corrupt Contracts with Eprsyers, LthOgapber'
and Paper Merchants.
sEAMANs AND wENDELL's PROFITS

IRE resolution creating the Comm'es 80
by the House Of Representatives. on 'ne anJ,ej
December last but toe Committee wa Lo Jr &c
sptl The I7ih day Of January. On me lo,o Gay OF
$500 The Committee organized and IN pursuanee
a. resolution Of the House, appointed Iheodoie r
a,.i,sws their clerk and stenogi apter. -
Won, Committee began their examinstion by caIhng
a.. rre,ent Snpefin. eDdent, George w BOWMAN, be-
IRE them In order TO ascertain how the ONCE OF
superintendent is organized: 1t Is proper here 10
,t.te that the Office Of Superintendent was crea,ed by
tbe ao, OF August &C. 1852. The first Superintendent
died within year after his appointment and Mr..
~ aroap who,e accounts yOur COMMITTEE were directed
10 investigate was appointed in the Fall Of 1853. lie
vss reappoinied in December 1850 and continued in
see until December, 1857 az which time he was sac
sesded by the present Superintendent.
The Committee have confined Their examination as
nearly a. possible to the period Of Mr.. Seaman super
intep6ency-that is from December, 1888, ID Deem
ber 1857 Much irrelevant testimony has been taken,
BY reason Of the nature Of the examination ana IRON
the necessty imposed upon the Commute 70 iesor. -
nesses. While the entire record is presenter oI the
consideration OF the House the Committee base tpeI
report upon ouch facts OILY as have been eIaDSneu
by direct and competent testimony.
Your Committee have gwen 70 the subJec' en,IusVsi
10 them o. thorough an examination a. thelr Imltsd
time allowed. And they bel eve that as InSny mate
rial facts have been developed as was posSDe uh1e1
the pecolisr and embarrassing circumstancss under
which they have acted. They deem u proper here 70
nate that both with reference to the attendance OF
vItre,ses summoned two OF whom they felt Obliged 70
repo,t sUecialy 10 the House for cOntu nscy), aud
with reference TO the extreme difficulty experienced in
obtaining from Of the witnesses the disclosure OF
facts evidently within Their nowecge the, tne nyes
ugson hiss been attended with difficulties Of 10 ordin-
airy character; and that owing to tbess difficulties
many material matters are suggested in the evidence
which it has not been in the power Of the Committee
fully TO ditclOse.
now THE ACCOUNTS OF THE SUPERINTENDENT
WE'RE KEPT.
1t has been found that the books Of the late S1Per
intendent have been kept in manner 30 loose ant
INN. IN
With apy proper correctness, the condition OF the &C
counts between bis office and the Government
TIE testimony Of DIR. Quail shows that Il cannot be
sscertsDed hom these books within come hunoreos OF
resn o. bow much psper was received, nor how much
wa delivered 10 the Public Printer; and that neither
these accounts the account Of paper on hand can
be balanced. Large invoices Of paper were received
without any inspection, and sometimes by al lrrespon
sble party 10 the employ Of the Public Pruter.
lsborsr or watchman in Mr.. Wendells office appears
to have had toa very great eI,en the charge OF the
Grand ums were kept oose clips Of paper attergard
sent 10 the clerk whose duty it was 10 superintend
this matter. From theee slips the official receipts
we're made up monthly; but as 10 the csee OF the
other accounts tbe official receipts and the slips do
rot agree Thote slips have been coils cted and pasted
into book for reference by the present Sdpernten-
dent Some paper described IN them s not covered ny
any official receipt.
In further illustration Of the manner IN which the
books kept, your Committee would refer TO the
accounts for paper furnished to the binders Tor waste
leaves. Prior 10 the lst of April, 1886, paper for
those leaves was furnished by the Superintendent oil
Pobbc Printing. The binders charged the same TO
the Senate ana House, and II was PAID for AT stPula
ted prices out Of the contingent fund Of the two houses
IL then became the duty Of the binders to pay bsck the
amount 80 collected 10 the Superintendent OF Public
Printing to close his account for the paper supplied
The accounts kept by the superintendent with tue
public binders appear TO have been closed by double
red lines drawn underneath them. Some instances
occor Of lateral lines drawn across the page below
With the words " carried forward ia which re-
n, 20 xfhfa va
seversy professedly carried shows no balance really
carried forward, and these accounts, therefore, show
no balances due TO the Government
Upon an investigation, the present superintendent
g. w Bowman ascertained these facts: that accounts
purpoItipg to be closed had not been In fact closed
and that large quantities of paper furnished to bnfer
prior to his appointment had not been paid for These
accounts thus standing made ont and sent to the
binders for payment. The largest amount, 81 ,HO II,
wac doe from Mr.. Arnold Of Philadelphia. When Mr..
Arnold was spoken 70 on the subject he SAID the ac-
count had been settled by way of loan TO Mr.. SeS-
man; that he had refused to make the loan, until Mr..
Seaman promised to arrange it in the settlement OF his
wsstt-leaf account. This, however, was not done,
and MIR. Arnold paid the amount to Mr.. Bowman.
The same was the case another bill of less amount.
Notwithstanding the fact that s., ~ 20 have been
collected from various binders on these accounts re-
fered to- sincs the appointment OF the present SaPsr
inten6eD there is st considerable discrepancy be-
tween the quanty Of psper required for waste leaves
and the amount received from the binders.
DECEPTIVE ENTRIES.
No account was kept between the Government ana
the Superintendent to show the amount of money re-
ceived for paper supplied 10 the binders. Tie only
memoranda Of any such money is found in connection
with the account OF paper received from Sylvester j.
Mtgsrgee. 1t sppesrs that MIR Sesmsn assumed the
payment of $l0 42i 81 TO Mr.. Megsrgee for LEA
Tesms a. pounds paper the ith day Of April, 1856.
The entry shows that the same was to be paid out OF
money collected for waste leaves; and II sppears to
have been intended 10 convey the idea that the I2i
rsms Of psper thus settled for covered the whole
amount used by the binders up 10 the LIST of April
1856 which was not the case. Ia this instance the
books were well calculated to induce the beref that
the accounts closed, and thus 10 deceive while
the testin ony shows that Mr. that money
ues due these accounts ard that long after that
date bic clerk, Mr. Jesett tried 70 collect the same.
PAYMENTS MADE FOR WORK NOT DONE.
The books ALEC disclose payments TO the ondes
for the House for volumes which were not credited,
either in the Superintendent books at the fold
ipg-room. Various small items Of this character ap
pear, and there is no way TO e1plsin them ln this
particular great liberties undoubtedly were taken by
the parties doirg the public work. The number Of
yolomts ordered were rot always bound, and in some
eases not printed The evidence of these facts in
gard 10 the binding positive and direct aud 10 regard
10 the printing almost Gs conclusive. The accounts
atthe House folding were short at the uole Mr..
Seaman went out Of office , 939 volumes, but the de-
hveres sin that tine have reduced the discrepancy
between the number ordered by the House and the
Bamoer delivered at the folding room 10 about $500
volumes.
TIE loose manner in which these accounts have
been kept has prevented tue Committee from ascer-
tanning whether these volumes bound by
tie public binders but II appears that certificates for
the whole number ordered by Cor gress have uniformly
been issued, and in few instances those cerf oates
embrace more volumes than were ordered 10 be printed
ard bound.
In the examination OF the accounts for engraving
and kthoeraphing, your Committee found tia. the
books Of various parties did not correspond with the