, 1860-05-18

ment OF persons. lie states what were the
prices paid In the regular service for herd
ers, packers, teamsters, clerks, expressmen,
&c, al each regular post in Oregon and
Washington, during that Indian war. You.
/ find that practically the lowest price paid
for teamster, q herder, or packer, was
two dollars per day, and that the price
ranged from two dollars per day to five
dollars per day. For this very service al
the different posts, you will find that the
average amounts TO about three dollars per
day. and that there were several posts
where in no case less than three dollars per
day was paid, and where it rose 10 as high
figure as four and FIVE dollars The ca
ses which the Auditor quotes Of labor at
one dollar per day we're cases Of the hire Of
Indians, as personally know and those
cases Of between one and two dollars per
day were either cases Of Indians, or Of men
employed for long periods, and who gener.
ally we're hAlEbreeds/ Now, the Auditor
allows the volunteers, for this same service,
q uniform rate Of two dollars per day. He
is directed to scale the prices according to
the prices current 10 the country, aud his
action is TO give Us the minimum price paid
in the regular service. So 10 the higher
grades in the regular service they pay
chief packers as high as six dollars per day,
and agents in purchasing animals as high
as nine dollars per day. The Auditor al
lows the volunteers four and FIVE dollars.
In the regular service, for what mules they
hired, they uniformly paid three dollars per
day the Auditor allows the volunteers q
dollar and a quarter per day, They paid
10 the regular service as high as two dol
lars day for horses the Auditor allows
the volunteers one dollar day also rates
as high as two dollars and half per day
we're paid for foraging and stabling horses !;
one dollar per day for pasturage and sta
bling horses three dollars per day for the
hire Of oxen per yoke and ten dollars per
day for the hire OF ox-teams with driver.
II these rates be compared with the rates
paid in the volunteer service. the difference
will be found to be comparatively inconsid-
cradle.
The Auditor, therefore, has not to give
the volunteers the benefit Of this maximum
in the regular service in the matters Just
referred TO- His own figures show that as
regards the employment Of men or the hire
Of animals, he has reduced the prices in the
volunteer service to murh below the aver
age cash prices in ihe regular service, and
has established uniform rate, where his
own figures show how prices differ from
market to market, and II was perfectly
easy from an examination Of the accounts,
IN tall Ia tvhioh ,arffouIa. IoooIitv a.. -
count belonged. II we come to supplies,
We shall dnd that the same practical injus-
tee has been done by the Auditor to his
own hgures, in fixing the rates Of the vol
unteer service. In Southern Oregon Lieut.
Sweitzer paid as high as Eve dollars a
bushel for oats, and $3.50 a ton for hay
The Auditor allows US two dollars bushe
for oats, and $44 ton for hay and where
our purchases were below this amount, he
leaves them as they were, without bringing
them up to the average. Now, looking to
the time when Lieut. Sweitzer made these
purchases Of hay and oats, it is evident thai
they were made under circumstances very
similar to the circumstances when the pur-
chases we're made for the volunteer service.
The country was becoming exhausted :;
that, Of course, rapidly increased the prices
Of everything, aud Lieut.. Sweitzer, with
cash, was obliged to pay as high, or about
as high, as the volunteers paid in scrip.
Why did not the Auditor apply the same
rule TO the volunteers as be had applied To
the auditing Of the accounts in the regular
servicer To show the fallacy Of applying
the prices paid in the regular service to the
volunteer service, let me call the attention
Of the committee to the purchase Of bacon
in the regular service at the Dalles. You
find that all the bacon bought at the D4lles
cost the regular service in cash forty cents
per pOuud. Is it to be inferred, therefore,
that forty cents was the cash price for ba-
con! The volunteers paid much less than
that, and yet the Auditor has still further
reduced thefprice. When you 90 a step
further and look at the quantity, you find
that they bought twenty pounds OF bacon,
and il was probably a side Of bacon picked
op by On expressmAn for some special use.
II the regulars had been called upon to
purchase some tons Of bacon, and we're not
pushed for time, they could undoubtedly
have got it for the price paid by the volun-
teer service, aud perhaps for little less.
Perhaps these instances are enough to show
the whole fallacy and absurdity of the
ground work of the Auditor in arriving at
price current. He has got no price cur
rent he has not got the data to establish
a price current he knows nothing, aud
does not presume to know anything about
the circumstances Of each transaction,
which is the controlling element in the
price. On the contrary, so far as we have
any evidence before US, in the testimony Of
citizens in Oregon who knew many of these
circumstances, and who were familiar with
the prices throughout the war, it goes to
substantiate the general accuracy of the
conclusions of the commission. Attached
10 this statement which hold in my hand
Of the delegation Of Oregon and Washing
ton in regard to this war debt, aud to which
l will particularly call the attention of the
committee, is large mass of testimony, al
so tending to confirm the accuracy of the
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