The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-12-21
THEHAWk-EYE

g THEHAWk-EYE
How Honest Men arc Cheatea ma
ttal set ooaFPeEe grew sB1chs i2Ht
There is considerable inequaiity About the I'd
tape plan Of conducting Government affairs in
Tie matter Of recruiting and subsisting voisns
= teers, psschasing horses etc, etc. The matter
results in the Government always getting bsdly
served with poor article, the favorites making
. neat thing while the green and unihitiated Of
ten get their fingers burned. A good many troops
have been mustered in at Burlington, . good
many horses and large quantities Of forage and
provisions purchased on Government account
10 .subsist men and horses. And how has it
been dones The country has been secured for
poor horses, and . few gentlemen have made
very handsomely! The Government purchasers !
have not Disseminated. They have paid just as
much for poor horse ~. good one. A horse
Of the value Of $50 would bring Just about as
much as one worth 81 SO, and, Of course, deal. L
ers, particularly horse dealers, will sell no good
horses to Government when they ca,h get just as
much for poor ones OF course large amount
Of money has been thrown away for poor horses
at the price Of good ones, which has gone into
the hands Of favorites. .gssI II,
And the truth is that every article purchased
by the Government is bought in the same man
ner.- Some sort Of standard of prices is fixed,
about the value Of good article, SO that a uni
formity can be shown by the agent to his supe-
riors, aud prima facie case Of honesty and fair
dealing made upon the face of tho .accounts.-.
Thus much being accomplished for appearances
sake, the swindle Of the Government begins, al
ways through the neglect or connivance of its
agents, by the substitution of d,maged and
mean articles for good ones. The, favorites
scour the country for articles Of every sort that
are inferior and can be bought so far below the
standard as to give profit. The poorer the ar.
ticle the greater the profit .Sr
OF course, where the standard Of price is low,
as it has been here, every''man furnishinga good
article is looser, or if not a looser, makes
nothing. Take an illustration: The price paid
for hay has been six dollars and il lis fair pre-.
sumption that the cavalry and artillery horses
have eaten all the mean hay near Burlington
During the summer or fall, at.a time when the
roads are bad and hay very scarce in caup, the
Quartermaster contracts with Mr.. LETTER for his
hay at ST. this being but IA fair price, quality and
condition of the road being considered. At
any rate there is no hay in camp and Mr. Letter
is sought and his crop bought, by order Of. the
Colonel commanding, and the Quartermaster
certifes it up to the Gcvernment. j. But Capt
Chambers, when he comes to pay reduces the
price down to six and six dollars Mr.. Letter has
to take, even though he furnished good hay and
hauled it through mud and rain. So with Mr.
Drew, Of the wood yard, who hanls wood cut of
town to camp, to keep the soldiers from freezing,
at time when the roads are bad and no one
hauling and none to be had from any other
quarter. His bill has to be raced.
But there is still another matter which seems
to US especially hard. Citizens OF. Burlington
have lost hundreds, yes, thousands of dollars by
furnishing articles upon the orders of Colonels
and Quartcrmasters of regiments not authorized
by the army Regulations The Colonel of reg
iment ought to know what be has and what he
has not right to purchase at the expense Of the
Government. So ought the Quartermaster-
And when either contracts debts not authorized
they ought be made pay the bills or be cashiered
and retired to the ranks. This is what ought
10 be. As it now is the people are compelled
to know what the army regulations are, or in the
absence Of knowledge, be imposed upon and
suffer loss by the ignorance or fraud of army Of
6cers. ~.-- .-s=1-7
The Government ought to have competent
and faithful agents that will not only see that
the prices are uniform, but that the articles fur
nished are always good and worth the money
paid. And the men who are now fighting the
battles of their country, ought always to re.
memebr that the Government is paying for
good clothing and provisions for them and that 4
the difference in value between q good article |
and the one they are using is just the amount |
Of swindle which is either pocketcd or permit. |
ted by army officers. go. IN ..'
A CoNsERv frIvK VIEw.-The New York Ex-
press says that Slavery is to perish il the South
persists in the war. Probably 60. The rebels
counted the cost and estimated the risks, doubt
less, before commencing hostiiities It is not
impossible that the institution will present q
series Of dssolving views, rs the war progresses
but it will not be the result of Congressional
enactments OF sounding proclamations All the
Government has to do is to let Slavery severely
alone, only providing for, the employment of
such its creatures as either relieve themselves
Of the property condition or are relieved by their
fugitive masters. In the presence Of military
necessities and operations, the functions Of the
civi. law are very apt to cease, and whatever |
depends solely upon it for an existence, perishes
with it. II must have deeper vitality, and de-
pend in some measure upon natural rights and
common Law, to survive the rudejshock Of arms
The business Of the Government is to preserve |
the Union, not to look after Slavery If that
system can get through the struggle without
suffering annihilatiou, we'll and good; and If It |
perishes, still we'll and good. Leave Slavery to
take care Of itself While loyal people unite all
the energies Of the civil and military power to
preserve the integrity of the Union and tne
Constitution; and when the strife is over, and
the smoke Of battle has passed away, we shall
have abundant leisure to look about the field
and see whether the ebony idol of JEFF Davis
olgarchy is among the killed or missing
y @i stil' l''------O~--A- sHI teH'
Major Lyons Rocket Battalion, originally
commenced in Buffalo, N. T., are now. op their
way1to Washington. In place of the customary
held pieces, the battalion, which numbers 100
men, viii, on its arrival at the Capital, be fur
ni.hed with q newly invented rocket gun. TIE
pecaliarity of this weapon consists in its being
brcach-loadiug, and is capable of discharging
BAL, bombs and percussion shot, The rockets
that viii be 6tcd from this gatl Are for the pur.
pose of breaking up tho snemy'a cavalry, or Of
setting 6re 10 any building that il Is necessary
to have destroyed When the rocket sails are
discharged, they will expand to the diameter Of
fifteen feet, and can be thrown TO the distance of
$500 yards. Government has purchased the
exclssive right Of manufacturing these terrible
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