New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-02-13


found embraced in his evidence, given upon being
recalled before the Committee on the 9Th nst letter
addressed by X. A. Barnes esq, President OF the Bank
of the State Of Missouri under date OF jan "a 1901,
to the Hon. joseph Holt, Secretary of War, which is
of interest and will throw light upon the conduct OF
Governor foyds proceedings and aasursncesin regard
10 the acceptances Mr. Irwin further testified TO the
receipt Of other letters by the War Department since
the papers furnished to the Committee by the WarDe-
parment were transmitted, of character similar to
that of Mr. Barnes. This branch Of the inquiry is evil
IDENTIFY prolific and could be pursued to great length
if necessity required, or time would permit.
To avoid all appearance Of unfairness, your Com
nee consider it proper TO give Mr.. RusseIs estimate
OF the of acceptances ssued as set forth in the
following extract from his testimony:
recollection the accepapces Gov BY
A. have got but an ides L very large canno.
tell how large believe II exceeds 100000
O Does It not exceed s4,oOo,OOol
a. do not recolect.
@ Does II not exceed 100000.
c you state that YOU Ssve not received hi. scc.psnces
to amount exceeding $6,OO0OOO.
q How much lem than 90 100000 can you sy was the
win not d1 the amounts know II was very arse know
q viii you R1 any amount hO Of s6OOOOOo which You can
4. i do not think IT reache. s4OOO0CO.
O. Can you state to the Committee within half million of
dollars the of the aceePance' of Gov Floyd which you
A. No, Sir cannot We have certainly paid upward Of
100000 and probably s3cOo and cancelled them OF re-
q Does 80 800, 900 cover the amount,
O. Can you name sum which you can be positive does cover
u" A lam sm sure we have paid 100000 -
q Are you sure you have paid and cancelled 100000.
A. Well en- pretty confident in my own mind we pave.
O. Can you state amount larger than that whn you arc
confident e your own lind was paid ard cancelled
o bid YOU DAY and cancel Gov FOyds scceptsnce' to an
amount larger at the outside than % Soo@O
A. think s3;OO 900 win the sum- am very confident
In, p,inith Init
M. Russell then stated that beside the accePanees
he had uscd and those still remaining in bis possession
the latter somewhat less than $2COC0V In amount
Gov Floyd, gave him others, which he returned uh'
used TO the War Department. If credenee should DC
given TO these explanations the amount of accepances
sthl outstanding is very large. But Mr.. Russell
statements are so rambling, vague, ana uhSatis,scoty
and he shows such utter ignorance Of the details Oh MS
business and such ncapacity or unwilnness TO make
an exhibit of his affairs that your Committee have con-
sred much safer TO base their CONCLUSIONS upon the
records furnished by the War Department; Ihese
records are themselves Of char acter too peculiar 10 DC
be passed without comment BY reference to the testl
mony of Mr. Irwin, clerk in the War Department, II
will that be kept registry OF the
Oh oOse pieces Of paper only as tney were reported 10
him from time to time, and 10 other entry was made
He states too that there was no registration OF the
s9S 900 OF conditional acceptances which fell INTO Mr.
Baileys hands, and that Immediately after ihe 9scoV
ery OF the abstraction Of the bonds, GOV floyd went
10 hs Office and directed him Mr. Irwin to enter an
order of cancellation of those accepances, which he
did upon slip Of paper as he bad entered the uaIes
and amounts Of others tina. had been Issued Inc
accept.nces being in the hands OF the Hon. JACOB
Thompson having been placed there by Mr. Bailey In
lien OF the absracted bonds order Of cancellation
AZ such time was simply an order against the Gov
eminent Had the aceeptaDces been held by other
parties the order would have been equally intie lor
II legally issued, it could not invalidae them
II aso appears from the records Of the War Depart.
ment that while these acceptances being issued
TO the amount of millions of dollars, RUSSELL Majors
a. Waddell regularly receiving their pay Tor TIE
services performed under their contract IN money from
the Government. The aggregate amount OF the pay
men,s made 10 them in cash, during the years ls.S,
1889 and 1890 is $isi2 964 A. and large proportion
Of this sum paid BY the proper ofheer at Leayen
worth City, Kansas Gov. Floyd admitted in his evil
dence that every acceptance which he made iran
against unearned money, and was designed 10 give
them (he contactoTs) the credit OF their contract;
vet there Las not been discovered the slightest dica
ton that he made any inquiry about the payments, or
concerned himself TO see that they were, when made,
obi lied the acceptances Reference to the testimony
of Gen. johnson Of the Army, and OF the Hon. Mr..
Atkinson the Third Auditor Of the Treasury and de-
tailed statement of the payments which was presented
to the Committee, the amounts OF the earnings ana
payments will fully apear. IL would perhaps be
sufficient to say upon this point that Mr. Russell ac-
kuowledgea that there IL now but small sum due bis
firm for current earnings But il considered desiT
able 70 remove all uncertainty from THIS questOn ana
to ascertain positively whether Russell, Majors
Wadde bad ever presented any CLAIM TO the war De-
for such services had been ever paid by that depart
ment. and correspondence was accordingly had with
the present Secretary of War; the Hon. Joseph Holt,
who referred the letter Of the Committee to Gen. j. h.
Johnson Quartermaster-Generala and Col j. L. lay
Tor. Acting Commissary of General Subsistence.
Ii will be seen from their replies that no such claim
bas ever been made or allowed. Gen. johnson, how
ever states that there IL an account amounting TO
$ 800 40 stil suspended which the late Secretary Of
War directed TO be reduced by disallowance Of
49, 1875 e. lie also states the sum due them on the
ith Of January last upon current earnings TO be
$23750 49, from which must be deducted $loOO0 foT
duplicate payment This amount was asCertained by
t.egrapbing 10 Leaveuwcrth lot which place the az.
counts of Russell, Majors & Waddel are kept, and
although it may not include other earnings In New
Mexico, il cannot be largely increased. The facts,
therefore are that Russell, Majors & Waddell not
only absorbed all the sums earned by them under their
contracts and sold all the bonds they received from
Mr. Bailey but also raised very large sums OF money
upon the aceepances issued by the Secretary OF War
The information thus plainly presented seems to de-
mand that some mention should be made Of the commu-
ncaton of the late Secretary OF War; the Hon. John
B, Floyd addressed TO the House, and by the House
referred to your Committee. In his letter occurs Tie
passage:
within the four years since have presided over this Depart
ment NOT dollar believe has been lost to the Government, by
embe1eent theft and within tha; time $4,000 have
hini reaches better results No syst Of acc0nn'soy could
be more perfect"
II nv the heat results are understood TO be the
depletion of the public Treasury and debasement Of
public virtue the approval Of the vicious and the re-
probation of the good by the most perfect system
of accountability" Is meant method Of transsetiDg
business that prom negligence and affords
the most valuable facilities and incentives to fraud;
then, indeed may the late Secretary have reas' to
speak with confident eelf-praises OF his system OF
administration" and line of policy" whether or not
hs assertion that there has been no " embezzement
or theft in his department, is question that will
soon be decided in the Courts the recklessness OF bis
official conduct his inatenton and bis Ignorance Of the
details of his affairs have been already shown and will