Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-05-04

ance in Office, on which his dismissal had been
requested. i. ~ y y
Mr.. DEvoRE gave notice that he would dis.
cuss the resolution.
Mr.. BLAKESLEE moved that the rules bt
suspended, and the resolution be taken uI
now.
Mr.. VINCENT suggested that 1t was ques
tion whether the Quarter Master, being q gen
eral officer, could be exonerated for bad con
abuses somewhere that We want to get at
Members talked about wanting to hasten thu
resembling of this resolution Of censure, because
it hurt the feelings Of the Quarter Master Gen
eral. What was the use of talking about thu
feelings of these men? Hadn'uthey shown al
ready that their hides were as thick as those o
Durham bulls. He wasn't certain that the
Quarter Master was to blame about these CON
tracts-in fact, he scarcely supposed that the wal
but then they had been done in his depart
ment- -ostensibly by him-and there was nobody
else to hold responsible. lie believed in adopt
ing, in this case, the Chinese plan: take up the
suspected party, and hold him till he should
prove the guilt on the right man. 1t might b'
that it wasn't this Wood we wanted.
If not, hold on to him only till you can get al
the other man! Besides.an investigation might
develop something that Wood had done. He
0hu many Llm0 uhu pTibOucE upOu bUmt
charge that he had found him innocent Of; bu
on examining him, he had brought out some
other meanness that he had never dreampt o.
before. 1t doesn't make much difference,in some
cases, what count you send man to the Peni-
tentiary on; you know that that's where he be
longs, and 80 you get him there that's all you
need want. Why not, then, hold on TO Wood
till you can make him tell who did make these
swindling contracts?
Pending the discussion of this subject, the
House adjourned.
Remarks of Mr.. JONES, of Hamilton, on the
resolution to request the Governor to dis.
charge the Quarter-Master General and Com
missary General.
Mr., Speaker: This condition of things doet
not surprise me in the least, nor has it come
any sooner than expected. supposed that this
would be the result of the very basty Legislation
that followed the requisition of the President
upon the States for a military force of $4,000
men to defend the Federal Capital and enforce
the laws of the General Government.
The appropriation bills providing for the nee
essary expenses of this military movement, 80
indispensable for the safety of our Capital, and
to sustain the honor of our National flag, were
passed through the Legislature with greathast
under suspension of the rules, and without
time to perfect them in reference to the
necessary restriction to guard against extrava'
CANT and undue expenditure of money, and to
secure some plan for safe and economical
management of the public funds.
Now, il will be remembered that few of the
members on this floor voted against a suspension
of the rules, not p spirit of opposition to the
bills or measures But while they were attach
ed to the Union, and determined to do their
whole duty by voting for the bills, they were de
sirous that the bills should 60 into the handG
Of proper committees for examination and re-
vision.
No guards, however, were thrown around this
expenditure of money, and that which has fol
lowed is now before us, loud and long COM
plant against extravaganza and fraud practiced
upon the State by the Quarter. Master General
and Commissary General, or somebody else.
For my part,I have no charge to make against
any officer or the Executive Of State. 1t may
be that the contract was as good as could be
made under the great excitement that then ex-
listed, and on the spur of moment, as almost
every thing in the same connection has been
done; but my complaint is againstithe extrava-
giant contracts that have necessarily grown oul
of such undue haste; and with hope that an in
vestigaton may bring about speedy remedy
and restore matters to an economical standard
shall vote for the resolution before the House