The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1861-04-10
GovgENMxNr CONTRACTS.

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GOVERNMENT CONTRACr6
The Way the Federal Goose IA Plucked
George Washington Blynks, of the
Nashville Patriot, writes letter from
Washington to that paper, in which be
goodhahoredly shows up the mlaner of
performing Government contracts:
AS you will perceive. I am still tabsr-
nacling in this hnmiliating attempt at a
great city. 1 am extremely disgusted
with Washington. / would like to meet,
at a social gathering of four, The minis
ters of England, France and Russia,
fresh from the finished splendors of Lon
don, Of Paris, ard of St. Petersburg,
aud get them to tell me candidly what
they think of the Capital of this great ma.
tioE. think shall do it before l leave
here. Everything in Washington is un-
inishcd--except the contents Of the Fed
eral Treasury; the late Administration
managed TO ,"finisan them, before they
quit. Piles of brick, mortar, timber &c
are scattered everywhere, but the work.
men seem to be perpetually gone to din
ner. There's the new dome on the Cap
itol. They have been .hammering away
at it for number of years, and it is Bot
, finished yet. If they had been employed
by the job, they would have had it done
in twelve or eighteen months; but they
are employed on heavy salaries, and by
the day, and don't care how long it takes
: them = the longer the better. They climb
to the dome occasionally, pull OF their
coats, take one tug at bar of iron, put
Il on their coats again, and go of and stay
week. The whole thing is regular
swindie, and the Government seems to
like it-perhaps because it is so much
{ like the Government. This dome, when
. compIsted. will have cost about one mil.
d lion of dollars, aud will have been four
: or Eve, OF six years in building, esn
go TO Nashville and have une just like it
9 put up 10 twelve months for half the mon
ey, aud clear large fortune by the job.
e If all the money that has been appro.
pria.ed fer public buildings. and other
: improvements in Washington, had been
|, judiciously and honestly expended, this
, would be to-day one Of the finest cities in
P the world. AS it is, considering all things
it is next to no city at oil. If the Gov
ernment should have occasion to build ,
J. pig pen six feet sqnare, it couldn't posi-
II bly, be done for less than fifty thousand
1t dollars, exclusive of the salaries of the su
perlntendent, craftsman and the engin
J eer, which would be about three thousand
u dollars each. If private enterpris.
s. throughout the country swallowed uE
IS money as remarkably fast as public ones
q do here, you couldn't get your boot.
5 BACKED without iucurring an expense O
n one hundred dollars, to save your life.
IS The way the Government gets its worl
o done is curious. Asan illustration, yor
10 and your family meet in convention of th,
Is whole, and adopta resolution authorizing
n the construction Of hen coop in yon
e. back yard. You at once appoint me gu
p perintendent of the WORK, putting thou
oi sand or two Of dollars In bank for me t
& check on l get you to appoint m
g brother.in-law chief engineer. nppoin
~ two of my brothers assistant superin
"a tendants, and my brother in-law appoint
" two of his brothers assistant engineers
N all at your expense. We buy US each
s. fast horse and buggy, and ride aroun
g town, drink cock tails and play billiard
III until the bank deposit gives out, when W
ID make out printed report of seventy
! three pages, furnishing you complet
% Typographical survey of your baek yard
III and vast amount of statistical info:ma
o. tion with regard 10 the number of hen
OF you are likely to have for the next fort
Ae years. We wind up the report with III
nt announcement that the site of the hen
y coop has been selected, and call for az
u, other appropriation to prosecute the worl
s. which we assure you will be done wi,
III ''vigor " You place another thousand G
y two in bank. and we employ two hundre
NJ hands, at three dollars day. to tran.
port seventy five cents worth of lumbe
r. (Which costs you under our managemer
n. ten times that many dollars, to the plsc
r of operations, which requires about thre
%, mouths. In the mean time, we dri,
ag around and 60 on vigorously with Il
C. liquor and the billiards. We then con
I'D up with another report and demand ft
q anOthsr appropriation. With this we q
ou the walls of the structure up, and wi,
one OF two more appropria iois, and
ed great many more cocktails and billiard
IS? we get the ,hrg covered in, nads at Il
So end of twelve months, which we vtry a,