The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1862-02-15
Old Dick Oh the Cormorauts.

!
During the debate on the bill in the
Hou- e of Representatives, on the 3Oth
ult., authorizing the Secretary of the
Treasury to settle claims and accounts and
advances made and liabilities incurred in
equipping troops, Hon. VIM. A. Richard
son, OF the Quincy distric,l paid the fol.
lowing merited compliment to our repub.
iican State officers, as well as to those of
Ohio, New York and Connecticut:
The correct doctrine upon this subject
Is, that rhe War Department alone shall
hX the price for each ana every article
furnished by the State for the use of the
troops, so that exact justice may be meted
out TO all. 1t, In any State too much has
been paid for any article, either throuc,
negligence or fraud. then the burden
should fall not upon the country at large,
but upon the people who have entrusted
their matters to reckless or corrupt agents.
fear that in the State of Illinois the
entire tribe of State officials have engaged
in plundering the treasury
The constitutional convention now in
session at Springfield, in that State, have
revealed the fact that the State officers
there have expended 81 10000 more in
equIpping the troops than the Legislature
OF the State appropriated or authorized to
be expended Tor that purpose
The committee to iIve SIT gate govern
ment contracts bave made no comment
upon the fact that John Woods the Quar-
tervhaster General of Illinois, is himself
the contractor for furnishing hay and beef
to the United States. amounting in the
aggregate to hundreds of thousands of
dollars. They dilate at length upon the
comparatively Petty theft OF five or six
hundred dOlla IN 81 me eases but this
one seems to have appalled, investigation
by its magnitude While, in the city of
81. Louis Quartermaster Mckinstrv could
have purchased hay al twelve dollars per
ton, or perhaps less, he buys it Of John
Woods, Quartermaster OF Illinois, In almost
fabulous quantities, and pays eighteen
dollars per ton. And this is called, i'll
these days, honesty.
Now, Mr. Speaker, read the act passed
az the last session of Congress God
knows that it is broad enough-that it
cover ground enough We have opened
TO plunder this government | did not
pait Of the wrong. On the l1th OF July
we passed this act
That the Secretary of UIe Treasury be
in the treasury not otherwiseapDropriat
to pay to the Governor Of any State, or to
his duly authorized agents, the cost.
charges, and expenses pro erly incurred
by such Slate ior enrolling subsislinc
clothing, supplying, arninE, eguipping,
poyiug. and transporting. its troops en-
ployed ia aiding - suppress the present
n,urrect on against the Utited States. to
be settled upon proper vouchers, to be
hied and passed upon by the proper ac-
counting officers OF the treasury
Is n5t that broad enough. Mr. Speaker?
Do you want 20 hold out any more induce
ments to plundrr the treasury than YOU
have already held out? ? Why, sir. they can
plumber the treasury az every point in it.
and they are plunderng it t;-day
Now, sir, seventeen cents a dav is
enough 10 support man iii the field in
our part of the country; while the Cover
nor OF Ohio, or some other officer in that
State-probably | am mistaken in saying
the Governor-l!a paid sixty cents a day
Tor the Subsistence OF troops. / New York
and Connecticut, understand they pay
thirty cents day. Ia the Mexican war
twenty two cents day was the cost en-
tire for a ration per man and that is the
highest price that was ever paid in our
whole history What ruonstrous frauds
have been perpetrated upon this govern
ment, Here WAS sixty certs per ration
paid in one State, and thirty cents in an
other. II you le, il cut at private contract,
fourteen cents day is all that il costs YOU
10 support your men in Illinois; and
seventeen cents Is enough anywhere on
this continent.
Sir, | would bring all these men to
public trial have expressed heretofore,
ana express how, the opinion that we
are in more danger from these thieves
than we are from the rebels They are
p!underimg the treasury al every point"