Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1862-01-30
Sf(isttllantous,
FRAUDS ON TIE GOVERNMENT
Cattle, Horse and Rifle Contracts.
SPEECH OF A REPUBLICAN MEN,
BIER OF CONGRESS-.

Speech of the Hon.. M. Dawes, Re-
publican) in the House of Representa-
tives, on Tuesday the 14th inst.
Mr.. Dawes, Mass } from the Commit
tee of Investigation on Government
Contracts, in resuming his remarks,
commenced on Friday last, said : Sir, l
have not failed to notice, and l believe
the committee of which | am a member
have not failed to notice, in common
with the whole country, that for some
unaccountable reason, the charges upon
the National Treasury, at this time Of
war, have been such as to reach nearly
the bottom of the puelic chest. During
the Investigation startling facts have
come before the notice of the whole coun-
try, touching the mode and manner OF
the expend !tures of the public money
Some of these Items prop ose to call
public attention to, and then to ask gen
tlemen the plain question. When they
propose to meet this question, if at all,
and if so, how, when and where ? The
very first contract entered into by this
Government, after the troops had left
their homes to come here in April last,
to defend the Capital, by which they
were to be fed, was contract entered in
to for cattle. twas not made with a
man whose business it was to supply cat
tie to the market, not with man who
knew the price of beef in the markets OF
country, but was entered into by the
Government here with a man well known
in this and in the other branch of Con
gress, for the last ten years, as an old sti-
pendiary-one of the class of men who,
in times past, made their money by such
operations as buying the certificates OF
members for books at discount, and
then charging the full amount. This
contract was made so that the first twen-
| ty two-hundred head of cattle furnished
was charged at rate which enabled
their original contractor to sub-let it, in
twenty -four hours after, to a man in New
York who did not know the price of beef
so that he put into his pocket, without
stirring from his chair, thirty-two thou.
sand dollars, and the men who actually
furnished the cattle in question, put into
their pockets twenty-six thousand dol.
lars more, so that the contract under
which these twenty two hundred head Of
cattle were furnished to the army was sc
made that the profits of fifty eight thou
sand dollars were realized over the fail
market price. 1t takes longer time for
a thousand head of cattle to reach this
city from the States where they are pur.
chased than it takes the army to consume
them. | ask the House at this rate, tc
consider how long the most ample pro
visions of the Treasury would be able tc
meet the simple demands for the subss
tence of the army? Sir, poorly as the
army is shod to-day a million Of shoes
have already been worn out and a mil
lion more are being manufac tured, ant
yet upon every one of these shoes there
) has been waste of IS cents. Thre,
quarters of a million of dollars have beer
already worn out, and another thre,
quarters of million are being manufac
tured. In that department Of the Gov
ernment contracts have been so plent,
that Governmant officials have gone abou
the streets with their pockets filled wit
them, and of which they made present
to the clergymen Of their parishes, an
with which were healed old politica
fueds. Even the telegraph has announ
ced that high public functionaries hav
graced the love-feasts which were got u
to celebrate these political reconciliation'
thus brought about while the hatchet o
OF political animosity was buried in tn
grave of political confidence and. the ma
tlonal credit cruciied among malefactor'
we have reported to us the first fruit
OF these contracts. A regiment of caval
ry lately reached Louisville, one thousan
strong, and the board of army officer
there, appointed for the purpose, hav
condemned four hundred and eighty-f fv