The Placer herald., 1862-03-15
Corruption in High Stations.

contracts has elected some startling develop
ments and created intense excitement in the At
lantc States. Prominent Republicans have ia
ken the matter in hand with the evident inten-
tion of exposing and furnishing the guilty par
ties. and efcrming the abuses. Speaking of the
debate in the U. S. Senate in regard to the en-
| ployment of Morgan by the Secretary of the
Navy, the correspondent Of the Boston Traveller,
q Jealous Republican, says, ''the disclosure and
the imputations were most painful to all who
admire and expect integrity in men who occupy
official stations" And he adds that, "as yet the
country has hardly appreciated the alphabet Of
| the great volume of fraud and iniquity which
must shortly be opened and read by this world
Each day furnishes new development, and it
seems as though nobody could have anything to
do with Government matters without becomin G
demoralized and yielding to the temptation to
steal something"
| The Albany Argus, in commenting upon the
disgracelul disclosure. remarks "No lover of
his country or friend Of public virtue can run
his eye over the revelations contained in the
speech of Mr.. Dawsc of Mass, in the House of
Representatives, without feeling the intenscst in
dignation and alarm. The facts stated will ar
rest the attention of the most Indifferent. while
they will fill the public spirited and truly loyal
citizens with the deepest apprehension. And
of traitors, viler and more dangerous than all
the legions in armed rebellion, are sucking the
hearts blood of the Republic. and are secretly
but surcl and rapidly devouring the sources Of
its strength The shameful revelations cannot
be doubted; it is not the offspring of partisan
malice. but owes its being to men who are in SYM
pathy with and supporters of the present Adj
ministration. Mr.. Dawse is a Republican mem
ber and the discoveries he has made have been
extracted from unwilling witnesses, under the
penalties of Imprisonment and the obligation Of
an OATH
We give few extracts from the speech of Mr..
Dawse. He is an ardent Republican, friend of
the Administration. and on terms OF intimacy
with the President. TIe represents in Congress
the Berkshire District of Massachusetts, of
the stronge Republican Districts in the Union.
Love Of country and respect for his party indu-
ced him to expose the corruption of those in high
places, not disappointment, malice or envy.
The reader must recOllcct that the evidence he
presents is of an unimpeachable character, and
''was given under the solemnity of an oath"
He says:
"The very first contract into which the Gov
ernmcnt entered was for cattle, and that was Civ
en- not to man in that line of business, but to
an old stpendiary Of Congress, who put in his
pocket without stirring from his chair thirty-t1co
thousand dollars, and the men who actually fur
nished the cattle in question put into their pock
cts t,centy sir thousand dollars more, so that the
contract under which these 2.200 head were fur
nished to the army, was so made that the profit
of fifty right thousand dollars was realized over
the fair market price"
This is but small item, scarcely worth men
tonng. He next comes to the contract for sup
plying the army with shoes, and makes this as
founding disclosure:
"Poorly as the army is shod to day,a million
Of shocs have already been worn out. and Il mil
lion more are being manufactured. and yet
upon eUery one of these shoes there has been
WASTE OF SEVENrY-FIVE CENTS"
Pretty good contract that. Is it any wonder
that Cameron who, it is said. shared in profits Of
contractors, unwillingly resigned? Again, we
quote from the speech Of Mr. Dawsc:
"ln one regiment Of cavalry. board Of officers
were obliged 10 condemn f0W hnndred 0nd
eigHyfre out of the thousand horses purchased
and paid for The man who examined these hor
ses declared. upon his oath, that there was not
one of them that was worth tloenty d0lIdrS.
They were blined spawned ring-boned, afflicted
with the heaves. with the CHAMBERS, and with
every disease which horse flesh is heir to-"
Mr.. Dawse shows how contracts are procured
Agents of the Departments sell them, and par
ties buying them sell them to contractors. Here
is specimen:
can ex- governor of one State offered to an
ex,judge of another State fye thousand dOHdrS
to get him permission to raise one of these reg
iments of cavalry; and when the ex-jud ge
brought him back the commission, the ex-govern-
or takes it to hisroOm at the hotel, while another
plundcrer sits at the key hole watching like a
mastifI: while the inside counts up forty homs-
and dollars profit on the horses, and calculates
twenty thousand dollars more upon the accou-
trements and on the other details of furnishin g
these regiments"
The ex-governor could we'll afford to pay the
ex-judge "ive thousand dollars to get him per-
mission to raise one of these regiments Of cav
airy" He made nearly sixty thousand dollars
by it. The next noticed by Mr.. Dawse was a
fraud on gigantic scale, costing the Government
millions Of dollars! He says:
''There are outstanding contracts for the manu-
fucture of Springfield muskets, made with pri
vate icdividuals-not made upon advertisement,
not made with the knowledge of the the public
but made by ex members of Congress, the first
one of which cannot be delivered in six months
from this day There is contract for the supply
of one million ninety-mine thousand mushets at
twenty-eight dollars apiece, when the same quail
ity of muskets are manufactured at Springfield
for THIRTEEN AND A HALF APIECE; and an
ex- member of Congress is now in Massachusetts
trying to get machinery made by which he will
be able to manufacture some s,r months hence,
at t,Uent0-one dollars apiece, those rhed muskets
manufactured to-day in that armory for THlR-
TEEN DOLLARS AND A HALE"
What do the people, who have to pay this mon
ey think of the above? The Government swim
died by a few contractors out of sixteen sew
enteen millions of dollars ! But this is only the
beginning. Here is another nice little specula-
ton, by which the soldiers are made to work for
the Government and Government made to pay
contractors for their work. We quote again from
the speech of Mr.. Dawes:
"There is an appropriation also, for the supply
of wood to the army. This contractor is pledged
the payment of seuen dollars cord for all wood
delivered to the different commands col
lected after the labor of the soldiers themselves
had cut down the trees to clear rhe ground for
their batteries; and then this contractor employs
the army wagons to draw it to the several camps,
and he has no further trouble than to draw his
seven dollars for cord, leaving the Government
to draw the wood!'
We have room but for one further extract from
the powerful speech of Mr.. Dawse: He implores