Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-01-18
SPEECH OF HON. HENRY L. DAWES.

tween the lids OF the previous question.
Sir, nave not failed TO notce-and l be-
leve the committee of which l am Il member
have taken notice, 10 common with the whole
country, OF the fact, that Tor some reason or
other, some understandable reason, the c4arges
upon the treasury in this time OF war, have
been such MS 10 nearly reach the bottom. Start
ling facts have come To the notice of the com-
mittee, and to the notice OF the whoi. country,
touching tie mode and manner OF the eXpen-
diture OF the public money. Some OF those
items, if the house will have patience with me
| propose TO call their attention TO in this con.
nection, and then TO ask gentlemen the plain
question, whether they promise 10 meet this
question at all /; and, Ii TO meet it, how, when
and where.
Mr.. Speaker, the very first contract entered
into by this government after our troops, had
lett their homes to come here in Apsil last for
the defense of the capitol, by which they were
to be fed, was contract entered into tor cat
tle-not with men whose business it is to fur.
nsh cattle tor the market not with men who
knew wha. the price Of beef i'll the market was,
entered into without even teegraphlnG to
know what was the price u beef In New York
was entered into by The government here
with men known about this and tue other
branch OF the congress iOr the last ten years
as old political Stipendiaries-oi Il class OF men
who, in times past, have made what little mo-
ney they have by such operations us buying
the certificates of members Tor books at I dis
count, aud then drawing from the treasury
the tull amount-and at such enormous rates,
sir, that these men sit down after they had re.
celved the contract, and, i'll the next twenty
four hours, sub let il 20 men in New York who
did know the price OF beet on such terms that,
upon the first twenty-five hundred cattle, they
put INTO their pockets, without stirring from
their chairs, $4,000, and the men who fur
nlshed the twenty TWO hundred head OF cattle
took SIG, 900 more into their own pockets SO
that the contract under which these twenty
two hundred head of cattle were furnished to
the army was so made that profit Ot sol OO0
over the market price OF the beef was Realized
on that small number. 1t takes longer tor one
thousand head OF cattle to reach this city than
it does for the army to consume that number;
and ask this house, how long al that rate, 10
consider how long the most ample provisions
OF The treasury would be able 10 meet simply
the subsistence department OF the army.
Sir, poorly is the army is shOd today, a
million OF shoes have already been worn out,
and ii million more are already manufactured
and ae in the hands of the quartermasterS Tor
delivery; and yet upon every one OF these
shoes there has been waste of 70 cents
S7o0,0OO upon the shoes already worn out,
and other $4,000 upon the shoes already
manufactured and not delivered have been
worse then wasted in that item OF eXpendi-
ture.
Mr. Speaker, horse contracts have been so
plenty that government officials have gone
about the streets with their pockets filled with
them, and with which they make presents to
the clergymen OF their parishes. Some Of
these contracts have served to heal old pUlitl-
| cal sores, and cure bitter political teuds and
| the telegraph announced that high public
| tunciouaries have graced with their presence
the lOve-feaSts which were got up to celebrate
| political reconciliations thus brought about
where the haIcaet Of political animosity is bu
| ried in the grave of public confidence aud the
national credit is cruciiied between maleiac
tors We have jus! received the fruits OF one
| ofthese contracts. A regiment Of cavalry has
| just reached Louisville, one thousand strong,
and board OF army officers has condemned
| four hundred and elgEty-ive of the one thou
| sand horses as utterly worthless. The man
who examined those horses declared, upon his
| oath, that there is not one Of them worth TWEEN
bOned, with The heaivess,, With the CHAMBERS.
and with every disease that horse flesh is heir
to- Those four hundred and eghty-five
horses cost the government before they ere
| mustered into the service S5S 200 and it cost
| the government to transport them from PENN
| sylvanla 10 Louisville more than ten thousand
dollars more, before they were condemned and
cast off.
Mr.. Mallory-Wil the gentleman permit
me to inquire from whence these horses were
furnished
Mr.. Dawes-It is Col Williams regiment
oil cavalry from Pennsylvania. The horses
were furnished in Pennsy lvania, and forward
ed from that state to Louisville, and there
condemned. There are, sir, eighty three
regiments OF cavalry, one thousand strong
now in or round about the army. IL costs
S25OOOO to put one of those regiments upon
Its feet, before 1t marches Il step. Twenty
millions OF dollars have thus been expended
upon these cavalry regiments before they left
the enCampments III which they were gathered
and mustered into service. They have come
here, and then some of them have been sent
back to Eimira; they have been sent back TO
Annapolis; they have been sent here. and
they have been sent there to spend the " inter:
and many OF the horses, never sent back, have
been tied to posts aud trees within the District
OF Columbia, and there left to starve 10 DEATH
guide can take you around the District of
Columbia, to-day, to hundreds of carcasses of
horses chained 10 trees, where they have pinned
away, living on bark and limbs ill they starye
and die and the committee for the District
OF Columbia have been compelled to call for
legislation here, 10 prevent the city wherein
we are assembled from becoming an equine
Golgotha.
Why, Mr.. Speaker, an ex-governor of one
state offered to the eX-j Judge OF another state
SoUOO 10 get him permis to raise one of
these regiments OF cavalry, and when the eX-
Judge brought back the commission, the cx-
governor took 1t to lIS room ut tile hotel
while another CO-plunderer sat at the kew
hole, watching like masttf Tor his dinner
lie counted up $4,000 profit upon the horses.
$4,000 on the accouternents and like urofts
Tor all the other details in furnishing the regi
ment
In addition to the arms now in tie hands of
the six hundred thousand soldiers in the field
and those purchased abroad, there are out
standing contracts tO-day-made with private
individuals and not made upon public adyer.
tlsement; made with eXmembtrs OF Cunurpss
WHO know no more of the difference between
arms than Methodist minister, with eX-brok
ers and their fathers and brothers ONT.
standing contracts tor the manufacture of
Springfield muskets, the first one of which
cannot be delivered within six months from
this day, one million aud uinety-two thou.
sand in number, at twenty.one dollars
apiece, when the Springfield arnory manufar
lures them to-day for Sl3 r. An exmember
OF congress is to-day in Massachusetts trying
to get the machinery made by which he can
manufacture, some six months hence, at twen-
ty-one dollars apiece, the rifled Springfield
muSkets That are manufactured to-day at the
Springfield armory Tor Sl3 II Before a SIM
gle one OF these muskets will have been de.
Nvered, the Springfield armory will be put In.
to capacity to turn out thirty thousand rifpd
muskets every month. The lord, before six