, 1862-01-17
HOW CONTRACTS WE'RE MADE.
Exposure of Frauds on the Treasury
Speech of mr. Dawes Of Mass.


WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 1862.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
The House resumed the consideration OF
the amendments reported to the House from
the Committee Of the Whole on the state Of
the Union to the civil appropriation bill
Mr.. Dawes, of the Government Contract
Committee, said, in explanation Of his former
remarks, that the charges on the Treasury arc
NOW such Is to have nearly reached its bottom.
the facts touching the manner OF the immense
public expenditures. One Of the very first |
contracts, in april last, was for furnishing |
twenty two hundred cattle.
Those who received this contract put into |
their pockets thirty-two thousand dollars !
without moving from their seats; they having |
sold it to parties who furnished the |
sattle and who also mads thou thousand ,ha
article Of shoes. A million dollars' worth Of |
shoes have alraady been worn ont, and mil
lion dollars worth more are to be manufac-
tured. ..
On each pair Of shoes there has been waste
of seventy five cents. There were eighty
three regiments Of cavalry, each thousand
strong, il the field. 1t required two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars to put each regl-
ment in motion. Twenty millions Of dollars
were thus required to be expended on the cayal.
II, before they left their encampmcnts. Many OF
the horses purchased by the Government were
brought hither and literally starved to death,
| while some parts Of tllis District now pre-
| sent the appearance Of o horse Golgotha.
| thousand horses, which had Just reached Lou
! isyille, were found to be utterly worthless,
| while the others were not worth twenty dol
| lars o piece. Some were blind, spawned,
ring-boned, and afflicted with every other
| disease to which horse flesh is heir to- Thesc
four hundred and cighty-dye horses cost tho
Government ffty-eight Thousand two hun
| dred dollars, and ten thousand dollars more to
| get them to Louisville.
They we're purchased in Philadelphia, and
belonged to Col. Willia1ns's regiment Of cav
airy. He next referred to a contract for the
! delivery, six months hence, Of million and
, ninetT-two thousand muskets, at twcnty-Ouc
dollars apiece, while the same kind Of arm
was manufactured ut Springfield for thirteen
dollars and half
When ne appropriated at tho last session Of
Congress, for arnls, &c, S20,000,0 COO, thirty
seven millions and some Thousand doll1ns had
been already pledged to two contractors-not
for the purchase Of arms for men in the field,
not to protect them iu fighting their countTy's
battles iu this great emergency and peril, but
for some future use, for some future occasion,
or to meet some present need Of the contract
ors, don't know which at this monet. And
not only the appropriation Of list session has
been exhausted, but Sl7,00O, 900 put upon it.
The riot Of the 18th Of April, in Baltimore,
opened tlis ball, and on the 21st of April, III
tie city Of New York, there YVES organized i
corps Of plunderers OF the Treasury
| Two millions Of dollars were lntrusted to
{Cunmiugs.. Of the Horld) to dispense it in the
lest manncr lc could Slraightway this gem
) tlcnan begun to purchase linen pantaloons,
: straw bats, London porter, dried henlngs, and
: such like provisions for the army, till he tx-
: pended in this way $500, 900 Of the money,
t and then he gotscared and quit, and forgot to
pay back $130, 900 Of the money. There is Ill
3 appropriation, also, for the supply OF wood te
t the army. The contractor is pledged the pay
c ncnt Of 81, cord for all the wood delivered te
I the different comnlanas-wood collected aftcl
' the labor Of the soldiers themselves had GU
, down the trees to clear the ground Tor thel
: butterics, and then this contractor employs
d the army wagons to dEaw it to the seTera
# draw his seven dollars for cord, leaving TIL
r Government to draw the wood.
l. It costs two millions of dollars every day II
u support the army in the field. A hundrc
millions Of dollars have thus been expcndc
If since We met in December, and all that TIM
e the army has been in rcpose. What tue es
D. pcnditure viii increase to when thst great d.
shall arrive when our eyes shall be yladdcne
L. with q sight Of the army in motion. do nc
ID know. Another hundred llil1lon will go wit
ID the hundreds more III, T. enumerated Al
e. other hundred million may be added to theS
Ia before the 4th Of March. What it may co5%t
I'd put down the rebellion I ctrc very little, Pr
i vidcd, always that it be put down efectnall,
B0T+ Elf, 1aiu H1LQOuL # 0TkB Ii uEtu, alau 1 IL
&c free to confess that my faith sometime
le fails mel mean my Eaith in ma
ct ! not my faith in tic cause When the III
IL tory OF these times shall be written, it ri
,c- be question upon whom the guilt will re-
IT. most heuvily-upon him who has conspircd
is destroy, or upon him who has proved incor
ut petent to preserve the institutions beRueatht
le to Us by our fathers. It is no wonder that tt
public treasury tzenlbles and staggcrs like
,ly strong man with too great q burden upon lil
~ a strong man in direthdusttd Ttctiter is u
n more helpless today than is the treasury Oft
I Gottruncnt b1eath tie eLtdslStshY process
oil. 4rhich it is subjected.
Icr Sixty days longer OF this state Of things IF
ids bring about 4 result one way or the other.
Is, is impossible that the Treasury Of the Unit
oly States can meet, and continnc to meet, IL
i've state Of things sixty days longer and an
Qr- nominious peace must be submitted to unle
bis wc see to it that the credit Of the country
let sustained, and sustained too, by the cony
lid tion going forth from his hall to the peoI
4 OF the country that We will treat as traitors
ras only those who are bold and manly enough
bis meet IFS face to face il the field Of strife, /
p's all those, also, enho Gland timely and stt9sHt
md suck the EfcJ]ooE from us ~ this mighty str
to, Sle. Whatever measures may emanate fri
md The committee On Ways and Means to III
He and retrieve this state Of things, they will
,od fall like dead pail upon the public un1
i'm they give this assurance, that these cxtrao1
!, I | nary and extreme measures to rcsuscitate,
md ! yive and Feplenish the treasury, arc not ms
In. to f3H further any longer the already gorE
an, pockets Of the public plundereEs.