Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-02-24


after his agency had ceased, he leaves no vouch-
ers with the War Department The War De
partment, in its generous confidence, seeks no
settlement with Mr.. Cummings, an inspec-
ton of his vouchers. Such were the prominent
transactions occurring at time when a man 8
generous instincts should freely have offered
everything to his country. This was the cloud.
no larger than mans hand, which increased and
spread until the whole sky has been wrapped in
gloom, and men 90 about the streets wondering
where this thing would end. The mania for
stealing seems to have run through all the rela-
tons of Government. Almost from the General
to the drummer boy, from those nearest the
throne of power to the merest tide waiter, nearly
every man who deals with the Government seems
to feel or desire that it would not long survive,
and each had a common right to plunder while il
lived. Even in the matter of the purchase Of
two sailing vessels, two ren OF New York to
the crime of larceny added the sin of perjury
that they might rob from the Treasury
$4,000. In the case of the Stars and Stripes, the
President of the New Haven Propeller Company,
after taking from the Government SIS, 900 more
than she cost, took of that amount nearly Sc 900,
to line his own pockets, and IN excuse to his COM
pany pretended that be had to bribe mem
Der of Congress to gain audience to the head
of the bureau and from that insinuatiOn an hon
orable, high toned ex-member of Congress in
Connecticut, had been subjected to calumny.
That President before the committee testified
that after taking Sl9 900 in profits from his coun
try he was so anxious to serve her in this, the
hour of her extremity, that he appropriated near
ly $4,000 Of his colleagues money TO his private
use, so he could devise some machine to take all
the Southern cities and no one get hurt Colon
els entrusted with the power of raising regiments
colluding with contractors, barteriEg away and
dividing contracts for horses and other supplies,
to enrich personal favOrites; purchasing articles
and compelling false invoices to be given. While
it is no Justification, the example has been set in
the very departments of government. AS a gen.
eral thing none but favorites gain access there,
and none other can obtain contracts that bear
enormous profits They violate the plain provi-
sions of the law requiring bids and proposals on
the false and shallow pretext that the public
igencies require it. Should this last as long as
the Peloponnesian war, the same excuse would
be used. The department which has allowed
conspiracies, after the bidding had been closed
delraud the Government of the lowest bid, by al
lowing the guilty to reap the fruits of their crme
has itself become particeps eriuiHis. Who pre-
tends any public exigency for giving out by pri-
vate contract, without bids, over one million mus
kets at fabulous prces7 Who pretends public
exigency to make private contract for rifiing
cannon to the amount of $500 OOOOr
PENNSYLVANIA HORSES.
Kentucky il prove bal for her splendid horses.
Her loyal citizens would have been benefited by
sales to the Government Who will pretend that
the public exigency required that, when cavalry
regiments we're to be forwarded from the State of
Pennsylvania to the land of the dark and bloody
ground" il was necessary to transport, at great
expense, the remaining disabled, diseased horses
left in the keystone State? NV colleague on the
committee Mr.. Dawes) few days since spoke of
the peace offerings to Pennsylvania politicians,
and referred to the horses of Colonel Williams's
regiment. There is yet another Casa contract
not made upon the responsibility of the bureau,
as the late Secretary said, but by its express Or
der, and refused to be made until so ordered. |
refer TO the contract to purchase one thousand
horses, to be delivered at Huntington, Pennsyl-
vania. Such horse market the world never saw.
The first inspector-an honest man-of the first
hundred rejected three in five. The next day
owners refused to present themselves, and by
some legerdemain he was removed and others
substituted; then horses of all ages, from two to
thirty of all diseases and defects, secret and
open, were from day to day received. The whole
neighborhood were in arms The people remon-
strated. Lawyers and clergymen were uresentat
the inspection and sought to deter the buccaneer-
ing crew by open condemnation; the inspectors
needed not this clamor, but ordered the horses to
be ridden upon the crowd, to drive them away if
possible. Horses with running sores. which were
seen by the inspectors, we're branded, and if one
outraged common decency he would be rejected,
and an opportunity sought the same day to pass
and brand him. Immediately the horses were
subssted by private contract to favortes at thirty
nine cents per day, and they sub-let to farmers
from twenty -four to twenty-six. Over four hun
dred of these horses were sent with Colonel W yn-
koop's regiment, and the papers at Pittsburg
port some actually so worthless they were left on
the docks. The remaining five hundred were left
at Huntington for the benefit of the contractors
In that single transaction over fifty thousand dol
lars were stolen from the Government Such
fends in human shape care not for exposure;
felon's doom through life should be theirs; and
the labors of your committee will be of little
practical value unless Congress shall by law pun
ish with severe penalties such enormities.
CONTRACT BROKERAGE.
At one time it would seem there was an nten-
ton to establish huge contract brokerage sys-
TEN. The testimony of Mr., John Smith, of
Kingstown, New York powder manufacturer,
shows that in the month Of May he proposed TO
give Mr.. Weed per centage for powder con-
tract; that he went to the Astor House, met Mr..
Davidson, whom he had never seen before, and
inquired of him for Mr.. ThurIow Weed During
the conversation he asked what Mr.. Smith want
ed of Mr.. Weed; on being told. he inquired Of
Mr.. Smith what he could afford to pay; he re-
piled FIVE per cent. Mr.. Smith also says that Mr..
Weed asked him what he could afford to pay.
That afterwards, at Washington, he handed his
propositions for powder to Mr.. Weed, who took
them TO Mr.. Cameron. The result was that Mr..
Weed was authorized to write letter TO General
Ripley, the head of the Ordnance Department,
TO divide the contracts for powder between the
States manufacturing. IL is somewhat strange
that the Secretary should appoint Mr.. Weed as
his messenger to carry bis wishes to the different
bureaus Mr. Smith understood that he was to
pay Mr.. Weed five per cent. Mr. Latin also
testified that his powder firm demurred to paying
Mr.. Weed FIVE per cent: that Mr.. Weed gave
them authority 70 make one thousand barrels of
powder, but they preferred having the authority
directly from the government. He also testihes
that the patriotic Dwyre, who figured in the cat
tie contract in May or June, at Washington, told
him If he would give him five per cent. he would
sell all the powder he could make, but Latin de
clined. Favorites obtained contracts when fire.
quently they have not the pecunary resources to
fulfill them, and are not manufacturers Of the
articles to be delivered The professional politi-
clan or the retired ex member of Congress, who
has large contract which requires much ma
chinery and great mechanical ingenuity, evidently
takes it a speculation; takes il to enrich him
self, or to extort from the pockets Of honest in
dustry; takes ii to sub let to sklful manufactur-
ers at reduced prices. The departments which
give contracts TO men, knowing that they have not
in and Of themselves the facilities for executing
them, are reprehensible. and deserve severe cen
sure. What excuse is there for an honest depart
ment to pension this gang of middlemenf All
the i'll gotten gain found in their pockets is so
much stolen from the treasury. Even in the
Treasury Department-pure and upright as be-
lieve the Secretary to be-what business man
could justify. or who. in his own transactions,
would allow that q contract of over half million
expenditure should be competed for by only two
firms, who could combine and unitef IL is no
answer to cay that the work is done as cheaply as
ever. The spirit OF the law has been violated,