The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1862-01-28
FRAUDS OF THE GOVERNMENT.
Speech Of MT. Dawes.

In the House, on Monday, Mr.. Dawes,
from tho Committee of Investigation on Gov.
ernmeut contracts, made the follow ng scath
ing exposure of the couuptions brought to the
knowledge OF the committee:
/ Sill have not failed to notice, and be.
lieve the committee Of which | am mem
Der have not laii-d To uotce. that for some
unaccOuntahie reason, the charges upon the
National treasury. ut this time Of war, have
been such "a 10 reach near The bottom of the
public chest. During the investigation, start
/ ling facts have come before the notice of this
comritec, and to the notice Of the whole
country touching thu mod" aud manner of
til" expenditure Of the public money. Som"
OF these items l propose tn call attention 10,
AMI then ask gentlemen tho plain question,
when they propose to meet tas matter, If At
all, and II so, hOw, " lrn aud where' The
v-ry first contract entered into by this Gov
ern,nent, after the troops hal left their homes
TO come here, in April last, to defend the
capital by which they were to he fed, Was II
contract entered into for cattle. 1t was not
made with n man whose business il WAS to
supply cattle TO the market-not with "A man
who knew the price of beef in the markets o'
the counuy--iu: was entor"d into hv the
Government here with n man well known in
this ard in the other branch of Congress, for
the last ten years. a. an oil s'ipend'arv-on"
of the class of men who, in time past, made
their money ly such op' ratioLs As buying the
certificates Of members for books at dls-
count, and tken charging the full amount -
The contract was m"de SO that the twenty
two hu, dred head Of cattle furnished VA.
charged at a rate which cn bid their otigi
nal ntractor to sub let it in twenty four
hours after to a man in New Yo,k who did
know the price of beef, so that he put into
hi- pocket, without stirring from his chair,
S32. 900 more, so that tho contract uLder
which these twenty hundred catrl, were furn.
ished to the army was SO male that the pro
fit of $4,000 WAS realized over the fair mar.
ket price. 1t takes long time for a thous-
AMI head Of cattle 10 re- ch this city fro The
States whore they are purchased than 1t takes
the army to consume them. | ask The House,
at this rate, to consider how long the most
ampl, provisions Of the treasury would be
able to meet the simple denan Is Cor the sub
slstence Of the army. Sir, poorly ss the army
is shod to day, IN lion of shoes have already
been worn out, and million more are h-ing
manufactured and yet upon every one Of these
there has been waste of seventy fve c.nts.
Three gu rters of million OF dollars have
already b en- worn out, and another three
q ar,rrs Of million OF dollars worth Of shoes
Is now being manufactured. In that depart
ment of the Government cont acts have been
so plenty that Government Officials have gon'
about the streets with their pocket fiIsd With
them, ani Of which they made presents to the
clcrgymen Of their Parishes and with which
were healed old political SORES aud political
feuls cured. Even the Telegraph has an
nounccd that high public functIouares have
graced the love fcasus which were got up To-
celebrate these political reconcilia,i ms, thus
brought about while the hatchet of political
animosity was buried in the grave Of polilca!
confidence. aud the national credit cruc Fl ii
among malriactors. We have reported to us
the first fruits of these contracts. A regi.
ment of cavalry lsely reached Louisville.
1000 strong, and the board Of army officers
there, appoued for the purnoSc, h"v" con.
d mnpd 4Sj ont of the ! 900 horses as ur-
tarlv worth S. The man who examined
these horses, declared, upon his oath, that
there was not one If them that was worth
SEQ. They we're blind, spawned. r,nghnnrd,
affl cted with the keaves, with the ganders,
and with every disc'sc that hors f->h Is heir
to. Those 4e5 horses cost the Government
s5S 200, besides more than an additional
thousaAd dollars to transmit them from Penn.
sylvauia to Louisville" where they were con.
demned and Cast "tf.
Mr.. NJ .lIory, Of kentucky (Cnion), aske
what regiment these horses belung Il 60, and
Who furnished hem?
NJ. Dawes-They elot g to Col william
regiment Of cavalry. anI tue, were purchased
in Peunsylvauia, from which State they were
forwarded 10 Louisville, whore tney Were con
demued. There ara eighty ,hree regiments
Of cavalry to-day, 1000 1t takes S25OOOo
To PUT ono of these regiments on foot before
It moves. Twenty millions Of doas have
thus been expended on thOse cavalry regiments
before they left the enrampm"nts where tiev
wer mustered into service, n, vi hundreds AMI
hundreds Of these hor-es have been Condemn
ed and srnt back to Elmira, aud to AunaW-
lis, and to ills city, to spend the winter
Any day hundred, of them can be SO an, roaud
this city, chained to trees, where they were
Icf to starve to death. Gangs Of two hun
drcl hor,es, in various places, have been thus
left to die and rot, till the Committee on the
District Of Columbia have called for a meas.
ure Of leg station to protect ho city from the
danger be apprehen led from these horse
gogolh has. An Ex-Governor from one Stale
Offered 70 an ex judge of another State, five
thousand dollars oget hi permission to raise
ono Of these regiments of cavalry, and when
the * judge brought back tn commission, the
OK. Governor takes it to his room at the hotel
while another plu Ilerer sits ut the kcy.hole .
watching like mastitf, while inside coun,
up forty thousand dollars profit on the horses,
aud calculates twenty thousand more upon the
accorn,rements and on the other details of
furnishing these regiments. In addition to
the arms in the hands Of the six hundred
thousand soldiers 10 the field, there are MI
merrus outstanding contracts made with pri-
vste individaals-not male uphn advertise
ment, not made with the knowIedg" Of the
public but ua,!o by cx.menhrro of c mgr 'Ss,
who knew no more of the d,ferenc" between
,n" cl - Of arms aud another than does