St. Mary's beacon., 1862-01-23
CORRUPT PRACTICE IN ARMY
MATTERS.
SPEECH OF ME. DAWES, OF MASSACHUSETTS,
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,,
JANUARY 13rH.


JANUARY 13rn.
Mr. Dawes. (Rcpublicah. of Massachu-
srtl>,) from the Committee of Investiga-
tion on Government Contracts, in rcs,,n,-
ing his marks. commenced on Friday
last, IA L-Sir: have not failed to notice,
al,l believe tue committee Of which am
81 member have not failed to notice, in
c"lnIn"n with the whole country. that. for
some uuaccor.ntrblc reason, the charges
upon the National Treasury, at this ti,uc
Of war, have been snch as t" reach nearly
the boit"m OF the public chest During
tine invrsti alton, startling facts have como
lcfurc the notice of this c"lsInittec, aud to
the notice oi the whole country. touching
the mode and manner Of the expenditure
Il the public money. Some Of these items
propose to call public attention to, and
t,cn to ask g,,tlcreL the plain question.
When they propose To meet this question.
il ut all, and it so. how, when, aud wh-rc7
The very first contract entered into by
this Government, after the troops. had left
their homes to como hire. in April last.
~ defeud ths Capital. by which they were
10 bc fed. was a contract entered into for
cattle. 1t was not made with a man
,h"se business it WAS to supply cattle to
TIE mark. t. not With man who knew the
price of beef in th- markets of the conn-
try, bu, was entered into hy the Govern
,cnt here with "a man we'll known in this,
and i'll the other branch If C"ngrcss, for
the last tcn years. ~ an old stiprndiary-
o.c of tho Glars vi ,ncn who, in timcs past,
male t;.> If money by such operations as
Lu; ing the certificates Of members for
books at discount. and then charging
full amount.
This contract was made 50 that the first
twenty-five hundred head Of cattle fur
,i<hed was charged at rate which ena-
hlcd their ori gi,.,l contractor to sub.lct it
in ~ hours after TO d man in New York
Nho dill not know tho price of beef, So
tha, he rut into his pockets. without stir
ling from his chair. $32 900, and the
,nen who actually furnished the cattle in
question put into their pockets SD, 900
more, So that the contract under which
these :. 200 head of cattle we're furnished
{, the army was 10 made that he profit Of
S5S, 600 was realized over the fair mar
krt price. 1t takes a longer time for
Thousand head "f cattle to reach this city
from the States where they are purchased
than it takes the army to consume them.
] ask the Housc, ut this rate. to consider
how long the most ample provisions Of
the Treasury would be able TO meet the
.imple demands for the subsistence of the
:rmy. Sir, poorly as the army is shod
to-day a million Of shoes have already
been worn out, and q million more are
Icing manufactured. and yet upon every
one of these shoes there has been waste
of scventy-6ve c-nts. Three-quartrrs Of
~ million of dollars have been already
worn ant, and another three-quartcrs Of
million Of dollars upon shoes 10 now
hcing manufactured. In that department
sf the Governments. contracts have been
q plepty that Government officials have
i,nnc about the streets with their pockets
t,nti with them. and Of which they made
pres. uts 70 the c!crgymen of their parish
cs, and with which were healed old no.
l,,ical Sores aud cured political feuds.
Even the telegraph has announced that
high public func;ionaries have graced the
love-fcasts which were got up to eele-
Lratc these political reconciliations, thus
brought about. while the hatchet of poli,i-
cal luminosity was buried in. the grave of
political confidence. and thc national
credit was cruei6rd among NAL. factors.
We have reported to Us the first fruits of
these contsaet>. i regiment Of cavalry
lately reached Louisville 1000 s:roag.
aud the Board Of Army Officers 'hsre.
appointed for the iurp';se. have condemn
ed 4S5 out Of The ! .OCO horses as utterly
wortlll ss. The man who examined those
horses declared. upon bis oath. that there
was. not Que OF ,hem that was worth $50.
They were blind. spawned. ringboned.
afflicted with the heaves. With. The glan-
dcrs. and with every disease that horse
fcsh is heir to. These 4S5 horses cost
the Government, before they were NUS