Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-12-15


MONDAY MORNING. DEC. Is.
washburne's aePsrs ON Government
Csasracss .. The- "a Patriotic Com
tractors Of sndsana--Hevv ssse neuey
does. ----------s-------s-
We are in possession Of a complete report Of
the wxsHsrkSE Select Committee 70 inquire into
the contracts OF the Government IL i an in
sereusing docunens Of 1913 pages in length. and
II the Committee bad had tine for full report
Of the matters referred TO them. il could easily
have been sseIled 20 three or four times It's size
The Committee says that "through thedi-clcsures
made BY il and the comm sslons which have
been Instituted thereon II L estimated that the
sum OF from fifteen 70 twenty millions of dollars
will have been saved 60 the tar payers of the
county" and that t" the exposure Of glazing
abuses which have been made by the Committee
have led 10 many important reforms. which are
saving large amounts of money daily" As a
matter Of special interest to the people of Tudi-
ana. We shall quote the substance of the report
which refers TO the purchase OF military supplies
BY oar State authorities The Committee SAYS:
Certain testimony has been taken by the Com
mi'tee Ia part in Cincinnati aud part In Indian
apolis) bearing directly on the purchase OF mill
tary supplies BY the State of Indiana. and having
but little relation TO the contracts Of the General
Government. except so lar as the General Gov
eminent has assumed the liabilities incurred by
the several States in furnishing supplies Tor their
respective troops. The Quartermasfer of
that State, General j. II Vajen, was acting at
the time the testimony was taken. but shortly at
forwards resigned his Office. So far
General Vajen. the Quartermaster OF that State,
Is concerned. the testimony compelled the com
mittee TO question the fidelity with which he had
performed his duties. An unpleasant eagerness
10 make the misfortunes Of the nation the source
OF personal ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. as in the case of
other Oil :i,ls vic have became directly or ind-
rcctiy connected with the large and lucrative
government contracts elsewhere mentioned, is
unfortunately 100 manifest, and would require a
speci, report il, inste,i of being officers OF
State, the parties were Ia the employ ment of the
tiencrsi ,soyernmeut In this emergency. Of all
Others. the State and the nation should demand
the highest integrity oil those invested with public
trusts, aud each should hold their agents. by
rigid scrutiny, to a severe accountability
The Quartermaster. General J. H. yAJEs, in
letter to the committee. states that the appoint
ment WAS pressed upon him by Governor Mon
TON. with Whom he bad butts slight acquaintance.
only one hour being allowed him to decide upon
ia acceptance. which he finally did upon the ad.
vice OF friends with whom he consulted. He
s.ys:
have since often regretted acting upon that
advice. nasmuch as l found the duties of the
oflice very sryuous in proportion to the salary,
and they prevented my attention to nv private
business. which suffered much in consequence
Yet on the whole do not regret my course, as
-
experience. and haze the satisfaction OF knotcinq
that hace done mig duty and saoed nag country
Also. many persons OF this city aud State. and
neighborine States, have pronounced their judg
ment that the business of the Quartermaster Gen
erals Department of this State has been more
promptly, efficiently and honestly conducted and
it, purchases more economically made. than has
been done in many other States Nv in
tercourse with ouI worthy Governor has been
pleasant. have often sought his counsel and |
shall never forget with what uniform courtesy he
has always received me. He has made his mill
tary appointments invariably with a view TO eff
e'sHey. integrity and hoaesty, and should regret
to hear in your report that any of his appointees
had fallen short IN those respects.
In the same letter General vAJEs says, that,
"having learned that one or two disafiected con
tractors have given testimony that may cast re-
lection upon my (his) character, l (he) have re-
signed my (his) position as Quartermaster Gen
eral OF the State" Another reason he gives is,
that the State Quartermasters Department had
been almost entirely relieved ''by our very ef-
cient Assistant United States Quartermaster.
Captain J. A. EKIS.''
Here is the issue made up between the COM
mlttee appointed by Republican House of Rep
resentatives 10 investigate Government contracts
aud gentleman appointed by Governor MoRroS
to highly responsible position with a view to
efficiency. integrity and honesty We have not
space TO day for a synopsis Of all the testimony
given before the committee bearing upon the
management of the State Quartermasters De-
partment while undes the administration of Mr..
VAJKS, but we will present enough TO show its
general character. The committee we're in SEES
sion here two days. and the following witnesses
were examine, during that time: CALVIN FLETcH-
IA. r. N. PArrERsoS, Ohm FAHsEsrocK, RoBsRr
ID BRowS. WILLIAM GLEsS. JoHN f. MOONEY.
JAMS NJ. BAKER. J. G. GEisKSpoRrF, ANDREW
J. HlSksLEY, GkoasE L.. DART. DELoss Roor,
JAMES SULGRovE, G.. W. BusRows, 4 BuLLARD,
JAMES GRxKsK. JOHN REYNOLDS, SAMUEL C.
SrAuB. 7. II. TAPKlxe. JONI Ii. yAJKS. wM. H.
HAYS j. A. HrLpERBRASp. J. N. RAY and Mills
MuRrHy. |E
The following is the substance of Mr. J. c.
GEIsENpoRFrs testimony in answer to the IN
quiries OF the committee:
He was engaged in the business of manufac
turing WOODEN goods, cassimeres, satinets Jeans
&c. He had contract TO supply four and half
regiments with jeans suits for the State Depart
ment- These contracts made with Mr. Vajen
The contracts were separate One in Nav at
So 50 per suit; the next So IS: the next
at So rs, and then at s. 90. Made nothing but
. profit on the goods nothing ON the making up
Three resi ments were Supplied with satiuet suits
during the same time at s. 90, by Glazer & Co,
of Cincinnati but one suit OF Gesendorff's was
worth three of Glaziers- ..-n
In reply 10 the inquiry of the committee why
il was that Geisendorff could get contract to
supply only one regiment, while the Cincinnati
firm got one 20 furnish three, the witness said:
We had the stock on hand and would turn out
as MANY suits pleased We could not ex
acty ascertain what the trouble was Well. we
were srern. as the term ~. and | do not know
what reason there was unless we did not under
stand arranging matters by giving bonus In
other words the doctrine given ~ ia by other
Parties. was. that by giving cersain bonus We