The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-02-25

SOW weighing about $50 pounds, with long
tail and ears, strayed from my premises In
Ashland. Any person giving me information
BY which I can recover said property Will
literally reward.
Ashland, Feb. %, 1868.
~ A--s-A
The Terrible Frauds upon the Gov
ernment---ReasOns for Carrying
, ON the Wharf.-The SwindIer N
Work.
sfFtomfhe Philad.lphia Ineuirer, 18th inst-l
ASTOUNDING EXPOSURE OF PUBLIC PLUNEER
IF it is. any longer possible for the people o.
/ this country to be shocked by the disclosure
). of fraud upon the Government, they will be
utterly astcunded by the report of commit
tee of the United States Senate, published in
1.-THE Inquirer, this morning. It was our pur
pose to brand and stigmatize these triShtfut
4 robberies. of the public moneys in such terms
as they deserve, but we confess that our vocab'
4 ulary is insufficient to do justice. tie the subject
They are literally so monstrous that terms In
common use fail to give any idea of their enor-
nous turpitude. They must be read by each
man for himself. If the record does not make
his blood tingle, and cause words OF bitter ex-
ecration to leap instinctivety to his lips, then
he is not of 7''penetrable stuff" That such
disclosures have been permitted to pass by
heretofore without arousing an %efectuaI public
indi nation, can only be accounted for by the
fact that the swift current of stirring events
set in motion by the rebellion, sweeps away
the reccolleesion of crimes which, in ordinary
Hines, would shock society to its center.
The report referred to is that of Senator
Grimes, of Iowa, upon the subject of ships and
steamers chartered to transport troops-and sup.
jpfies. , In the very outset of it the reader will
n = EEr.z.-I zexI. FoLo~tA 20 fb:-faon hor.
yes and steamers at Baltimore, that viii serve
as. an illustration ofethe whole. In that trans
action it appears that these thirteen vessels
cost their own rs-middle-Ten, as usuai-Sbo5
f2S3, and that they were char tered to the Gov
ernn en-. at the rate of S345,655 per mum
an annual profit offUe Hundred and f,eenty-
fse per ceat-Amopg these was a rotten old
hulk called the Patapsco, which was purchased
by one Of these middle-menIfor Sl,20O, and
then hired to the Government for $50 per day,
and the barge Delaware, which cost 81, 800,
hired for $40 a day. The running expenses
of this latter vessel were about six or seven.
dollars a day, andealld the, rest. were. the profits
of tho ~culprIts, uheeverothey arc. These yes.
sells were hired by a man named Hall who had
a monopoly Of the business, under the direc-
ton ofSCelonel Belger, Assistant Quartermas-
ter-General, and John Tucker, Assistant Sec
rotary of War. When it is borne in mind that
too hundred and seventyJous vessels were
chartered Nv this man Hall, some idea may be
gained of the fearful amount OF which the GoV-
srnment has been plundered by his operations
The modus operandi was this Hall, as we
have said, was a 'smiddle-maH," and through
the action of Mr., Tucker and Colonel Belger,
had a monopoly Of the business of chartering
vessels at Baltimore. Nobody who had evee a
coal-boat'to hire could get access to the. Coy;
ernment off GERS except through him.. He was
the agent of the United States, selected the
vessels, aud fixed their prices. At the same
time he was the agent OF those who owned the
vessels, some of them being his own, and 9TH
es having been bought up by his creatures
In every case be charged a commission ran
eins from five TO twelve per cent. on the sros.
earnings of every vessel ehartoEod ese~r~
the higher the rate the more this carefnl agent
of the Government was enabled to pocket
Thus, in the case Of the steamer Cecil, char
tered of Captain Rice, although the vessel was
offered at fifty dollars a day, Hall had hired
her at sekeasy-GVe dsllars, and before the bar
gain was consumn ated raised the price, to the
Gstonishu eat of the Captain, to eighty dollars
per day This scandalous feature appears in
every transaction. An agent of the Govern
ment raising the rates or his own principle to
Frunious prices, taat he misht get higher com
missions. Here again We must remind the
reader that this man Hall, who was the conf
Dental agent of Colonel Belger and Mr.. Tuck
er, chartered tro hundred and sevcntyJou|
vessels. IfA -1
Baltimore. however, had not a monopoly of
his sEi Dorado',to The Fortunate owners of
stea ncrs, barges and tugs. aud the lucky ones
who acted as agents for the Government. The
committee extended their Investigations to the
delaware, and on our river they found the
sane system of plumber prePailing to the same
| fearful extent. Let our readers lock and be
amazed at the prices that were paid out of
their pockets Tor some of the aworne- out old
hulks, formerly 50 familiar to their eyes. Here
also VIC Eavc the sorry spcctaels of men act
ing for the people, and at the same time &C
ting for hcmseives in fixing enormous rates
upon theitevessels, andfall,I too, under the sarb
of exalted PATRIOTISM: i9eL - besLdef
To show the utterly reckless AMI disgracefui
charactergoft he Baltimore operations, We in
vite attention to the fact that in one case .
vessel in the service Of The Government, at, the.
exorlitant rate of S450Sper day, was engaged'
in running on excursion trips for the benefit
of her owners ; that in another a. vessel was
flied up with bunkers. at Government expense,
to accommodate the private freight OF some OF
her. owners, who were at the same time suffers
in the army, one of whom made $4,000 one
trip that in still other cases the Government
tugs were used by their owners to tow private
vessels for pay that in a large number of ca,
ses4be miserable old that were chartered
at such moqnsfrops prices, were 80 far gone
that they lad to be fitted up at an expense
equal to their original cost, and that such re-
pairs were made at the pubic expense. Is there
another instance in history of a nation strug7.
Cling for life being SO heartlessfy and shame
fully robbed by its own trusted citizens ~ 6
The whole report is reeking with exposed
enormities. 1t is impossible to estimate the
plumber. Millions will be required to cover it.
The committee censure some high officials
they recommend court-martial for another
and they demand, what the public voice should
echo in thunder tones, that such ill-gotten
gains shall be sdisgorgcd. That word "dts-
gorgea" shouldsbe the universal cry, until us
ticegis done the public treasury, and then it
should be seen whether criminal indictments
win not lie against all these Spectators On the