The Portland daily press., 1864-02-11
Thursday Morning, February IL. 1864
The Navy Department.
ITS MANAGEMENT AND SUCCESSES.
speech by Hon. James w. Crimes OF Iowa.


ITS MANAGEMENT AND SUCCESSES.
Speech by Hon. james w. Grimes OF Iowa.
We print below the speech made in the Senate
on Monday by Mr.. Grimes of Iowa, on the
management of the Navy Department, the sub
ject Immediately before the Senate being a reso-
luton introduced by Mr. Doolittle, respecting
the conduct of investigations into the aaairs of
the various departments of government.
Mr. Grimes. Mr.. President, / think it is emf
nently proper that this resolution, or something
tantamount to it, should be adopted. The pur-
pose which the Senate had in view when it insti-
tuted the inquiry to which the Senator from
Wisconsin has alluded was to elicit the truth.
We wish to get at the facts. We want to dis
cover whether or not there may not be some
method devised by which improvement may be
made in the present method 'of securing Navy
contracts; for the Senator from New Hampshire
alluded to that subject AS the one which lie had
specially in view when he introduced his reso-
luton.
1t is known to all the members of this body
who are at all familiar with the subject, that the
Navy Department is peculiarly constructed II
is differently organized from any other Depart
meRt of this Government. Itis almost speciality
in and of ITSELF 1t takes man year at least
before he can understand its organization and
its details. The members of this body who are
appointed on committee of investigation and
even the Committee on Naval Affairs are not
thoroughly conversant with the details of the
Navy Department confess, myself, as one of
them, that am not, though have cndeavored
as Car as could to inform myself as to what
those details are, and as to its organization.
1t is now proposed that when this committee
proceeds to its Investigation in regard to the
method OF executing contracts for that Depart
ment, the Department itself shall have authority
to detail one OF its officers to meet the committee
in order to direct its attention to particular sub
jects of inquiry that may come before them. 1t
strikes me that is highly proper that this should
be done. 1t is not to be presumed that the Sem
ators who compose this committee are as well
acquainted with the particulars to which their
attention ought to be directed as those men who
have been for years engaged us officials in the
Department
I have no doubt that great frauds have been
perpetratcd. There are Senators around me
who know very well that, three years ago, even
before the commencement Of this war, called
the attention of the Senate 10 the necessity of
some change in the laws of the United States, SO
far as they related to contracts for the naval
service. There is connected with the naval SER
vice an officer known as a navy agent. So far
as ] am able to learn, there is no law of Con-
gress that ever authorized the creation of that
Office. He was originally mere agent of the
Department, appointed by the Department for a
temporary purpose, but We have acts OF Con-
gress that recognize his existence; and now, at
the commencement of every administration, the
President sends down to us nominations for
these several navy agencies The Department is
organized in strict conformity to the laws which
Congress has pissed, but under that organizi-
ton there is great opportunity for frauds to be
perpetrated against the government by these
navy agents. So there is great opportunity for
frauds 10 be perpetrate1 against it by the con-
tractors under the navy agents and under the
Department proper The Department con-
seious of this. They have had their attention
directed to it. They are just as anxious to ferret
out those frauds as any member of the Senate or
any person in the whole country can be. They
are powerless TO remove the evil. Having had
their attention directed to it, they are prepared
to inform this committee that you have in
structed to investigate the subject, and 10 direct
the attention ofwtnesses when they shall appear
before them TO particular points of inquiry and
to things within their knowledge which have not
hitherto been elected in their testimony, and
which may be of vast Importance TO the
country.
You know, Mr.. President, that witness can
appear on the stand and make statement that
is abstraetly true, and yet, without any inter
rogatories being addressed 10 him, that truth
may give altogether false and erroneous i'm
preston to the bystandcr. The facts by which
It is surrounded, the time when it was uttered,
the manner in which it was spoken, may convey
an entirely different impression from the abstract
statement ITSELF Let me illustrate The chair
man of the Committee on Naval Affairs the
other day when the resolution to which this
proposed amendment was introduced, prefaced
it With some remarks in which he called the at
tentiop Of the Senate and of the country TO the
navalestmates. lie said
II win bo by the estimates Of expenses th al
we are called upon 10 appropriate this year Sl42,-
100000 for naval purposes. This sum l. large
small by comparison, have been at some pains 10
look at the naval expenditures of the civilized
world, as they have been furnished me by one of
our assistant Librarians. lind that the naval
penditures of Great Britain during the year Iss2
were $50 .9io Of France for 1883 voted by the
Corps Lsgislatif. s3o0oOooo; Of Spain for 1924
tria. per budget of 1853 s53l4ooO; of the Neither.
lands for 1859, ss 4se; of Sweden for ls6s So
5e34o8; Of Prussia for 1862, 81 4ss20o of Portugal
for 1928. slll ,e8a These sums are given in dol
lars, aud they comprise the naval expenditures of all
the civilized nations of the world with the excep-
fion OF Italy and Denmark Italy and Denmark
publish no naval expenses scparaio from the gem
era war expenses; but the expenses Of the civilized
world for year. taking sometimes lst2 aud some
times 1862 and 1863 and sometimes 1863 as they are
given. amount In gross to SiSs 3ls ,62; so that we
are called upon to spend this some four million
dollars more than all the rest of the world with the
exception Of Italy and Denmark.
Mr.. President, have not had an opportunity
to verify the accuracy of these statements, but |
have no doubt they are substantially true. |
admit that the statement of itself is true, and
that the senator from New Hampshire the
chairman of the Committee ON Naval Affairs,
unquestlonably did not intend TO create wrong
impression His love for his country, his regard
for the naval service and doubt not his respect
for the gentlemen who have charge of naval
affairs in this country il such that he could not
have permitted himself to create such an i'm
preston, even it he had been so inclined Never
theess. the facts as stated do create very erro-
neous impression. Had been on committee.
or been permitted to appear before a committee
representing the Naval Department, and had
that Senator appeared before that committee
and made the Statameuts which ha mazda ta,..
would have asked him. 'sDo you not know, or
ought you not to have known. and might YOU
not have known. as chairman of the Committee
on Naval Affairs, that the estimates for the Navy
Department and the estimates for all the other
Departments are predicated upon paper basis,
and must necessarily he thus predieated, and
that therefore the amount of 4 1900, 900
should be reduced by thirty three per cent, or
PEELED to answer unhcsittingly in the afirma-
five.
ybep would have asked him further, SIS II