New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-02-16
!. the majority did not receive owe

hall received sums ranging Hom @lU ~ ~l0o
of the bounty due to them, Gen. Spinola being
understood TO claim that the 1000 recruits have
" averaged receipt Of 800 per head" the
balance of S2l5 in each case going to the disn-
terested and patriotic parties who have been
engaged in and around Lafayette Hall in the
noble task of " filling up our armies" Let us
take this statement also for its face, and see If
the result is az satisfactory as Gen. Sylnola ap-
pears to consider it. This gives the gum OF
5000, 900 to be divided between o0O0 soldiers
and the families they leave behind them; while
also giving the snug little sum of $4,000 to
be divided between the broker and tho
little gang of old "emigrant-runners" and
" baggage -smashers" from Castle Garden, who
have been the congenal instruments in the kid
mapping and pluuder of the victims sent to
Riker's Island
But can it be believed th0t all these mon
strous irregularities, going on. day in and day
out at Lafayette Hal have been without the
connivance, direct or indirect, Of the officers
and Others in authority Have the brokers
and runners had this Z" biz thing all TO them
selves; and did the proper military officers who
should have checked such evils remain inactive
and practically conniving, for nothing! Old
men with gray hair over sixty years Of age,
had their hair dyed and We're accepted az if in
the prime of life. Mere boys ranging from four
teen 10 fifteen. were kidnapped on their way to
or from school, and mustered I'M men with IN
durable diseases and manilestly unfit were
passed; many men discharged from armies in
the field az hopeless gases, were returned To the
service TO be burden on the pay-rolls and hos
pitals of the Government. Wherever men have
been sent 20 the field, complaints come back
that more than half viii have TO be discharged
Immediately a. unfit 10. the exposures and
hIrdships Of soldiers Life.
Now, it is bad enough, perhaps, in this not
over loyal city to- have draft ut ALL but fog our
citizens 10 be first taxed TO fill mp their quota,
and then to have draft made necessary after
ward by this SUSTAIN Of fraud, can hardly nc
considered IN improvement Let the response
bility for such q state Of things, therefore, be
fixed where it belongs; and let the working
majority of the County Committee OF New-York
explain, if they can, why they did not, and
would not, do as was done in Brooklyn--inslst
upon seeing each recruit, and paying the money
into bis own hands, AZ the time of his being
sworn into the service
When Gen. Dix first bad his attention called
,..t ~
line of The dIties TO which he has been assigned,
and when that honest and able officer first be-
gan 10 take steps toward insuring justice TO the
recruits. a howl Was raised by the bounty
thieves and brokers that recruiting would be
paralyzed the inomen. this system WAS broken
up" Even Gen. Spinola wrote a letter 10 The
Herald or the subject, strongly urging this
view, and taking the side of the brokers.
II the emigrant-runners, bagsage-smashers,
sailor.hdnapnors, and others of like class
who We're periodically deyoting their at
tention TO this new "plscer" were inter-
fered with, there would be another draft, aud
another snti-draft riot right away; our streets
would run blood, and the scenes OF last July be
repeated with ill the modern improvements.
But what axe the iacts7
The facts are, that while recruiting fell OF a
little 90 first, il has been steadily and geomet-
really improving ever since, until now the
number of men received at Riker's Island, is
greater than il was under the former Lafayette
Hall system; while the physical quality and
spirit of the recruits themselves is unexpectedly
improved. The men now received enter the
service sober, and remit their bounty money TO
their families. Every family thus relieved is in
itself call upon the young men of families
similarly poor 20 enter the service; while, under
the old system, every recruit sgindled out Of
his bounty was by his letters home, an active
agent Ito deter enlis.mcrts." Let il be known
thai every person desiring to enter the service |
can receive $500 in current funds in this city, |
and be protected in sending the same, or such
portion thereof as he may think proper, to his
family, and We shall have no difficulty in filling
up our quota without draft.
And now, let us ask, is there 70 law 10 |
reach these abominable harpesl is there no
means By which they can be compelled to dis
gorge their ill-gotten gansi Shall the Govern
nent, powerful to make arrests in other cases,
stand helpless in view Of Wholesale frauds COM
nitted in offices over which the United States
lag was displayed, and in which men wearing
ihe United States Uniform stood as practical
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. conscious or not-in the
organized swindlingi And what, let us ask is
lone by the hundreds upon hundreds of officers
md soldiers who are stationed on recruiting
NJ rrice In this citu q WI The nrnner nihnritv