Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-04-24
LFrom the New York World.I
G0varmmemt sales.

GFrom the New York WordJ
Government Sales
Our Washington correspondent wrote us,
last November, eomethink about Govern
ment sales in Washington, and the enorm-
ous quantity of unused stores and material,
bought at the very highest prices from
favorIte contractors, sold for mere song
(particnlarly II the song was 'Old John
Brown'') oftentimes to the very contrac-
tors from whom the goods were originally
bought. Millions of money have been
made In the past twelve months by sharp
individuals from these Government sales.
"This is all right" it will be said by the
very loyal leaguers; Government sells
these goods to the highest bidders, and, If
the highest bids are low figures, there's no
help for it, and the goods must CO." This
Is not the point we wish to make. An eX-
animation of the advertisements OF Gov
ernment properly offered for sale at all the
forts, hospitals, and military and naval
stations in the South, will show an aggre-
gate of accumulated new and never-used
stores that is perfectly startling. Millions
of blankets, still unbroken from the bale;
thousands of tons of uncut camp canvas;
thousands of tons of iron, copper, tin, lead
shot, shell; almost untold quantities OF
cloth, shoddy. leather, harness, powder,
everything that could be used, and much
that could not by any possibility, be used
) In war. OF these articles. unused, un-
broken, in che original packages as they
came from the contractor, peace found on
hand sufficient quantity to carry on war,
probably, with the combined armies of
Europe for at least five years. What do
these things indicated Why, simply this:
That TO favor party pets who tattened upon
the war; to control State elections by
means of the patronage bestowed upon
manufacturing towns and generally, as a
large part OF the grand scheme OF public
plumber, the Radicals managed to add to
the actual expense of the war, at the very
least, one thousand millions of dollars by
these means alone. -
The probability Is that England or France
would have carried on our war, effecting
all that we did in halt the time and at one
fourth the cost. But, as more than one
prominent Radical publicly pronounced
during the progress of the rebellion, 1.-The
war is now the great business of the
country" The almost incompatible
amount of accumulated goods which the
Government is now peddling out and Civ
ing away shows one OF two things-either
that the Radicals collected these stores for
the sake of swindling tue people and en-
riching themselves, or else that they were
deliberately preparing to make 'the war
the business of the country" for twenty or
thirty years to come. Either alternative Is
irighttul, but one or the other is fact.
The general rage among the Radicals when
the rebellion was crushed repeats itself,
now that the proclamation declares a state
of peace. But the patriots who sold the
Government goods at their own prices, aud
are now buying them back at from one
tenth to one-lourth oftheirvalue, have come
to the conclusion that in a"business' point
of view, peace also is good thing.
More legitimate, but scarcely less enor-
nous, profits have been made by Radi-
calls "insde the ring" from the Government
sales of worn, broken, or unserviceable
stores and materials. There is one set of
men from Massachusetts alone who have
followed these sales from Washington to
New Orleans, and who have made enorm-
GUS sums from their lucky purchases. They
carry considerable capital with them; they
buy large lots with boldness that fright
ems away all attempts at competition, and
they suffer the lot to be knocked down to
one bidder, whom they are very careful not
to bid against, and who is quite as careful to
divide his purchase with his silent partners.
In too many instances, also, there is di-
rect understanding between the Govern
ment officials and the Government pets.
Some serious exposures of this sort of col
lusion have made both sellers and buyers
more careful of late; but the manner in
which these sales are managed, the charac-
ter OF the parties present, and a pretty
thorough knowledge, by this time, of the
''party" these men belong to, are all evil
dence that, while enormous sums are made
Fl ON these sales, the Government does not
make the money. Not long ago, one of
these wholesale buyers returned from an
expedition to Southern city, where he and
five Others had just bought four thousand
tons of shell at one cent per pound They
had purchased other stores at equally nom
inal prices, and were quite confident they
had done so well by Government that Gov
ernment would transport their shell and
stores to Boston free of freight!