The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1869-04-15
THE TREASURY
Report Of the Committee on Re-
trenohment.
Enormous Discrepancies In the Ac.
counts.
aud shiaIcssurss ef 70.
liticaI Clerks.

phsstu III uuICui iOOf, lOr iuNCSllG0-
tion Of the mode Of printing bonds and
other securities of the Government in
the Treasury Department, aud al
legged Irregularities and frauds, has
reported through Senator Edmouds
that subcommittee, composed of
himself, Senator Buckalcw aud Rep,
resentative Halsey, devoted all the
time possible TO the extensive, CON-
piicatcd and important inquiries in
volved in the iuvcs tigation.
Upon the circumstances they soy
existing at the commencement Of the
business, it was to be expected that
more or less irregularity, and even
fraud and peculation would exist
This possibility or probability of
other looseness ahd want of regular
ity was realized, but it is believed no
very extensive losses have occurred
in consequence, and it is possible,
and in some cases probable, many Of
the discrepancies reported are entire
ly innocent ones, arising from irreg.
ularity in method rather than from
any positive fraud The aggregate
Of all the public securities credited
since 1860 to the date of the pas
sage Of the resolution, amounted to
over eighteen and a quarter billions
of dollars. The committee 60 into a
detailed statement of the different is
sues of loans, aud find some small
discrepancies between the number of
bonds printed and issued, on mere is.
sues, but not Of any great amount,
aud most Of them are satisfactorily
accounted for.
Nineteen bonds cf the Oregon war
loan, amounting to S7,450, supposed
to kave been lost in the Golden Gate,
were duplicated, under an act of Con
gress, but since a part of the coupons
Of the original bonds have been pre-
sented and redeemed, which shows
either that the coupons were detach
cd before the bonds we're shipped, or
that the bonds were not sent by the
steamer as claimed and apparently
proved.
On the issue of bonds under the
act of 1861, called secured series Of
fifty dollar notes, there is a difference
of two hundred aud eighty three
notes, and of one hundred dollar
notes a difference of soventy.thrce,
and difference of fifty of one thou
sand dollar notes between the mum
Der printed and delivered and the
number accounted for. or the five
thousand there arc seventy-nine sim.
ilarly unoccounted for. 1t is thought
by Mr.. Shan non, who received these
notes and was examined as q witness,
that they were destroyed in the
course of business, aud the specific
certificate Of thei. destruction, which
should, in the usual course IF bust.
ness, have been forte coming, has
been lost. The redemption of these
notes down to March, 1869, had not
reached the whole number appearing
by the books to have been issued
This fact supports In some degree
the probability raised upon the te3.
timouy that no fraud has been com
mittcd on the Government in respect
to them. But the want of any docu.
mentary or other specific proof ac-
counting for these notes is, consider.
ing whot ought to be tho cxactness
Of such operations, quite satisfactory.
In regard to the registered and
coupon bonds, known as the D 20s of
'62, first series, various discrepancies.
are accounted for. OF the third Sc .
RIGS coupon bonds, OF the same issue,
one 500 bond and one hundred and
three of the $500 binds are not ac,
counted for; The committee say a
largo amount Of these bonds was de.
livered to the register of Treasury by
the Printing Bureau, aud it is claim
ed by those officers that they were
handed to a committee for destruc-
tion or to be destroyed.
The direct evidence is incompetent
to show their destruction. No doc,
umentary proof of the fact is to be
found further than that the destrue-
ton was directed, and the coming in
of sundry complicated coupons Of
this series produced in the minds OF
the committee, some solieitude on the
whole subject of this series, although
the whole redemption Of the coupons
does not exceed the amount issued.
Bat in the case Of this series the
redemption of coupons comes so near
to the whole issue appearing on the
Registers books that the duplication
can not be fully explained by the
absence of the coupons entirely from
some numbers. The result is, thai
Of those bonds which went into the
Registers Office there arc not salts.
faetorily accounted for. OF the sos,
26 bonds; of the zoos, 1912; of the
500s, 1,037i Of the l000s, $685.
Those which went direct to the
Treasurer's Office were not perfect
but marked statistical for destruc
tion. OF these there is no proof ol
the destruction of Que bond of one
thousand, aud l03 bonds of five hun
dred dollars. In relation to these
bonds, from the evidence adduced
the committee came to the conclusion
that there must be an error in the ac'
count or an erroneous printing.
The committee then detail mum
ber. of issues accounted for with the
exception of four one 81, 900 bonds
Large discrepancies exist 10 tho is =
sue of two year Ave per cent. Treas
ury notes under the act of March 8
1868, but considering the fact that
this issue has been long oTer due, the
proba bilitv ia vary strono that nf