The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-12-06
WASHINGTON NEWS.

s,eeial Correspondence Of the Baltimore s,,
seport on the Management Of tho
treasury Department-The print.
ing or Money and Bonsis-Charrcs
at HecltlesSness.
WASHINGTON, December 3.-eYour readers
-osy he familiar with the charges made
,~ainst the management Of the Treasury
Trnartmcnt. which resulted I'm the passage
# resolution by Congress. over two wears
,~o, referring these accusations to select
r6mIuittec. That committee, after spend
INC about two years in thorough examina.
Ian Of witnesses {employes il the Treasury
Derartment) and personal inspection of
machinery, books etc, has made report
The committee was composed Of two sen.
stArs Fdmunds. chairman. J and one men,
M, Of the House, who appear to have
been harmonious and in perfect accord in
their report.
II viii be recollected that the charges
were. in substance, that the affairs Of the
rrin:ing and note department were carried
IN in crinlinally reckless manner. result
;nr in enormous losses to the people, and
Ina, It's conduct was so loose and fee from
proper checks to prevent rascality as to call
AI tire intervention OF Congress, inasmuch
. repeated unsuccessful efforts had been
made Il induce the then Secretary of the
Treasury to take notice of the facts, and ar
-r<t the waste and stop the peril.
The report of the committee, covering
.cyclQl hundred pages, suStains the charges.
and makes the statement that the aggregate
of securities Of Government created since
1850. and ups 10 October 81, 1867, amounted
to over SS.272, 900 900. of which the printing
bureau prepared about SI,S2T ,0OO, coo that
most of the bonds. certificates Of indebted
ness, gold certificates and fractional cur
rcncr, We're executed by the bureau, while
IN" currency was nearly all engraved and
printed by the bank note companies that
Q! the second series of 7.30 loan notes of va
rous denominations. from sos to S5,000s
sre unaccounted for, making total missing
Of that issue in value S466, $50; that the I" du-
Tlications" Of third series 5-2o's, 1862, were
executed in the Treasury Department, and
not "outside of it." as alleged BY T. NJ.
third series $40 bonds February %,
1922 over seven Thousand 800 notes,
over ten thousand $500 notes, and
other denominations, in all 81, 500, 900,
have not been satisfactorily accounted
for: that various bonds marked rs ode
s,royed" on the books Of the department
are not destroyed, or" at least no proof of
destruction is adduced; that the methods
Of accountability and comparison between
the various bureaus in the department, az
we'll rs in their own operations, have been
imperfect, and ''in some respects grossly
carelesS': that it has frequently happened
that vouchers would be taken for the inter-
change Of securities on slips of paper, and
given up when settlements would be made,
leaving no recorded evidence Of the transac-
tons: that in respect to the deliveries of
most Of these securities from bureau to bu-
reau and from branch to branch in the de-
rartment no books of account were kept in
The form of debts and credits, and compare
sous made and balances struck, ETC., and
have led 10 considerable confusion, even
supposing the discrepancies, before stated,
10 have been the result of merely innocent
error: that one evil of this lack of accounts,
etc. was that in the course Of printing and
transmitting securities to the Register
Office, it was the custom to send with each
thousand impressions q quantity OF extra
Impressions not numbered, intended to be
used to supply those Of the regular num-
lcrcd class, which, from time TO time, might
hr egrouccusly filled up or accidentally de-
faced These extra impressions were called
the "etock package" and whenever there
wa> occasion to use one OF them the bond
or no-e injured, or said to be injured,
would he thrown in the fire or otherwise
DESTROYED, as is stated by the clerks, and
one taken to supply its place from the
stock package" without any account or
record being kept Of the performance, and
without any proof or method of proof OF
the actual destruction Of the one so actually
or ostcn>ibly disposed OF. 1t is impossible,
therefore, to account except on very vague
evidence for many of the securities that
went into the Registers office.
The foregoing are specimens Of the many
paragraphs in this voluminous report, show.
ing the So-called irregularities practiced in
the Treasury Department up to last March
Upon careful examination Of the report the
reader cannot but be impressed with the
belief that losses have occurred to the
amount of many hundred thousands Of dol
lars greater than was discovered by the
committee.