The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-12-15

OOC1AAS aA4u Tie OulL Ol 1ltAlCOf ever
where furnishing opportunities fOl
the introduction of goods in violation
OF the revenue laws, requires the pres
ence OF large number of skillful anC
trustworthy persons. The acquisition
Of Alaska, the establishment Of inte'
rior ports Of entry, the accommoda.
tion Of business by railways and steam.
ers on the Northern frontier, add ma
terially to the expense Of collecting
and guarding the revenue. I there
fore respectfully recommend the in
crease Of the permanent apprOpria-
tiOn for collecting revenue from Gus,
toms to the sum of 3, SOC, 900 for each
half year from and after the 30th day
of June, 1870. At several of the i'm.
portant ports there are two Apprais.
ers, whose powers are equal. I rec.
ommend such an alteration of the
law as will provide for one principal
Appraiser at each port who shall be
responsible for the business Of the Of
fee.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
The Treasury Department has the
care Of 10 public buildings that are
completed, and of17 more that are in
the course Of erection, all Of which
had cost, on the 30th of June last,
S35, 800, ,998 SO. The appropriation for
the repair and preservation of these
buildings for the current year is
100000 q sum manifestly inadequate
being less than one-third Of one per
cent. Unless larger annual apprOpria-
tons are made, the buildings will rap
idly deteriorate in value, and finally
will need much larger repairs or the
erection of new ones i'm their stead.
| With the increase of population in
! the country appropriations must be
annually made for the erection of
pOst-Offiees, custom-hOuses, and other
| public buildings. The present mode
Of inaugurating these works seems to
me unwise. Appropriations are often
made without sufficient information
upon the subject. 1t is true that when
proposition is introduced into Con-
gress for the erection of a public build
ing, the subject is referred to the
Treasury Department, and by the Sec
retary to the Supervising Architect of
the Treasury; but it is also true that
the Supervising Architect has only
general information upon the subject,
and in answer to a sudden call, and
without time for the preparation of
plans and estimates, he cannot give a
safe opinion as to the necessity or the
cost Of the work. I respectfully rec
ommend that hereafter, when appli-
cations are made for the construction
of public buildings, the first step on
the part of Congress will be to instruct
| the Treasury Department to make
careful inquiry as to the necessity of
the work, and also to prepare estimates
to be laid before Congress. This beiIg
done, and the work authorized, it
would seem to be wise to make q sin
gle appropriation sufficient to meet
the entire cost, and then hold the De-
partment and the Supervising Archi-
tect responsible for the speedy COM
pletion of the building substantially
upon plans duly authorized and with
in the estimates. am satisfied that
much waste of pu Jlic money occurs,
and much complaint on the part of
citizens arises from the small apprO-
priations which are made from year.
The Inevitable consequence of the pol
icy Is that the public works are injur-
ed in the process Of construction, and
the expenses are largely increased.
The supervising architect of the Treas
ury states in his report that the eX-
penditure authorized by the law for
the construction of the POst-Offlee in
the City of New York will be made
quate unless the character of the work
is changed from the original design.
1t seems to be due to the City of New
York, for general and apparent rea-
sons, and in consideration of the fact
that most eligible site has been Sc
cured by the cooperation, and, in
some degree, at the expense of the
city, that the building should not only
be a fire-proOf structure, but also Of
such design and workmanship as to
rank among the best public buildings
in the country.
THE REVENUE MARINE SERVICE.
At the present time there are a
steamers and 10 sailing vessel attach
ed to the Revenue Marine service, the
number having been reduced during
the year by the sale of two vessels of
the latter class. At the third session
of the XLth Congress an appropria- !
ton of $500, 900 was made for the con-
structiOn of four steam Revenue cut |
ters. After proposals had been issued |
and bids received, which were re-
jected under the impression, on my
part, that the public interests |
did not require vessels Of as
large size as those for which proposals |
had been issued, appointed a Com
mission by letter, dated December 16,
1859, consisting of Captain G. T. Pat |
terson of the Coast Survey, and Capt. |
Douglas Ottinger and Capt. ]. q. |
Merryman of the Revenue Marine, |
and instructed them to consider /
and report upon the character of the 1
vessels best adapted to the service.
Final action in reference to the con-
struction of the vessels authorized was |
delayed for the report of the commits
sion. That report was made on the 1st
day of May, 1879 Executive Docu-
ment No. SO, Senate, Second Session
of the present Ccngress). Upon the
completion of the work of the Com
proposals were again issued
for the construction of the four ves-
sells authorized by law. Satisfactory
bids were received, aud, on the 22d of
July and the 22d of August last, con-
tracts were made. The construction
given by the Controller to the fifth
section of ''The Act making ApprO-
Driations for the Legislative. Execu-
tive, and Judicial Expenditures of the
for the year ending the
10th of June, 1871, rendered the appro-
OriatiOn unavailable, and it, there
lore, became necessary to notify the
contractors that their contracts must
be considered as null and void. One
1f the contractors has asked TO have
mis- contract formerly annulled, which
has been done. / recommend a
of the appropriation of $780,
BOO for the construction Of steam rev.
enue cutters, without limitation as to
the number or specification
as to the size of the vessels
to be built. The report of the
shows that thirteen of
the vessels now in use are either old
Or not adapted to the service. The
opinion entertained by me that the
vessels in use are larger than the ma
ture of the service required is con-
irmed by the report of the COmmis-
sion. They recommend that the
number be reduced to 80, and the
aggregate tonnage reduced from 8, ,2O8
,uns to 7,175 tuns. They also state
hat it will be practicable upon the
proposed basis to reduce the total
humber of officers, pilots, petty off1-
,ers, and men from ], ,226, the number
hen in service, to ,061; and the act
nal expense seofmaintaining the system,
not including appropriations for the
of new vessels, from ST.
L46, 400 to S943, ,639, making a saving of
more than half a million Of dollars a
year. The report of the Commission
5 the result Of a careful and compre-
lensive examination of the subject by (
men, and while it is the
present purpose of the Department to
lct upon it, 1 am of the opinion that
{ should receive legislative sanction. 1
On the 9th of July, 1859, I IeOnyened
. Board of Examiners, who were
charged, among other things, with ,
he examination of the officers Of the
Revenue Marine. The Board is COM (
,osed Of Captains Faunce and Slicer
# the Revenue Marine, and Capt. ,
Patterson of the Coast Survey. The
has not yet been COM
,leted, as only a small number of Of /
icers could be detailed for examina- .
ion at the same time. One hundred :
md ten Lieutenants have been ex-
mined. Ten First Lieutenants,
line Second Lieutenants, and six
Third Lieutenants were reported for