Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-02-03

after q sufficient time had elapsed for them to
have been returned Ofthcse unclaimed men,
it is said that a part were assigned to some
towns and plantations upon whose people the
draft, from peculiar train of circumstances,
was bearing with more than common hardship.
But even vet considerable number seem to
have been left. How these men or names
should have been disposed OF, il is no part OF
our duty to say. One gentleman OF some note
and prominence in the State has publicly
stated that he was permitted by the officials
having control of the matter, to sell some
eighty or more of these names to various nu-
inequalities in order to get reimbursement Tor
money he had paid out in Washington and in
Virginia in bountes to men whom he had in
tiuced to enlist or re-enlist and whose names
he had forwarded to the Adjutant General
here, expecting them to be quotad to certain
towns whose quotas he had contracted to fill,
but who. on his return home he found had
been credited to the places of their residence.
He further states, if we have understood him
correctly. that in every instance where he sold
these naval commission men to towns or cities,
he wrote the names sold, or caused them
to be written, upon one of the printed blanks
such as had been sent out by the Naval Com
nissioners, and had the municipal officers ex-
ecute it as a return to the Naval Commissions
ers, thus certifying in their official capacity
that the men so bought were residents of their
town or city So far as we have examined the
files. we have seen no reason for doubling the
substantial correctness of his statement IN this
respect But the eighty or Whereabouts which
this gentleman acknowledges to have so sold,
by no means account for the many that we
have found claimed and bought, as we have
before stated. and allowed by Naval Commits
sioners in much the same manner. That any
of the men whose names were thus sold ont in
Moi,, yjptr haXi inc p1i N Ia a
received any of the money paid to the men
who assumed to sell their names, is not at all
probable. How many of this class were sold
in the way above named, it is not possible for
us TO state We can only say that the books
show that about three thousand names were
allowed by Naval Commissioners. The num-
Der for which reimbursement has been claimed
may be spoken of as hundreds. And consid-
erng what municipal officers had to do to get
such names allowed upon their quotas after
purchasing them, it may well be supposed that
only portion 50 obtained have been claimed
for reimbursement, especially in cases where
the same men were in office then and now.
The next class of names which the Com
mssioners notice is that known as paper
credits" In the latter summer and au
tumn of 1861, an individual appeared at
tHc Stttt vi 'ltli, Nidliiltii-5 " nav comic
from Washington, and bringing a long list
of names of men who he asserted had en-
listed in the army and Were not credited
to any State or municipality. These men
he offered to sell to those who were seek
ing to fill their quotas, but could not get
the approval of the A. y. Provost Marshal
General of Maine, which was necessary to
be secured Subsequently this officer was
ordered to another field of duty and anoth-
er person from a Western State supplied
his place at the State Capital. In relation
Then again appeared at the State Capital
the man with the once rejected list of names.
And henceforth it seems there was no official
veto upon the filling Of quotas of cities and
towns with these names. Thus far our state
ment i'll relation to these paper credits" is
founded upon the best information we have
been able to obtain from inquiries and the col
lation of many statements voluntarily made to
US by persons having more or less means OF
knowing the facts as they occurred. For the
absolute correctness of the statement we do
not vouch. That the names were sold by va
rious individuals and firms at an average price
of about four hundred and fifty dollars each, we
can very safely state, for they have been claim
ed for reimbursement, and official certificates
showing that they were allowed and re-
ceipts for the money paid for them have been
presented to substantiate the claims. How
the individuals or firms (for it seems to have
been a business SO extensive and important as
to call for the formation of business partner
ships who sold these names became possessed
of them, we are wholly unable to say. How
much they paid for them is question of very
much more interest to themselves than to the
people of Maine. That they had to divide the
money received with some other persons or
parties is very safe presumption. That the
men whose names were sold and bought-it
the names represented men-did not receive
any of the money so paid is quite safe pre-
sumption.
As has been already said all claims for reim-
bursemcnt for this class of names have been
disallowed by the Commission. 1t has been
argued to us repeatedly, persistcntly, and in
some cases with considerable feeling. that such
names should be allowed because they were
purchased in good faith by municipal officers,
and generally, were not paid for until the GER
tificate of Il United States official was present
ed, showing that they were allowed on the
quota of the municipality for which they were
purchased; and that, inasmuch as the names
were mus once accepted ny tle government
through its officials instead of the men that
had been called for, the Commissioners should
not make questions as to the regularity of that
proceeding, but should act upon the presump-
ton that whatever had the sanction of a Gov
ernment official must have been right and
regular.
To this argument our reply has been, and is
/. 1t is by no means matter of course that
municipal officers acted in good faith in all
cases in the purchase of these names to fill
their quota. On the contrary, we think the
presumption is against the good faith OF such
transactions. They saw no men mustered in
saw none to be mustered in, in answer to
the names, and no pretense made that
there were any men here, or coming here to
be mustered. Municipal officers knew very
well that the recruiting Of the army by adding
efficient men to its ranks was the object, and
the only object of the call for men, and the
assignment for quotas. And they knew very
well that when they used the money or credit
of their city or town (already staggering UNI
der load of debt incurred since the begin
ming of the war; to fill its assigned quota,
every bounty paid should have added a strong
brave man to the country's defenders. If they