Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-02-05

DURING the last Presidential can-
vass, one of the pledges most conspic-
uously put forth by Gen. GRANT and
mis- friends in his behalf, was economy
and retrenchment of expenditures.
But the contrary is the practice of the
Administration. And when Mr..
DAWES lays bare to public gaze many
unnecessary and extravagant expend-
itures, which might be discontinued,
instead of joining in with him in the
effort to reform, Tray, Blanche and
| Sweetheart, and the whole yelping
pack of party hounds open on him
with miserable partisan abuse and de-
nunciation. Reform is not what they
want, but the spoils; and whoever
stands in their way they treat at once
as an enemy, though before a lifelong
friend.
According to Mr.. DAWES, so far
from the administration of GRANT
being an improvement on that OF
JOHNSON in point of economy, it has
grown far more eXtravagant. And
this gentleman thinks it is quite idle
to approach the President or his Sec
retaries with a view to any reduction
of the estimates. He has pointed out
item by item where millions could be
saved, but all to no purpose. In a
single instance he indicated where a
million and a quarter of dollars could
be saved in the salaries of useless
officers, as the following extract
shows:
Mr.. Dawes went on to relate like
experiences in the Treasury Depart
ment, and said: al went away from
the Treasury Department discouraged.
l took the counsel of influential gen.
tlemen in the party, with this book OF
estimates under my arm, which has
been my constant companion for six
weeks, and l was advised to go to the
President myself; and 1 laid these es-
Inmates and these balances before
him. But-[after a short pause, and
III a LOAAt vi odAA1Noo - dO AbA ~
that-I accomplished anything. l do
not know but that he has more conf
dence in my colleague Butler than in
myself. 1t may be that he will take
my colleague into his bosom and warm
him into new life. CLaughter.) l
know not how that may be, nor can l
calculate what will be the consequence
OF that resuscitatiOn. daughter Butt
fain would believe that the President
believes me to be his friend; and were
l to state the simple truth of what
passed between myself and him, so
like him, 50 true to himself, it would
be a better VindicatiOn of him and of
me than anything that can be said.
He talked Of economy. He said that
his influence should be eXerted to
bring down these estimates. He said
that he had made a personal eXamina-
ton Of the estimates for the War De-
partment. He knew the necessities
of that department better than others,
and he thought that the estimates for
that department were cut down as
low as they could be. After that
statement from a man whose polar
star in the administration of affairs is
econOmy,jk II did not .think it worth
while to appeal from him to the'Sec-
rotary, who had not been a month in
his seat, and whose second official act,
read from the clerks desk here yester-
day, is "A letter to my colleague in aid
of his assault on the Committee on
Appropriations IN its efforts TO reduce
the expenditures. Therefore, sir, ex-
amined into all the departments com
mitted to my charge, and l say that
every other one of them was exam
ined by the other members OF the
committee in the same way; and now,
was il worth while for us. with that
knowledge, to try and induce the rep
resentatives of the people to cut down
expenditures? The work belongs
here. Many of them were the results
Of laws enacted here, and here was
the place to undo them. Many of
them were addressed to our discretion,
and here was the place to consider
and to act On that discretion. Many
of them result from abuses of long
standing. There are to-day fire hun
dred officers Of the army OF duty mOT
than are necessary S0DeT7JaHerarieS.
Can any one tell me what the annual
draft on the treasury for their salaries
is? Take the pay Of a Major, as mid
way in rank, as an average, and null
tiply that by five hundred, and yOu
tciU ind that there is paid annually to
these SUDerHuYHerGrQ officers one million
tr0 hundred and mtg thousand dollars
as salary. Nobody at the other end
of the avenue is responsible for that;
we are responsible for it, and | submit
whether we ought not to hold up these
expenditures before u eyes so that
we may see where we a cut them
down. These are but instances COM
ing to US through the administration
of the past, but we are responsible I'M
less we apply the pruning-knife and
cut off these expenditures. L submit,
Mr.. Chairman, that here where l stood
was the place, and that it was emf
nently proper that the Committee or
Appropriations should do what it could
to arouse a sentiment in the House of
Representatives in favor of uniting in
every effort of any of the departments