The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-09-15


: in nine cases out Of ten were turne
= over to their SUCCESSORS, or were il
I solvent. The vouchers to settle thes
. accounts may be, and no doubt are, o.
2 file, and in due course the balance,
E any, will be adjusted and paid. Now
e il is Just as cruel and hard to ca
) these men rascals and defaalters, as
( would be 10 call you a rascal becaus
a merchant had you charged with Al
= account that you had paid. In tn
, same way any discussing officer Ofth
} army, any paymaster, quartermaste
or captain, might be arraigned as a de
2 faulter, if his property accounts wer
2 not yet closed. can not but thinl
} that General Morgan has, in hi
: wholesale SANDER OF public officers
merely for political sensation, don
: injustice to himself and his characte
for fairness and candor.
THE PARTY THAT MORGAN SHOULI
DEFEND.
The next point made by Genera
Morgan, most respectfully turn owe
to Mr.. Hubbell. 1t was order No. 70
which it seems the venerable anC
Yeritable Gideon Welles, as Secretary
, of the Navy under President Johnson
issued in May, 1856, and by which, as
Morgan alleges, he unlawfully and un,
, cOnstitUtiOnally raised the pay of TIE
navy. Now, if this is true as stated
il was an impeachable offense of the
i highest grade, and the fault was, thai
! brother Hubbell, then our Represen.
i tative, did not have both johnson and
Welles impeached for Oh crimes and
misdemeanOrs. UpOnA Irgan's show
ing il is a clear case, an, / call upon
Hubbell either to defe his chief
whose banner he follow el from ouf
ranks, or TO explain his neglect of duty.
L think | could help him alittle by a
very simple explanation, but / will
not dim his lauTels by sharing them.
Certain it is that the Republican par
| ty at the last session corrected the
matter by defining and reducing the
pay of the navy.
This question of the application Of
public money by executive officers,
without authority of law, is one of the
most important in our system of gov
ernment and one on which the ae-
ton Of the Republican party Is most
creditable. / remember that during
| the first session of Congress, in which
L served in 1856, the attention of the
country was called to the misapplica-
ton of public money to support and
enforce the bogus laws of the border
ruffians i'm Kansas. The Republican
party tried to prevent it by an amend
ment to an appropriation bill, but the
Democratic Senate refused, and Con-
Tess was held until late in September
on this issue. Finally the bill passed
without the prOyisO, but with no ap-
preparation at all for the Kansas Leg
islature. Then it was that Pierce's
administration, in plain disregard of
law, transferred other funds and used
them to pay AtehisOn's horde of Mis-
sourians. This called my attention to
this subject, and found it was COM
mon practice TO lap over and transfer
appropriations from one object to an
other, and thus entirely defeat the
constitutional power of Congress over
appropriations. tried over and over
again to correct these abuses, but a
Democratic Senate stood in the way |
During the war it was essential to con- |
tinue this power as to the army and /
navy, but Congress limited the power |
to these two departments. Since the |
war, upon my motion, and mainly in |
consequence of Welles' order, the |
transfer of appropriations was pro-
hibted in all cases-and it was by this /
provision of law;inserted in 1868, that |
Admiral Porter was brought up with |
a short turn last year, when he I'M
dertOOk by the transfer of apprOpria-
tiOns to imprOvise a new navy. We /
were asked last winter by the Secre-
tary of the Navy to authorize the
transfer, but this was refused by Con-
gress.
There is another mode in which the
power of Congress 70 limit expendi-
lures has been evaded time out of
mind, and that is by using unexpend-
ed balances of old appropriations.
This is a tapping game. The routine
officers of the departments always in-
sisted that they could not get along
without this practice, though it led
to scandalous abuses. Well, at the
last session, Congress, on my motion,
prohibited appropriation made for
one year to be used in any subsequent
year. except to pay old expenses actu-
ally contracted but not paid. This
and the law of 1868 cuts up at the
roots these abuses, and leaves tfre E,x-
ecutive Departments to expend only II
The actual sums appropriated for spe-
life purposes and within a given
year. Now this important reform
las been made without the aid of
General Morgan or his associates, and
las been applied by q Republican
Congress to a Republican admins
ration. Why could not Gen. Nor
gan inform you of this when he I
alked of order No. IS? If he is in
earnest about reform he will be graft
led to know that this reform is an
fact.
NEW ENGLAND.
The balance of Gene Il Morgan's
peech is the old arraignl lent of New
England It contains onle truths
md MANY errors. It is tT-- that Mas
is careful of hel local in
crest. 1t is true That she stuck to
Ter fishing bounties until Republi-
an Congress repealed them. 1t is !
rue she has a ready facility to gather !
I'D old claims and get them paid. !
9eneral Morgan is very unfortunate
n citing this as an instance of Mas
greediness. According to :
lis own showing, two of these claims
we're paid by Democratic Congresses, :
md the only opposition to the last in
he Senate was made by Republican
Senator'S. It was a claim for interest =
or advances made to the United States
Iuring the war of 1912, and it was set
led on the precise rule applied to :
very other State. / thought the rule
wrong one, but not 4 single Demo- I
ratio Senator agreed with me, and
mt few Republicans. Gen. Morgan
} now rather late in coming to the J
escue. 1t passed the House of Rep
several times. They did
lot hear from him there. Why did :
le not there bring ont the opposition !
f General Strong to the war of 1872,
md the apOeryphal blue lights of Con- l
Iecticut, the only Democratic New
State?
but it is not true that Massachusetts
) unlike any other State in attending
o her local interests. Ohio prOteets
Ier local interests with as much in !,
ustry and ability as any other State
nd perhaps may say is not less in
.uential in the Government of the
Iation than any other State. tt IS
lot true that the Tariff or Revenue
avs in any respect favor the interest
f New England to the detriment of
ther States, or that her voice is more
,otent than other sections. This is
he stale residuum of old politics, !
ghen there were no powers but South
,arolina and Massachusetts,. He for
cts that It is nearly forty years since
Webster and Hayne debated all this.
70 longer need the mighty West, with
IS increasing power, whine about the
influence of other sections. She has :
,ut to strech forth her hand to take, y
o dictate, and to govern. General .
Iorgan and are both Western men,
nd ought not to grumble when We J
ave the power in our own hands.
The Empire Of this nation rests now
Irm in the Mississippi valley.
Again: He says we in Ohio have to !
ay more than our own share Of taxes
ecause in Ohio there is collected SIG,
81, ,497 internal taxes, and nearly all
n whisky. If this reasoning be true
hen we pay scarce any custom du-
les. New York pays nearly all. His
is fallaciOus. Moreover con-
umers Of whisky pay the duty, and !
IL the States and all the sections I
hare in the payment Of the taxes to
he precise extent they consume the 7
rticIes taxed. Consumption depends
-, A. dfgFrihutiou NJ x1yaaIth on1 4