The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-09-06

magistrate was UestOWHR Tue urst "
" fees in the government upon person
/, from whom he had received valuabl
" gifts. And that he bestowed iucrady
e positions upon relatives and favorite
d without regard to fitness, as though tn
:, Government belonged TO himself, in
n stead of to the people. To such an eA
tent were these grievances carried tina
e Congress felt twice called upon to ad
minister rebuke not the less severe
because it was indirect The House ex
J PEELED Whittemore for appointing to
{ cadetship the son Of man from WHOM
; he had received a present OF fifteer
: hundred dollars And an act wa!
! passed making it a penal offense fol
! clerks TO make presents TO the chiefs o
: their bureaus.
: But an honest and patriotic people
are at loss to understand how it car
be right for the President TO receive
,, gifts Of great value from persons on
whom he confers office; and wrong for
a member Of Congress to do the same
thing. Why the latter should be ex'
PEELED while the former is not i'm
peached!
THE PRESIDENTS CABINET.
In vain do the people demand, What
becomes Of our taxes Have they
the right to know? or have they lost
all their rights? The Constitution de
clares that "a regular statement and
account OF the receipts and expenditures
of all public money shall be made from
time to time" And law OF Congress
enforces this requirement of the Consti-
tuition. But during the past six years
no such regular statement of expendi-
lures has been made 1t is true that a
statement is made, but it is fraud and
a cheat, intended TO deceive, but not to
inform the people what becomes oftheir
taxes One Item OF expenditure is
given, followed by half dozen DC,
DC, &c, &c, DC, &c; but what the
et ccterds stand for no one knows. An
ct ceterd may mean anything.
Article |, Section 9 of the Constitu-
! ton, among other things, provldes-
No money shall be drawn from the
Treasury except by appropriations made
! by law" But it is notorious fact-a
fact charged on the floor of the House,
and never denied-that each of PreSi-
dent Grants Cabinet officers as well as
each chief of bureau, keeps a car
riage and horses: coachman and foot
man, and all paid with the peoples
taxes, and without the authority Of law.
! If a Cabinet officer can illegally take
money from the treasury to buy and
keep up 4 carriage and horses and pay
the wages of coachman and followers,
where is the limit at which he is TO
stop?
THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT.
mo money shall be drawn from the
treasury except by appropriations made
by law.
The reason for this provision OF the
Constitution is evident, for if without
the authority Of law the President or
Cabinet officer can take from the
treasury one thousand dollars, why not
one hundred thousand, or one hundred
millions. to he used as the President or
his Minister may choose? will
give a few examples: In the depart
ments there are four grades OF clerks
the fourth receive eighteen hundred,
the third sixteen hundred, the second
fourteen hundred and the first twelve
hundred dollars, and none but chief
clerks are allowed larger sum In
consequence OF an anonymous letter
received by me, on the 18th Of January
last, offered resolution, which passed
the House embracing five interroga-
tories, calling upon Mr. Boutwell, Tor
certain information, and on the 23d of
February it was replied to by Executive
Document No. lSS, which ! hold in my
hand
The third question called ON Mr.
Boutwell, for "a statement embracing
the names of the clerks now in this
Department other than chief clerks,
who receive more than eighteen hun
bred dollars salary And | will read
from page 6 Of Secretary Boutwell, 3
answer, as follows:
"A list of the clerks and their names
now january IL, 1870, receiving more
than at the rate of $500 per annum,
other than chief clerks Of the bureaus
Of the Treasury Department And
here follows the names OF fifty-nine
clerks who receive illegal salaries, vary
ing in amounts from two thousand to
| five thousand dollars; and the Secre-
tary does not deign to apologize for,
or excuse this palpable violation oflaw,
and he continues to pay just such sal
aries as he chooses and 10 whom he
chooses, aud then coolly certiies that
he does So
In fact, my friends, it is impossible
for either you or | to tell what is the
condition of the Government from the
estimates or reports of the heads of the
departments. Thus, in his letter Of
June |, the Secretary Of the Treasury
admits that he is paying, ont Of funds
in the Treasury, more than sixteen
hundred persons for whom no appro-
priation was made according TO law,
and that many more than are stated in
his estimate Of expenditures sent to
Congress-that is, instead of sixteen
hundred clerks in the Treasury De.
partment. as shown in the estimate OF
the Secretary, there are more than
three thousand; and this tact was
dragged into the light 10y the resolu-
ton to which have already referred.
am thus particular, my friends, in
calling your attention to this matter,
that you may lie on your guard against
the false statements that are being
made as to the reduction Of taxes and
payments on the public debt
Time will not permit me to 90
through this document page by page,
but ] will call your attention to an
item or two more. Here, on the third
page, it appears that the economical
gentlemen who have administered the
LLAMA pa,l ~ Ado .