The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-01-27
The Latest News.
xL1st CONGRESS.
EEcoND snNOS.
YAsn1NnrnN. D. C. Jan. q.

| investigate the cause o. INC ANunuAle
disaster, and report whether Congress has
the power under the constitution To legiS'
lAts 20 Ss tn prevent such occurrences
Adopted.
Tho League Island bill was discussed
At length, and the previous question
seconded and finally on motion Of Dir.
DAWES was tabled
Mr.. JuLIAH offered resolution Of In.
quiry As 70 the appointment ofa Land
OommiaSloner, TO be charged with .
special duty OF facilitating the acquisition
Of homesteads by freedmen and other
IAndless people in the Southern States,
Adopted.
Nj. WusoS offered resolution Of In.
quiry as 70 the extent and value OF i'm
ports Of foreign commodities susceptible
Of production in the United States, IS
plants useful for dye stuff, medicines, food,
textile and hbrOuS materials, and other
economical puEpoSea Adopted.
The House at els went into Committee
Of the Whole, Mr.. CESSNA In the chair,
and took up the Legislative, Executive
and Judicial Appropriation bill.
BLr. BUTLER, Of Massachusetts,. address.
cd the committee In reply TO the speech o.
his colleague, Mr.. DAWES. The object OF
tllat speech was 70 Ahow 10 the unthlnk.
Ing and unreAecting that the drSt year Of
President Grants administration called for
an appropriation Of 80, ,Gs2, ,6S7 more than
the expenditures Of the last year Of SLE.
JOhnsOn's administration. Whether It
was intentional or mot, the deception was
n overlooking the fact that the estimates
Of Andrew johnson were based on large
unexBOnded balances, the balnNce for the
navy then being SIS, ,000, 900, and that for
the QuArternRster'S Department Of the
army $0,00OOO0. Those balances were
now expended, and substantially every
Clollar available, for, In this connection,
Mr.. BUTLER read letter TO himself from
Secretary Boutwell, giving the unexpended
balances Of June, 1868, GS follows: War
Department, $40, ,8SS ,201; Navy, $lS,.
SEQ, ,O32; Indian and Pension Departments,
$20,O97, ,Os8; civil service, $l8, ~ ,6SS; TO-
tai, 1856, ,428,459.
Rcsuming his argument, he said that
Andrew JOhnSon'S Secretaries In 1868
should have made their estimates In view
Of those balances, while General Grants
Secretaries in 1869 made their. estimates
without any view Of such balances in the
Treasury, those balances being substan-
TALLY expended. AstO the War Depart
ment, the estimates for the year ending
June Both, 1850, were 81, ,000, 900, and II
to that wetc added the old war dehtspaid,
II would bring II 10 $80,000,00O. The
army expenses for the year ending June
Both, 1870, tho first year Of General
Grants, were 81, 100000. The reduction
in the army expenditures from the last
year 6f JOhnsOn's 10 tho first year OF
General Grants Administration was $i2 i,
8J9, ,993, and the estimated reduction for.
the next year was $6,119,I45, and he
trusted the reduction would still 90 on.
AS to the Post 0fEice Department, IFS col.
league knew that nearly $19, 900, 900 Of
the estimated excess was clerical error.
The whole amount asked for by the Post
Office Department, instead Of being &39,.
1874 ,784 Us appeared in the book of Estimates
was $97, 49, ,6SS. This error was diScOv.
cred at tho Department on the 7th Of De.
cembeF, and hs colleague had been nOti.
fed Of It. Referring In this connection,
he proposed the abolition Of the ftanking
privilege. lie expressed his desired 70 SEQ
II abolished, because It was an impede
merlt and nuisance; but he wished 10
sGc itabollshed for everybody, everywhere;
and above all he wanted 10 see every
newspaper pay It's postage for their use Of
the ftanking privilege.
As 10 the Navy Department, and his
colleagues Sneer at attempted economy In
coal, he could show that instead Of coal
tor the navy costing $lJO,OOO a year, the
cStinlate for coal for two years, 1898 and
1860, amounted to 81 900.
As to the Treasury Department, he pro-
cecded to show that the excess In Its eSti.
mates wAs caused by the Legislation OF
COpgrcss in ordering the erection Of
public buildings, such asSthe New
YOrk aud Boston poSt OfaceA, DC, which
made a difference against last year Of
over six Millions Ills colleague had not
seen fit to pay his respects particularly to
the State Department, perhaps because
the difference was only $32 900 but that
department like all the rest, could stand q
true test Of economy in expenditures.
The expenditures for the past year In that
Department was $4,000 less than the last
year Of johnson ) Administrator, AStQ
tho Interior Department he could account
for 81 EOS 900 Of the excess Of estimates
Explanation was 10 be found in theiact, that
now for the first time the appropriations
were made directly for the Patent Office,
instead Of being pSid OUT d the Patent
Office fund that the Land Office requiE.
cd $4,000 additional foFlAnd surveys,
owing to the immense emigration,
and that there was difference Of $l1,.
! 100000 for Pensions, owing to an unex.
pended balance last tTeaFcB But his colleague
had omitted % mention the GxtEaVakaut
estimates for Congress, IN which there Was
an excess Of estimates Of 81, $4,000 He
undertook to show that the amounts not
properly chargcable to excess Of expendi-
ture IN Gen. Grants administration were
$59, ,8oQ, 900 .leos than the amounts Of ap=
parent estimates; or deducting $40, 100000
which Il charged as the excess this year
over $l0, 500, 600 really less the appropria.
ton last year, It would thus be, seen that
instead Of this Administration calling for
more than 1t had last year To carry on the
government, 1t asked for and recommend.
ed an appropriation Of sum which was
in fact over ten millions less than that Of
last year, or thirty millions less than An
drew Johnson's estimates, showing that
the professions Of economy which Gen.
eral Grant put forward in his
message, which every one Of his sec
retAries recommended and enforced in
their reports, were not, rs tho chairman Of
the Committee on Appropriations stated,
false professions, and not intended TO be
carried out in fact Hls colleague should
have remembered that he was a part Of
an important part Of this Administrator,
and il anything seemed TO ba wrong, Il
was his duty 10 the administration and 70
his party to have sought most carefully
for an explanation. He was informed
that he had not done 50, except In one or
/ 6,.s, ,ft tfn ,lsO,o lsVlnaRk, ttSA 1,fH