The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-02-01
said nothing about the gas filter, Who, In the
mere course of business. should have investi-
gated 80 important q matter.


The ChOrpenning Fraud.
The history Of the atr ocious fraud upon the
government which Mr. Dawes exposed so
completely In the House Of Representatives
on Monday is subject OF more moment to the
country than the mere pecuniary less would
Invest 1t with. 1t appears that this man Cnor-
penning, q contractor who carried the mails
from Salt Lake City to Sacramento, had re-
ceived the fair equivalent for his service
according to his contract, but had managed,
by cunningly devised lobbying, to secure, in
1887. the passage Of bill in both houses Of
Congress granting him $233, GIT extra allow
ancs, and r. July last another and similar bill,
securing him $237, Ol7 more. The first install
ment was paid him, and the second would
have been paid him but for the patient investi-
cation which Mr.. Dawes has given to sus-
picious subject and the clear exposition which
he has made. The bills allowing these claims
were passed through the two houses without
discussion, the title being cautiously worded
to avoid suspicion and the engineers of the
movement being anxious to have them passed
as quietly az possible. The items of the extra
allowances were made on the most fimsy
vouchers, and the bill itself was so constructed
that the Postmaster General, In paying the
;claims, was compelled to accept these vouchers
without question. Thus it will be seen how
very loosely legislation is conducted in our
congressional halls, and how easy IL is for
cunning rascality to get the better of
our honest, unsuspicious lawmakers, or law
executors, and to find accomplices among those
;;of our less honest ones.
This case of Chorpenning is no detached
case, but IL is one of closely knit web of
frauds that may, for all we know, have rami-
yications throughout all the responsible gov
ornamental departments of the country. Frauds
pre epidemic. Usually the unearthing Of one
discloses traces of two or three others. Our
government and people are becoming rich,
and are beginning to take that careless leisure
That has been a distinguishing feature Of
weather and older European countries
FOR years. We are consequently less con-
cerned over the loss Of money at the hands Of
Fraudulent contractors, and are less apt in eur
leisure to search such swindles out. This is
Inviting fraud and putting premium on
official dishonesty. In the case of Chorpen-
ming there is no actual dishonesty charged
npon Postmaster General Creswell, but he
was evidently guilty Of negligence in not
reporting to Congress the actual character of
the bill it had so inconsiderately passed.
The two houses Of Congress were also
guilty of negligence, and some members were
Houbtless guilty of downright collision in the
fraud. Negligence itself in such matter is
equivalent to open guilt. As for Postmaster
General Creswell, he should have been above
suspicion, and yet the statement is made in
the House that his law partner and associate
yDne Mr.. Earl who Is also First Assistant
Postmaster Generals actually the managing
counsel for Chorpenning. the pivot about
ewhom this fraud revolves There Is enough
Clrcumstantial evidence here to indicate pretty
clearly what thin volcanic undercrust of
fraud and corruption and negligence the legis-
pative and executive departments Of the gov
ernment rest upon. President Grant owes it
10 himself and to the interests Of his party in
n872, as well as to the interests Of the whole
bountry, to have the case thoroughly investi-
gated and the foulness in oil the departments
thoroughly ventilated and cleaned out.
/ While we take our text from this one in
stance Of fraud, we must bear In mind that
pimilar transactions may have occurred or be
even now in course Of occurrence in every de-
Rartment of the government. We may have
aoose dealings in the Treasury, weak and
bnane diplomacy in the State Department, or
wholesale and well-hidden frauds In the Reve-
nue., just as we have the Chorpenning rascality
in the Post Office Department. We know how
inefficient and unworthy is our navy, and
there may be similar rottenness In the con-
germs of the army. We may never know how
weak is our foundation until at some unex-
pected moment we are compelled to call all
bur resources to our aid. We were in just
Huoh predicament when the rebellion broke
upon us. We thought ourselves strong, and
we were lettering with weakness. France,
who was looked upon by all the nations of
the globe as the great war power Of them all,
WAS found in her hour of need to be a mere
shell, made 80 by just such corruption and
barelessness on the part of her responsible
ministers as we find indicated among our own
by this Chorpenning fraud. We may be
dragged into war at any moment to find that
our commissariat and our ordnance are all
wanting and that our soldiers are only on
paper.