The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-09-19

to this Office, IL Is fotlnu, tt,a Treasury.
them with his accounts tan,.aticalIy SaIae.
that they have been sssSt enosit balance in
thp Trnas,1ry hugely in excess on n,e he
tn9 and by these statements a nha L he
| paishSs, acrornts current, uaue W
| perioai. on,,jcs to correspond VIII .n n.,,
iorcea ent, nave appeared entirely res1TIr
Ms accou TINS have escaped susp1MClon .,,r,,
. W. IT. we're performed I'D Cne ta,,ants
nf oaxnminfng and compalans, bsm am
or if Hodge failed TO no te to this office of
| not az Nv bis statements, or OF neglec1 w
| erIo. 81 tbom as required, would nave IN
MAKE, t ,,romnt investigation and undonotea
d dnes" nv and have averted this m0r'n'ins
ca1mtr9 Puma that the frauds have oil been
~ 10 in and through the treasury
pprnper-none by means oil MS u.suus r iS
account with the Assistant, ,e,a cred;ts.
New York, where also ne na a'sa "a, tor his ont.
:' n o',,,rnoses-stock and gold gamoIlng-
s siuo 20, pom drawn in cash from the treasury,
niJ M, -, larnn SIMS. Here again was iall'
n .Iro N the Treasury to enforce require
,ra,+s If law and regulations. MAJOR
mndce,s disbursements required not dol
iar NJ cash, All should have been mace Dy
checks. each covering the amount OF Inc
voucher or vouchers to be paid, their ma
ture stated, with the name OF the party 10
whom payable. (See act of March q, 1871,
and circular instructions OF Inc secretary
of the Treasury of November %, lS69J But
it is now ascertained that Major Hodge mas
received at the Treasury large sums OIL
money in kind, delivered to him or some
bearer, on his mere checks, payable to
" cash or bearer" Cash checks, SO paid,
have been large and numerous-one OF
$50, 600: Others of various denominations
$40, 900, sec, 600, $4,000, &c. These are the
mysterious checks with which he has con-
Quoted his fraudulent transactions. can
only say that if any one of these highly
irregular, unauthorized acts had been made
known to me, it would have apprlsed me
of fraud, and would assuledly have been
visited with condign punishment. Inc
actual amount of Maj. Hodges deficit, as
determined by careful examlnallon' ID
S473, 939.77."
check in his own name was o,ooV' on guy
20, 1870, just before the memoraDie biaoh
Friday in New York.
THE ASSISTANT TREAsURER's STATEMENT.
The following statement in relation TO the
matter is authorized by the acting Treas
urer of the United States:
The attempt Of the pay department 10
foist upon the Treasurers ONCE the re-
soonsibility for the failure to discover at an
earlier date the misrepresentation OF puoilc
funds by Paymaster Hodge Is regarded Dy
the Treasury officials as entirely unWarrant-
cd by the facts. The absurdity of the
lattcmpt is, il is claimed by them, apparent
TO all who are familiar with the mode of
discussing the public funds, and would
render the statements put forth unworthy
of attention had they not been extern
sively circulated, and made the occa-
sion of Dartisan attacks upon the admin
istration of the Treasury. The grounds
for holding the Treasurer responsible,
as presented in the Pay Department YER
sion, were, it will be remembered. the fol-
lowing First, the letter addressed by the
Treasurer to the Paymaster.G General on Inc
9th of May, 1866, in which he said q" Ii
instructions should be issued from your
office directing all paymasters to report TO
this office the balances remaining to their
credit at the close of each week, designating
the place of such deposit. / think the pre-,
sent system might be made to work safely"
In accordance with this suggestion, tue
Plymaster- General forthwith issued cir
cular recurring all paymaStcrs to report
their balances weekly TO The Treasurer. IL
is claimed by the Pay Department that
proper comparison Of these reports at the
Treasury with those from the various qc-
positories showing the balances held by
|! Them to the credit OF disbursing officers,
would have led TO the speedy detection Of
any dealcatlon.
In the second place, the Pay Depart
mcnt alleges that the payment by the Irea-
surer OF checks drawn by Paymaster
Hodge, payable to leash or bearer" for
iarne amounts, afforded him facilities Tor
The improper withdrawal of money, which
be would not have enjoyed had tho Giro ular
of the Secretary OF the Treasury OF No
yembcr 23d, 1869, concerning the dlsburse-
ment Of the public money been complied
with.
TO the first of these allegations the Trea-
sury officials reply that the letter OF dcn.
Spinner was never Intended TO De con-
strued as assuming for the treasurer the
responsibility for The proper disbursement
Of the funds entrusted to the officers OF Inc
pay department.. or as absolVinS tnaI de-
partmcnt from the responsibility of keep
in. all proper checks upon its officers.
EXperience soon demonstrated that the
reports required Of paymasters were no
protection whatever against fraud. Even
| in the case of honest officers the balances
reported by them would always be less
| than the amounts reported by the deposit
! aries, by just the amount OF their outstand-
! ing checks. In the case of an officer like
| Col. Hodge, who disbursed half 4 million or
more every month, the discrepancies arts
| ing from this cause between the two bal
anrcs reported would be SO great as to rem
| der the reports utterly useless as checks
| upon each other. If the officer were
| dishonest, and had misapproprlated
money, nothing would be easier Tor
HIM than to make his report
| agree with those of the depository which
| kept bis funds. Every othcers honest or
| dishonest, knows the amount OF funds 10
his credit, and it would require an amount
OF stupidity amounting to faulty for dis
honest officer to report to the treasurer an
amount to his credit larger than that which
he knew would be reported by the deposl-
tory with whom he kept his account. For
| these reasons the Treasury soon ceased to
| place reliance upon these reports as means
| for the detection of fraud, and was not al
| ways prompt in requiring them to be made
| when officers failed to send them in.
! Viewed in this light, the failure OF the
Treasurer to require reports from Col.
Hodge is utterly immaterial, so far as any
responsibility for the detalcation goes, since
no scrutiny or comparison to which the
Treasurer could subject them would reveal
| their dishonest character. The only way
| in which any discrepancies in his reports
| could have been discovered, had such re-
| ports been made, would have been by COM
| pairing them with his reports TO the
| Paymlster- General; but inasmuch as the
misappropriuted funds were all drawn
from his accounts with the Trea-
surer, the discrepancies could have
| been just as easily discovered by an