New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-01-04
Aleu- Orlea:,s s,ep''bl'fa'',
-
aEFICIAL IOvRNALOf THE UNITED STATES
srr,cisl JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS
REBATES In THE HOUSE.
WEDNESDAY, January ), 1872

In The House of Representative yesltr-
day, Speaker Carter IN the chalr' ai'ei
routine business ma
MIR, Garstkamp-I wish to make "a mo
ton I, ,,,o+;or IN
.aodd nav | wish TO call the attention
~ tho Uorse TO rule No. n OF the cohstl-
tut;on (which he read l have been III
fo,med his morning by my trlends-not my
anemes-tlat | spoke abruptly to several
of the members yesterday, especially 20 W.
Uarper If | said anything dlsrespecti"l
anoIooize. and | expect every one To per
form the same courtesy TO me-thaI m I!l
Isav for myself. for have one more thihS
to say which is very important. l navy
been maiiciously assailed IN my oiiic.''
nosition Inv the official journal OF the state
and c.,,-or
Mr. Moncure-Mr. Carter hos the IGOR
Mr. GaIstkamp-Mr. Speaker, have the
floor, sir. -, NJ
A. W. Gorstkamp-Mr Speaker, l have the
The The Sneaker decide that Mr.. Carter is
entitled 10 the floor.
Mr.. Garstkamp-I appeal from the de-
cision Of the chair.
Cries for the yeas and nays
:
called for. | now intend to put the ques-
lion. An appeal has been made from my
decision The question is. has the member
right to the floor TO speak upon the ques-
ton
At this point there was so much confusion
that the Speaker raped his savel twice,
and said, Gentlemen, | can not hear one
word that you say.
Mr.. Dowees-What is the question!
The Sneaker-I have stated IT, The uIieS-
ton is, has the member right to the floor.
a member ask the privilege Of exclud
ing my vote.
Cries of mo-" and don't excuse him
The STANDARDIZATION being made,
leave is not granted.
The roll was then called. and the member
was allowed the floor by the following
yote-yeas 90, nays 10.
Mr.. Carter-Mr Speaker. rise to priyi-
legged question and personal explanation
which | will state. And | will try to con
fine myself to the prophecies OF the oc
casiOn. The personal question Is this: The
official journal has assaulted my official
character, and has official statements III
connection with me in my official capacity.
/ am not answering personal assault IN
newspaper. | am answering official charges
made by the official journal against my
official conduct III certain directions. Will
be as brief as | can, and as respectful as
know how to be consistently with the truth
do not purpose to make the sort of state
ment that some of the gentlemen who voted
not to allow privilege that no leglsla-
tive body ever denied before that have
any knowledge OF. | do not purpose to
make that sort Of a speech that some OF
them expect.
| am charged with having involved the
State in debt of $4,000 for expenses of
this House. That is the first charge. am
charged with issuing fraudulent warrants,
and forming a conspiracy with certain Re
nublcans and Democrats to defraud the
State by means of fraudulent warrants and
fraudulent vouchers to the amount of
$500. 0OO and divers other things of that
sort. OF course, these charges are false
that are made in this paper. The expenses
of the House, whether ascertained from the
warrant clerks books, or from the experts
appointed, amount to SIUU,OO0. That IN
cludes outstanding vouchers, contingent
items, etc F.; and a large amount OF that is
outstanding and has not been collected,
For attempted to be collected
A large proportion of this was incurred
before | was in the chair. ! was in the
chair thirty DAYS; my predecessor thirty
days; and the warrant CLERK 5 books will
show that the larger proportion OF this
amount of 100000 was incurred before /
took the chair. | am not charging anybody
with fraud, but simply stating fact.
large proportion of the debt incurred was
which stood over, just Ike the expenses of
this year stand over. y large proportion
was to meet expenses that grew 0ut OF what
am compelled, in all truth, to say was
wasteful, inconsiderate, eXtravagant eX-
penditure OF money, authorized by You,
gentlemen by you; and If you have the
pluck of men i'll you. don't shoulder your
sins on me. will take my full share, but
nv shoulders are not broad enough to take
the sins of a hundred.
Now say there were thirty -One standing
committees when took the chair, with a
full complement of clerks, and twenty
special committees with full cOmplementOf
clerks, and full complement OF messen
gers. pOrters, pages, and an exceedingly
elegant stationery account, including hams,
champagne. etc. All that was before |
came in. What took place after came i'll
am not prepared to say. because | have
not looked at the books. It may be Just as
bad in the stationery department on my
side l don't know about that. But mean
to say that this was the state of facts, and
that the House created these committees
and authorized the employment of these
porters. clerks and pages, and am not
responsible for all Of that. From IL state
ment furnished by the Committee on Con
tingent Expenses | have formed
a tabular statement showing S259,0t0
spent by the last Legislature. Now,
| want to state that this first state
mCnt. that am responsible Tor StOU.GD0. Is |
simply patent falSeh0od, without parti- |
Gle of truth, and there is not decent man
in this House that will look me in the face,
and say that ain responsible l had as
little to do with creating the expenses as
any man in this House, before | came to the
chair. The first statement, that | am
responsible for this expenditure of 100000, |
is not true, inasmuch as the machinery of
this House was inaugurated before | took
the chair. This costly machinery Of clerks
pages, porters, and eXtravagant stationary
bills, was all inaugurated before took the
chair. 1t did MT receive my vote, not any
portion Of it, except vote for the
committee that Mr.. Davidson moved
to create, on public and private land
clains-a most important committee this.
The charge that l conspired with Demo
Gratis and certain pet Republicans to de- |
fraud the State out Of S300,0 900; that | is
sued warrants and vouchers for services
never rendered is just as false as the first. |
Before took the chair the House appointed
certain travelling committees, OF one OF
which MIR. Barrett WAS chairman and a half !
dozen others. These committees were lie
quired by the House to perform certain |
duties that necessitated great deal of
travelling, which created an item of $4,000 |
travelling eXpenses-not extra mileage, but |
special mileage; it ought not to be called |
mileage. 1t Is not mileage in the sense of |
the statute. Then there were other travel |
ing committees on levees, banks and other !
corporations. The book will show that this |
item reached nearly up to $4,000. As far |
as | am informed it was not collected. But |
the House created these committees and J
instructed them to perform certain
thnip