American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-04-27


civil office, and yet who does not know tina
the White House 10 filled with army officer
, acting Secretaries tapplausel, not da
| passes during the session of Congress tina
we do not receive a message from the Pres
| dent of the United States deliv cred, not b
that Secretary for whom the law provide
and pays, but by an officer, Major in til
regular army. Applause and hisses.l
Fellow citizens: Suppose Andrew Johnso
had sent an army up to Albany, and organ
lied q Legislature for you, and to tell yO
certain persons should take seats, and Gel
tain Others should not, and there is no pos
tive statute of Congress against that, woul
it not be a gross usurpation! AT the sam
time, suppose johnson had filled the Whit
House with military officers discharging tn
functions of civilians contrary to law, do yOl
think it would have passed unnoticedy How
long can this people preserve their lbertie
if they quietly submit to this encroachmen
OF those in authority? Applause Tn
safety of the citizen, let me say to you, ant
| protection to his person and his property, i
to be found in local laws which the peopl
themselves administer lapplausel, and not il
a central government. When the powers o
the Government are combined, if this system
of encroachment is permitted to go on, thu
| day is not distant when our republican sys
tenn, based on the idea of q division of tn,
| powers between the Federal Government ant
the States, will be transformed into one I'm
perial despotism with all the power at tn,
| City of Washington, and care not whethe
that power is exercised by single person
| as a monarch, or by five hundred person.
called a Congress, it is equally despotism
| [Applausc.1 And the doctrine is boldly pro
| claimed by men high in authority that the
States of this Union have such powers only
| as are conferred upon them by the Constitu
| ton of the United States, when directly the
| reverse is true, and the States have all the
| power, except such as the Constitution OF
the United States has conferred upon the
| United States or has withheld from the States
The difference is this: The Government OF
| the United States is a Government of deriva
| tive powers. Thus in the States, the Govern
| ment is inherent. They have all the powers
not denied them, while the Government OF
| the United States has no power except such
as is given it-[Applausel and such the
Constitution of the United States gives, for
| it declares in one of its amendments that all
power not conferred by this Constitution to
the United States is reserved to the States
respectively or to the people Of the States.
But pass from these encroachments of the
Federal Government to another matter that
is complained of, and justly, and perhaps
more loudly than any other by the people.
That is the abuses and corruptions of the
Government. You here in the city of New
York first disclosed the robberies which were
being practiced by those in authority, and
that awakened public sentiment in the coun-
try that caused the people all over the land
to look to their officers, and ascertain what
disposition they were making of the money
which was collected from them, and in the
city of Chicago several officials have been
convicted of receiving brides, and other Of
fenses, and are now suffering the penalties
OF their crimes in prison. lApplause.l In
the Government of the United States, al
though we have not been able to unearth and
disclose all the corruptions-in fact, l think
we have only just seen the surface of what
exists below-still enough has been shown
to show that abuses exist. 1 will illustrate
by reference to two or three cases. One that
has recently occurred and been brought to
light is that of an officer who has charge of
all the National Banks of the country;
without whose fiat the National Banks can
not exist, whose duties it is to supervise and
watch them when organized, SO that there
can be no fraud upon the law or upon the
people. Within few weeks it has been
discovered that that officer, when he was in
curing into the delinquency of one of these
banks, received as present from one of its
officers a carriage and harness in the city of
Washington. He was observed walking
down the avenue in the company of offi-
an account of certain defalcations in his
bank, and of the misuse of the money of
the people. Afterward he walked with
the head of the Bureau, and, on
in and bought fine carriage and
harness. Clerks, it is proved, also received
moneys. Well, what happened Why, the
Committee that Investigated this, Commit
tee friendly to the officer and friendly to the
Administration, reported that, in their opin-
ion, the good management of the Currency
Bureau required that there should be u
change in the officer at the head of that De-
officer was permitted to resign and go out of
office honOrably on his resignation. Now
suppose that officer had been delinquent in
the discharge of some political requirement;
suppose he refused to pay an assessment for
party purposes that he had refused to use
his influence to pack primary meeting or
control Convention in the interest of some
favorites, perhaps of some Congressman
who gave him his place, do you think he
would have been permitted to resign Why,
the political Suillotine would have come
down. and off head would come his head, and
his trunklcss body would have tumbled out
Of office as monument to all other officers of
the fate of those who betrayed them. APP
plause.l There is another officer who has
been recently investigated, only slightly SO,
as 1 think-one of the Cabinet officers ,-th
Secretary of one of the Departments-and
what has he been doing :? Why simply this.
A few years ago, during the war, the Govern
mont entered into a contract with certain
persons to build some vessels. After
the contracts were made the Government
changed the plan some, and it is alleged that
they delayed the contractors in the compile
ton of the vessels, by which they suffered |
in consequence of a rise in the price of ma |
terial and labor. In the year 1867, two years
after the war was over, they complained that
they had suffered great loss by rea- |
son of this action of the Government, and
asked to be paid. Congress passed a |
law authorizing the Secretary of the |
Navy to convene number of officers to ex- |
anime into their complaint and see what, if
was due them. That Board met |
and reported that there was due the con
tractors, in consequence of the action of the |
S115, 800. Thcreupon the Gov |
Of the United States, through its |
Congress, in 1868, passed law directing |
S115, 800 to be paid these contractors in full |
Of all claims growing out of the construction |
of these vessels. That money was paid and |
received Don't you think that ought to |
have been the end of it? But it was not. Oh, |
no. without any law the Secretary organ |
lied another Board, and told them to inquire |
into this matter, and they did examine, and |
report ed that the contractors ought to have
S93, 600 more. This was a Board, now, of his |
own subordinates. There was no law direct
ing him to appoint this Board, as there was
in 1867, by another Secretary, but he appoint
ed 1t OF his own volition; and then what |
does he do? Why, he pays them this 1913, 600 |
besides. What do you think of that? And |
he not only pays that money, but he pays it |
without any appropriation to pay it with.
The officer might just as well have taken
e!3, 600 out of the Treasury, without any ex-
animation at all, as to have taken the particu-
lar money he did. He not only violated the law.
by paying money on an account that had |
been settled, but also by taking money that
had never been appropriated for such pur-
pose. What is his answer to that? The an
swcr is, that was his construction of the law.
Laughter. The question is, had they any
authority to pay the money? | think moth
ng due in this case. Due or not due,
here was no authority in the Secretary to
open this account and pay the so, 700 be
side.
Mr.. TrumbulI went on to say that there
should he a reform in revenue system,
BY which taxation shall be reduced, and SO
arranged as to bear equally, as far as posi-
Die upon all branches of industry, without