The Huntington argus. [volume] (Huntington, W. Va.) 1872-1905, 1872-05-25

which has been expended, without any
appropriation whatever having been
made by law; and not one cent of the
same has been accounted Tor, nor caa q b
accounted for, by the Departments at
Washington.
But the strangest part of this unhallow.
ed knavery is found in the fact, that after
Mr. Beck procured the Introduction OF one
or more, reSo,rt;on in the House. requir
ing the Departments to furnish Congress
with a statement Of the anouaf of money
derived from these sales Of public proper.
ty, and how it has been disposed Of and
into whose hands il had fallen, and though,
the information was sought to be obtained
in legal and legitimate manner, and the
people had a right to be put in possession
Of these facts and Mr. Beck, as their
Representative. Lad a right to ds,aanl
them. They oshd not be obtainedi
1t was refused-absoluiely denied, by
the party IN power, and God and the Rad
ical ofiice.holders only kio,s what become
OF it; though it seems to be well under.
stood that it was not legally appropriated.
The statements made by Mr. Beck were
not contradicted at the time There was
no Radical on the floor OF the House who
was bold enough to deny that the sums
above named were no, received by the Gov.
ernment, or that they had been used in ex.
cess of the appropriations made by Con
gress, and in violation of all lac
The only apology made for the shame
less hiering, on the part OF the Govern
ment, was the flimsy and pitin,l one, that
the accounts of the departments were too
voluminous to be made ont and sent to
Congress, in obedience to Mr.. Becks reso-
lationi and the following were the remarks
OF that gentleman upon such a flinsy ex.
cuse lie said, in his place:
" The day Of reckoning l. at hand. The
people begin to understand that the whole ad .
ministration of the Government is reekipe
with corruption. The Investigations recently
Instituted hardly penetrate the bark. The
core will be reached il we ever get majority
on this hoor aud can demand a thorough in
vestigaton Of the books of the various Exec
utive Departments Of this Government We
will then know what aud how much properly
was sold in order to produce the $lOT $50 40
which the Quartormaster General says he has
received and spent in excess Of all appropria-
tons. We will learn what IL took to produce
the S17, ,l32,O27 70 which the Chief Of Ordnance
7 says he has obtained from the sales of the
property Of our constituents. We will try and
| learn what has been done with the proceeds OF
the three hundred and sixty-three ships which
We know officially have been cold by the Navy
department., a. well as Of the other untold mil.
lions which have gone Of the political parasite,
who, from pauPers and bankrupts, have be.
come millionaires on boggsrly salaries.
! IL Is slowly but surely penetrating the brain
Of eonhding and long suffering people that
all the robbcries perpetratod under the guisc
Of reeonstruciion were only part Of u scheme
OF purchasing party fcalty aud subservencc ;
that the proceeds Of public property which the
Secretary Of War justly says has been sold
: in Immense quantities at public and private
sale" have been paid out for the same purpo-
ses that the tenure Of Office bill was passed to
prevent President johnson from removing par.
tisan and corrupt officials, and from placing
men in power who would expose the frauds and
corruption rampant in every department that
the startling statement made on this floor by
General Schenck, when chairman of the Com
mittcc Of Ways and Means, that over $780,
OOO,OuO had been stolen ia a single year in the
collection Of the single item OF taxes on die
titled spirits. by or with the connivnnce of the
revenue officials, well ~ all the Other out
rageous acts Of the Executive, and Congress,
and their official minions, are but parts or a
system TO purchase loyalty (so eailcdl and fo
maintain the dominant party in power and
place. Corruption is rampant everywhere
Congress and the Departments are alike sean
dAliEcd by corfupt rings, organized everywhere
10 control lcgislations and decisions, which
unless stopped, will bring disgrace on all the
members Of Congress, however honest they
may be-"