The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1872-04-19
EX .rnOrdinary Adm isxiOrss by
tssc Secretary Of war.

QUARTERMAsTER's BUREAU HAS Ex
PENDED SINCE 1865 OVER ONE HUN
DRED AND FIVE MILLIONS IN EXCESS
OF APPROPRIATIONS BY CONGRESS
TIE MONEY SECRETLY OBTAINED By
SALES OF GOVERNMENT PROPERTY
THE FACTS WANTED WITHOUT WHITE.
WASH.
Tashi"9ton Special to the ". 7: World.
WASHINGTON, April 2.-Onc of those
pointed and aggressive debates which
often spring up unforeseen when the
House is in committee of the whole on
some appropriation bill marked the fea-
turc of that body today. 1t is also on
such occasions the Democrats get an
opportunity to make some telling hits
by an exposure of the rrohigacy and
corruptions Of Republican administra.
ton. In the debate on the Army bill
to-day, Mr.. Beck, Of Kentucky. made
startling exhibit. He declared and
produced the figures to prove it, that
the Quastermastcr's Bureau had er-
pended ovcr SIXTY MILLIONS and
THE ORDINANCE BUREAU OVER SEV-
ENTEEN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
IN EXCESS OF THE APPROPRIATIONS
MADE BY CoNGREss SINCE July +.
1860. A letter from the Secretary of
War, in answer to a call for an account
of this, failed to show what had been
done with the money, only that it had
been spent to pay what the department
officials call "the debts of various bu-
reaus." Yet the letter did show that
these expenditures in gross had been
even underestimate by the Democrats,
tor the Secretary says on page / of
Executive Document No. 200, lust
sent to Congress, that the total amount
received by the department since June
30, 1901 in excess of its appropriations
from Congress was the enormous sum of
S107 ,9o9,415 G2. All ofthis has been
used except barely $2,000,0G0. 1t
will thus be seen that the Quartermas-
ter's department alone, leaving out all
the others, has in the last six years,
since the close of the war, spent oyer
ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE MILL
IONS received from public property
sold in addition to all appropriations
made by Congress.
eve are not told, added Mr.. Beck,
"what debts have been paid, what ey-
idence has been required what povtion
has gone to agents and lobbyists and
pets Of the departments. The whole
matter is summarily disposed of with a
mere statement that it has paid certain
debts, and it is mentioned that it is
none of the business of Congress to in
quire what debts have been paid, to
whom they were paid, and for what
they were paid, whether to fayorites,'
&c. This exhibit shows how hollow all
Iprctenses are that the expenses Of the
government can be asccrtained by ex-
amining the appropriations made by
Congress during those years. Yet no
member Of the Republican majority in
Congress ever admitted that dollar
had been expended beyond what appro-
priation bills show.
We have become so accustomed to
talk about millions and hundreds of
millions lately that even the vast sum
s1uanderea by the Quartermaster's bu-
reau is treated as small matter, just
as the S2j0,O0o, ,0oo cut Of which the
impoverished South has been plundered
by the carpet bag -enaissaries of Congress
is regarded as mere bagatelle. 'sIet, -
said Mr. Beck, $l05, 900, 900 is very
considerable sum. All the members of
this House could not count it in two
weeks in gold dollars Is they worked
from sunrise to sunset everyday. 1t
weighs in gold over 236 tons, aud if
loaded in wagons with a ton each, the
teams could not stand in double rows on
Pennsylvania avenue between the
Capital and the White House Yet a
quartermaster in the War Department
can divide it out and the Secretary of
| War become indignant if Congress ven
lures to ask him what has been done
with it!' Mr.. Beck proceeded to show
that the total expenditures of the gov
crnment from 1901 to 1912, twenty
one years, amounted to about one hum
dred millions, orS5, 900, 900 less than
the Quartermaster's Department alone
has sfuandercd in the last six years, in
addition to all the vast sums Congress
has annually appropriated to support it.
lie was complaining of the frightful
amount stolen and squandered during
the war, but showing that hundreds Of
millions worth ofproperty purchased had
been sold since the war and the pro