New-York tribune., 1873-12-23
WASHINGTON.
OFFICIAL EXTRAvAGANCE.


A srRIoUs ACCUSATION AGAINST ATTORNEY-6ENFb'h
wIIIAMs-TIIE co ;RNMENT MADE I'D fA'
$1,000 FOR A CARRIAGE FOR MRS wfLLIANs-
OTHER ABUSES IN THE SEVERAL DEPARTMENT.
DOMESTIC SERVANTS ON THE PAh-hoi1S-
STYLISH TEAMS KEPT By OFFICIALS At GoVLRN-
urST rxpENsg-AN INVESTIGATION NEEDED
OPINION THAT VERY LARGE REDUCTIONS CAN BE
M,prI THE EXpENDIIUEEs OF EVERY DEPhkT-
TBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBCNEI
WASHINGTON Dec. 22.-One Of the accusations
against Attorney General Williams in the investi-
cation ow making by the Senate Judiciary Co"i-
rnittee, is that the Government has been made 10
nav for the carriage used by Mrs. Williams. IN
ouiry was made by the Committee, or one some OF
It's members, at the Treasury Department, and tho
following voucher discovered:
WASHINGTON, ID. c., Jan. 10, le72
The United States 20 A. J. Joyce, Dr.
To one landauet for Department Of Justice. Seoo
Received payment, A. =. JOYCE.
This carriage it is SAID was ordered by Mrs. Will
lams for her own use, in accordance with a custom
that has obtained among majority OF the CaDIDet
officers and as there was authority OF law Tor
such an expenditure the fact is used now as an ar
curnent against the confirmation of Mr. Williams 10
be Chief-Justice.
No one would object TO having each Department.
supplied with Slltnccnt ol Hoib'n '"'-
riaqes TO facilitate the Secretaries in dischargng
the duties of their Offices but in addition TO this 10
has become customary for several of the Cabinet
Ministers, and great number Of officials OF lower
rank to keep stylish carriages for the of their
families and to detail messengers, whose names arc
upon the pay-rolls of the Departments, 10 perform
the duties of coachmen and domestic servants ut the
homes of such officials. So great has this abnse be-
come that it is said that the heads of several
bureaus and other officers in the Treasury Depart
ment whose duties during office hours seldom take
them ont of the Treasury building, have expensive
double teams, paid for and kept at Government ex-
pense and which are used almost exclusively for
the convenience of the officials and their families
What is true of the Treasury Department is trno
also of several of the other Executive Departments
There are appointed in the House of Representatives.
in each Congress committees on expenditures III
each OF the Departments. The original purpose IN
creating these committees was to have every session.
a careful examination of the way IN which the
large sum annually appropriated as a contingent
fund in each Department was spent, ana to report
where retrenchment was possible. Practically these
committees have never done any work. At the
nresent time when economy is necessary on every
hand they should at once begin the work OF investi
CATION Whenever the minute workings of the
several Departments have been heretofore inquired
into extravagances have been discovered that have
startled the country
1t is already officially given out that the expenses f
the Departments in Washington cannot be cnt down.
Let one of these committees go into the Treasury
Department and inquire whether the appropriation
of $4,000 made last year for temporary CLERKS can
not be omitted this year and whether SnWo rs not
too much to pay out for stationery, not lDclnding
| printed blanks etc. Besides these, there il asked
for S65 600 for contingencies. such as newspapers,
repair of wagons Of horses, brooms, brushes,
| matches soaps, etc 4; $4,000 for coal wood, gas,
| tumblers, hatchets, pitchers, towels, etc. and
900 for furniture and carpets Then let them go
into the several Bureaus and see how much the cer-
cal force has been increased during the present Ad-
ministration and how much less work there rs 10 do
in most of them than just after the close of the war
II is the opinion of competent judges that very large
reductions can he made in the eXpehditures of every
department in TINS city,