New-York tribune., 1874-03-20
THE SdNBORN CASE.

| The developments of the Sanborn case dur
| ing the past fortnight have given that scam
daous affair more and more serious character
1t seemed at first to have been scheme OF Mr..
Buffers smuggled through Congress in the clos
ing hours of the session, for his own individual
emOlument and the benefit of one of his
agents. Ii looks now like vast conspiracy,
involving number of official personagcs, and
calling for a searching Investigation. And
that our readers may see just how the matter
stands, we shall group together the principal
facts heretofore brought to light, with certain
other disclosures now laid before the public
for the first time.
The proposal TO authorize the Secretary OF
the Treasury "to employ not more than three
"persOns TO assist the proper officers of the Gov
"ernment III discovering and collecting any
"money belonging to the United States" was
first presented in the House of Representa-
tives as an amendment to an Appropriation
bill, and was voted down in the Committee
of Appropriations. 1t was then put on the
bill in the Senate in February, 1872, and was
pushed through without opposition by Senator
Cole. When the bill went down to the House,
Mr. Garfield reported it back from the Com
mittee Oh Appropriations with the amendment
stricken ont. The Senate insisted and Com
mittee Of Conference was ordered. After
several meetings Mr.. Garfield reported that
the Senate conferees, Messrs Cole, Morrill, of
Vermont, and Sawyer, now Assistant Secretary
of the Treasury, " were unit on this point,
and notwithstanding all the objections
of the other side, they would not give way"
A debate followed in which Mr.. Hale, Mr..
NJ, Mr. mi, do
nounced the amendment in just terms but
Gen. Butler defended 1t with considerable
warmth Mr. Niblack, who had previously op-
posed it, explained that " i'll view of the ex-
" traordinary statement made" by the Senate
cOnferees, Gas to what would probably be
accomplished by the amendment" he did
not feel at liberty to stand out any longer /;
Mr.. Garfield professed to be appeased by GER
tain trivial emendations and Mr.. Dawes did as
he has unfortunately done on other occasions
when Butlerism has been rampant-held his
peace By the JOINT efforts of Messrs. Cole,
Morrill,, Sawyer, and Butler, therefore, urged
ON by somebody in the Treasury Department,
the bill became a law on the Stb of May.
When the House of Representatives last
February called upon the Secretary Of the
Treasury for the documents bearing upon the
contracts made under this law, Mr.. Richardson
strangely kept back some important papers of
which we have just obtained knowledge 1t
appears that few days after the passage of
the bill a person who had discovered that a
certain land grant railroad was indebted to
the Government in the sum of about S3,000,-
600. filed the required afidavits, and applied
for contract to collect the money. But this
person did not understand the game. His ap-
plication was not granted, nor has the debt
ever been recovered. 1t was privately ar
ranged that this enormous monopoly should be
given to Gen. Buffers man SanbOrn, although
for short time other persOns--kelsey, FL
bert, Clark, and Campbell-were allowed, per-
haps for the sake of appearances, to try their
prentice hands. The understanding was that
Sanborn should freeze out" the informers
who had already got on the track of certain
frauds, and should then take posses
sion of cases already in the hands of the
regular officers, act as the medium for turn
ing the money over to the Treasury, and re-
tain for his services fifty per cent of the gross
proceeds. Accordingly the law granting
moietes to infOrmers in internal revenue
cases was repealed in June, and few weeks
later Mr.. Sanborn made his first contract with
the Treasury. Informers, with valuable clues
in their possession, suddenly found themselves
at the mercy of SanDorn and Butler. The
fortunes upon which they had counted van
ished in the air. The money which their
hands were stretched out to grasp turned to
dead leaves. They sold out for mere trifle
to the new mOnOpolist, who seemed to have
no difficulty in getting from the Department
any privilege he asked for. Whenever he ap-
Piled tQy contract covering hundreds Of nance