Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1874-03-21
Premature BuriaIs,


persons premstureIy buried, but is caused by
the explosion of gases from the swollen corpses-
This IL the belief of medical men, founded on
observation. But IL cannot be denied that in
this country, and more especially in the South
the bodies of the dead are hurried 10 the grave
with frishtful precipitancy. A large propor-
ton Of the burials take place as soon a. the
second day after death; and with the modern
practice of putting the body AZ once on ice or
embalmng IL, the victim of trance or cstalepsy
does not get even forty-eight hours reprieve, TO
afford opportunity tor revival. If the agitation
of the question shall serve TO put stop to ths
haste with which bodies are buried before signs
of decomposition set in; and shall also prevent
the application of ice or the embalming pro-
cess before similar signs appear, good end will
have been gained by the-discussiOn.
HOUSE or REPeEsKSrATIvEs
wAsBINsToS, ID. C., March Is, 1s7I.}
Editor Of The Star
SIR T cut the enclosed from your paper OF
last night. and with IL enclose you q copy of the
speech alluded to. Please point out the eg-
Iegious errors YOU speak of. and | will be
happy to correct them, but I can do il great
deal better after you have pointed themIOut
than before. Yours truly, II. l.. DAWES.
ERclosare.l
The Chicago Tribune fears Mr. Dawes has not
the moral courage 30 refuse to correct his spse IN
srraigning his party for extravagance in expen-
Cultures Of the public funds. IL is little singu-
Chicago Tribune should characterize a. moral
courage the refusal of public man to correct
egregiOus errors into which he may have inad-
yeTtently fallen. Most people would take an
opposite view.
Probably the word "seriOus" would suit the
case better than "egregiOus." Mr.. Dawes has,
already, despite the snxiously expressed wish
Of the opposition papers that he should stand by
"his arraignment of the republican party for
extravaganza in expenditures of the public
funds" very frankly admitted an error of
the first magnitude, and which alone accounts
for nearly the whole amount OF his estimated
alarming increase of the appropriations for this
year over the expenditures of last year. Mr..
Dawes, We are sure, is sincerely anxious to
be correct and right, and he will, no doubt,
readily correct any other errors with the same
frankDess; but the trouble Is, as pointed out by
Gen. Garfield, the original error is still travel
ing, while the correction does not seem to have
reached the country at all. In reference to this
matter Gen. Garfield said:
1.-The gentleman from Massachusetts, startled
the House, at least for moment, aud startled
tie country, by the statement which has been
read Al the Clerks desk, that during the cur
rent hscal year the appropriations had swollen
from SS0OO0,GoO. the figures of last year, to
1919, GOO eco, the figures OF this wear: in other
words. that the extravaganza of Congress had
swollen the expenditures by the enormous sum
or 81, 900 900. That was indeed a startling
statement. but the only thing startling about il
was the SO 900 COO; and when the correction
was made by which the 50. 900 900 were taken
bodily out of his statement the cause of the
alarm was gone and the alarm itself ought al 30
10 have disappeared with II. But. sir, though
the correction was made in open House, / de-
sire TO show the committee how little the cOun-
w understands what the correction was. The
caily papers the next morning contained about
two columns OF the Associated Press reD0rt of
the sTeech o. the gentleman from Massachu-
setts, and will read the only portion OF that
rel Ort which relates to the correction:
"Mr- GaTaeld criticised some Of Mr.. Daw--'
neur'S, especially those relating TO the sinking
TNm add that the. special dispatehes cop-
tanned a muCh fuller report. But most of the
public journals received Only the dispatches of
the Associated Press. I have no donbt that the
reading public generally understand to this d2y
that the tiTst statement of the gentleman from
Massachusetts remains uncOntradcted and thar
We have spent during the current fiscal year
nearly $4,000 900 more than during the pre-
ceding year"
Among other errors in Mr.. Dawes speech M
corrected yet, we believe, is his entirely mis-
taken declaration that Congress has ne yer in
creased taxation in times of peace.
Again, his statement as regards the twenty
nine custom houses where the receipts do not
equal the expenditures was entirely inaccurate
as regards the custom house in this District
(GeorgetOwn,) and very likely il was equally so
in regard to others named. Mr.. Dawes in this
instance as in the Of the error of 900 OOO
Treasury reports, and hastily building up q
theory on the supposition that he has all the
figures in the case. Thus he jumps to the con-
clusion that the Georgetown custom house is
non-psying, from the following figures from the
the finance report of the Treasury department:
Amount OF duty received for fiscal wear 1873
(iucluding tonnage,) s6,5Si6S, or excluding ton
mage, so,29s-IS. Aggregate compensation,
81 ,O1O.2S."
the whole ground, but il needs only a little
further examination to show his error and the
consequent fallacy of his deductions. Thus to
these coin receipts for duties (S6 5SI 6s) mast be
added the following currency receipts For
hospital tax, 81 ,Ssl5O; storage s10SO; fines and
penalties, sll1; steamboat fees, s6O1.T6-makinz
a total Of s9,32l.7i. Frpu the expenses above
aggregate compensation 81 OIO.2s) must be
deducted fees amounting TO 81 $40 %, because
the amount paid for compensation by the
Treasury Is reduced by that amount which is
not included in the statement of receipts. This
would leave as actual compensation paid by the
Treasury $500, which, DEDUCTED from the
gross receipts, shows a balance of receipts over
expenditures of 81 ,I29 "a. This is not all, how
ever. The receipts for duties, sc ,58i.6S, are in
coin, and the expenses are paid In currency, so
that the government gets, besides the balance
above stated, the premium on the gold, about
$500.
AS suggested above, it IL more than probable
that the same fatal ingredient Of error, through
incomplete data, pervades the estimates aud
deductions concerning many or all OF the other
custom houses put down by Mr.. Dawes as non
paying. We refer to this more especially be-
cause IL Is a matter of District interest.
without going further at this time into the
matter OF the errors of this speech we think
enough has been demonstrated TO Justify Us in
deducting the moral that a republican repre-
sentative, Ike Mr.. Dawes, who from his ability,
integrity, and experience in public affairs Is
sure to get the attentive ear Of the country
whenever he speaks, should be exceedingly
careful about his data before he makes state
uents that can be made available by the oppo-
siuon as can srrsgnment Of his party for ex-
uavagance."
There are some inequalities in the salaries of
clerks OF committees Of Congress which ought
IN htfn