National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-06-19
DISTRICT AFFAIRS.
A CANDID REVIEW OF THE lNyEsTI

CATION.
lFrom Special Correspondent of the Buffalo COM
mercial.I
WASHINGTON, June l3, 1s74.
Editor Buffalo Commercial Ad5srtissr:
The recent comments of the Commercial on the
District Of Columbia Investigation came 80 near
the truth in the case that cannot help informing
you that the report Of the committee will quite
fully sustain your conclusions. Whether the re-
port viii be unanimous or not is yet somewhat
doubtful; but the majority Will reach conclusions
which, believe, will fully confirm the predic-
lions OF the Commercial made months ago The
report will be unanimous, unless two or three
members Of the committee insist, as they have
from the beginning, that the investigation shall
be used
FOR PARTISAN PURPOSES.
And on this point let me mention q fact which
should not be lost sight OF in considering this
matter. The tenncity, violence and vlndictiYe-
ness with which certain people, in the pewspa-
pers and out of them, have engaged in and sought
TO manage" this Investigation, have been almost
wholly for the purpose Of making partisan cap
ital 10 this end, there was Organised at the be
resentation, by i've or six correspondents having
access to as many prominent Newspapers hostile
to the Administration. These gentlemen have
had this matter so much at heart that they sub
jected their respective journals to q greater ex-
pense for dispatches on District of Columbia
gress this winter. Each and every one of them
had, first personal spite to revenge; second, the
purpose Of
BEsLINING THE APPoINTEEs
of the President, that they might thus hold him
and his administration up to odium. They pur-
sued the subject with remarkable venom: they
telegraphed only such facts as helped to sustain
their theories: they suppressed, systematically,
every explanation of any suspicious circumstance,
or thoroughly misrepresented it; they attended
the sessions Of the committee as regularly as
counsel, and TO the neglect of other duties; they
made detectives Of themselves, with great yea,
in the interests Of the prosecution, and actually
employed regular detectives to assist them, and
in one instance at least had the tmpudence to
propose that such detective should be paid out
Of the committees funds. They publicly boasted
Of their control Of the sympathies and efforts of
one member Of the committee, and declared pri-
vately that their objective point was to bring dis
grace upon
SHEPHERD, BABcocK AND GRANT.
The investigation, therefore, in addition to all
the usual and ordinary incentives to thorough
ness, had this extraordinary adjunct, which was
than influencing the committee. For, In the
main, the committee have been eminently judicial
and exceedingly energetic. They have failed in
no direction where there was the least prospect
Of getting light, and for the sake Of the truth
have gone farther in the direction of the absolute
Infringement OF private rights than any commit
tee have ever gone before. This is we'll illustrated
by the fact that ut the very time this committee
were ordering private safes to reveal their con-
tents, and bank cashiers to lay before the public
their confidential accounts, the Ways and Means
Committee were listening with favor to the ap-
peals of the merchants, begging that the power
under the statute
TO SEIZE BOOKS AND PAPERS
in well-suspected cases of fraud, be taken away
as ruthless invasion Of private rights, to which
the committee yielded, and Congress has even
now so ordered. These appeals of the merchants
were vehemently seconded by the very papers
snnrd on sns Utner nahd, Ge M nae Inat no
the scandalous ewes of their corresnondents no
matter whether foundation for its materiality
So that these being facrs the Conclusions of the
Committed are NOT omen 10 critieism mon the
Vet there is to be keen disappointInent to many
Deople who have been educated mn to the point Of
believing that the money voted for the Improve
mens and sdSrnment OF washington has been
cred. and the committee,s report beino conceded
to be in accordance Herewith the eoneInsion
reached NV a Iar0e nortion of The nnhIic mnsI he
thai ISsro has 49, OiSiOH Vi 'no Puoit' oe
MOST EXTRAORDINARY LYING
report to be made will, / am contident. declare
that there is no reason to believe that the Cover
nor, or any other appointee of the District has
P n W tne mere, except as
bly, DONE 1t will eoncede, moreover, entire integ
rity of purpose in the inception Organization and
been no feionious or corrupt misappropriation Of
moneys; that the charges of fraud in the use of
the school fund are not sustained and that SO far
concerned. results
achieved at probably less average cost than in
other leading cities. On the other hand n will
condemn the haste with which the work was pros
sttT It viii deesPs that t iSmf sosr9 Of P ri
Works exceeded their AUTHORITY in law in the
work they prosecuted but will also recognize the
"a - N.---.-
Authority OF CONGRESS,
which saw 1t done, once investigated them. and
thrice reimbursed them for such expenditures
70 Il
will declare that Irregularities, errors OF judy
ment, and want Of system In many respects have
peryaded the local administration Of affairs here.
On the question Of fraud, either as against the
trict The tastjmonv Of Tho vttnessss Cinss and
Barney, engineers. who were both fully Endorsed
by the memorialists, is conclusive and must be
taken. Mr.. Cluss testified that he knew Of no
frauds IN any measurements made; he complained
only OF the Irregular manner In which he said they
had in many instances been ordered to be made.
Mr.. Barney testified that he had been In the en-
gineer's office since November, 1871, and there
could not have been any systematically iraudu-
lent measurements without his knowledge; that
the discrepancies reported by the committees
expert were
NOT DISCREPANCIES IN FACT,
save In two or three instances where innocent
IN al Eases ~ donbt IN anv measnrsmsnt he
always resolved that doubt in favor Of the District
or General Government. In respect to the
charges of fraud against Col, Same, Gen. Bah
cocks engineer, which IL was sought to verify by
the committeeis expert, it turns out, on close com
parison Of the notes and explanations OF the two
engineers that the difference Is so trifing as to
utterly preclude any idea OF fraud And, 70 con-
clude the whole Mr. Engineer Barney submitted
a statement at the close Of his testimony Showing
tbe net sum Total of All the errors and "fraudsn
discovered BY the resuryeys to be but IN 900,
and these were in some degree entirely hypo,
This, in brief, sums up the story Of fraudulent
desire Of one or two members Of the committee to
make the most Of everything OF an unfayorable