National Republican., 1874-05-27
DISTRICT INVESTIGATION.

DISTRICT INVESTIGATION.
| -sagl tcoaiinued from Firsf Pogs.) 80, .,
business Of the board IN the absence of the
board sd
9. Was there any authority of the board to
Ehim for that purposef A. Yes, sir.
r Q. Can you turn to that authority A.. u
As dated October 9, 1871, page 15s, think, Of
1.-The record N s7c =" Ieg u i.
i @. State who was present at that meeting.
A. Mr.. Z. L. Stanton, at that time the acting
Governor, and Messrs. Shepherd, Mullett,
Brown and Magruder. -- .s-lt''' .--.7I :
The order is as follows: wt aF
BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS,
DISTRICT OF CeLUNBIA,
| WASHINGTON, d. c., October Q, lal- )
l. The board met at the usual hour. ~.
| Preeent-Edwin L. Stanton (actfnq- governor
and Messrs. Shepherd, Mailet, Brown and Ma,
The following order, referring to the organIza-
| tion OF the board, was adopted: -
Ordered That the vice president Of this board
tendance at the ONCE Of the board daily, BETWEEN
ali persons having business With the board, and
date atisntion; he shsIi sign ali orders or the
board, and submit at each session thereof an alb
stract of all business transacted BY him since the
have an papers properly briefsd and prepared for
considerstion BY the board, and generally 10 ar
shai see that the reports Of he Giasrept Ofeers
\ are promptly made, and orders TO them shall be
| issued through him; he shall require that the va
duties and may Ssmiis l aDy empiOyso p pf tSe
board. subject 70 It's approval ! .lI.s q.
= All acquisitions for work or material must be
psrseuar or Which Y Il ssS r nesdod sSs
and the nature Of the work for which It is to be
used He shall also perform such other duties
ina To Ina huN Inf h
@. Then how was the business transacteda ]
see by your journals that you have between the
present, entries, "board met" and such and
such things were done; how wcs that made upi
A. Nearly every day there Is majority Of the
board present The board does not ALWAYS
hold formal meeting, but matters Of eonse-
quence are talked over between them, and the
result of that, as communicated to me through
the vice president, has been entered upon the
journal. - -
Q. When you had your, regular meetings, or.
In other words, when there was majority
present, what was the habit In regard to what
had been done previous to that tirnei How did
they manage to bring that before the board
How was It brought before the boardf A. 1t
was never formally brought before the boardl
The minutes of the preceding meeting-it has
never been the practice to read aud approve
them, as is the custom elsewhere. IT.
Q. Not the minutes of the preceding meet
ing, but the routine business that had been
transacted since the former meeting; how was
that brought before the boardi A. Well, in q
general conversation. - t+.-' ." -.-- -
Q. Was attention called to the business that
had been transacted A. SO far IS matters Of
any moment were concerned. 90 ca ~
Q. What do you mean by matters, of any
A. Ill - At =
great many matters of mere routine, as, for
instance, the reference of papers, the approval
of requisitions and things Of that kind; order
ing Of repairs, defects in payements, &C.
Q. Those were matters of routine, but when
you came to the letting of contracts, what was
the habit in regard to that A. So far as
know, the habit was to consult a. least q
majority Of the board on those matters before
entering upon the work. '+-
@. You were present, then; you know as q
matter Of fact whether that was done or not7
A. Generally, sir.
Q. Do you know Of any exception in the let
ting of contracts7 A. Yes, sir; my knowledge
does not extend beyond what actually came
under my observation. .-.
Q. Do you know of any contract let where
the matter was not let by the boardl A. can
not say that do positively.
Q. You say that almost daily a majority of
the board would be present. A. Yes, sir.
N<e-sr-. hs..-cis.ss iss-ss.o- SGII.IIa
therei A. Not so frequently as the other
me mbers of the board. Mr.. Cluss said the
hother day that he believed that he was present
whenever he was notified; that may be so, but,
,as l stated awhile ago, Il was not customary
to notify members Of the board 10 meet, ex-
cepting to consider special matters; that has
occurred very rarely since | have beenconnected
with the board; they generally met when they
got together.
Q. Did Mr.. Cluss ever come to the board to
look oser matters? A. Not TO my knowledge.
Q. Did he ever make any inquiry ofyou with
regard to any Of the entries on the booksi A.
He never asked to see any portion of the re-
cords, especially the Journal
Q. And he never asked to see the journall
A. Never, in my life, that can remember. The
journals, as wei as all other records, were
open, Of course, to the inspection of every ono
that had authority to examine them.
@. Where were the journals keptl A. They
were kept In room adjoining what was COM
monty known as the vice presidents office; it
is where the majority of the clerks are.
Q. 1t was kept IN that roomi A. Yes, sir.
We have four rooms in that immediate Office
vault-room, No. 16, room No. l3, and room No.
9, which is occupied by the vice president.
/ q. Were any other members of the board in
the habit Of examining the record and taking
an interest in the businessi What members of
the board did take most interest in the bust
nessi A. have from time to time shown the
journal TO different members Of the board -
@. Who was there most? Who took the
n ost interest outside of the the vice president,
whose duty It was to be there daily under that
rule which you have read2 A. or course my
memory serves me better recently than itwould
to 70 back any great distance. DR.. Blake,
Colonel Magruder, and Mr.. Willard have been
in the Office there together nearly every day.
For some months past scarcely day elapsed
when they were not present.
Q. Mr.. Cluss paid less attention, you say,
then the balance of them; he was there less !
meant A. He was in the building in his own
Office.
@. Did he have any Office in the buildingi
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How about DR.. Blakei A. He makes It
point to be there nearly every day, pretty
much all day.
Q. II was made the duty, under that resolu-
ton, for the vice president to be there every
day; how was It with Mr.. Shepherd A. He
was there as often as HIS outside duties would
permit. He did not get there, perhaps, within
the hours specified, but he was in and out
nearly every day. %.
Q. Was he IN the habit of attending there
dailyi "a Well, that was bis intention; he
was not always there every day. We had an
order issued TO that effect, that the vice presi-
dent should be at his Office daily, between GER
tain hours, but the people got In the habit OF
coming to hfs store, while he was there trans
acting his private business, keeping him there
SO that he would not always reach the office
between those hours.
Q. How much of his time did he devote to
this businetsi A. ! think his whole time was
devoted to 1t.
@. His whole time devoted to this business
Of the District K. Yes, sf. ttfs .-t
Q. How has 1t been since Mr.. Willard go. in;
has he given his attention to in A. Mr.. Will
lard has been there regularly every day; he has
scarcely missed 3 day since he has been con-
nected with the board. .sa
Q. You say that DR.. Blake, since he came in,
has attended to 1t pretty welli A. Yes, sir.
Q. How has II been with Mr.. Magrudera A.
Mr.. Magrpder is there generally every day,
some time during the day, ~ - :,
Q. Has.there been free consultation there
every day on anything Of importancei A. Yes,
sir; think there has. u. *
Q. Has there been any attempt on the part
of . ha hao rd--uf1rr rua,.1d krauv vo