New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-04-02
DOES ANYBODY IN THE TREASURY DE-
PARTMENT KNOW ANYTHINGf


Mr. Secretary Richardson having made six
contracts with certain persons, authorizing them
TO collect the revenue for half the proceeds,
and having ordered various collectors, super
visors, and other federal officials to assist these
contractors with all the records and machinery
at their disposal, was called upon by the Com
mittee of Ways and Means to explain his con-
duct. But MI. Secretary Richardson had
nothing to explain. He signed the contracts
without reading them. He approved the ar
rangement with SanbOrn without understand
ing the law He transferred some hundreds
of thousands of dollars from the Treasury into
Sanborn's pockets without knowing it, and
made continual orders in reference to the
contracts without the least idea what all
the fuss was about Whenever he found a
document of any sort on his desk, he wrote
his name at the bottom of it. The Depart
ment was an organization Of red-tape and
routine, and the official chief was the one per-
son who knew nothing whatever about any
business that came into it. Nothing could get
before him unless some clerk or other subor-
dinate consented that he should see it, and
when a paper did reach his table, he merely
signed it without reading. Thus the revenues
were diverted from the proper channels the
laws were broken, the Government was robbed
of about four hundred thousand dollars, and
contract was signed which actually authorized
certain persons to cOnspire to defraud the
Treasury, and made it impossible to punish
them when they were detected,-all this was
done by stroke of Mr.. Richardson's pen, and
Mr.. Richardson insists that he did not know it,
Al 20 ptatn inf xuba
ignorance in a public officer becomes a crime !;
and if it is true that the Secretary OF the
Treasury knows just enough to sign his name
and no more, it seems to be high time for
change in the Cabinet. But there are reasons
WHY. but for Mr. Richardson's respectable
private character, we should feel constrained
to doubt the Secretarys confessions Of his own
incapacity. The first person to whom con-
tract was granted under the "Sanborn stat
"uten was ex-COngressman Kelsey, who is
commonly called the patentee of the law. As
soon as the bill passed, in May, 1872, Mr..
Kelsey went to the Department and asked for
a contract. "At frst,n says he, the Secretary
"[Boutwell] aud the Assistant Secretary [Rich-
"ardson] did not understand the law ; at least
"they asked me to wait short time; they
"wanted to consider the subject; but finally
"the contract was signed" Mr.. Kelsey at
tempted to make collections in Philadelphia,
but being opposed by Supervisor Tuition he
went to Washington and applied to Mr.. Bout
well, Mr.. Richardson, and Mr.. Banfield for
help; "but," he adds, they did not seem to
"care much about me, and so | gave the
"thing up.n Here it seems that Mr.. Richard
son did examine the law, or at least pretend
10. before the first contract was signed, and
that his attention was afterward personally
called to the methods of procedure. Judge
Pendery applied for a contract about the same
time, and his application circulated through
the bureaus and pigeOn-holes of the Depart
ment from May, 1872, till February, 1873. Mr..
Richardson, in one of his recent communica-
tons to the Committee of Ways and Means,
SAYS that it "was for long time under con-
sideration and was declined on account of
"doubt whether or not the law applied to the
lease he presented, and other difficulties"
which Mr.. Richardson proceeds to sum up.
These objections, however, are entirely diff
ferent from the difficulties assigned by SOlici-
tor Banfield in his official memorandum
attached to the application, and the question
naturally arises how could Mr.. Richardson
draw up the objections without knowing what
the law contained or the application proposed.
Then look at the testimony of ex-SupervisOr
Simmons. Mr.. Simmons did not want to serve
under Sanborn, and refused to do so until the
case had been explained to him by Mr.. Rich
ordson in q personal interview, and he had
received explicit instructions from the Secre-
tary both verbal and written; and he says
that when he suggested the propriety of TAX
ing counsel with the Commissioner OF Internal
Revenue, Mr.. Richardson grew testy and told
him to mind his own business We are quite