The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-12-28
NAVY YARD ECONOMY.
Remarks Of Hon. j. III. Burleigh on the
Naval Appropriation Bill,

i
-Four sinecurisis and ,hree work,
men, Something abb. n, eeusr..,.-a
sample of economy, = :. -
| A few days since the pRrss renubI;sb.d n
washington Special giving the substance of
Congressman Burleighs remarks last Tuesday
while .he House in Committee of the who,e
Was considering the naval appropriation bin.
We are confident that his constituents will be
pleased to read his remarks in full, as no mere
abstract can give an idea of his resolute expos
ure of the system which now prevails at Kit
teIy through Mr. Hamlin's system of stalking
care Of his friends and has prevailed for tbir-
ty years at least. ~ a.'i ..ass ff-.r.g..
The clerk read as follows: aa "le
For contingent expenses Of the Navy Department,
Mr. Burleigh::, / move to amend the clause
Just read by striking out 'tS100 0OO'' and insert
ing $4,000" L make this motion for the pur-
pose OF stating that / believe this contingent
innd or portion OF it is used to thwart the ac-
| ti0n OF Congress. " zha 4+.l.s . -.
The records viii show, and many men on
| this floor will remember that at the last ses-
sion OF the Forty second Congress an act was
passed cutting of certain sinecure offices in
the different navy-yards-that Of receiver OF
and that OF clerk of accounts. ..
My predecessor (Mr. Lynch) at that Ii me on
this hoor asserted, as he had done before, that
these were sinecure Offices that the receiver at
tne hlttery navy-yard in particular did nothing
put receive his pay; that the Secretary of the
Navy himself knew they were sinecure offices,
and had discharged the incumbents: but was
0glged to ill the position of Receiver again at
hittery on account of the political pressure
Wnlcn was brought to bear on him. 1t was al
SO stated by Mr.. Lynch that he expected that
at the other end of the Capitol there would be
pressure brought to bear to have these officers
retained. He was not disappointed. They did
not sacceed, however, and the places were
abolished. vow
The appropriation for these sinecure places
expired IN July, 1873; bat short time before
! the expiration of that appropriation learned
l that the receiver, 30 whom my predecessor
stated it was robbery to pay money out of the
Treasury of the United States for doing moth
| ing, was about again to be appointed to a SINH
liar position. wrote to the Secretary of the
Navy. referring him to the action of Congress
fInd the statements which were then made. tel
ling him that believed them to be true, and
I protesting in the most respectful manner, but
\ earnestly, against his appointing any man to
| any such position In the district have the
| honor to represent. Then came the worst of
the whole. L repeat what the commodore told
me and others at the time. He said that the
Secretary of the Navy came to him and re.
quested him to write note TO him. the Secre-
tary, asking that the man be appointed as in
spector He said that he protested against it;
that he advised the Secretary of the Navy of
| the uselessness of the position, and of the per
nIcious example it would be to the yard itself
;c Lne secretary se OF TIE Navy appealed to their
slider the matter. The honest gentleman, the
commodore, said that he had the hardest strug-
gle for two days he ever had in bis life between
his duty to his country and his friendship, and
that the politician succeeded; that he was beat;
his hands were clean. The appointment was
made in the face of and in spite of the action
Of Congress, The man is paid on payroll by
himself probably from this contingent fund.
/
only an insult to me, but an insult to every
member of this House and to every member of
Congress And why is it that he is so persist
emily quartered upon my district year after
year? For the benefit of my Democratic
friends will say that it is no new seed planted
by the Republican party. 1t is rather a
gnarled old oak. grown to its full stature in
Democratic soil. This henchman and chief
have travelled together thirty years or more.
1t Is due to every man on this floor. due to his
self-respect, that he should stand BY me in
the position which l have taken, and which
was taken before by nv predecessor il he
would stand up for the rights of his district,
the law, and economy in public expendi-
lures.
I send to the Clerks desk the time this sin.
ecurist remained on the yard each day for
twelve days, which shows that he was on the
ysrd about twenty-five minutes each day. He
goes on at mail-tipne to get the news. The
time was kept BY the detective on the yard.
Mr.. Burleigh asked to have the following
timetable published in the Record:
NJ y: r. Wenkcorths time at ne Kittery nacy-vard.
1878. 1873.
Oct; %; ot in the yard. oot 2s From 1890
%. from 10 to 1o.15 80. From 10 toll.
e. From 1880 to 11.45. 81. From $50 to IL.
3fs Not in the yard. Nov. l. Not In the.yard.
e. Don't know. 8. From 1880 to II.
q. Not in the yard. f.. .Ff tl a
Mr.. Hale remarked that he did not see what
this matter Of sinecures had to do with the con-
tingent fund which was for stationery, print
ing, examining boards, rent, furniture, and
hundred other matters, to which Mr.. Burleigh
replied that the sinecure mentioned by him was
paid on separate pay roll and from the con-
tingeDt fund MIR. Hale further said that the
item had been cut down S25 900 within the
past two years and the Secretary asked for
larger sum but the Appropriation Committee
thought best to keep it at 100000 Mr. Bur
leigh's amendment was rejected.
Pending the item appropriativg S1,SOO,OOO
for the bureau of steam-engineering, Mr. Bur
leigh moved to strike out the last word in or
der that he might make some remarks. He
said:
1t will be noticed that the portion of this bin
relating to the Bureau of Construction and
Repair is included in twelve lines. Last year
that portion of the bill embraced one hundred
lines. Has the Navy Department become so
much more honest, that we can trust it further
than heretofore? l maintain that the abbrevi-
alton of that portion of the bill is in the in
terest of contractors. We to-day have Secre-
tary of the Navy; good, honest, intelligent Off
GERS in the Navy; constructors and skilled me-
chanics to lay out the work, men that have
learned their trade in the navy yards, and of
superior skill-a perfect organization. But as
an appendage, for a tail may say, we have
the contractors. The trouble is that the con-
fraa lin t,x,1 ,l,.la h1dx,
On this have little story to tell, and now
is the right time to tell it. Last winter a mem
ber of the Committee on Naval Affairs re-
ceived letter from contractor at the Kit
terry navy-yard, claiming that constructor
from another yard and the head of a Bureau
had received many presents of different
kinds for contractors, that he had paid
them $1,000 for their influence with
ing machine of him, now in Boston. The let
ter was withdrawn during the recess by re-
quest of the party sending it, and acknowledge
ment made that they were not right when the
first letter was sent. The first contract by this
Mr. Griffeths was to complete the new sloop of
war building at Portsmouth. During the re-
ess he receives an extra $4,000 for completing
her and $4,000 for launching her-a ship of six
hundred tons-with all the facilities of the yard
at his command and he says there was mis-
take in his sending the letter; and now what is
the result? The man had contracted to COM
plete the ship. At first he gets four prices to
again; and now he has a contract, as l under
stand it, under which they agree to give him
$25, 900 to go on with her, and he does not
agree in that contract to complete the ship; he
does not seem to be bound to do anything but
have money
maintain that the whole abbrevation of
this portion of the bill, the leaving out the
items, is in the interest of..contractors. In the
Kittery navy yard, now practically closed, only
one carpenter and two laborers are at work in
construction, where they let this ship out there
my sinecure man is, and his brothers, four of
them, receiving $50 day, or about that sum,
besides other sinecures and clerks that are
ceiving large sums, with foremen and leaders.
The laboring men are turned out of the yard,
when the organization of the Bureau of Con-
struction, one of the seven Bureaus, costs S5,-
900 per month, because there is no money for
them-and new men outside get contracts, and
work the cheapest men they can; and this sine
cure man and his henchmeD, with others, are
staying there under full pay, drawing their pay
from the government, and the hardest work