Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1874-05-06
THE SANBORN BUSINESS.

TIE SANBORN BUSINESS.
The report of the committee on ways
and means in the Sanborn business has
been presented to the House. From the
sketches which we have seen we judge that
the committee have done their work
thoroughly and impartially. They con-
denim the law under which the Sanborn
contract was made, and throw considera-
BILE light upon the operations under it,
The originator of the law was Kelsey, a
member of Congress from New York, and
the first contractor under it. Sanborn,
however, was the first to develop and turn
to use its possibilities in the way OF plum
der, with what effect Our readers are adj
yised. The committee think that much
of what he collected at fifty cents on the
dollar might and should have been collect
ed through the regular officers Of the in
ternal revenue with but little expense to
the treasury. While they do not find that
any internal revenue officer received any
share in the plumber of Sanborn, they
seem to believe that some of them were
rather too willing to have Sanborn go on
in his way, and might have communicated
important information to the commission
ers of internal revenue which they did not
The responsibility of the treasury depart
ment in the matter is not passed over or
evaded by the committee. They had be-
fore them the Secretary, Assistant Secre-
tary and Solicitor, the officers under and
by whom the contracts were made with
Sanborn. The Secretary they say gave
but little information, and exhibited an ex-
tire want of knowledge as TO the manner Of
making the contracts, administering the
law, or OF the provisions of the law itself.
His only connection, so far as he could re-
member, with these transactions, was in
affixing his signature to the various papers
presented to him as a mere matter of Office
routine, without knowing their contents.
The Assistant Secretary disclaimed any
particular knowledge of the law or con-
tracts, and he. in like manner, affixed his
signature as matter of Office routine.
The Secretary aud Assistant Secretary by
their testimony show that the papers were
prepared by the Solicitor, thus casting
the responsibility upon him. The Solicitor
in turn testified that he is simply law
officer of the department, and subordin-
ate of the Secretary that he had in all
cases simply obeyed the directions of his
superior officers, and that the contracts
and various orders of the departments
were well known to the Secretary and As
sistant Secretary.
These disagreements and contradictions
are greatly deplored by the committee,
and they much dislike the efforts made by
those officers to shift the responsibility,
each from his own shoulders to that Of the
ether. But while the committee are una
BILE to decide who is the most responsible
for the frauds. they express decided OPP
inion that all three deserve severe con-
demnation for the manner in which they
allowed the law to be administered.
Though perhaps intending no wrong, this
mode of doing business permitted oppor-
tunity for fraud upon the government and
public.
The vital point of the report is its rec
ommendation in favor of the repeal of the
present law and against any system Of
farming out the collection of the revenues
of the government. The usual laws for
collection are declared sufficient, also the
force at the command of the revenue de-
partment, and any additions outside are
useless and reflection upon the depart
ment. And believing that Sanborn and
other contractors have received more al
ready than honestly and equitably belongs
them for services rendered, they recon-
that the law be repealed and the contracts
annulled SO that they shall neither now
nor at any future time be able to make any
successful claim against the government
for farther remuneration. These recon-
mendations and conclusions will be salts
factory to the public. Let Congress adopt
and act up to the spirit them, putting the
knife to the root of the evil with unshrink-
ing fidelity. Next to the veto the reform
of the system by which Sanborn worked
will be the most important achievement of
the administration.
CENTRAL AFRICA I1{GMIES