The daily gazette., 1876-02-03
THE DISTRICT BOND OEBAT TE
SARCENT'S AMENDMENT ADOPTED
rD:;EGN OF Ni:N;T0g BAVA2E
WHAT REPUBLICAN RULE IN THE
DISTICT HAS COST THE
COUNTRY

ration of the morning hour in the Sen
ate to day the pfotrected District-bond
discussion was renewed, the pending
question being on the amendment of
Dir. Sargent providing that the certifi-
catea heretofore issued by the Board
of Audit, including those converted
into 3.65 bonds, and those which have
not been so converted, and the certitl'
Gates hereafter to be issued by the
Board Of Audit, or their successors in
office, shall not exceed in the aggre
gate the sum of $15,000,000. Mr..
Bayard, Of Delaware, who held the
floor from yesterday, said two years
ago the people of this country we've
startled TO know that under the pre-
tended authority of Congress, u debt
had been created within three years in
the District of Columbia of upwards
of $20,000,000, and the apprehension
ard anxiety which that announcement
caused was rather intensified at the
opening of the present session by the
debate of the past two days. The tide
of reckless extravaganza in the Dis
trict had not only diminished, but
seemed to have gathered force, and
tina. in a community of but 10000
souls. The Constitution of the United
States has given Congress exclusive
lpowe- over the District of Columbia,
and how could members 60 before the
country and explain the monstrous act
of creating such q debt for such pur-
poLe! That the people of the District
of Columbia should be handed over to
the mere caprice of Congress was GER
tainly never intended. They should
have the right to regulate their own
affairs. OF the 1870, coo persons in the
District, probably twO-thirds were
white and one-third colored. He did
not suppose there ever enlisted in any
community such consuming popula-
tion as that found here. The whites
CONSISTED, in large part, of wayfarers
clerks who resided here, and under
our unfortunate system of civil service
were swept out every few years. There
were none of the attributes here to
!produco wealth, and the last census
showed that there were but six hun
ldred persons in the District engaged
in agricultural pursuits 1t was fair,
however, to say that the people of the
District had but little voice in this
matter of debt,
Those who were put in power over
! them were not those whom tho intelli.
gence of the community would have Sc.
lected. Washington was not a city OF
homes; it was a city of hotels and lodg-
, \ ing houses. He did not think two per
, cent. of those who used the streets for
, their carriages were citizens of the Dis
: trict. All the expenditure here had been
for the benefit of mere wayfarers. There
+ fore to suppose that the city should bear
the whole of the expense of these ilu-
proyements was unreasonable. The peo-
pie of the country would bear and ought
to bear the chief part Of the cost Of
maintaining the town in an appropriate
and proper condition. The District
would have been absolutely bankrupt il
such debt as Shepherd and his confed-
crates piled up had been allowed to rest
upon the people alone. All the property
in the District could not have been sold
for enough to pay the debt. Congress
recognized this fact, and very properly
He then refeyred to the former District
government, and said the right OF suf-
frage was given to negroes, and. the re-
suit was class Of men were placed in
power whom no one respected. So bad
was the state of things in 1874 that the
act wiping out of suffrage and all forms
: of self-government was passed by the
, Congress of the United States. The
Governor OF the District had his various
satellites, who played around his person.
, Shepherd was the ruling spirit. 1t was
/ in fact, the government of Shepherd.
. Mr. Bayard then read from the testi-
mony taken by the joint committee two
years ago, and said contracts under the
former District government were jobbed
out, and the granting of contract was
the granting Of large sum of money as
Il gratuity, as a bonus to those who got
thcm. The taxpayers demanded that
the e1travagant expenditures made by
that government should be stopped, but
Congress gave no attention to them, but
at last, thanks to a press exterior to the
District, tho demand became too strong,
and public opinion said that their COM
plants must be heard. There was Il
resistance to the investigation, counsel
was employed by Shepherd to brow beat
witnesses, indictments were threatened
and, not only that, crime was resorted
to. and by that he meant the assault
upon the character of Columbus Alex
ander by charging upon him dreadful
crime. He then referred to the present
District government, and said the COM
missioners, We're brought here from
abroad who We're not familiar with the
Affairs of the District. Ho believed men
could be found here who were the ,eers
of those from any other part Of the
country, but they were like Shepherd,
who had and still retained the condolences
of the President Of the United States,
and they, therefore, were not accepta-
bic to the President.
Every man in the District whom he
(Bayard) had conversed with said
the removal of Shepherd was only nom
inal thing. His men were still in Office
ana his influence was around the COM
missioners. He read from the estimates
OF the commissioner for the support of
the District government for the year
ending June, 80, 1877, as follows:
| Interest on the old funded debt , $5ls, 800
| Interest on $l5 00O, 900 in 365 bonds $4,000
Portion of the Districts expense for
.......... 100000
Charities "a 1871
Schools 0sG 800
Fro Department..."....; l0S433
Proposed addition TO the present
force of the Fire Department........ G9O75
Board OF Health'.."......... ........"...- co IFS
Salaries of SC oOl teachers. .... l33 3lI
h gineer Department........,, SIG OH
Water Department. nt................... l. l95 6sa
| New huildlnRa for markpta achonIa