National Republican., 1876-03-23
=, J. HURT.sH. .Ed,tur and Proprietor.
saUBsDAY MoRk1Ns::::::::::MARcH2 d 1875
INVESTIGATION INVESTIGATED.

SHURsDAY hORNISG::::::::::MARC q 1s76.
IEyEsTIeATIoN INVESTIGATED.
The strong suits OF the ex Confederate
House arc investigation and economy. Aud
vet the two do not seem to go well together,
as short inquiry into the cost of the in
Yestigations will show. In the first place
il Is proper to state that over thirty inves-
tigasions have been ordered. Nearly every
committee before which evidence is taken
must have a clerk and a stenographer.
Thirty clerks and thirty stenographers cost
twelve or fifteen thousand dollars per
month, or about $4,000 for the session.
Witnesses have been summoned from the
most remote sections Of the country-from
California, Oregon, New Mexico and other
Territories, and they have been summoned
IN swarms. They arc coming to the Capt.
tai in untold numbers, and in appearance
like the lean kline Of Pharaoh's vision.
Each witness must be paid his mileage and
Der diem. The mileage is ten cents per
mile, coming and returning, and the aver
age paid TO each witness will not be less
than $500. Then the per diem during at
tendance will not fall below an average of
800 to each, thus making total of not
less than $500 to each witness. AS there
will not be less than one thousand wit
uesses here, even the average Democratic
politician can by multiplying the above
fgures discover that the witness fees of
this Congress will amount up to not less
than 100000. The next item in the bill
is for deputy ergCants-at-lrIns. Numbers
Of these have been travelling over the coun-
try, drawing salaries and with expenses
paid bythe Government. Atlcast $50, 900
W.. bc expended in this way. The testi-
mcny taken before the committees will
have to be printed, though most of it is
utter irrelevant and worthless. and the
printing will not cost less than $3.50, 900.
This enables US TO sum up 500, 900 in
money paid and TO be paid out duriRg the
session for investigations.
But this is only small part of the cost
to tic country. Over thirty investigating
committees in full blast require the atten-
tion Of at least one hundred and fifty men,
bers Of the House As the Democrats hope
to make polite al capital out of these inves-
LEGATIONS. they neglect all other business
and attend only to Investigations. At least
fouT -ffths of the time Congress has been in
session has been taken up by investigations.
One hundred and seven days have passed
since Congress met Four-fifths of this
would be eighty five days; and, as the aver
age cost per day Of Congress during the
session is S12, 900, we have another little
item Of 81, ,02O, 900 to be charged to investi-
gstions, without allowing for the time yet
to be expended at $4,000 per day. And
TINS is but q small item in the cost. 1t is
well known that the business interests Of
the country are in depressed condition.
Various causes had contributed to this ef-
feet cne very prominent one being thefact
that the DcmocrGtic party had obtained
possession of the House of Representatives,
and no one knew, or could conjecture, the
policy it would pursue, and how that policy
would affect our material interests. Nearly
four Inonths have passed away since Con
Grcss assembled, and today no one is any
the wiser as to what the majority intend.
Al that has been done, except "to investi-
gate. their quarrcls upon the finance ques-
tion their endcavOr 10 eXalt the Anderson
vile butchers: their assertions of the doc
trne Of secession; their open and uncon-
Ceaied hostility TO the Union. and their de-
termination not 10 accept the decisions of
tie war, have tended 10 render the public
mind more unsculcd-i" dCpress all the
business interests Of the country. But for
the determination TO manufacture, if posi-
be, political capital out of investigations,
the maj ority would long ago have indicated
is policy, and the business men Of the
country could have trimmed their sails 10
catch the coming breeze. In short, the
county Is in such 4 condition Of chronic
uncertainty that business men af all class IS
keep themselves and their business in such
condition as to experience the least possible
damage from legislation.
Important bills affecting the material in
tc-csts Of tie country, measures fraught
with great good, arc allowed TO sleep qui-
city IN the committee rooms, because the
members Of these committees are so much
employed in investigating that other busi-
ness cannot be attended to. The Senate is
left without anything 10 do, because the
House has done nothing, and all the wheels
Of legislation are clogged hy lnvestig atoms
The cost TO the material interests Of the
country Of these delays and investigations,
all Of which, in the end, must come from
the toll of the producing classes, has not
been less than so, ,000, 900. How much
more It will be time alone can tell.
And the result, what OF that: One Re
publican official has been proven guilty OF
taking bribes. He took no dollar OF Gov
eminent money, but corruPtly used his
office to obtain money from Others. He
has been compelled "to step down and
out
The question is, will the country justify
the Democrats in their lavish expenditures
fo- this purpose! The object is well
known. They are the merest self seekers
t.fe woT,d ever saw. No Democratic
House ever investigated Democratic
thieves. nor never will. This wholesale
expenditure Of public money is simply an
effort 20 make political capital, and will
prove y miserable failure
STATE OF VERdONr AND TIE DISTRICT
OF COLUMBIA.
Senator Morrill,, OF Vermont, as the
chairman of the Committee on Public