Arizona citizen., 1876-04-08
Where Lies the Fault.

where Lies the
 The dedication of the transportatio
 clerk in the quartermaster's departmen
 al San Francisco, to the amount of sixt.
 or seventy thousand dollars, and tn
 seeming looseness of management l
 not worse, which may have rendered
 such dedication possible, brings us t'
 remark upon the anomalous condition
 of%affairs in the quartermaster's depart
 ment in Arizona, one of the depend
 encies of the San Francisco office.
 There are in existence in southern
 Arizona, at this time, outstanding anC unpaid vouchers for supplies and trans portation furnished the quartermaster'. department, under the usual contracts at Camps Apache, Bowie, Grant and Lowell, to the amount of from S120,000 to $l30,000. These accounts have been accommodating since last September There have been no payments made for supplies and transportation furnish. ed on contract to these several posts since the time specified. Upon appli. cation for payment of vouchers to the proper disbursing quartermaster, the steady, unrelenting, hopeless, but un- doubtedly truthful, answer of that of. ficer has been that there were no funds to his credit. The men who have fur nished these supplies are honest and industrious American citizens. They were given an opportunity to bid for furnishing supplies for the year ending June 30, 1876. In order to be success ful they were forced, by competition, to bid very low The various contracts were awarded them. They have ful- filled their contracts in good faith. In filling the contracts and obtaining the supplies they have entered into numer. ous business obligations and cOmpllca- tions with other men. The general depression in business all over the country naturally affects Arizona, as well as the other States and Territories. Money IS scarce and commands high rates of interest here. Five per cent per month is frequently asked and re celved for money in Tucson. And with all this fair dealing and faithful performance of obligations on one part. and the pressure of hard times. the government Of the United States. through the quartermaSter's depart ment tells it's creditors here that itl can't do its part, and doesn't do its part, and cOmpels these creditors to wait month after month, for approach ing three quarters of a year. The out come IS that the government is unjust. ! ly, unfairly and criminally driving | large number of creditors, in southern l Arizona, to actual bankruptcy.
 Is there any color of excuse for this at least unusual state of affairs, Con. gress' at its session last Spring, voted
 ne usual appropriations on the usual estimates for the regular supplies ofl The ouartermaster's department and Tor the transportation and subsistence. These appropriations are about the same as for the previous year. The money so appropriated is placed To the credit Of the quartermaster general lie app"rtions it out to the several divi- sioh quartermasters, and they to the several department quartermasters, and so on. That is, such would be the course If they did their duty, and did not hold the funds for temporarv C of Transportation and { other clerks, or for some other Defari. lC ous purpose. There have been no un. t usual demands Tn this department upon lc quartermaster funds. Why then, be Ie tore the close of the first quarter of the a nscal year for which these usual ap- ( Propriations, upon usual estimates lr were made, should there be an utter t failure offunds to meet only usual pay a nents for usual expenses under usual v n We state plain, unadorned. disgrace Ii ui facts and appeal to the government n 0 give this matter immediate attention e
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