The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1876-01-14
HEroRrED EXPRESSLY ron THE MoRsrss LEADER
MIG lit RE Il O R II.
Another Field Day in Con-
gress.
Discovery of a Mares Nest
in the q. S. Treasury.
Senator Davis Takes a FL
nancial Lesson.
Latest Foreign and Domestic
Intelligence.
The Worlds News in Brief.
The Worlds News in Brief.


Window presented petitions signed
by 2,0S2 citizens of Minnesota, Wis
consin, Iowa and Missouri, asking an
appropriation of 100000 for the i'm
provement of the upper Missouri
river. Referred. The chair laid be-
fore the Senate a communication from
the Secretary of the Interior enclosing
communication from the Commits
sioner of Indian Affairs in answer to
the Senate resolution of January 18th,
1875, in regard to the expenditure Of
$500, 600 for the support and education
of certain Indians. Ordered printed
and to lie on the table. Chrjstiancy
submitted a resolution that the Judi
ciary committee be directed to inquire
and report 10 the Senate whether the
act of March 1st. 1892, is not defective,
and if so, in what particular, in max
ing necessary provisions for the vari
Gus contingencies which may arise in
case of the removal of President
from Office, or OF his death, resigna-
ton or inability to discharge the
power and duties of said office, and if,
in their opinion such defect exist,
what further or other legislation is
best calculated to remedy such defects
and that they report such bill or joint
resolution rs in their opinion the case
may require Agreed to.
After the expiration of the morning
hour, Davis called up the resolution
submitted by him yesterday, calling
for the appointment of a committee to
investigate the books of the treasury
department, ETC., and addressed the
Senate thereon. His speech was nee
essarily largely confined to statistics,
and in speaking of the discrepancies
in the annual reports, he said: ''The
figures and changes l have referred to,
i'll the official reports, are so very large
and amounts SO enormous, that
| can hardly believe them myself,
but after careful and earnest eXami-
nation for facts in reference thereto,
and such information as l could OBJ
tain after consultation with different
officers of the treasury department 1
am forced to declare that [ can find no
satisfactory explanation of them. If
there is one l should be glad to have
it; if there is Senator upon this floor
or an officer of the government who
can make plain and satisfactory ex-
PLANTATION of these charges and dis
crepancies, hope he will lose no time
in making himself heard, for in my
judgment, if it is incapable of explana-
ton, it is more dangerous than any
other fault, no matter what the amount.
He said that in examining the finance
reports of the Secretary of the treas
ury that have been made for previous
years, he had discovered many alter
ations of figures, involving large
amounts, causing them to differ
widely from each other as to the
transactions of the treasury depart
ment in some years. He quoted ex-
tensively from the annual reports of
the navy, war, pension and Indian
affairs reports, making comparison
as to the receipts and expenditures
for several years and claimed the
figures in some years showed an in
crease on expenditures and the pub
lie debt in the aggregate, of many
millions of dollars, and large de-
crease in the revenue collections.
Amounts were increased or decreased
as the occasion might require, by the
addition and subtraction from loans
and treasury notes, and if there were
errors or frauds AN opportunity was
given TO attempt to cover them up.
Under that head he also quoted from
the public debt statements for several
years, and claimed.there. .were gross
discrepancies between the figures of
the Secretary of the Treasury and the
register of the treasury and that
figures had been changed. The facts
and figures as stated, he believed,
Justified the appointment of
a special committee of the
Senate to look into the charges
and the condition of the books and ac-
counts of the Treasury Department,
and he therefore asked the passage of
the resolution. After the conclusion
of Davis speech, Merriman inquired
if there were no notes or explanations
of these discrepancies. Davis replied
that in some cases there were, but he
had been unable to find how any sys-
tenn of bookkeeping could change the
amounts after they had been reported
to Congress. Boutwell, said there
was nothing new in the statements
made by Davis as to the figures drawn
from the Treasury Department books.
He, Boutwell,. had 10 observation to
make. He would venture to say, how
ever, that an accurate knowledge of
the business of the Treasury Depart
ment would dissipate all difficulties