The New Orleans Democrat., 1876-04-30
THE CLYMER COMMITTEE.
DOWN psATT EXPLAINS.


moths in army clothing.
A. Some time in the spring Of 1S71-.I
am not positive as TO the date, but while
/ was boarding at the Arlington Mr..
Bregn came to me aud asked me To see
the Secretary OF War and request him
To take up the papers in tho application
of Cowles. whose process he sud was
very excellent one for the preservation
Of army clothing against moths, mold
aud midew, and also for making
IL water-repellapt. had known
Brepa. off and on. for twenty years,
and ] rather liked him. He belongs to
that class Of gentlemen that amuses. He
bns rather 100 much Information, but
then he has no convictions. ana he has
lived. In u rather expensive way, upon
his wits. ~ very small capital, by the
way) He was to me sort of Count
Fosco, and j found him rather enter
tanning However. | did not approve of
his schemes. He always had some
scheme by which. through the Subtle
alchemy OF tho intellect, airy nothings
were to be transmitted into solid gold.
Laughter ] first made his acquaiut-
nnce, in that respect. In m attempt 20
get NJ reciprocity treaty. | came to
Washington as the correspondent OF the
Cincinnati Conmercinf, and at that time,
shortly after the Inauguration OF Gene
raj Grant. there was good deal oil ieel-
ing in the West in behalf Df reclpro-
city treaty with Canada, and interested
m yself in IL very much. in accordance
with the wishes OF my journal, and ]
used to take delegations Of Congress
men up to talk To Mr.. Fish about it
who, by tho way, never could see IT..
In that way | came in contact with Mr..
Breca who told me that he was au agent
Of the Canadian Government FOR the
same purpose; and he was very active,
aud did US u great deal OF harm.
Laughter.
He was altogether too liberal in his
promises of money, and not careful or
able in the fuiiiliment ] am or the
opinion that if the Canadian govern
ment had responded to all the obliga-
tions that he incurred for IL in that way
1t would have embarrassed that govern
ment considerably. But 1t got out that
there was an agent OF the Canadian
government here. and the report alarm
ed my honorable friend Pig-iron-l beg
pardon, Mr.. Keiley-and 1t was charged
that there was British gold being used
to corrupt legislation in behalf Of re-
ciprocacy treaty [Laughter.l | found
also that Mr. Brega was in the habit Of
getting the information (which was not
much known that our delegations
would derive from Mr.. Fish, and selling
it 10 the New York HernM. Subse-
quently Mr.. Brega undertook to inter
est me in the St Croix railroad land
grant matter but which, recollecting
the reciprocity business, | was not ia
vorably impressed with. 80 when he
came to me with this wonderful
proeess-for the preservation Of army
clothing from moth, mold, mildew, and
also for rendering it water repellant."
dismissed it. with the rest Of the schemes
that had heard Of from him; but Mr..
Brega would not take no from me, and
he came there every day as regular as
the day itself and talked about the Cow
les process, and the necessity OF getting
the Government interested IN it. | had
no place to work but the private parlor
that / had in the Arlington, and my
wife had mocking bird hanging in the
room Of rather remarkable vocal
4 powers. and whenever Mr.. Brega opened
/ on this subject the moeKingbird would
/ join in, and between the two ! was
nearly distracted LaughterJ found
at last that | must either murder Brega,
! commit suicide or go TO see the Sec
4 retary Of War Renewed laughter.
went to see the Secretary of War.
/ found that Gen. Meigs would not listen
! to Brega, aud that Gen. Belknap would
not see him. Brega used TO watt out
side until ] would come out from the in
tervew generally In Lafayette Square
and the beaming and eager way i'll which
he would amble up to me to know the
result OF my interview was extremely
divertlng at the time. Laughter
found, however, on looking into the
matter, that vast amount OF clothing
had been left over from the war, count
ing up into millions, and that this pro
cess of Cowles had been put to very
severe tests, running through some
eighteen months, by Geheral Meigs
with q satisfactory result; SO 1t struck
me thatl after all Brega had stumbled
Mr.. Cowles to Washington, and wher
/ saw him he impressed me favorablS
as being practical, plain business man,
and told him that | would do what
could to get them q contract from the
War Department, and he then agreed
to pay me five per cent upon the gros;
amount. ] went to work and had 6
good deal Of trouble. General Meig:
was opposed to it on the ground Of it:
being an innovation, Che is opposed t.
all innovations). Laughter.l AnC
General Belknap was opposed to it be
cause he didn't know anything abou
it, aud didn't want to know. Laughter
General Meigs said that the clothing
left over from the war ought to be sole
at auction; General Belknap sale
that it ought to be given away ane
didn't either Of them think it would be
worth while to try any process by which
textile fabrics could be protected
against moth, mold, mildew, and alst
rendered water repellant." Laughter.
However, as Cowles had been put to 6
good deal of expense and trouble il
connection with these tests, my appea
in his behalf, ON that ground, obtained {
contract. Gen. Meigs recommended
that $l0,O be paid, and the Secretary
of war increased it to $4,000. Gen
Meigs consented to that, and said tha