The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1876-09-29

reserved and its liquidation by Polk
only defeated for want of time.
THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT ssrSsoL-
VENT UNDER DEMOCRATIC RULE.
In 1884, after a hard battle, (from
1S309 Senators Thomas Ewing, of
Ohio, and John M. Clayton, of Della
ware, forced an inquiry by the Senate
Committee on Post Offices and Post
Roads into the condition OF the Post
Office Department. It found the De-
partment E'insolvent,' helpless prey to
maladministration, corruption, robbery,
and fraud. In the preceding adminls-
tration, under John Q. Adams, the De-
paTtment had been not only selEsustain-
ing, but had contributed annually ST.
103 ,063 to the revenues of the nation.
But now, in a few brief years, under
Democratic reform, it was bankrupt,
burden upon the Treasury. Is. II.
422, first session Twenty-third Con-
gress.
Mr.. Felix. .GrundY, of Tennessee, the
Democratic chairman OF the committee,
was opposed to the investigation.
Postmaster General Barry refused to
recognize it's authority He declared
that he was responsible, not 10 the Sen
ate, but to the President, and through
him to the people. He refused to furn-
ish the committee the information it re-
queSted, and it was forced to prosecute
its labors under the greatest difficulties,
among mutilated records and fabricat-
ed accounts in the greatest confusion.
But even under such disadvantages it
developed condition OF affairs utterly
without a parallel in all our previous
history.
THE s'EXTRA-ALLO7wASCE'' FRAUDS IN
DEMOCRATIC TIMES.
One of the greatest abuses of the De-
partment was III its extra allowances,
aggregatiug hundreds of thousands an
nually, frequently given without an in
crease of duty or service, without the
authority OF law, and in many cases
where there was an increase of service,
unreasonable, extravagant, and ont of
all proportion with such increase
These ertrd allowances actually e.
hdusted the schole postal rece5eues of
States, and were granted practically as
pensions to party favoriteS. This IA
Il <
tain contractors were compelled to sur
render their contracts for the benefit of
others. Contracts were granted on bids
different from advertisement, and Others
were altered or changed in material re-
spects after they had been accepted
Proposals for carrying the mail were
withheld from advertisement. The
contracts, as in the case OF the route
from Chicago to Green Bay, actually
given to clerks in the Department un-
der other meu's rames, aud the eompen-
sation on bids raised without an increase
of service. Mail lines were authorized,
cat heavy expense" to run morethan
once daily without benefit to the public,
aud steamboat lines were established, by
private contract without authority of
law, at an enormous expense. OppreS-
sive monopolies were actually establish
ed by the Department for the benefit of
private parties. An instance is given
in which ali agreement, drawn by All Of
ficer of the Government and adopted at
his pressing instance, with the sanction
OF the Postmaster General, and was en-
tered into between two companies OF
mail contractors TO put down all oppo-
sition lines of coaches-all competition
of passengers on their respective mail
routes.
The conraetors, in turn, divided by
handsome loans never repaid-geuer-
ouSly relieved the Postmaster General OF
his debts, and enabled the chiet clerk to
speculate largely i'll real estate i'll Wash
ington. They also furnished the table
of both with the most choice wines
H1tth sltreqcd business foresight tie
contractors Tent their credit to tie De
l1drtnaea,t acitea Usrete9aed tcith collapse,
and tie Department responded 6y
l'kedging ats funds for the benefit Of
contractors.
THE DEMOCRATIC sPEcIAL-sERv1cE PLuns.
The ''identih,oI erpenses'' of the de-
partment--not it's contingent expenses"
which were separate, distinct, aud ad-
ditional, but its 'ssecret-seruice ftotd,"
in single year, (1829,) Increased to
$56,471, ''exceeding that of any former
year" but in 1882, during the Presi-
dental election. it suddenly swelIed to
$4,000! 1t was principally the news
paper fund. After deducting the sup
port of travelling partisan emissaries,
under the title of ''postal agents." it
was the fund out of which the numer-
Gus party presses were permitted to
richly share the plumber. So the
Greenes, of the Boston Statesman, the
elder Greene (NathanieD being post
master at Boston. and certifying the ac-
counts which were for s'printad blanks.
tvine, etc." So the Hills, of the New
Hampshire Pdtriot, the Shadrach Penns.
of the Louisville Public Adoertizer,
tine Albany 4rgus, New York Courier
and Enquirer, the Washington Globe,
the national organ, etc. The prices paid
to F. T. Blair of the Globe were s'enor-
mous.n OF the S22, ,957 O8 of ssinci-
dental expenses" during the Presi-
dental election of 1882, S13, ,673 81
were paid to the editors of newspapers.
OF that Blair received SO, 1856 so! Dur
ing the election he received from this
secret fund alone about SIG daily for
every day his paper was issued. The
details are disgusting. MaIadminstra-
tion, corruption, and fraud run riot.
The aggregate ereess OF expenditures in