Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-07-20
PUBLIC PLUNDERERS.
Amount stolen In Forty ysars

Some time since, Senator Davis of
West Virginia, offered resolution in
the Senate, calling on tho Secretary
of the Treasury for list OF defaults
ers to the Government from 1860 to
1876, with tho amount of their defal-
cations. Tho purpose of the resolu-
ton was to furnish little campaign
thunder for the Democrats Some
one moved to amend the resolution
so as to have q list of defalcations
from 1886 TO the present time, and it
was adopted. The Treasury clerks
have been working at the matter for
several months, and have sent a wag-
on load of manuscript to the Senate
in the form of an answer. 1t has
been decided not to print it, first, be-
cause of tho great cost, as it would
amount to over $4,000, and again
because thure are hundreds of cases
of nominal balances against men whc
are not really defaulters against the
government, but in the settlements
of whose accounts there has boon
some misunderstanding or miscalcu.
lation, and to whose honor and in
tegrity it would be very uni Just to
class them in list of thieves. In
very many cases they arise from bal
ances due from officers of the army
killed in battle, or those who were
wounded and taken to hospitals,
where their papers wcro lost or de-
stroyei, officers OF the navy who
LIZ 7--- -. - ahlna ~ coo with
their papers with them, and while it
is apparent that the money entrusted
to them was expended honestly,
there are no papers to prove it.
In the list there are some very
funny cases. Washington Irving is
found to be defaulter in the amount
of three cents; Hawthorne, the novel;
ist, who was counsel TO Liverpool for
several years, died owing the gov
eminent 81. A very prominent OIL
Ger OF the government stands on the
books as defaulter to the amount OF
one cent. The famous banking firm
of Corcoran & Riggo, of Washington,
owes the government 1920. The
English Government owes the Unit
ed States, according TO this report,
$1,000.
The amount of money disbursed
by this government since 1886 makes
big list of fgures-12, 1896. 870, O72.-
05, of which there has been lost to
the government according TO this
estimate of defalcations many OF
which are only nominal, as has been
stated, S22, 265.000, or about half q
million year.
The amount of real defnlcations,
emitting these unadjusted accounts
which have been alluded to, was
about half that sum.
1t is very interesting to examine
the accounts under the several adj
ministrations. The report common
ces with General Jackson, and it will
be seen that the defalcations in Cen
eral Grants administration, notwith-
standing the constant Democratic
howl, of "Thief, theft" have been
infinitely less than those under any
other President. The losses TO tho
government under Van Buren, were
by far the largest, being more than
double those of any other admins
| tratioD.
The losses on every $1,000 of dis
bursements were, in the administra-
ton of Jackson, $40 So; Van Buren,,
81. 10; narrlSg~, sln a 33. PEpk $s sSa;
S.. Sc; Buchanan, nearly S6.98; Lin
coin, s1.41; Johnson, 48 cents; Grant,
the fret four years, 40 cents; tho
second four years, 26 cents. This -
exclusive of the Post Office, which
administers its own revenue. In the
Post Office the loss has gone down
from sI118 on the 81, 900 in jack
sons administration, and S26. 10 in
Van Buren's to s1.59 for the first
term of Grant, and S1,O1 for the sec
ond, with an average of s3.5l for the
whole period.