Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1876-08-24

both friend and foe alike. But there wa.
yet some opportunity for improvement,
and when the crusade was started the
country looked for SOM good out OF the
effort.
But, Mr.. Speaker. while the House sent
thirty-three committee into investigating
duties, which monopolized their tiMe and
drove out all other subjects. yet the meth.
Cd and manner was such that from the be-
ginning the whole movement was paral-
yzed. Then first was adopted as the al
most unvarying policy-Is believe the
Committee on WAYS and Means was the
only exception at first--what had only
been in rare cases ever attempted before.
the sitting of these committees in secret
Investigations conducted with closed
doors. Parties who were investigated
found, months after secret investigation
had been set aioot, for the first time that
they were under accusation The minor
ity members OF the different committees
because Of false notion Of the h62nno,tP o,tPGGmpfe GGmpfe
to the committee by them as members.
Secret meetings Of the members of the
J majority upon the committees were tre-
quently held. and one result of all this was
that when any facts were brought out
that affected any prominent member of
the party of majority in the House the in
vestigation was suppressed. No com
mittee cared to follow up the claim Of the
Kentucky Railroad which had been forced
through one OF the Departments when it
was learned that a leading democratic as
pirant for the Presidency was implicated
When 1t found that John Roach had con-
tributed money TO the election of a dem
| ocratic member upon this floor no atten-
ton was called to II. when Contractor
Swift told the committee that his largest
.I | had hppp n a nf
ic elections the committee felt that they
! had heard enough. And Mr.. Commission.
er Davenport opened up the condition Of
the election III New York City under dem
ocratic rule SO effectualy that another
committee. like the California hunter.
drew on from the trail because q it was
| getting altogether too fresh" But when
ever any slur could be put upon the hthcr-
To fair reputation Of a prominent rcpub-
lcau the committees were eager and aux-
lou, To briu. It forth,
Let mr give an instance nr TWO oC these
/ nvrstis CATIONS aud ut tire mauu.r in which
IL" democratic party conducted them lt
1 has H,t... .-t rtrty that heretofore has set
up loud claims of devotion To The iudiyId-
ual and private rights uf the citizen. Odc
/ of the iir>i things that one Of the commlt.
tees OF thI, ilpu~" dd under the general
/ authority gwen IL t" investigate very
! thing wI> 10 ~rud 10 the paper min,
4 where a mass of trioIr.lm> from The tr."-
, graph offices had been sent aul to secure
[ them for the u-r OF TIE committee Why.
| Mr. ~prahrI. uuc cause "f the success Of
electric telegraph has been the fidelity Of
it, employees L. the citizen who commits
his tno~t secret communica atonS tn the
companies. This confidence i a thing
| that ramitrs All business and social life
| But the investigating committees of this
/ House broke through All that. ~.iZ"d the
1 dispatches. ard spent their time searching
] for private messages that had been
j brought from the vat, Of The paper m,N-
[ rr>
why, NJ SPEAKER, the secrets. captured
the Information there gained, tt,-r com
lnittrcS had no more night To. a. !, matter
"i property, thau they have 10 gentle
mans purse. they gained them in no
/ better Way than ii they had stolen IDiO "A
-rut.cmau'- h"u.o aud had hidden behind
hi, door or under hi, bed. aud had list
ened 10 all the condolences aud >ecrecic>
OF his household Let me give an instance
Of the craze that followed this hunting up
| OF private records. \ Cabinet minister :,
whose wife was al the seaside. received a
dispatch something like this; Arrived
safely; baby well. You must decide
about the cook" To the committee this
was vastly mysterious dispatch, and the
| Cabinet munster received from the chair
man OF the investigating committee 4 curt
note, copying the dispatch aud callin-
upon him 10 furnish the cipher for it, in
terpretation Think Of the gross malad
miristratiou llaughterl concealed under
this dispatch, and how the chairman OF th"
committee must have racked his braI te
| gather its true and hidden meaning.
/ Can any craze 90 further than this:
Why, -ir. the famous absurdity Of Ser
geInt Buzz Fuzz-" Mutton Chops aud
! Tomato Sauce"-is common sense com
pared with this committee investigating Il
/ Department OF the Government.
But We have gone on tar enough To AS
certain that one result followed from all
this Il was thing that my friends os
/ the other side hated TO look in III" fac" At
nrst. hated To provide for III approprial-
/ ion bills But It soon became evident that
the bIi> for all this had To be paid Inc
Z cltl Of " >hiu2tou was lull of men Who
tad been summoned here a> witut >>r>
from every corner ia the land. >nmc ut
/ whom wanted 10 testify and return 10
I thrli homes. while others preferred %
/ wail while their tee bills rollrd up. The
>rrgcuut-at-Arm had sent his messeng
er- out in all directions. The Government
Printing Office had from the beginning
surfeit of matter thrust upon it for printing.
| The committees had to be given clerks
and their salaries had TO be raised. This
very day, on report from the committee
| on Accounts, the salary OF the clerk of
! these committees was raised.
Now. | wonder if gentlemen know,
with all their claim Of economy, how they
have illustrated it in this House. where
they have had full swing. had the fig-
I de- m m
found that there were then thirty-three
| clerks of committees of this House undtr
| paw. while never in the time of republican
| administration were there ever more than
twenty mine. Aud since that list was
made up for me two more have been ad
ded.
Democratic party has been. aud is now.
running the most expensive session of Con
gress that the American Republic has
| ever seen.
The Total amount il 60.l0466.
1t does not Incudr any of the largest
items of these expenditures; it does not in
clude anything tor prirting the testimony.
Ii Includes notbin. tor -teno"raphrr-.
| clerks. stationary Ii undoubtedly does
not cover one-tenth pat OF The adlr innnl
expenditures imposed On the country by
the action of this House.
Why, sir. ordinarily We employ but two
| stenograpders to report for our commit
tees. We have paid this session q count
ed them up the other day. seventeen. The
appropriation bill for the sundry civil ex-
penses of the Government has several
pages decorated with items to pay for ser
vices upon these committees. venture to
say. and measure my words. that the ad-
ditional expenses of this House over and
above the ordinary expenses OF years im-
mediately preceding when they are all in
for the entire session, will aggregate in the
neighborhoOd OF 81. 900 900. very large
item OF this is OF course the printing, the
cost OF which cannot now be told.
Had great results been reached all this
money might well be afforded. But setting
aside the result of the War Department in
vestigariOn where republicans contributed
to the end as freely as democrats, the out
come of the investigations is a mass OF
partisan reports to be used for campaign
purposes, and while no money OF the Gov
ernment is shown to have been stolen by
officials. it is proved that the defalcations
and losses are smaller than at any period