The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1876-01-24
THE TREAsUKY TROUBLES.

SENATOR DAVIS'S INVESTIG ALTON.
THE GENERAL FEELING-BoUTwE At
TEMPTED REPLY-sTARTLING DIsCRRPAN-
CIEs-THE GENERAL TENOR OF THE
CHARGES.
A special to the New York World from
Washington explains the charges of Senator
Davis: AS yet the attempt of Senator
Davis, of West Virginia, to secure an in
vestigation of the treasury department, un-
der Mr.. BoutwelPs regime, has not attracted
any very marked attention. The general
feeling is that Mr.. Davis is not the man, nor
the Senate the place, to undertake so diff
cult task as verihcation OF the correct
ness or incorrectness of the treasury books
must necessarily be. But If any imagine
that Mr.. Davis was anxious only to figure
as an early advocate of honesty and reform,
and VIII now let the matter rest, they
are very much mistaken. In q con-
versation on the subject, the night
that bis speech was delivered
air. Davis spoke very freely as to what he
had discovered, what he thought might be
discovered, and what 1t was proposed to do.
He admitted at the outset the difficulty of
getting a republican Senate to appoint an
investigating committee who would really
have heart and propose to investigate, but
as Mr.. Davis expressed it, they can hardly
do less than put two democrats on the com
mittee, for it they should refuse us that the
world would at once say they dare not allow
the department to be Investigated, and they
know it. On the other hand, if they put
two democrats on such committee, those
TWO may not indeed be able to secure any
reform measures from the Senate, but il
there has been fraud or mismanagement in
the treasury department, they can make it
so evident that
REFORM WILL HAVE TO COME
in spite of the Senate. In his attempted re-
ply to Mr.. Davis Mr.. Boutwell, insinuated
that Mr.. Davis had not taken the trouble to
go to the treasury department, where he
might have got all the facts, and the ex-sec-
rotary also threw out the grstuitous in
situation that the present treasurer, Mr..
New, would have been only too glad to have
assisted in unearthing any facts detrimental
TO Mr.. BOutwelPs administration. So far
from there being any foundation for these
insinuations, Mr.. Davis declares that he has
already obtained all the information he pos
sibly can from the treasury department
without an investigation, and HAT ali the fig
ures he has given are from the official REG
ords. AS the World has already learned
by telegraph, Mr.. Davis's speech fell
rather fat upon the Senate for
several reasons. Nevertheless it ex
hibits some startling discrepancies in the
treasury accounts, ana now That the QpQTG8
are in print they are beginning TO csus-
considerable discussion here. From all the
reports of the register of the treasury pre-
vious to 1879 he shows the total aggregate
expenditures from 1860 TO 1866 inclusive to
have been S5,SSS, 9l7, 100 l6; but the registers
report for 1870 gives the total aggregate ex
penditures tor those years to have been ST.
S92, 1S9 100 SO. That is, at the close of MIR.
Boutwell's first year in the treasury depart
ment, the government was charged with
having spent from 1860 TO 1866 the very
sizssble little sum of 1921 $40 43 more
than the reports for those years declared
had been spent.
THIS DISCREPANCY
Mr.. Boutwell, has not yet attempted to &C.
count for. Again, Mr.. Davis declared that
many cases were found in the accounts OF
the navy, war, pension and Indian expendi-
lures, where figures have been changed in
the finance report of 1870, that is, the
amounts for one year are officially stated at
such a sum, and when the same amounts
for the same years are recited in the report
of 1870 they are stated indifferently. The
fact of these changes having been made Mr.
Boutwell, acknowledged in the Senate when
directly pressed for an answer. Mr.. Davis's
tables make Mr.. Boutwell's reports show
total discrepancies in these four depart
ments of Sl3, 265, 055 81, and, singularly
enough, this total is all an increase. That
il, Mr.. Boutwell's report says the govern
ment, in those four departments and within
the space of seven years spent S13, 265 ,055 81
more than previous reports had officially
declared that 1t had spent. Mr.. Boutwell,
processes to be able to explain this all away,
but has not done 1t yet, and the first INFER
ence is that the government books did not
balance and the changes we're made to make
them balance. In the matter of revenue
collections, Mr.. Davis discovered, or thought
he discovered, new system OF book-keep-
ing, the cardinal principle Of which, to
quote his own language, appeared to be,
"when sum Is required to make the total
receipts agree as to the same year, it Is
added to or substracted from loans and
treasury notes. as the case may be"
which seems to be the column in which
to merge all differences, increase or decrease
all amounts, so as to make the balances the
same, no matter what
CHANGES AND MANIPULATIoNs
may have been made under other heads,
and il there be errors or frauds, giving an
opportunity TO attempt &c cover them up
under that head. The greatest changes OF
figures In the finance reports appear to have
been in the annual public debt statements,
where in the years from 1862 to 1870, in
elusive, Mr.. Davis finds an aggregate diff
ferencs of S248, $50 352 81 more as reported in
1870 from what IL was as reported In lS7ls
Mr.. Boutwelrs only explanation for this
difference of nearly a quarter of a billion
was that the public debt statement
was made up June 80. and the registers re-
port the next day, and that considerable
business INTERVIEWED. These citations
are sufficient to prove the gen.
eral tenor of Mr.. Davis's discoveries and
charges, and the question OF real interest is
what is going to be done about it? As we
have already said, Mr.. Davis declares his in
tention of pushing the Investigation, and
feels confident that the House will take it
up If the Senate refuses to. He coDfesses
that be has 10 certain knowledge going
to show fraud, and thinks it impossible 10
get such nowledge, except through an in
vestlgating committee. Personally he is
on friendly terms with Mr.. Boutwell,, but
he can not and Mr.. Boutwell, does not ex-
plain away the facts which he has discoy-
cred, and he does not consider that personal
renard for the ax -lIaaaurer shnuld stand ha-