Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1876-08-10

tee room were opened to the Secretary
of the Navy, a mass of testimony
amounting to almost three thousand
printed pages, was placed i'm the hands
OF the Secretary, and he was told that
he might reply to it. The witnesses
had been discharged. There had been
witnesses who had testified at the vari-
Gus navy yards Of the country, and
were then discharged. Ali this testi-
mony was placed in the hands of the
Secretary, and he was given the poor
privilege, without the benefit of an in
telligent cross examination of .he wit
nesses by himself or any member of
the committee, of making up his an
swer.
l repeat that this investigation was
conducted by the committee in secret
for four months, as though they were
preparing case against the Secretary
of the Navy and the heads of the bu-
reaus; as though it were the dstermina-
ton of the committee to fasten upon
them some wrong, some fraud, some
thing In connection with the admins
tration OF the affairs of the Department
that would bring reproach upon our
system. And when the Secretary OF
Navy was finally admitted to the conn
mittee room, after he had given his
testimony, after the better officers had
testified, the committee came to make
up their report. The minority, In their
views submitted to the House, have
complained of their treatment in rela-
ton to that report, and the manner in
which it was made up.
1 do not know why it was that the
minority of the committee Il speak OF
the political minority were not called
in to discuss the various questions that
had been under Investigation. If il
was known to the majority OF the com.
mittee that the minority held views
upon these questions that were not in
accordance with the views of the ma
jority, as they very possibly did, then
the greater was the reason why they
should have been consulted; then the
greater reason existed why the minor.
ity should have been consulted in re.
lation to this report and to its charac'
ter.
repeat that after the testimony had
been taken, before the testimony of the
last witness had been returned to the
cOmmittee-rOOm, the minority OF the
com mittee were notified to appear at q
fixed time and hear the report. We
heard that report, report that we had
no share in the making of, that we had
never been called to consider. Then
when we asked the poor privilege ol
taking up that report and discussing II
subject by subject, in order that we
might give our views upon the vorious
conclusions given, even that poor priv
ilege was denied to the minority OF the
committee and we were given two
hours in the committee-room to discuss
that report.
Mr.. HARRIS, of Massachusetts.
think 1t was three hours.
Mr.. DANFORD. lam informed thai
the time allowed was three hours, anC
possibly il was. Such was the charac
ter of the investigation, and such the
manner in which the report was made
up.
propose to call attention to few o.
the matters contained in the report,
few matters that are charged agains
the Secretary of the Navy as being vic
lations of law. The first subject to
which shall call attention is the trans
fer funds from one Bureau in the De
partment to another. Upon this sub
ject desire to remark that the testi
mony of the Secretary of the Navy, the
testimony of number of Bureau OH
GERS of the Treasury Department, ha'
been taken and from q careful reading
of that testimony, as we'll as from
knowledge of the appropriations them
selves, it will be seen that it Is mat
ter of inpossibility for the Secretary ol
the Navy to transfer upon his OWL
motion one dollar from the Bureau o
Construction and Repair to the Bureau
of Steam Engineering or from any
other Bureau of the Department tt
another. The further fact is establish
ed that such transfer never did take
place in single proven instance, save
one where there Was direct act OF Con
gress making the transfer.
Why, Mr.. Speaker, these appropria
tions are made from year to year fol
the several Bureaus Of the Department
and are drawn ont of the Treasury only
for the particular Bureau for which
work has been done. As an instance
the Bureau of Steam Engineering ha'
an appropriation annually made for Its
benefit, and it is just as impossible fol
the Secretary of the Navy to draw
from that appropriation $1,000, or any
other sum and apply it to the Bureau
Of Construction and Repair as 1t would
be for any member of this body to dt
the same act. 1t stands credited upor
the books of the Treasury to the proper
appropriation, and upon the settlement
each Bureau ia charged and credited
with its proper appropriation. No such
transfer can by any possibility TAXI
place without a collision that amounts
to an absolute and direct fraud between
the officers of the Navy Department
and those of the Treasury Department
Why, Mr.. Speaker, there is an office
in the Treasury whose special duty Il
is to look to these several accounts q!
they come into the Fourth Auditors
Office and to determine whether they
are properly charged to the particular
appropriation from which the sum II
sought to be drawn.
There have been, / repeat, no trans
fers. The Bureau of Steam-E Engineer
ing may do work that is properly
charg geable to the Bureau of Construc
tion and Repair or to some other Blu
Icdu vi tuC Navy OOPukslnOSet e.-~
that work thus done and paid for by
the Bureau of Steam Engineering viii
finally be adjusted when it comes into
Fourth Auditors Office and charged ts
the Bureau of Construction and Re
pair, or whatever Bureau may be thu
proper one to be thus charged. This Il
all there is in that matter Of transfer.
Much has been said in the report o.
the majority of the committee and II
the remarks of the gentleman from Al
ALBANIA yesterday in relation to thi'
matter Of transfer, as though the Secre
tary had absolutely taken the entire
appropriation of a Bureau, made for
special and specific purpose, and trans
ferred it by his own will to a different
purpose from that for which 1t was ap
propriated. " $50 ;tAa
In this connection 1 want to speak
tor few moments of the use OF the