The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1876-03-06
the BELKMAP EXPOSURE AN
OLD STORY.
THE N. z. TRIBUNE TOLD THE
SAME THING IN THE SPRING
OF 1879,
ANOTHER OF THE Liberal
ISLANDERS" PROVED TRUE,

~ Aoi6
ANOTHER OF THE Liberal
ISLANDERS" PROVED TRUE,
WHERE ARE THE ADMINISTRATION
MEN NOW WHO WE'RE THEN so
GLIB. IN DENoUNCIEG THE
"aREELEYITE CAMPAIGN
OF ISLANDER"
what the Administration W ould not Inves- |
vestigate in 1s72-crushed by it now.
1876.
Another Of the multifarious ways and
means of fleeing people is brought to
light in our Washington dispatches |
to-day Indian traders are rapacious |
and dishonest enough, but the mill |
tary traders who constructiyely sell goods |
at the military posts on the frontiers, and
live in ''brown-stone fronts" in New York |
city, are worse If that be possible, 1t
seems that one of the beauties of the semi
military administration of affairs under
which we live permits the appointment of
purveyors, suffers, or traders, with ex-
elusive privileges at the military posts re-
mote from settlements, and that these
traders, whose monopoly is complete and
amply intrenched, farm out their profit
able appointments at rates which pay them
very handsomely for the influence" with
which they secure the the job from head
quarters. 1t must be apparent that a
New York concern which gets forty or
fifty thousand dollars year for letting out
traders post at a frontier fort, makes
that amount out of its political influence.
The trader who buys the selling business
of the firm makes enough to pay his bonus
and his profits. Result: robbery of off.
GERS and soldiers. Will some humane and
enlightened statesman, not AFRAID of being
called an adversary Of the administration
and the Republican party, see If this
Sa0indle cnnnot be broken up forttaoith?
From The ". Y Tribune, 18th Feb, 1872, Washing
ton dispatches.
WASHINGTON, Feb. Is, IS72.-Army
officers stationed at posts in the west com
plain Of the extortions practiced by the
post traders, and of the gross abuses prac-
ticed under the law which authorizes their
appointment. These traders are given
the exclusive privilege of selling goods
upon the military reservations 20 the Off
GERS, soldiers, emigrants and Indians
The privilege is so valuable that it is OBJ
tanned by political or family Influence at
Washington by men who never go to the
posts or engage in the business, but farm
out the privilege to actual traders for
sums amounting, in some cases. to
$4,000 or $4,000 year. The traders
occupy relations in the army similar to
to those the suffers had during the war,
with this exception, that the suffers were
under the control OF the post commanders,
and the soldiers were protected against the
rapacity by the power Of a council of
officers to fix a tariff of prices at which
goods should be sold; whereas the traders
are appointed by the secretary of war, and,
having no competition, and being under
no control, charge any price they please.
The suffers were abolished at the close of
the war, and the commissary department
was required to furnish the necessary
articles formerly kept by the suffers, and
to sell them TO the soldiers at cost price -
This law the cOmmissaries found
irksome, and they have always managed
to evade it. Soon after it went into effect
the acknowledgement issued an order
allowing any one to trade At a military
post who should show fitness to the d e
partment commander. This was gooC
advantage tor the troops, for it gave then
the advantage OF competition, but it die
not suit the traders who have alwav:
sought exclusive privileges 1t lasted un
til the summer of 1870, when, on the re-
commentator of the secretary Of war
section was put into the army bill authoriz
ing the secretary to appoint one or more
traders at each military post for the con
venience of emigrants, lreighters ant
other citizens. The section was plausibl,
worded, and passed without objection. -
Under it the secretary appoints but on
trader ut each post, and refuses To appoin
more, 50 that this single trader. having
monopoly Of the business, pl1.udcrs tn
officers and men by charging them out
rage0u5 prices. There is 10 escape from
his rapacity, because the officers have n,
control over him, as they had over TIN
sutler. There is good authority for stat
ing that traders privileges are systemati
cally farmed out by those who obtai
them from the war department. TIL
secretary is not charged with being cog
INFANT OF these practices, and probably ha
not been informed of them. One of tn
most outrageous cases of the kind i
described IN the following letter from a,
officer stationed at Fort Sill, Indian
Territory:
Il have incidentally heard that you hav
desire to know whether a bonus is re
quired from the traders here for the privi
ege Of trading, and have been urged t
write you the facts in the case. As Their
seems to be no secret made of the matte,
and as, in common with all others here,
feel it to be great wrong, think you wi
readily excuse the presumption which IN
writing, unasked by you, might indicate
l have read the contract between j.
Evans, Fort Sill trader, and G. p. or
II. Marsh of No. 1867 or 1877 Broadway
New York, office of Herter Bros, where b
j. 5. Evans is required to pay said G. p O
Q. K. Marsh the sum of $4,000 per yea,
quarterly in advance, for the exclusive priv
ilege OF trading on this military reservation
am correctly informed that said sum ha
been paid since, soon after the new la,
went into force, and is now paid, to incud
some time in February next. This is No
an isolated case. / am informed by off
GERS who are stationed at Camp Suppl
that Lee and Reynolds paid $4,000 out
right for the same exclusive priyileg
there. Other cases are talked Of, but nc
corroborated to me; sufficient to state, tn
tax here amounts to near $40 per sellin
day, which must necessarily be paid almos
entirely by the command, and You ca
readily see that prices of such goods as W
are compelled to buy must be greyiousl
augmented thereby. 1t not being a revenu