The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-11-20
TREASURY IRREGULARITIES.
The Substance OF senator Davis
speech-He Shows Discrepancies
Amountiny To S247, 766, 674 Il.

called up the resolution submitted by him
on the 18th of October last providing for
the appointment of special committee
of five Senators TO inquire into alleged
discrepancies in the books aud accounts
of the Treasury Department. Upon
this resolution Mr.. Davis spoke suostan
tally rs follows:
To do this subject justice and point
out all the changes and alterations In the
finance reports would require seVeral
hours. but inasmuch as it had been dis
cussed heretofore in the Senate he would
endeayer to be brief He then referred
70 y similar resolution submitted by him
1T the last session, which was amended so
as to have the investigation made by the
Committee on Finance instead OF a
special committee The objections
urged at the time of imposing this duty
on the Finance Committee were that II
was already overburdened with laoor,
and could not satisfactorily perform the
duty; indeed some of the members OF
that committee during the debate stated
ss much. He confessed that when tfe
amendment prevailed authorizing the
Financial Committee TO make the lhVest-
lgation he lost much Of the interest he
had in the matter because he felt that 1t
wss impossible for any of the regular
committees of the Senate to make the
investigation required, ard at the
same time attend to the
ordinary committee of the Senate.
Subsequent events showed that he WAS
right, and he therefore concluded to re
new the resolution at the first opportunl-
" and ask for special committee. Inc
former resolution having been pressed
On the eve of the late political campaign,
it was supposed by some that Its purpose
Was merely to elicit information that
might be of service in the great contest
then approaching, but such was not MS
purpose. He was then, as now, fully
convinced that Unauthorized and I'M
proper changes have been made IN the
official finance reports OF the Treasury
Department; that these changes were
made between 1869 and 1871, and eX-
tended back to cover period Of more
than thirty years; that by some strange
procedure on the part or the officers OF
the Treasury Department and for some
purpose he could not understand figures
aad amounts in the official annual
finance reports, regularly made by form.
er Secretaries and Registers of the Treas
lry, sitter they had stood in some in
stances undislu-bed and unlmpeachet for
more than q quarter OF century, beng
relied upon and accepted as true and OF
Gcial records ofthc financial operations OF
the Government, had been without eX-
planatlon, and certainly without authorl-
", changed and altered and different
figures and amounts inserted. PartiCu
lary had this been the case IN the state
ments OF the public debt expenditures
and receipts of the Government, and
these changes in the aggregate involved
many millions of dollars. He then
quoted from the statement of the public
debt from 1885 to 1871, and argued that
the changes and alterations made in the
finance reports for 1871 as TO the public
!ebt tor the years 1855 to 1870, inclusive,
InCreaseit IN the aggregate during this
period S2i7, zoe, 6749l. He referred TO
he Register OF the Treasury, and con-
ended that that officer in 1871 changed
MS accounts under directions from the
Secretary OF the Treasury. He then
quoted from the finance report of 1870
the statement of the public debt from
1862 to that year, and next from the re-
port OF 1871 TO show where differences
existed in comparing the two reports.
The statements made by the Secretary
Of the Treasury III the annual finance re-
ports and III the monthly debt statements,
A. also those made by the Register OF the
Treasury for n given year, often differed
materially. For Instance, for the year
1869 the fnance report stated the debt to
DO u, 656, 6O3, 9j5.73. The monthly debt
statement on July l, 1869, gave it as
S2,645, l1O, 294.l6. Again, the Register,
II the finance report Tor 1869, stated the
public debt to be 81 1902, 4SO,5S. The
Secretary, In the finance report Tor 1870,
stated the public debt that year to be
-, 4oU,672, 427.ol. The difference be-
tween these sums ought TO show the de-
crease OF the public deb. tor 1870 IS, $780,
U5277, but the monthly debt statement
tr the year 1870 stated that
,be decrease of the public debt
tor that year was $l02,643,S6O 81. Up
70 1869, the Pacific railroad debt was
carried Us part OF the public debt, but in
1870 1t WIS taken from the public debt
and stated US the debt of The Pacific rail-
road, am, uniting at that time TO S5S,63S,-
$40, which was only An apparent and
not n real reduction. From TINS amount
should be sub racted the real decrease
SS,33O,OjZ77. 1t would appear that the
pupl debt for 1870 was increased 800,
OUS, 20 %, and no. decreas, d, ss set io?Lh
IN the monthly debt statement SlO2Ol3,-
S5O.S4. la connection with these ditiar-
ences, changes and discrepancies he
wished 70 state rs n remarkable fact that
the finance reports in their annual stste-
ments OF the public debt, el penditures
and revenue, all substantially agreed up
To and Including the year 1869.
lie next quoted from table of
expenditures 10 show that the
finance report for 1871 materially III
creased them over the amounts stated
IA the report o. 1869 and previous years.
The Pension Bureau on the 18th of
July, 1876, furnished an official state
meut from It's books that from 1860 to
1870, inclusive, there WAS paid for srmy
and navy pension Sl29, 39l ,22335, while
the Secretary of the Treasury IN the
finance report for 1870 stated that the
expenditures for che same period were
Sl42. $40, 493.4i, He argued that the re-
ports did not agree as 10 the amount OF
revenue collected in various years, and
Whist WAS most remarkable in this case,
Instead OF changes increasing the revenue,
a they did the public debt, they de-
creased it. To his mind this was matter
OF great moment, demanding serious
consideration, and concerned not
one political party more than
the other, but the whole country.
|. was not bis intention to reflect
upon any parties, or upon the
pas. or present officials Of the Treasury
Department, but he desired that all the
facts in connection with these changes
might be made TO fully appear, and now
that the country was comparatively free
from political excitement,it seemed to him