New-York tribune., 1878-05-11

MR.. WILLIS'S DISCOVERIES.
HIS LONG INVESTIGATION OF THE DEBTS OF THE
NAVY, TO WHICH SECRETARY THOMPSON CALLED
ATTENTION, ENDED-NoTHING NEW FOUND.
lBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNEl
WASHINGTON. May 10.-Mr. Is. 4. Willis, chair
man of the House Committee on Expenditures in the
Navy Department, submitted his report of the in
vestigation which his committee has been conduct
ing of the Indebtedness of that department to-day
He says:
AT the outset we were staggered by the immense
apparently owing by the several bureaus. to W.T.: Bu
Bureau of sielm Engineering So 31639l5 AZ Bureau Of
Provisions and Clothing %iz34Ii 90 she G gfsnd @ 'too %
nofwitIstandng tle enormous appropriations made
ANNUALLY from 1869 to 1876, inclusive, aggrcgatng
o nu @ Win fSos ~ third and fourth rate powers
We discovered that the major part Of the indebtedness
and material ished long since accepted aud used by
the Government and payment OF which has been rem
dered impossible, for the reason that the finds IN inc
Treasury the credit Of the various bureaus have been
reckessly squandered in what are technically known as
open purchases. amounting 10 millions, very often with
out competon or advertisement aud as your commit
lation OF law. This violation of law, without
Treasury 20 tic extent Of millions Of dollars, and has
been the food on winch pamIeIed iAvorltes nave ni
toned while it has prevented the payment OF moneys
due iqeror0us class Of creditors to such an extent
that many lave involved III bankruptcy, and all of
them subjected to iTepaTable loss The amount o open
purchases aud bureau within the last few years
of an open IarSct have been ignored, fair competition
avoided, and both the letter ana spirit OF the law ds
regarded
The committee criticises very severely the system
of bookkeeping in the Bureaus of Construction and
Repair and Steam Engineering. 1t was discovered
that in cases where bills have actually been paid the
Government had not been credited with the amounts
and appeared 10y the books to be still in debt. The
amount of these payments supposed to be due to
certain persons as creditors, but which had actually
been paid by the Secretary himself, probably with
out the knowledge OF bureau officers, was STD
256 "a: and those payments were entirely irregular
in method though Justly due to the respective per-
sons who received them The committee says
Had not these amounts been scrutnzed with the
creditors had they been inclined to dishonesty, might
have twice received payments cI these sums amounting
to nearly S20oGOo Is Guec w In the first in
stance furnished TO your committee by several oil the
creditors themselves
The committee then takes up the several items
of Indebtedness in order, and states their amount
and the facts about the contracts which they are
based The amount due for timber which the Gov
ernment is bound to pay is $i16,392 30. The COM
mittee condemns without qualification such exten-
sive purchases of timber. There was no pressing
exigency it says, and there was no money TO the
credit of the bureaus to meet the Obligations they
involve; but as the persons selling the material
were ignorant presumably of the financial condition
of the bureaus the prices were not eXorbltant and
the timber can be utilized. The committee recon-
mends that the bills be paid. After having elm
mated the amounts which the committee thinks the
Government is not bound to pay, the balance still
due is estimated at S3,213,73S 7G.
Three members of the committee, Messrs. Page,
Hubbel and Williams, do not agree with the report
of the majority While they admit that large ap-
preparations have been made, they call attention TO
the fact that out of them there has been dsbursed
the annual payment of officers and seamen, amount
ing to about 81, 800 900 year the supplying and
housekeeping of the Navy a1oat the anndal re-
pairs of shps the maintenance of the navy yards;
the rebuilding of fourteen sDgle-turTeed ironcads
and the partial rebuilding of five dOuble-turreted
ironclads. as well the rebuilding of
six other vessels of liye-oak, replacing those
utterly rotten. The sum also covers the eX-
penditures for eight sloops of war and those
made necessary by the preparations for an anticl-
pated war with Spain in 1878 and 1870. The
principal part of the existing Indebtedness OF the
department is for the rebuilding of five doubletur-
reted irOnclads, which, as the minority thinks, was
necessary in improving work which Congress ought
10 have completed. The minority also defends the
method in which advertisements for contracts were
made and open purchases Of supplies and services
allowed. 1t recommends that the work upon sus-
pended contracts be allowed TO proceed, and that
appropriations be made to pay Tor IT. Inc report
concludes as follows
The exact amount OF Indebtedness Of the Navy De
partmcnt is $32l7,73S 76. The creation OF this IN
debedness arose largely from change Of policy by
Congress- by which the appropriations for the work Of
bureaus of the department were greatly reduced leaY-
ing work contracted for and necessary 10 be finished IN
an incomplete state. There was nothing criminal or
improper III the mode this Indebtedness arose. ana hOth
ing III it concealed from Congress
The majority of the committee submits resolutions
covering its recommendations the one in re-
gard to cancelhng contracts providing THAT the
Secretary of the Navy be and he is hereby in
structed to cancel contracts dated March g. 1877.
with Phineas Burgess for the completion of the
MonadnOck, $G95, 900; with William Cramp IL Sons,
for the completion Of the Terror, Sj7s, 900; with
Harlan q HollinswOrth for the completion of the
Amphi trite, $57s, 600 with John Roach for the
comp letion of the Puritan, $1,117 G42; also
tracts with the South Boston Iron Company, dated
respectively March aud TO- 1877 for the cOnstruc
tiOn of boilers together amounting 10 the sum Of
SO, 800, 2G3 o."