Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-06-22
A SERIOUS ARkAIGNMENT.
what the House Naval Committee Find
about ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Plum
der or Public Funds Charged
against him and his Chief
Associates.
to the New York world.l

ment of the management of the navy depart
ment under Ex-Secretary Robson than the
investigation and impeachment of Ex-
Secretary Belknap. While the latter only
covered thousands, that of the navy promises
to cover millions of dollars of frauds upon
the treasury. 1t Is, perhaps, sufficient to
show that three million dollars worth of i'm
proper contracts, made IN the last hours of
| Robesons rule, have been set aside by his
successor and thrown out by congress, and
there is good reason to believe that congress
will yet regret the payment of quite one mil
| lion FIVE hundred thousand dollars made at
| this session In the face of the protests of the
naval committee. The committee has con-
cluded its investigation of the late admins
tration of the navy department, and by the
vote of the Democratic members thereof has
adopted the following resolutions for the ac-
| ton of the house of representatives:
Resolved, That the acts and conduct of the
| late secretary of the navy, George M. Robe
son, of the late chiefs of the bureaus of steam
engineering, construction and repair, and
provisions and clothing, in the sale and dis
position OF public property, IN their method
| of making contracts and In involving the gov
eminent in Indebtedness over and beyond the
appropriations made by congress for the sup
| port of the navy, deserve and should receive
| the severest censure and condemnation, and
that in addition thereto said parties, well
as all others aiding and ahettlng therein,
should be punished to the extent of the law.
| Resolred further, That it shall be the duty
of the clerk of the house of representatives
| to deliver certified copies of the testimony
| taken before the committees on naval affairs
and naval expenditures of the house to the
President of the United States and the at
| torney-general, with the recommendation
| that the parties shown by this testimony to
| have violated the law, and especially in regard
| to the unlawful disposition of public property
and money, may be tried and punished as
prescribed by law.
The committee In presenting these resou-
| tons states that the evidence which it has OBJ
| tanned is for the most part taken from official
reports and records of the department which
| are submitted to the house.
The following is a condensed statement of
the more important facts in evidence before
| the committee:
First-The committee finds that since the
| close of the war of rebellion over four hun
dred million dollars In money have been eX.
pended for and on account OF the naval SER
vice. OF this sum fully one hundred and
| eighty-two million dollars have been expend
ed during the administration of Secretary
Robson. 1t IS also found that during his
administration the proceeds of the sale of
| from forty to fifty million dollars of public
property, which should have been turned into
| the treasury, have been expended in and for
| the navy department.
Second-Every protective and prohibitive
enactment Of law made for the security of pub
| lie money and public property has been dis
regarded and violated, and, as a result, ex-
cessive prices have been paid for property,
which has been bought without advertise
ment or competition. Vast amounts of pub
| lie property have been disposed of in secret
| and improper ways, and the proceeds applied
| to naval accounts instead of being turned
| into the treasury. Great quantities Of I'M
necessary supplies have been purchased, and
the evidence of irregularity, extravaganza
and fraud at every step has been overwhelm-
ing.
The committee further says:
In the face of these millions of dollars of
| wasted appropriations; With the number of
| ships and material disappearing from the
| service, as shown by this testimony; with the
| law disregarded at every step almost; with
| the treasury of the government involved in
| the payment of liabilities of from three to
seven million dollars, created by agents of the
| government, can we hesitate to pronounce
| their acts illegal and criminally wrong, and
| to call upon that department of the govern
ment clothed with the execution of the laws
| to arraign and bring these parties to the con-
| demnation that these laws may visit on them?
| In the further discharge OF its duty, your
| committee says that for the existing indebt-
| edness of the navy department. and that for
| the unlawful sale and disposition of large
| amounts of valuable property belonging 10
the naval service, and the unlawful DISPOSE
| ton of large sums of the public money APP
proprlated to the naval service, George NJ.
| Robson, late secretary of the navy, w. w.
| w. Wood, late chief of the bureau of steam
| engineering, Isaiah Hanscom, late chief of
| the bureau of construction and repair, and
| Jas. Ii. Wattmouth, late chief of the bureau
| of provisions and clothing, are chiefly respon-
| sible. There are other agents of the govern
ment whose conduct in the public service
| deserves to he inquired into by the executive
| department, and they are Chief Engineers
| Stewart, Fithian and Henderson, whose
| hasty examination of material at the Boston
| navy-yard does not evince very high inter-
| est IN or regard for the public service, and
| Pay-Director Russell. and also the conduct of
| the late PaYmaster- General Bradford.
| 1t is claimed and urged that the abuses for
which these parties are arraigned existed with
| their predecessors, and that precedents should
extenuate their conduct or form an excuse for
their action. 1t is replied by your committee
that it is not shown that any of their prede-
cessors involved th-ir government in liebill-
ties in excess OF appropriations reaching from
three million to seven million dollars, and
since the acts of 1872 these parties, and these
only, have been In power. 1t is not shown
that under any former administration, ncr
can it be shown that so large an amount of
public property has been disposed of at pr1-
vate sale and by barter and exchange, nor can
it De shown that at any time, under any gov
eminent claiming the protection of law, such
an utter disregard of its authority has been
| displayed.
Therefore, in the opinion of your commit
tee, that the law may be indicated and re-
spect for its mandates maintained, it is the
duty of the house to mark its condemnation
of tie illegal practices of these former officers
of the navy departm emit, and to recommend
to the executive department of the govern
ment the arraignment and trial of the parties
herein named before the naval and criminal
IL. l. l.
upon such trial they are found guilty they
| may be punished; and accordingly your COM
! mittee submits for the favorable consideration
| of the house the above resolutions.
Third-The committee find that contracts
| to the amount of over twenty million dollars
| have been made by the heads of these bu-
reaus IN the navy department (viZ., steam en-
| gineering, construction, and provisions and
| clothlng), under what are termed bureau Or
| ders or bureau acceptances, without any re-
| gard to the requirements of law in the man
ner of making them. This does not include
| an equal or larger amount of pnr-
chases made under what is known as the pur-
| chase system. 1t appears that the result of
| these practices was that the government has
uniformly paid higher rates for supplies than
| other buyers, and these prices have often
been enormously excessive, and that while
| there has been great reduction In the prices
of materials during the past few years there
| has been no reduction in the cost of naval
supplies. the evidence shows that all COM
petition in bidding for supplies was discour-
aged and resisted by the department One
of several instances of the kind is given where
a contractor at regular and legal biddings
proposed to furnish white-oak timber at forty
| cents cubic foot, but was permitted by the
head of the bureau of construction to with
draw his bid, and through another favored
contractor to supply the same timber to the
department at sixty-two cents cubic foot.
Fourth-The committee finds that unneces-
sary and undermined supplies were pur-
chased at exorbitant prices to the amount of
millions of dollars. A great amount of tim
Der, of character and description not de-
manded by any pressing or probable future
exigency of the service, was purchased and
stored in the navy-yards, where it is now rot
j ting. A vast quantity of live oak timber is
accumulated which could never be used in
the construction of any but very small ves-
| sells, and which, consequently, the govern
/ mart never shnnld have rurchasad or maid