The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-07-17

paftuenG especially Cue eIuCleuCy VI Lue
supervision of its chief authorities is
greatly impaired by the vastness of the
field which its administration covers"
In 1874, the Committee of Ways and
Means reported to the House, in connec-
ton with the Sanborn case, that the res
possibility for official acts is very loose
and easily evaded, subordinates being able
to control matters supposed to be decided
by superiors. Secretary Boutwell, re-
ported in 1869, regarding single branch
of the department, that stit is impossible
for the Secretary of the Treasury to give
10 the various questions that arise in the
management of the system the attention
which is essential to the service"
slE sNEcUREs BY THE HUNDRED. &
In the Bureau of Engraving and Print
ing itwas found that shortly before last
years elections nearly 800 needless en-
ployees were put on the pay rolls. In-
stead of the bureau costing about $780,
600 IN the fiscal year 1878, as has been
publicly represented, it really cost the
government in various ways $500, 900.
About 8. million and q quarter of pub
lie money is permanently invested in the
bureau.
The cost of the bureau for the sixteen
years of its existence is so mixed in the
treasury accounts with other mattersthat
it could not be precisely ascertained
without the labor Of a number of compe-
tent clerks for many months. Accord
ing to the best attainable information at
least $27, 600, 900 have been spent on it,
much of which has been wasted or stol-
en-. The report gives list of expendi-
,tures which are officially shown or ad-
mitted to be needless or fraudulent.
This, the report states, is by no means
the whole loss, but simply what could be
ascertained in the time at command.
The amount overdrawn and wasted in 1878
is ascertaincd from the figures furnished
by the chief of the bureau to the COM
mittee, and from the bills rendered by
and paid to the bureau for work for 9th
or bureaus, reaches the enormous sum of
$2OO,236.69
THE "DRY PRINTING" FRAUD.
Thus nearly half appears to be waste
in "reform" administration of the bu-
reau. IF previous management was no
worse-and it is known that it was no
better-about S12,00O00O have been
wasted or stolen. The "dry printing"
fraud was an effort to print fractional
currency on dry paper by hydrostatic
pressure. In this attempt 100000 were
wasted by a professed inventor named
Stuart Gwyn, and it now turns out on in
spection Of the secret archives of the Pat
ent Office that the then Chief of the Bu-
reau, Spencer M. Clark, was part owner
with Gwyn in the worthless patent, for
developing which he paid Gwyn much
of this money. The ''waterproofng"
fraud was pretense to make greenbacks
and fractional currency waterproof by
dipping the paper into mixture OF wa
ter, CASTLE soap and some other ingredi-
ents. This bath had no good effect, and
the mixture cost about five cents gallon,
while from fifty TO ninety-fve cents gal
lon was paid forit For the red ink used
for printing the seals on notes from two to
twelve prices were paid.
The Internal Revenue Bureau, the Bu-
reau of Statistics, the officers of the Ma
rine Hospital Service, the Lighthouse
Board, and other parts of the department,
have at times been crowded out of the
treasury building by the wholly unnec-
essary enlargement of this unnecessary
bureau, which has no authority of law
beyond yearly appropriations) for its
existence. This crowding out has made
the government pay large sums in rent
for outside accommodations, which were
superfuous, because the Currency Print
ing Bureau was not needed at all, res.
ponsible parties having always stood
ready to do in way, safer, cheaper and
finer, all that the bureau has done. For
the same reason no new building for the
bureau was needed, and the appropria'
ton of 1927 ,5S9 which was forced through
the House under the previous question
without debate, in the confusion attend.
ing the close of the session in June, 1878
is q clear waste and loss, as is also the
$4,000 obtained by the same means last
February for moving the bureau from
the treasury into the new building. Fol
the first half of the fiscal year 1879, end.
ing December 81, 1878, the expenditures
of the bureau were nearly S800,000, .ol
about double those ofthe previous year
and the bureau, by misrepresentation,
obtain appropriations of about million
for the present year. This presents s
strong contrast to McPherson's claim tc
have spent but 100000 e year and tc
have made large savings. Large sums
have been yearly asked and obtained fol
"new machinery. !. and some of this ma
chinery is stored as useless, yet the de-
uand for fresh appropriations goes or
yearly, though the bureau always claim!
to be better equipped than any private
establishment. The bureau also has or
hand engraved work enough to supply
in printing notes and bonds, the govern
ment's needs for fifty years to come, ye
large sums are yearly spent on engray
ings, though the engraving division o
the bureau is practically useless.
ExTRAvAaANT AND CORRUPT Off
III GALS.
Among the very first reforms made af
ter the reorganization" of the bureau
in May, 1877, when Edward Mcpherson
took charge, was the purchase of an ex
pensive carriage and horse (S450 for tn
former and 1925 for the latter and th,
employment of man as driver, who's
pay ($1.50 per day. was increased by al
allowance of 373 cents each day as extr
time, and thecos of the carriage ant
horse, as we'll as the monthly livery bill
of the latter, amounting to $40 pc
month, were paid from the appropria
| ton for labor and expenses Of sengrsyinl