The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-07-03
SENATOR HENRY.
His Coat Taken on and His jacket Well
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= Senator Davis, Of West Virginia, has
ssrvedat least one very useful purpose.
He has been the means Of disclosing the
weakness Of one Of the lines Of attack con.
templated in the Democratic plan Of the
next campaign. It is known that he has
been afflicted for several years with sort
Of monomania on the subject otTreaSury
accounts, and what be calls frauds in the
Treasury Department. Some years ngo
he thought he had discovered diScrepan.
Cy in the Treasury statements Of about a
hundred millions. In the parlance Of the
street be "went for It." 1t wassoon made
apparent to other people, though he has
failed through ignorance or obstinacy
to zee it, that the discrepancy was
due to different methods Of book.
keeping, easily explained, and that
there was nothing upon which TO found
q charge or even suspicion Of official
corruption or dishonesty. But he would
not be convinced. He insisted that the
Treasury had been plundered, ard that
thorough investigation would disclose a
condition OF rottenuess in the Department
which would startle tho country and cover
Republican administration with irretriev.
able disg ace and iDiamy. His own party
took no stock In the vast suspicious with
which he entertained himself, but Re.
publican Senate humored him In the
pursuit OF what seemed harmless
hobby, and gave him the fullest au.
thority, with all possible facilities, to
make thorough Overhauling Of the
Treasury Department and its accounts,
and bringeverything connected with itintO
what Mr.. Marble cloquently calls 1.-THE
keen bright sunlight OF publicity" 1t is
with this investigation that he has chiefly
concerned himself during almost the
entire period OF his public service. He
has been in the Senate the counterpart Of
Glover in the House. He has not, it Is
true, cOnvulsed the country with laughter
TO such All extent as Glover did, for he has
not reached out in SO many directions,
nor pulled in so often the wrong fish, but
in his way he has furnished good deal OF
quiet amusement by his nervous anxiety,
and the obstinate persistency with which
he chung to his delusion.
Until within a few days there has been
prevailing belief among his colleagues
that BIO was quite sincere in his hobby,
and that he did actually believe his
charges against the Treasury department
we're measurably true. He had a way OF
dropping mysterious hints about the work
OF his committee, and the things they had
pretty nearly found out end would shortly
lstonish the world with that was very
much in Glover's vein, aud never failed to
amuse the Senate; the more so because
he seemed so deeply in earnest about the
matter himself, and no one else,
even Of his own party, attach.
ed the slightest Importance to his
Investigation or its results. But II now
turns out, through arunning debate in the
Senate last week brought on by his own
eagerness and the indisCretion Of the i'm.
pulsive Salisbury, that it WIS part OF the
Democratic plan to use charges whic h
have not been substantiated, aud asser-
tons which cannot be proved, in their
prosecution Of the campaign Of 1880 In a
brief but very able and powerful speech
in the Senlte last Wednesday, Senator
Window contrasled the political, financial
and industrial condition OF the country
under Democratic and Republican rule.
His array Of facts and figures SO stirred up
MIR. Salisbury that that Senator ventured
TO attempt reply, in which, after glorify-
ing the Democracy and making the bold
avOwal that he was proud OF every page OF
It's history, he proceeded 10 arraign
the Republican party for corruption, ex-
tortion and robbery. To this loose ex-
pectoration Mr.. Window answered with
the statement that three years ago he
asked the Senator from Delaware 10 name
single individual, single Republican
official, whom the thirty-three Democratic
investigating committees had proved to
have stolen one dollar from this Govern
ment. lie failed TO do so at that time; he
has had three years to think 1t over"
And said Mr.. Window, "a repeat the
question" This touched Senator Davis
hobby so closely-the Delaware Senator
being stumped by tit brought him to his
feet with his old charge Of alterations in
the statement Of the public debt amount.
ing 10 "many millions" ~ wish were
at liberty" he said, "to state at this time
what has occurred and what has been
proved by Treasury officials"
This sort OF insinuation has become n
habit with Mr.. Davis, and is ordinarily
little regarded; but in this instance Mr..
Window proposed to bring him to book,
lie accordingly asked unanimous consent
that Mr.. Davis be permitted to state any
thing that has been proved in the two
years investigation. Mr.. Davis alone oh.
jected, He preferred to indulge in insin.
uations, without undertaking to prove or
justify them. The most Infamous charges
had been made against members OF the
Republican party, aud when the demand
was made for q single specification the &C.
cusers skunk away under the cover OF the
secrecy OF the committee rooms In the dis
cussion which followed, and which took
Il wide range, other Democrats parti-
cipated, and an evident purpose
was manifested to sustain Senator Davis
in withholdingt the official report and find.
lngs Of the committee, while squirting out
unauthorized and unofficial hints and in.
situations for campaign purposes, Sena.
tor Allison accordingly offered resolu-
ton ordering that all the testimony taken
by Mr. Dayis's committee be printed for
the use OF the Senate. This resolution met
the united opposition OF Democratic Sens.
tors. Their plan is to take up and use the
old worn.out and exploded charges Of the
West Virginia Senator for campaign pur.
poses, without permitting the public to
know the facts or read the testimony upon
which they are based. The Republican
demand is that all the facts be made
known and all the testimony published.
Messrs, Window and Allison made short
work with the two or three feeble offers Of
specifications from Davis, Salisbury and
Beck, and to that extent their guns are
spiked; but the obvious plan is 10 attack
Republican administration with sly insin.
uation and bold, unsupported assertion,
while refusing upon one technical plea
and another to bring forward the testfmo.
ny by which alone the truth can be ascer.
tanned, The debate has disclosed the dis.
honest purpose Of the party and the utter
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