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

!diliions on Millions of the Public Funds Sto
len and squandered-Fraud AbsoIuteI,
Unchecked and the National Yinances a
the Mercy OF Thieves and Robbers.
To-day the Sur prints documen,
which deserves the thoughtful considera.
uon of eyerv citizen, no matter what may
be his political predictions. It is tho
report Of The Congressional committee O,
which Hon. j. NJ. Glover was chairman
which committee was empowered to in.
vestigate the affairs of the Treasury De.
partment and its numerous ramiications
including the Gecret Service and En-.
craving Bureaus. Republican influence
OF the strongest character has been
brought to bear on the members of the
committee and upon Congress itself to
prevent publicity being given to the his.
tory OF the shameless mismanapement of
the national finances which the commit.
tee discovered. The result was that. not.
withstanding Democratic activity, the re.
port OF the committee was suppressed in
Congress and every effort to bring it to
light has mat with the most violent mr.
tlsan opposition up to the present time.
The record Of infamy and corruption
IN the national treasury and its various
bureaus, under the management of John
Sherman and his immediate predecessors.
is startling one, and has been fully laid
bare by the committee. Millions upon
millions Of dollars of the peoples MONEY
have been squandered and stolen: the
department has been made a tool for
most Infamous purposes; secret issues
OF money have. been made to carry elec-
tions for the Republicans; all avenues
that might lead TO exposure have been
closed, and honest, conscientiousgoffici
dismissed; the Southern people have
been shamelessly,plundered BY Sherman's
treasury ring; mints have been q mine
for official thieves, speculators and de.
faulters, and the country has been flooded
with counterfeit paper whenever such q
course served the purpose of the ring and
its dependants. The report, moreover.
showE that there is absolutely no check
or safeguard against the perpetretion or
repetition of the greatest frauds in the
national finances under Sherman's man.
agement, and closes with recommends
tions which cannot but be deemed neces-
sary, under the circumstances.
The report in substance is as follows:
The document opens by stating that
Rule 103 of the House, adopted during
Madison's administration, directs this
committee to inquire and report whether
tho expenditures of the Treasury De-
partment ere justified by law; whether
the claims satisfied are supported by
vouchers establishing their justness,
whether the moneys disbursed have
been so paid in accordance with appro-
priation laws, and whether any and what
provisions are necessary to provide more
perfectly for the proper application of
the public moneys, and TO secure the
government from demands unjust in
or extrayagant in mount; to
report from time to time whether any ..aG
what retrenchment can be made in the
expenditure Of the department. without
detriment to the public service; whether
any and what abuses exist in the failure
TO enforce the payment of moneys due
the United States from public defaulters
or others; whether any Offices in the
have become useless or un-
necessary and to report on the expedi-
ency of modifying or abolishing such of
fees.
Under this rule little was done for q
long time, and when Mr.. Glover was
placed at the head Of the committee in
1877 the gathered wrongs of years had to
be inquired into. The committee had
been habitually packed by Speakers Col.
fax and Blaine with do-nothings. Janu-
ary l !, 1873, the House instructed the
to proceed with its duties
(which it had sometime before begun),
and empowered it to send for persons
and papers Compel attendance of wit
nesses and production of documents
needed as evidence and to pay the atten-
1ant ezpense), and to examine all the
affairs of the treasury for such period as
The committee might deem necessary for
its own guidance or the protection of the
pubic interest and che exposing of any
frauds or abuses. The necessary author
ity topay clerk and experts was, how
ever, by the intrigues of interested par
ties delayed till March z, when the ses-
sion was more than half gone. Never
theless, the work was pushed as fast and
Far as circumstances would allow.
The treasury at Washington contains
over thirty bureaus and divisions equiv
alent to bureaus, charged with important
functions and the oversight of more than
10000 employees. The scope of its pow.
ers extends from New Brunswick to Cal.
ifornia, from the Mexican gulf TO the
polar ocean, and those powers are in
their exercise often despotio to a degree
that admits of tho suppression of proof
of official misconduct. Beside these
ehirty-odd bureaus at Washington, the
treasury Department contains su5-treas-
hries at Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Gin
cinnati, New Orleans, New York, Phila.
delphia, San Francisco and st. Louis.
Il also contains mints at Philadelphia,
San Francisco, Carson, Denver and New
Orleans assay offices at Boise, Charlotte,
Helena and New York chain of Gus
tom houses and customs officers stretch
ing across the continent from Eastport,
Me-, along the frontiers of New Bruins
wick, Canada, Lakes Ontario, Huron and
the frontiers of Manitoba and
British Columbia, to Port Towsend on
Puget Sound, Washington Terrilc..,
thence northward along the Pacific coast
to the As:atic sea, southwark to the
boundary of Lower California, eastward
aud southward along the frontier of
Mexico. eastward along the shores of the
Gulf, southwark to Key West, and thence
northeast along the Atlantic coast to
Maine, with an organization embracing
also the interior States of Illinois, Indiana,
Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont
and West Virginia, with the navy and
special revenue marine" feet of thirty.
seven vessels to enforce the customs laws
tho treasury having ch.rge of build
ing, equipment, repair, purchase and
sale OF these revenue vessels, and of the
examination, admission and government
Of cadets therein--a network of assess