Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-02-24

headquarters will be in Boston, and the mex t
| meeting will be held there February %,
| 1880.
! D1sCOURAGING CONTESTS.
The House committee on elections has
agreed to report bill limiting the allowance
for expenses incurred in contesting seats in
the House to 81 600 in each case after the
present Congress.
IN DEFENSE OF robson.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25.-The report of the
minority House committee on naval affairs
in relation to the management of the navy
department under Secretary Robson report
In the outset to the investigation made dur
ing the first session of the Forty-fourth
Congress into the same subject, which made
the present investigation unnecessary. Not
! content with substantial vindication of
Secretary Robson in the Forty fourth Con
gress the committee on naval affairs in the
present Congress have gone over the same
again utterly fails to establish a
single allegation of fraud, corruption or
wilful violation OF law. The minority saws
that in the light of facts, we clearly affirm
that the administration of Robson as Sec
rotary of the navy, so far as the evidence
discloses, is not soiled by single act of
fraud or personal corruption. In relation to
the exchange of old material for new and It's
application in the discharge of contracts for
work done on double turreted monitors, the
minority says there is not the slightest evil
! dence that the old material was disposed of
corruptly or for less than its fair market
| value.
They notice it is stated in the major ity
report that $1s2, 496,O33 was, during the
| eight years of Robson, appropriated for the
navy. The official reports show the ial
appropriations were $lS9,413,197, and the
total expenditures $1S5,564 $50. OF it
| there were for pay Of officers and men of
! the marine corps and naval academy,
$4,000, 761: for yards and docks, SIS
us, 561; equipment and recruiting, 3d.
535, sos; navigation, $3,41O. 1853 ordnance,
S6,41O,9l2; provisions and clothing, $15,-
227, 1868; medicines and snrgury, $1,944lO7.
Total S132, 49,, 5S7.
Thus, at one blow is stricken out this
great sum as clearly having nothing to
do with the ships of the navy, their engines
or their condition. This sum, deducted
| from the total expenditure, leaves a balance
of $50, 6S1,97 as avails bic from the appro-
Priations for building ships and their ma
chinery. Subjected to this analysis the
slS2,OO0,OO0 so startlingly displayed as the
vast sum expended for the navy, ceases to
have any meaning or force whatever,
and the display must have been made for
effect merely.
1t is of the same character as that other
statement in the majority report that from
the foundation of the government to Jun.
80, 1877, the vast sum Of $956,246,921 had
been expended on the navy of the United
States. They are large and beautiful figures.
but they do not help to show how much G.
NJ. Robson had to spend during his admin
istration in their engines and machinery.
Tne sum available is made Of items of ap-
preparations for construction and repairs,
$38,314,911: steam engineering. $780,
O62. Total, So, $751; 1913. To this should be
added the following items derived from YES
sells sold from July 1st. 1869, to July 1st,
1877: Construction and repairs, S595.554;
steam engineering, S151,S27. Total, $747,-
3S1. Grand total, $53,429,354.
The report next takes up the statements
of the ma ority, that there was disposed Of
during the administration of Robson ma
teriel costing hundred million dollars
which would have yielded revenue to any
prudent private individual, while the gov
eminent received for it less than two million
dollars, and that during the eight years of
Robeson's administration there disappeared
from the navy the names of seventy vessels,
of which one was lost at sea, forty-six sold
and proceeds paid into the treasury, three
sold and their proceeds turned over to con-
tractors, and twenty were destroyed by Robe
son and the material cut up,
and turned over to the credit charged
contractors. The minority admit that sew
enty ships went off the register, five of which
were lost at seattle Oneida, Polaris, Sara
nae, Saginaw and Huron, although they
think the Huron was lost after Robson re-
tired. But why should those lost vessels
figure longer in any account. It would seem
especially urgent to take account of them in
the statement, but this affecting the honor
and official and private reputation of high
| official, they are dropping this.
But, of the sixty-ive that went off the
registry, the committee give table printed,
with the testimony, of thirty-one of forty
six vessels said to have been sold, with their
cash and appraised value, with proceeds of
sale. They also give table of twenty YES
sells destroyed By the secretary of war, and
the minority add table of fourteen remain
ing vessels disposed of during Roheson's ad-
ministration, which show the cost of the
sixty-five vessels to have been S29, O33, 213
instead OF S100,oo0,0O0, as asserted
by the majority report. Thirty
one vessels we're sold after
the passage of the act of 1872, and the pro-
ceeds covered into the treasury, and not one
dollar from the sale was expended by
Robson. Twelve Others were sold at auction,
and the proceeds credited on the books of
the treasury to the bureau of construction
and steam engineering. It cannot be the
intention to charge this sun twice.
number of comparative and detailed
statements of expenditures are embraced in
the report, and the minority express the hope
that this full exhibit of the expenditures OF
these departments of the navy during the
period under investigation will serve to en-
lighted the House, and put an end to inves-
legations for the present, at least.
The report concludes: We respectfully
submit that the administration of the navy
department by Geo. NJ. Robson and his sub
ordinates, as shown by the testimony taken
IS free from fraud, corruption and wilfu
violation of law. The report is signed BY
all the Republican members of the commit
tee of naval affairs.
ALL AROUND THE GLOBE.
New York 'longshoremen, by strike, havin
delayed the departure of the steamers s'Alham
bra and ''Knickerbocker," for Halifax an
New Orleans respectively, the owners say the
will not re-employ the strikers.
, The bronze statue Of Washington IVES un
lad Oh CT,