The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-07-17
LIGHT ON YEA Rs or FRAUD.
IcoNTIINUrD NTI 3 gaoN an P1ae

(CoNTiSUED FROM Ora PAGE.
at $3.50, 900, was put ahoat. TIE Govern,
ment has redeemed $4,000 1880 notes
which, were afierward held to be coun,
terfeits, and Jay Cooke & Co. were made |
to refund the money; but the committee |
that destroyed the plates were by no
means certain that they were counterfeit. |
The Superintendent of Plate Printing ia |
the Bureau testified some years since,
that the plates Of the 2O's which the |
Secret Service had captured were from
the genuine bed.pieces, which Tor the
rols) must have been borrowed fiom the
Bureau to make them. ~ \
The $500 Counterfeit" greenback Of
1873 was inspected by experts and com
pared with genuine note for the Glover
committee, and these expert engravers
swore beyond all doubt that the note
came from a genuine plate or from sur
reptitious reproduction of one. The Bu-
reau workma who transferred the plate
plate from the bed-piece agreed with
this. sW ...V 'luI ~ a.t .
A brief inspection Of the Treasnrer's
books revealed the fact that $40 600 QUO
OF notes were at one time secretly shoat
for several months, the Treasury state
ments being false during that time to
that extent; and the fact of that secret
issue remained unknown till lighted on
by the Glover committee. The books
we're falsifed, and balance forced to
conceal this secret issue, by untruly stat.
ing that $40 600 600 had been deposited
as temporary loan, when no such depo.
sit took place. :, .'. ..
From 1867 to 1873, while the amount
of greenbaGks authorized by law was
1856, 100000, the Treasurer's books re-
Vealed the fact that repeatedly the
amount shoat was $2 900, 900 above the
authorized amount in the middle of the
month, enough being turned over for
destruction on the last day Of the month
to bring the total down to 1856 600 900,
and in other months the circulation was
cut down as much as $l2 1000 600 below
the published figures in the middle of
the month, enough being taken from the
unissued notes on hand on the last day
to make up the sum to the lawful figure
on statement day. ..........
General Spinner swore that the public
debt statements did not agree with his
books; that he did not approve of them
that his name was put to them without
his authority that he was not allowed
to publish truthful statements; that bal.
auces were forced in these statements,
and that he finally got the law changed
so as to relieve him of the duty he was
not allowed to perform. ...........,.....
In nearly the whole of the fiscal year
1866, the Treasurer's books show that
the amount of compound interest notes
outstanding was from 100000 to $44,.
100000 more than the published debt
statement showed. One month it was
$26 900 600 less Three different state
ments of the sum outstanding June 80,
1865, were published. differing by mil.
lions, and none of the three we're true.
Secretary McCulloch publicly acknowl-
edged some years since that on one occa'
sion he caused $4,000 900 withdrawn
greenbacks, that had been paid off and
were to be destroyed, to be counted and
published in the debt statement as "Cash
on hand p
Tne first man who was entrusted with
the destruction Of withdrawn notes,
Charles H. Cornwell, Chief of the Re.
demption Division of the Treasurer's
Office, was caught stealing the notes and
relssuiDg them. The amount thus rei5.
sued is not known, but it is estimated by
good judges at over 100000. The Sec
ond chief, Frank Jones, was dete ted in
making false certificate of destruction
$40 900 worth, and Gen. Spinner, Secre-
tary Boutwell, and Bristow, and others,
persistently refused to investigate the
matter, though about $500 600 900 of
notes had passed through Jones' hands
in perfect shape, much of it never even
having been issued. The checks and
precautions against theft in destruction
are found to have been grossly neglected
and dlsregsrded in many respects. Gen.
Spinner swore that "they have rule
that nothing must be divulged that takes
place in the Treasury"
The report concludes by stating that
many of these and other matters need
much more investigation that by no
other method can the people learn the
truth about the Government, or Congress
get the information necessary to legisla.
ton; that the Treasury is full of oppor.
tunities for wrongs that have doubtless
been largely used that that as well as
other departments is run by Ring !;
that the Government has far too much
to do with it honestly or well, and that
only by wholesale cutting down of Gov
ernment power and wide abolition Of
Government functions and offices can
j Gespotism and national ruin be escaped.
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