The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-05-06
THE TREASURY ACCOUNTS.

Washington, April 3O-After more than two
years OF constant labor by two experts, in exam.
lining the books Of the Treasury, under the reso.
luton Of Mr., Davis Of West Virginia, condition
OF facts is found which claims the most serious
attention.
The Register Of the Treasury is the book keeper
OF the Government. All the public accounts fin.
ally go into his Office Until the advent Of Grant.
ism, the official statements Of the national debt
were made exclusively by the Register, for the
good reason that he alone had the evidence by
which they could be verified In 1870 Mr. Bout
well radically changed this established system,
and took upon himself the function of issuing the
debt statements monthly, When the report OF
the Secretary and that Of the Register for that
fiscal year QS69 7O) we're published, the former
showed an increase in the debt of S24O 900 over
the latter for the ten years from 1868 to 1870 in.
elusive. 1t was alleged by Mr.. Boutwell,, Mr.
Sherman and others, in the debate on this sub.
ject, that this immense discrepancy resulted from
the new mode OF stating the debt.
To make the two Official statements agree Mr.
Boutwell, Issued an order in 1870 requiring the
Register to adopt his figures, though the public
books did not justify the change. He had gone
back to 1888. and reconstructed the debt upon a
new basis Of his own, which covered the huge
discrepancy, and many other shortcomings Of
which little Is yet known. To do this effeCtive-
ly, he was obliged to force a balance by adding
&c. 293 1927 76 to the public debt, authority for
which cannot be found on the books Of the Trea.
sury The items were absolutely invented
Any proper examination Of the public debt
and the receipts and expenditures between 1860
and 1870 would require, according to the tesh
mOny Of the experts, four or more clerks for FIVE
years to do the work thoroughly. Yet tappears
from the report Of the committee that MI Bout.
we'll employed raw clerk for that service dur
ing FIVE months, and his figures constituted the
whole foundation Of the change which uprooteS
the well regulated practice begun under Hamil,
ton and followed by all the Secretaries Of the
Treasury down to Boutwell,
When 1t is known that bonds, bank notes, le.
gal tender notes, internal revenue stamps and
other issues are delivered by the Bureau of En-.
craving and Printing to the loan division, the
Treasurer, the Comptroller, and so on, without
any sufficient checks to protect the Government
against fraud Counterfeiting, and robbery, there
well may be misgiviDg as to the operations Of
the Treasury. All bonds that pass through the
Registers flee, originally or by transfer, are re.
corded, But they might easily be issued under
the present method by colusion and go out with,
out record, because there is no safeguard worthy
of the name The integrity Of single clerk is
the only protection to the public That is to say,
In the absence of an effective check he has 1t in
his power to issue bond for 80 900 for only
81, 900 paid in.
No retHrn can be found for the accrued inter
est on the bonds sold, which is believed to cover
many millions. And the running account OF in
terest on the public debt differs by tens Of mil
lions between the different offices, as the state
ments of the cash balances do, when respectively
made by the Secretary, the Treasurer, the Regis
ter, and the Comptroller, who are commonly &C
Ceoted as checks upon each other This is alone
the case in the accounts Of receipts and expend
itures.
The journals, ledgers, and other books of the
Treasury abound in erasures and alterations Of
material figures affecting hundreds Of millions
Of dollars. Whole pages are cut out Of several Of
them. Mr.. Stoughton called the Returning Board
rascalites clerical errors" The champions Of
Boutwell,, Richardson, and Sherman have found
that phrase convenient to cover transactions
which ought to send somebody to the peniten
| tiary
All these contradictory statements, forced bal.
ances mutilations Of records, false exhibits, and
this singular change in the manner Of making
up the public debt account, to include the event
full period between 1861 and 1870, when every
thing YVES at loose ends, were not the result o
accident, nor the work Of careless clerks. There
was another and larger motive behind, touch
ing the Republican party, its management Of the
Treasury, and the integrity Of leaders standing
we'll before the country. This committee has on
| ly scratched the surface.