Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-06-09
IRONTON MO-. THURSDAY. JUNE 9. 1884,

!
i c., was at Graniteville, as Superlntend-
ent ad interim, organizing the work,
the writer took service first as a car
penter, then as indiscriminate clerk,
and then as Timekeeper for the Gov
ernment.
He was instructed to keep his eyes
and ears open, and he obeyed instruc-
/ tions, and soon found abundance of bad
facts.
1t soon appeared that the contract
was on the Moiety PIan-that is, that
the contractor was to furnish the quar-
ried stone at the sheds, and when it
had been dressed by the Government,
the contractor was to deliver it at the
site selected for the new Custom House
in st. Louis. 1t Itappeared that the Gov
ernment was to erect all needed shops
and sheds for the works; to furnish all
materials and machinery for dressing
and boxing the stone; to pay the stone
cutters, and the blacksmiths, carpen-
ters, teamsters, and laborers that wait
/ ed on them, and that on all this outlay
the contractor was to have as his pay
fifteen per cent. To put the thing in
briet: The contractor received fifteen
per cent. out of every dollar expended
on the work, except the cost of erecting
and furnishing the office of the Govern
ment Superintendent aud the pay of
| the staff.
A glance will show that under that
contract the more the Government ex-
pended on the work. the more the con-
| tractor would receive. In short, it was
contract that would bind almost any,
one under heavy penalty to swindle
the Government.
1t appeared, furthermore, that every
Government official on the line from
the Supervising Archtecto OF the Treas
ury, A. B. Mullett, down, was in the
| ring with the contractor; that VIM.
| Mckee. of the Gtobe-Densocrot, was
on the contractors bond, and that of
every newspaper in the great city of
St. Louis, not dog among them
all would move his tongue in regard to
I, the fraud.
| The writer must not be understood
as insinuating that it required bond
with a heavy penalty to compel the
contractor to cheat the Government,
or that it was necessary that all these
men should watch and see that he did
it. The writer disavows every such
thought.
1t may be added here that the Grand
Jury of the United States District
Court, being moved to inquire into the
matter as to whether the contractor
kept his contract, solemnly reported
that they found that he had fully done,
SO. This was intended as whitewash-
| ing document; but with those vino un-
derstand the nature and operation of
that contract, that report of the Grand
Jury was one of the most damning ver-
diets that ever was given against a
man; for the trouble i'm the case was
not whether the contractor had or
had not kept his contract, but in the
the fact that the contract was from the
beginning to the end an unmitigated
swindle on the United States.
It appeared also that the contractor
as lessee of the land charged fifteen per
cent. ON the bills for the privilege of
erecting and maintaining boarding
houses, and two per cent. for stopping
the board bills at the pay table.
At first view this would seem to
have nothing to do with the Govern
ment; but examined more closely, the
keeper of the aboarding-house did not
pay that charge. 1t was taxed on the
boarders, added to their wages, and
paid by the Government. Thus under
contract allowing fifteen the contract
or squeezed out thirty-two per cent.
But this is not all that appeared.
Whilst the contractor, backed by
strong ring of Government officials
and the whole press Of St. Louis, was
placed under heavy bonds to tax
the Government, John Best was placed
there as Government Superintendent.
under bond of twenty thousand dol
lars, to take order that the Government
was not swindled.
/ Above John Best, including A. p.
Mullett, in whose hands the Govern
ment put the whole control of the mat
ter, every man was in the ring with the
contractor. Every hope of appeal up
ward for John Best was thus cut off,
and then the Ring placed just below
him one of its tools as Chief Clerk and
confidential adviser; who thus stood
like man of whose salvation the fee
simple had been sold, and the entail
aud remainder cut off.
A passing notice may be given. to
this Chief Clerk. He was "a nice man
very,u . loud professor, very careful to
snatch moment from business to read
~.,l.~,~ L b.,