Morning journal and courier., 1882-03-16
4 TUMULT IN THE HOUSE.
Democratic Revolt Against
 the Speaker.
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.
The Treasury Contingent Fund-A Re
 port From the Committed.

l THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.
 The Treasury Contingent Fund-A Re-
 port From the Committee.
 l WASHINGTON, March 15.-The evidence cited in the voluminous report of the Con-
 mittee on Appropriations in regard to the so- called Sherman investigation was submitted to the Senate this afternoon and shows a great deal of work done by the employees of
 the Treasury department in Sherman's new house and paid out of the Treasury. Old
 carpets were sold at private sale to sundry employees by Pitney, and great irregularities exist in these sales and the payment of
 money The committee also find great ir- l regularities and abuses in regard to sales of ! waste paper and the payment of expenses of
 asserting the same and keeping the accounts
 in regard thereto. Copious extracts are given l from Sherman's testimony, who states that l Pitney was empowered by him to collect the
 rents for his houses and stables, attend to the repairs and pay the bills, &c., for the ex- pense incurred on account of such property ! The ex-Secretary states that he never heard l of Brad Adams bill and is mortified that in | spite of all the checks and guards of the I Treasury department that it had been paid apparently to promote his political interests | He had been trying to recall circumstances l that would lead him even to suspect that ] anybody was using stationery, getting money ] or making the Treasury in any way respon- sible for his expenditures, and he could not l recall a single incident that ever raised sus- picion in his mind that such thing was ln progress aad had occurred until Pitney told him about Brad Adams bill. He emphat- ically denies that any men worked for him while Secretary of the Treasury who were on the rolls of the department, but what he be- liAved were paid by Pitney or out of his own pocket He never restricted the expendi- | ture of Pitney in regard to property entrust- ed to his care, and never dis puted his bills. In regard to this l testimony the committee says he never knew any funds of the Treasury were used | for his individual benefit or otherwise mis- applied for years prior to 1881. The pay ! rolls of persons employed in the cabinet shops, bindery and laundry of the Treasury department were made in blank without any amounts, which were inserted after the en- ployes had signed This abuse was corrected l in June, 1881. Articles were purchased in one fiscal year beyond the amount appropri, ated for that year and afterwards paid for out of the appropriation for the next year. | Persons were employed to do 8 certain kind of labor and were paid therefor out of the appropriations for different kind of labor. l Excessive prices were paid for articles and larger quantities were purchased ! than actually needed and purchases l made in opposition to the statute l irin a1v These | the committee, are some of the instances of fraud, abuse and irregularities in the dis l bursement of the contingent fund and cannot | be too severely condemned. After quoting l largely from the evidence with respect to l fundamental vouchers the report quotes the ] opinions of heads of different departments as | to the existing system and in conclusion states that the existing laws when rigidly en- l forced are sufficient to secure proper and l Iegitimate disbursement of the appropriation \ for contingent expenses. It is recommended ! that the Treasury storekeeper be man of | unquestionable integrity and independent of every official except the Secretary. It Is also recommended that provisions be inserted in all appropriation bills making it penal l offense to certify voucher calling upon its I face for any article or thing other than act ually purchased and received and intended to l be paid for by such voucher. Annual or semi annual examinations of accounts and methods of expenditures of appropriations for each department are also recommended, such ex- | aminations to be made by trusted and reliable employees. All the members of the commit | tee sign the report.
 The Peruvian Inqu1ry-shIpherd Before l the Congressional lCommittee-Author- | ship of the Missing Letters.
 l WASHINGTON, March 15.-Soon after 10 1 o'clock this morning Jacob R. Shipherd sat 1 down at one of the tables of the House Con- mittee on Foreign Affairs and faced Chair
 man Williams, who sat at the other end. The members of the committee were very gener- 1 ally present, and representatives of the lead 1 ing newspapers occupied the extra chairs and l sofas Mr. Shipherd himself was, of course, ! the centre of attraction. He gave the inn | pression of 8 man who understood himself, l and could take care of himself before Con- l gressonal committee or elsewhere. He is a l very large man, with a shaggy, sandy beard,
 small, cold blue eyes and heavy, placid feat 1 ures. He spoke low and slowly, without ner-
 vousness, save as his small fat hands played l with the rubber band of one of his packages of supposed political dynamite which lay I upon the table before him. In short, he looked like an ugly customer, and if 'crazy, " l as MT. Blaine called him out of compassion, his madness is one of that dangerous sort
 which has method in it. He began the in- vestigation by Investigating the committee. He said he had two or three "suggestive in 1 quiries' to make. The committees subpoena was comprehensive and little vague. Was he expected to restrict himself to the Peru-Chil
 difficulty, or did they desire him to lay be.
 fore them his correspondence with all the
 officers of the government in the State de-
 partment and with foreign ministers, mem bers of Congress and others, touching
 the business of the Peruvian company He
 was prepared to obey the committee, how
 ever they might prefer to construe the sub
 pena. He said he had been forced into pub
 lie notice, and he did not wish to write his
 biography in the committee room. Still, he
 was ready and willing to exhibit the business l of the Peruvian company, of which he was ! an officer, so far as the committee judged it $ fit matter for inquiry. There was something
 in the manner of the witness which suggested | to the committee the expediency of caution,
 and at this point, therefore, the chairman
 asked the reporters to withdraw, to enable
 the committee to discuss with the witness his ! very suggestive inquiries" in secret session
 After a secret session of an hour and halt
 the committee defined the scope of the in
 vestigation by the following order whicE
 was drafted by MT. Kasson:
 Copies of all correspondence with any
 United States minister or officer of the State
 department touching the subject matter o1 , the inquiry all letters by these officers re lating thereto; all correspondence and copies of correspondence passing between the afore
 said which throws light on the subject matter of the inquiry all other correspondence
 in his possession which tends to show any
 relation of such officers to the business trans
 actions referred to in the resolution"
 It will be that this order excludes
 members of Congress from the inquiry ir
 express terms. This is the more remarkable
 in view of the fact that the last sentence ut
 tered by Mr. Shipherd before the doors were closed for the secret session, when he made his Suggestive inquiry" as to the definition
 of the term Limited States officials" was
 ,'Conceivably there may have been core spondence with members of Congress-" Il
 is known that at least one member of Con
 gress was an attorney of Shipherd for the
 Peruvian company. copy of the order
 was served upon Shipherd, who had the ben eft of the secret conference, and the hearing
 was adjourned until Saturday morning.
 | q ii La,1