Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1884-10-07


Mr.. Hendricks are unanswerable, and
he has put his hand ON the very gov
ernor Of the national machine In max
ing demand, as one Of the tibunes
OF the people, for an account render
and an inspection Of the books. Such
an inspection would undoubtedly re-
suit in supplementing the present un-
precedented disclosures Of corruption
by others Of appalling magnitude.
That the CALLED jade winces is shown
by the malignity with which the bat
teries of the Republican newspapers
are being directed against Mr.. hend-
rieks.
We also find the following choice
moroccan in the same issue Of our San
Francisco contemporary from which
we took the foregoing;
The question is not what may be or
what might might have been, but
what IN and has been done. 1t IL n
notorious fact that the Treasury has
lost less by very large per cent since
1861, in proportion to the revenues and
expenditures, than during any other
series Of years from President Wash
ington 10 President Arthur.
We should be tempted to pronounce
the foregoing the merest "rot' were
we not afraid Of being offensive. This
kind Of ridiculous falpe statement is
encountered in every Republican
newspaper we pick up. These false
inductions and figures are taken from
a pamphlet published by Mr.. McPher-
son, Secretary OF the Republican Ma
tional Committee, and Mr.. Coon, one
of the Assistant Secretaries OF the
Treasury The speech delivered in
Washington City on the 18th OF Sep
TENDER by Congressman Post com
pletely annihilates this mass of de-
lusive rubbish. BY his analysis it is
shown that even during the present
Administrations the most fa-
yorable that could be selected since
Lincoln's - the defalcations among
public officials have amounted to
81 $50 800. ~, instead Of 50 ,364.09, as
certified to by Messrs. Mcpherson and
Coon; and this statement, being based
on the certificates Of the First Comp
troler OF the Treasury, cannot be dis
puted. Congressman Post very prop
erly includes further among the stolen
sums which he cites the amounts OF
the star route frauds and the Burn
side, Morgan, United States Marshal
Hall and Naval Medical Bureau frauds
and defalcations, making in all the
sum OF So ,004, S0O.27 stolen during the
present administration, or nearly one
thousand times the amount set down
by Mcpherson x Coon.
There is a little history connected
with all these figures which is not un-
interesting. On February o. 1876, a
resolution introduced in the United
States Senate by Senator Davis, OF
West Virginia, and referred to the
Committee on Finance, was brought
up by Senator Sherman, who, under
the direction OF that committee, re-
ported il back with substitute. The
original resolution called for an inves-
the Treasury Department, with refer
ence to discrepancies and alterations
in amounts and figures that have been
made in Them" with view to show
the customary practice OF making false
entries, forced footings and balances,
which has been charged against that
department, The substitute reported
by Senator Sherman directed the Sec
rotary of the Treasury to furnish to
the Senate statement OF balances
due to the United States from public
officers, and all such balances due
from other parties no longer in the
public service, etc, and in this guise
the substitute passed. On this foun-
dation table was prepared contain
ing substantially, so far as Invent, the
material out OF which the present
McPherson-Co Coon statement has been
made.
This table, which showed the situa-
ton from the Republican standpoint
TO June 80, 1915, was employed as a
campaign document in the Presiden-
tial election of that year. In 1880 the
alleged comparisons instituted We're
extended to June 80, 1879, and were
widely disseminated for campaign
uses in the Republican interest during
the Garfield campaign. This year the
same interesting aggregate OF false de-
auctions from delusive premises is
made to do service in the interest of
James G.. Blaine, of Maine.
But the incisivc and unanswerable
showing OF Congressman Post turns
the Republican missile into boom
erang. The Mcpherson Coon state
ment showed an alleged loss to the
United States from the commence
ment OF Washington's administration
down to 1861 of SPA, AL ,s29.32, all by
defalcation of public officers, and ex-
tending over a period of seventy-two
years. The statement OF Congressman
Post, based on the reports OF the So
licitor OF the Treasury, and covering
twenty-three years OF Republican adj
ministration, exhibits grand total of
sums stolen from the United States by
public officers amounting to $40 ,527, :
625.27. 1t is Il significant incident in
the construction OF the ingenious table
OF disbursements and losses of 1876
that thes are set downas Exclusive OF
the Postoiice, which receives and dis
burses its own revenue" When it il
remembered that this exclusion was
made in the last year OF the HAYES
administration a reference to "star
route frauds" may not be inappropri-
ate.
In considering the enormous amount
OF the stealings under the Republican
administration of the United States
government, and particularly those OF
recent years, it should be remembered
that the vast revenues OF the govern
ment, with frequentlya heavy surplus
in the Treasury, would naturally sug-
gest and offer facilities for wholesale
robbery. But stealings at the rate OF
two millions year, added to waste
fulness-as in the Navy Department
amounting in the aggregate to many
more millions, should hardly be per