The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-08-14
TheBooks Should Be Examined.


When Mr.. Hendricks told the Demo-
| Gratis of Indianapolis on his return from
the Chicago Convention, in referring to
! the recently discovered frauds and steal
! ings at Washington: 1--WE need to have
the books of the Government Offices
! opened for examination, he gave ut
| terance to one of the most urgent de-
mands of the times.
For more than twenty-three years
these books have been exclusively in the
nands of Republican partisans, who
have manipulated them TO conceal the
corruption, the robberies and the rascal
tiles of the their employers. Every
attempt to explore the records thor
oughly aud to bring out into the sun
light the hidden proofs of guilt, has
failed from the opposition, the collusion
or the management of Republicans in
Congress and in Official life.
Investigations have gone to a certain
point, and like that OF the Springer com
mittee at the late session, they have in
variably stopped, or have been success
fully obstructed when the scent was
keenest and seemingly most easily fol-
lowed. Some mysterious influence has
always blocked the way to full ex-
posure.
Hundreds of millions have been
stolen from the Treasury during this
long lease of Republican rule. Counter
felt bonds; false Treasury notes. dupli-
cate stamps, and other fraudulent is
sues have been partially traced, but it
is wholly impossible to estimate the eX-
=<Nf = i
the frauds upon any known data.
These charges do not rest upon polite
| al prejudice. Senator Edmunds, when
Chairman of the Committee of Re-
trenchment, made report to the Sem
ate, March 3, 1859, showing that about
$40, 900, 900 in United States bonds, and
S10,000,000 in Treasury notes, legal
tenders, etc., were unaccounted for by
the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
He sa d:
1.-The books and accounts between the va
riOuS subdivisions of the printing establish
ment have been, Until recently ito say nothing
OF defects still eXistingl, so irregularly kept,
and contain many of them on examination
so many erasures and alterations as consider
ably 20 diminish confidence in the accuracy of
results derived from such sources.
Mr.. Edmunds might have added that
original plates and dies were stolen from
that bureau and furnished to profession
al forgers for issues OF bonds and notes,
some of which were so we'll executed rs
TO be used by Jay Cooke & Co. in the
days of their great power at the Treas
ury.
One of the earliest acts of Congress
made The Register of the Treasury the
official book-keeper of the Government.
1t provides that he shall keep all ac-
counts of the receipts and expenditures
of the public money, and of all debts
due to or from the United States"
Under the admirable system organ
lied by Alexander Hamilton. the Reg
lister alone made all the statements of
receipts and expenditures and OF the
public debt from 1899 10 the advent of
Grantism, when the Secretary of the
Treasury assumed to make publications
of his own differing from those of the
Register.
These contradictions in regard to i'm
portant facts, about which there could
have been NO proper disagreement if the
true data were consulted, provoked
much comment al home and abroad;
and the Secretary of the Treasury or
dered the Register on the 9th OF No
vember, 1871, to adopt the formers
figures. and to disregard the accounts
and vouchers on file in his office, which
were the only authoritative basis for the
statements in question.
This extraordinary step led to an in
VeStigation by the Senate, which, first
and last, extended over three years.
Originally it was cramped by Repub-
lican majority. But when the Demo-
Gratis gained a temporary ascendancy
in that body, the Treasury officials shut
the gates down practically while pre-
tending to open them wide.
Some remarkable disclosures were
made in that investigation Hundreds
of discrepancies were found that could
not be satisfactorily explained. In 1865
the Secretary of the Treasury, the Reg
ster and the Treasurer, all agreed that
the net revenue was 1888, IA sos. 0S.
IN 1870 Mr.. Boutwell's new method re-
duced this aggregate TO 1923, ,092, 1852,
without word OF explanation rs to the
len millions thus arbitrarily stricken
out.
A balance of S6,293, S27.79 was abso-
lutely forced to make the conflicting
accounts agree. The books of the Gov
ernment offices must be opened for eX
animation, as Mr.. Hendricks SAYS, but
the first step necessary for that work is
to turn the raScals out. This is the SUI
preme issue of the campaign.-Wa Wash
iggt0n Cor. N. Y. san.