The Daily Tombstone., 1886-01-22
WASHINGTON LETTER.
WASHINGTON, Jan. Il, 1884.


 fraudulent voucher cases has ended in the acquittal of the defendant These suits are what might be called technical fraud suits, and why inno- Oenl men, standing high in business and social circles, should be put to the expense of defending them is mys- tery. Just before Chandler retired from the Navy Department as it's Sec retary he instituted an investigation into the manner of conducting busi- ness by some of his Bureau Chiefs, and rumors of immense frauds were tele- graphed from the Atlantic to the Pa cifc. All the defendants so far tried have been acquitted, and as matter of National interest it may be briefly stated how color was given to the charges. Congress is making appro- priations for the different Depart msnts specifies particular fund, out of which specified articles or expenses are to be paid; for instance; there is fnnd for stationery, another for furni- ture, &c., &c. Any unused balance from any of these funds is to be turned into the Treasury at the close of the year, and the accounting officers are not permitted to pay for purchases in one specified class out of another. fund. It frequently happens that one fund is exhausted before another, and then when articles of that class are wanted it is usual to purchase them and charge them up in duplicate vouchers prepared by the Government officers under the name of articles coming under the head of the unexpended fund, These vouchers are receipted by the seller, and the Government gets what it needs, and the account ing officers on the face of the papers pay only for what is authorized by the law. It will thus be seen that the Government. in such cases receives an equivalent for every cent paid out; but the charge is made under diff ferent name from what was actually received, so as to comply nominally with the law. This practice has been a very common one, and the evidence in these fraud trials has proved it to be so. If any person violated the law it was the Government officers, who did so to supply the needs of the Gov ernment, and if any person should be punished it is these officers and not the merchants who actually furnished an equivalent for every cent received. This is little bit of inside Govern ment history that will explain to peo- pie away from here why it is that so many men tried on these fraudulent charges are acquitted. Merchants here understand it, but most people away from here do not.
 The other day the house of Dr. Emil Bessel, who was with Dr. Hall in his Artic expedition, and who is supposed to know more about the cause of Dr. Halls death than he cares to tell, was burned to the ground, and the doctor was compelled to jump from the sec ond story to save his life. The library which was completely destroyed con tained large collection of rare and costly scientific books, valuable manu- scripts and Arctic charts.
 Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, has introduced bill fixing the time for the meeting of Congress in 1886, and every second year thereafter, on the first Monday in October instead of December as now, and in 1887 and every second year thereafter, on the second Monday in November. It is thought that by thus adding from two to three months to the Session of Con gress, the business of the country can be properly attended to. The fact that 5000 bills have already been in- troduCed, makes apparent the neces- sity for Congress to do something more than it has done in the past to