The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-17
C0NGRESSM EN- FROM
IOWA RAKE UP AN
OLD SCANDAL
It Arises in Connection
With a Bill to Pay the
Claim of a Keokuk Firm
Records of a Fraud In
vestigation That Never
We're Printed.

WASHINGTON, D. c., Jan. 16.-The
mousse devoted the day to private war
claims, passing about twenty. The two
features of the day were the defeat
of a claim of B. F. Moody & Co., of
Keokulz, Iowa, for the payment of the
amount deducted from the contract for
furnishing equipment to the Third Iowa
cavalry by the famous commission
winch unearthed the army contract
frauds in St. Louis in 1863, and the
night of Mr.. Payne, the floor leader Of
the majority, against an omnibus res
olutlon to refer ninety Southern claims,
aggregating 100000, for stores and sup
plies taken by the Union army during
the Civil war to the court Of claims
for finding of fact under the Tucker
act. Mr.. Payne vainly conducted a
f1libuster.
An interesting controversy arose in
connection with the bill to appronri-
ate $S,446 to pay the claim of B. F.
moody q Co., of Keokuk, Iowa, for
oalahce due under contract for the
equipment Of the Third Iowa cavalry
uurIhg the Civil war, and sensational
chapters In the history of the alleged
army contract frauds in st. Louis were
exploited " -
Reduced Four Fifths.
Mr.. Smith Qowa) was in chargA ~
the bill. The original amount of +b 10
claim exceeded $4,000, but it was
scaIed down by the committee to So.
$40. Mr.. Smith contended that the
cIalm was just, the contract having
oeen executed under the authority Of
o zen. 10hh Z. Fremont through his
agent. Gen. Cyrus Bussey.
MI. dedge Qowa), Mr.. Smiths col
1edsue' denounced the claim with a.
Vlgor Which attracted the attention Of
the entire house. He impeached it on
the ground that it had been allowed
20 slumber for thirty years without
peing presented to congress and then
pointed out that it had it's origin in the
actlon OF the famous commission con-
sistng Of David Davis, Hugh Camn-
pell and Joseph Holt, which unearthed
the alleged frauds in Gen. Fremont's
department of st. Louis in 1862 He
declared that the commission had
scaled millions upon millions of army
contracts, one of which was that Of
Moody q Co., and that Gen. Fremont
mad been superseded because of the
intolerable conditions that were found
to exist. The report of that commit
tee" said he, was never printed be-
cause Lincoln believed that it's revela-
lions would make the people despair"
Musty With Age.
Il have that record here" said Mr..
Smith, raising aloft a package of pa
pers musty and yellow with age.
But repeat 1t was never printed. :"
insisted Mr.. Hedge. 1T would not
have been advisable to print it.@ Then
he called on Mr.. Hit, chairman of the
committee on foreign affairs, to bear
out his testimony, explaining that Mr..
Hit who had been the stenographer
Of the st. Louis commission.
The latter corroborated Mr.. Hedge,
saying that the report which Mr..
Smith had displayed had been written
by his own hand. He told of the gil
gantic frauds unearthed in that in
vestigation and of the unwillingness of
the authorities to permit the complete
story to become public owing to the
disheartening effect it might produce
on the people. Personally, he said,
he did not remember the details of the
particular claim of Moody & Co.
Mr.. Smith, in reply, while admitting
that the contract might have been
technically without authority, insisted
that the claim was not fraudulent in
law or in fact. The house voted the
bill down, 80 to 70.