Year: 1876

washington COrTespOnOenceC Cln- OdZetIe.i


Republicans of the House are either
not fully aware of the general methods
which the Democrats are pursuing in
their numerous investigations, or they
fail to appreciate the bearing of the
work which is being performed. It
has always been a serious objection to
Congressional investigations that they
were not governed in any great degres
by the rules of evidence, but, during
this session, every committee engaged
in the work of investigation has depart
ed most widely from these rules, and,
in fact, has virtually abandoned them
altogether. Part of the committees are
open and the testimony taken is known
generally to the members of the House,
and partial report of it is given daily
to the country, necessarily in the most
condensed form, and shows a vast
amount of chaff with which every days
proceeding is loaded down, and even in
these open investigations the system of
cross examination has been extremely
loose, and in several of them has, for
the great amount of work performed,
been almost entirely valueless. The
open investigations do not print their
testimony, and no accurate report of it
is accessible to the departments or Off
oarc r,DIar iDvacfirat;0r


The result thus far has been, even in
these open investigations, that few COM
paratively of the charges made have
been'brought accurately to the attention
of those interested, and as consequence
evidence has not been produced, even
where it could be easily obtained, to
show the incorrectness of the testimony
allowed to go into the record. The se-
cret investigations have been far worse
Only the salient points of their proceed
ings have become known, but in no
cases of Importance have either the Off
GERS said to be involved by the testimo-
ny taken, or the departments interested
in the subject under investigation, been
asked or allowed to appear, either in
person or by attorney, for the purpose
of meeting the er parte testimony taken.
Thus far the great majority of the wit
nesses examined by the various commit
tees have been disappointed contractors,
discharged office-holders or employees,
disappointed claim agents, or, in gen.
eral terms, men who had grievances
which, in any fairness, should throw
suspicion on their testimony or make it
valueless unless eorroborated.


Besides this, in almost every commit
tee, witnesses have been allowed to testi-
fly to hearsay alone by the hour, with
out any subsequent means being taken
to test the correctness of the reports re-
ferred to. There has been little cross
examination by Republicans designed
to show the exact status and relation of
each witness to the persons concerned
in the investigation in hand. The re-
suit of all this is that the record of al
most every committee has been loaded
down with statements, reports and i'm
pressions of men hostile in the extreme
to those interested in the investigation,
and all of this testimony, untested by
other testimony, uncorroborated and
unchallenged, has passed into the record
ready for printing. A few weeks hence
all of this evidence will be given to the
printer, and before Congress adjourns
thousands of pages of this testimony,
nine-tenths of which would have been
excluded by any court of justice in the
land, will be in print and ready for cir
culation in the next Democratic cam
paign.


1t will then be used as evidence taken
before Congressional Committee, and
undisputed at the time by any of the
officers or departments interested, or by
the Republican members of the commit
tees. Republicans cannot fail to see
without moments reflection the real
purpose of loading these various records
down with this kind of testimony, nor
can they fail to see that much of such
material which may have no possible
foundation in truth can be used, or may
be used, with considerable effect in a
heated Presidential campaign. Unless
Republicans bestir themselves to keep
out of these records all evidence that
does not properly belong there, and as
one means of bringing the knowledge oi
what these committee are really doing
to the public, they should Immediately
insist that all investigations should be
public 1t is no more than the Demo
Gratis themselves insisted upon and
obliged Republicans to agree to in the
last Congress.