Year: 1876

Investigation.


Able Speech of Hon. L. Danford,
In the House Of Representatives.


on the Minority Report of the


Naval Committee.


His Defense of the Navy and Severe
Excoriation of the Partisan Re-
port Of the Majority.


The House of Representatives hav-
ing under consideration the Reports of
the Committee on Naval Affairs, Mr..
DANFoRD, a member of the Commit
tee, said:


Mr.. SPEAKER, in the little time al
lotted me for the discussion of the re-
port now before the House it will be
| impossible to more than barely allude
to few of the questions involved in
the investigation upon which this re-
port is founded. / shall indulge in no
preliminary remarks, but proceed at
once to discussion of the report and
its matter; and / desire to call attention
in this connection to remark made by
the gentleman from Alabama, Mr..
Lewis, my colleague upon this COM
mittee, early in his remarks on yester-
day. Considering the course of this in
vestigatiOn, the manner in which it
has been conducted, L may say that /
was surprised that such romark sho'd
fall from any member of the commit
tee. quote from the speech of the
gentleman from Alabama:


''The present Secretary of the Navy, being
fortified with seJen years of experience in his
office, with patronage of So, 600, 900 annual
| ly, with thousands of followers, many of
whom were dependent on his will or caprice
for their bread, determined to resist such an
investigation as would lay bare the abuses, er-
rors, violations of law and frauds which are
given to the public in the majority report
which is now pending before the House."


Irepeat that was astonished that
such declaration should fall from the
lips of any member that out of more
than four thousand printed pages of
testimony taken by the COMMITTEES,
fully one thousand OF these pages were
furnished by the Secretary of the Navy
and officers of his Department in order
that the committee might be aided in
pursuit of the object they had in Uie,U.
More than one thousand closely print
ed pages of this matter required four
months of preparation in the Office of
the Secretary and in his various bu-
reuas, and have been furnished to the
committee and are now published as a
part of the testimony.


Mr.. Speaker, when l remember that
when this committee went armed with
a commission from this body to every
navy yard upon the Atlantic coast,
armed with a warrant to investigate,
the committee were received, from
Norfolk to Kittery, the navy yard
gates were thrown open, and the COM
mittee were received with salutes that
indicated the dignity and importance
of the investigation; and / remember
that from the commandant of the yards
to all the employees witnesses were
subppnaed and were freely offered and
freely testified; and when l recollect
that every discharged employee around
the navy yards was free to come before
the committee and tell his story, what
ever it might be; and when / remem-
ber that here in the rooms of the COM
mittee the doors were open to any one
who might offer himself or herself as
witness to testify to any wrong or i'm
aeined abuse existing i'm the Depart
ment, and when l remember that du-
ring the four months OF this investiga-
ton the doors were closed. absolutely
closed in the face of the Secretary and
bureau officers and every person inten-
ded to be affected injuriously by this
investigation, l repeat that it does seem
to me strange indeed that such decla-
ration should be made by the gentle
man from Indiana. What witness re-
fused to appear? What witness failed
to respond to the subr9na of the COM
mittee? Out of all the hundreds of
witnesses brought into the committee
room there was only one recusant wit.
ness, and he was brought before the
bar of the House, but he had previous
ly answered fully all the questions pro-
pounded to him. H


have been unable to discover in the
conduct either of the Secretary of the
Navy or any of his bureau officers any
disposition whatever to shirk the full
est and fairest investigation Of the con-
duct of the affairs of the Navy Depart
ment in the last seven years OF its ad-
ministration.


l need not say to the House that the
members of the committee did not
shirk the responsibility imposed upon
them by the resolution under which
they were acting. They did not fail
to respond to the request of any per-
SOIL, so far as / am informed, who de-
sired to como as witness before the
committee. In reading the testimony
taken before the committee we lind
that inquiry was made of various wit
nesses as to whether they knew of any
fraud, any error or abuse existing in
the Department or any of the bureaus
4 of the Department. If negative re-
7 sponse was ELECTED, then almost uni
versalIy that question was followed up
with the further question. "D0 you
know of any person who Can give US
any information in relation tn any
frauds, abuses or errors existing in the
administration of the Navy Depart
mentwv And so witnesses were fol-
lowed up, and wherever there was the
slightest hope of getting at a fact which
would in any way bring tC the knowi-
edge of the committee any fraud, cor
ruption or actual abuse In the Depart
ment the witness was hunted up, no
matter where he was, whether in the
Department or discharged employee,
or whatever he might be. aiaI y


The committee went so far in their
investigation of the conduct of the Sec
retary of the Navy and OF his subordi-
mates, the heads of bureaus, as to bring
to this city from distant place, a wo-
man, whose reputation and character
were known to some members OF the
committee at least to be that described
in the Good Book: "Her feet go down
to death; her steps take hold on hell"
and she was examined In the hope that
there might be elected from her some
fact that would be damaging to the
i c,,o.oA. .., On. t., sornn Of his hnraau 0ffi-