Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1882 — ROBBERY BY RULE. [ARTICLE]

ROBBERY BY RULE.

A Systematic tonne of Stealing from the Treasury Contingent Fund— School Hooks and Story Papers for Officials’ Children Paid for Out off UoVernnieiit [Washington Telegram to Chicago Tinies.] Senator Cockrell, the Democratic member of tho Senate sub-committee engaged in the investigation of the treasury, remains in this city durnig the holiday week, examining vouchers furnished him from the department, covering dis- | puted items in the expenditure of the | contingent fund. He will make a re- | port to the sub-committee when it meets I next Tuesday. He is also engaged in | scanning the reports of the expenditures of this fund for several ) ears back. To arrive at all the petty thefts practiced upon this fund requires careful study. A system of concealment has been practiced. For instance, in one year six or eight fine carriage robes were purchased for the private use of certain bureau officials. These were charged up under the head of horses and carriages. These robes were .oi the first quality, and, according to the testimony of an expert, should have lasted fifteen or twenty years ; yet the very next year a larger number of equally fine carriage robes was purchased. In the second case the robes were charged up under the head of miscellaneous. In the examination of another set of accounts the committee found numerous items of books. They conld not find what books were meant until they took tho vouchers and traced them back to the stores where they were purchased. It was then found that it was a pleasaut custom of certain treasury officials to have school-books included in the general purchase of the department for the use of their children. One penurious thief had paid for a child’s magazine, St. Nicholas, out of the treasury fund, and had had it charged up in the item of books. Indeed, it has been found to be the general practice that nearly every large purchase by the Treasury Department carried with it some item for tho private use of the official or his family . making tho purchase. Itexis of expenditure for gas traced back through telltale vouchers reveal tho interesting fact that the private gas. bills of treasury officials have been paid out of the treasury. It will be proved lief ore the close of this examination tlwit practically all of the expenses of Mr. John Sherman in his canvass for the nomination at Chicago have been paid by the Treasury Department. In order to get at all of this, however, it will be necessary to widen the scope of the investigation so as to include all of thoprivate pay-rolls in the department, The two rolls that will afford the most fruitful returns on examin-" ation are what are known as the fraud and lapsed rolls. None of the names of the people employed on these rolls appear in the official list of treasury appointments. The incidental expenses of Mr. Sherman’s canvass appear throughout the items of the contingent fund, but it is in the expenditures of the rolls above named that the largest sums will be found. When Mr. Sherman went home to Ohio “to mend his fence,” he took with liim Mr. Babcock, his private secretary. They were gone three days ; the audited items of the contingent fdnd show that Mr. Babcock was allowed a bill of SB7 as expenses of his three days’ trip. When it is considered that Mr. Babcock visited a small country town, and that he traveled upon a railroad pass going* and coming, the bill is quite large enough to pay much more than the ligitimate expenses of himself and the then secretary, The dumber of incidental trips charged to the contingent fund, where favorites of the ring have gone about the country for mere pleasure, is very large. Something of the strength of the favorites in the treasury is also shown in the grip that Judge French, the Second Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, has upon the public purse. He has every one of his ablebodied relatives upon the pay-roll of the Government. Three sons and several nephews and nieces aggregate salaries amounting to $17,500 per annum; yet there is a rule in the Treasury Department that no two members of the seme family shall be employed in that building. It is now probable thatjthe Senate investigation will take a wide range, unless Senator Sherman can influence his Republican associates to shut down upon Uie new evidence that is coming forward nearly every day, begging to be heard.

Ilicli DiNcloNurc-M of the Former Editor of John Sherman’* Personal Orjran. [Washington Telegram to Chicago Times.] Very significant testimony was brought out in the Senate Treasury Investigating Committee. Judge Vail, of the SherI man hand-bill known as the Washington ■ World, was upon the witness-stand for some time. It was stated before the committee that Vail was upon the rolls of the treasury at a salary of $5,000 a year, and that he was still upon the payrolls, drawing money for some political service rendered to John Sherman as editor of the paper above named. Judge Vail was asked ' first if he had been in the employ of the treasury at the time of the publication of the World. Judge Vail replied that he was well known as a special agent of customs for the Georgetown district. This reply made the members of the committee laugh. The office of Collector of Customs at Georgetown, in this district, is in itself a practical sinecure. The idea of having a special ageilt attached to it besides was about all the proof that was necessary of the original charge. Judge Vail-told the committee that he held this office fintil the time of the appearance of the World, and then .he resigned. He said he drew no pay from the treasury while he was editing this paper. After the campaign was closed, and the paper suspended, Judge Vail was again appointed as a special agent of customs. He now belongs to the Oswego, N. Y., district, although the resides in this city, and it is a question whether he was ever in I Oswego in his life. His salary is $5,000 a year. He also has a nephew and a son in London. The further interesting fact was develoi>ed that the type and printing materials for the Washington World were furnished from the Govern- ' ment printing office. Judge Vail took great pains to say, however, that he -paid for this type and printing material upon the Ist of January, 18-SO. Thf ‘time of the payment was shortly after a certain publication, looking toward an investigation of Shermans management of his campaign ; out, granting Judgeyail’s stateigpyt U) be exactly true,

there yet remains the act that the type and the printing material was furnished to him from the Gov rnment printing office and credit given for the same for nearly a year. Judge Vail wap not asked where the press-work was done. It is probable that he will be recalled for cross-examination on this subject. It has been charged that the presswork of this pajxr was done in the printing office in the treasury. At any rate, the Government furnished pll the material for the paper add paid the salary of its editor, and, so far as heard from, l>ore the entire burden of the pulrtieation. As far as the .investigation has gone, it shows that every item of expense in Mr. Sherman's canvass was charged tip to the Government. The, committee examined the contractor who furnished carriages for the department. Several of the wagons made by him were afterward transformed into sleighs, and from sleighs were al- ; tered into carriages. A certain bu- ! reau official who, under a doubtful construction of the law, is allowed a wagon for official business, had an additional sleigh furnished him for his private use, and had it charged up in the one item of the wagon allowed him. Mr. Paul Brown, the carpenter who worked quite a number of days upon Mr. Sherman’s new house, and who was paid for it as a laborer of the Treasury Department, was i aslo before the committee, and testified i to the facts which have heretofore been 1 stated. There was nothing, however, 'of a special or sensational character : evolved, and there will not be until the i resolution authorizing the investigation ; is amended so as to bike in something I more than the contingent fund.