Indiana American, Volume 3, Number 8, Brookville, Franklin County, 20 February 1835 — Page 2
i 4
i i i i! 11 i! 1 ! ! i -4 i n "i -
c'arge of envying the member is too ridiculous to require any other correction than flat denial. I can neither envy nor imitate that member, in his principles, pretensions, disposition, or character, lie has said that it is "a wanton waste of time" to correct all his mis
representations. I now join in that opinion,
and abstain trom adverting to many, which, I trust, the people at home are sufficiently ad
vised to appreciate as -they deserve. Of this
number I pass over his preposterous preten
sion to extraordinary services in this House,
and his remark upon politicians who "aban
don their first love." All such imposition can be detected without notice here, and I think
it unnecessary to say more.
Here ended this personal discussion, and
the Question was' eventually taken on the a-
mended resolution, as heretofore stated. National Intelligencer.
THE GENERAL POST OFFICE. The Post Office Committee of the Senate, specially charged by a resolution of that body with the investigation of the condition and management of the Post Office Department, submitted on Monday a most voluminous report of the result of their inquiry and examination during the past summer, and thence up to this time, leaving many branches of the investigation still in progress. The document is entirely beyond the compass of any newspaper, and therefore has not been submitted in its full proportions to the public; but the Natoinal Intelligencer of Tuesday gives an extended abstract, embodying some of the most essential paragraphs of the report. We
have notroomeven for this; but we shall endeavor to complie from it a bird's-eye . view of the original document, which as will be seen, prefers some weighty charges against the Post-Master General, and the entire conduct of his Department. The Report opens with a complaint of the confused situation of the books and acccounts of the General Post Office, which the committee assert, is such as to render the work of investigation one of great labor and difficulty, even where it can be successfully prosecuted at all. They say thai items of great importance are exhibited only in pencial marks in the margin of books, &c. If we understand them correctly, they attribute this to dishon
esty of purpose on the part of the Officers of
the department. The following is among the specifications given:
Your committee called for the account of
James Reesidc, and it was shown them on the legor, when there appeared a balance againsthim,on the 1st April, 1834, of $45,369 07. The accounting officers, however, informed vour committee that the leeer did
not present all the credits to which Mr. Ree-
side was entitled, and they have since exhibited an account containing many additional credits, by which there appears to be a bal
ance in his favor on the 1st of July, 1834, of
O'v'i ' k, mailing a uiuerence oi )M,uw. Some of the credit bear date between the 1st
of April and 1st of July, but a large pait of
the amount is made up with entries which, hi
entitled at all to a place in the account, belonged to a date prior to the 1st of April, IS31. The correctness of those several credits will be considered in another part of this report.' "There is one other item introduced into
the statement of the 20th December, 1834, of
which your committee knew nothing until since their former report, and did not even suspect its existence. It is a balance against contractors for payments made them prior to the 1st April, 1831, for the current services of the quarter which ended that day, and for prior services, which had not yet been plac
ed to their credit, $281,907 30. Your committee did not suppose a fund of this character and amount existed to the credit of the Department, because they know, by former statements, that there were very large sums actually due to contractors for services fully 1 : 1 J
anu i.iiuiiuiiy penormea, in previous quar
ters, wnicti the department was bound in I t!iL 1 . m.
goou lai in aim lusuce to pay. ihose sums
actually due were not paid for want of funds. Iarge sums were also borrowed from banks,
on interest, and it seemed inconceivable that.
under those circumstances, so large a sum ofj
money should have been advanced to a few a -A. I i . I ...
couiraciors, oeiore tney were entitled to receive it by the terms of their contracts. But the present investigation has satisfied your
committee that very large sums were, and still are,due from contractors for illegal payments and advances of money and that this sum at least, and probably a much larger sum, ought to be reclaimed" from them and placed to the credit of the Department." Under these circumstances, the committee emplo3cd two accountants to examine and audit the books a process which has not yet been completed The next distinct topic of aaimadevcrsion is set forth as follows:
A praticc has of late prevailed extensive
ly in uus department of advertising proposals
,....,., me-man on me principal mail routes in a different manner from that in
wmcn it is in laet to be carried of receiving
oias tor carrying it in a different manner from
mat in which it is advertised, which are call Phi imnm .,. .T . a. ai. -
made all togjher, and entering their accep-
... "H-pHcaoie to mat part ol the bid Which rnn(n,.. .1 1 .-
.u.MU(,.. in i lf.invpn camanr r-
mediately changing them to the improved bid, and so executing the contract; thus, in effect, letting or making the contract without advertisement. This is a v.l,: n-... ...-.
..17.. ic ana is made th nr..
uty, he!
ajor Barry for the rea
le nmAv,l
P -.w - . Aff t ,4 . I - ,
.num. rriusai io respond to
the inquiry. Passing over this, we comenext!
to their strictures on the contrast of the De
partment, from which wc take the following:
Ihe public know nothing of the purposes
or the wishes of the Department as to the time
and manner of transporting the mails except
through the medium ot the public advertisement. And the honest business man. who
would wish to seek a contract through fair competition, would naturally suppose that the advertisement, would be one, and the only one, by which he could procure a contract. And he would further suppose that he would be bound by such bid. With the public at large, this has probably been the case; it appears to have been so with the small contractors generally. But it has been far otherwise with a
class of large contractors, who appear to be on
terms oi intimacy and confidence with some of the officers of the General Post Office, and whose affairs are intimately blended with the fiscal concern of the department. For exam
ple: in looking over the bids of the fall of
lS3I,it will be found that several individuals who obtained contracts upon the great mail routes, or a great number of the small routes
united, included in their bids, not only a pro.
position to carry the mail according to the advertisement, but with stipulations that the bidder would bind himself to carry the mail in a different manner, at a diffircnt price. Of the favored contractors, the bids to carry the mail
pursuant to the advertisement, are generally very low, so as to enable the department to a-
ward them the contract, while their improved
ota, in pursuance ol which the contract as at
last executed is very hrgh, so as to ensure to the contractor an enormous profit. The ac
ceptance is mrtrked on the proposal book,opi . ' . . .
posue tne sum wmcn was oia lor carrying the
man, pursuant to the advertisement, and the
rival bidders will see at once, on an inspec
tion of this book, that they are underbid. But the contracts are executed according to the
improved o:d, which is often twice or three
times the sum at which it is entered on the
proposal book laid open to the inspectation
ol the public.
1 he following paragraphs involve chars.es
against the Department still more startling,
u lounaea in truth:
"It were tedious to enumerate the cases in
which this diflerence exists between the bid
made pursuant to advertisement and accepted.
ana tne contract executed, lour committee
have caused to be prepared by their Secrcla
ry, and they exhibit herewith, a table compiled from books and papers in the Depart
ment from the Blue Book, from the letter of
the Post Master General of the 3d of March,
lt,M, in reply to a call of the Senate, and
from his report of the I8th of April, 1832,
wiiicn shows, in each individual case in the contracts of 1831, the difference between the
bid, as entered on the bid book, and the con
tract executed. It shows, also, the cases in l 1 . : . mm
men no uiuerence exists. i ne same paper
snows in anotner column, opposite the name
of each contractor, what extra allowances
have been made him over and above his con
tract as executcdjrom which it will be seen: 1st. That the whole amount of the bids ac
cepted, pursuant to the advertisements in Oc
tobcr, 1831, was $340,G26 51
Amount ot contracts as executed for same division (by the
Blue Book) 4S8,2o9 40
er
"en rise , and is made the apology r,oth rl.oUil0nS .f ,aw and official duty
th JhC Co."Utee ng to the history of! their requisition on Major Barry for the iU-
Making a difference of $147,632 86
jnd it win be seen that this whole differ
ence, amounting to the enormous sum above
shown is made in favor of not more than contractors,or companies of conctractors.mos
of whom your committee will find it their duty to notice hereafter in this report,as the recipents of other pecuniary favors from the
Department." "Take, for example, the route from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, which was first accepted daily at $7,000, and which, by the modified contract pursuant to the improved bid, is carried, as is alledged, twice daily to Pittsburgh, at $25,000, and extended to Wheeling, at 27,000 one of the lines from Phila
delphia to Pittsbulgh running at an increased
peed. Mow it can hardly be established as
a mathematical proposition, that if a daily r.oil onef. C-T CUt .L 1 1 a
iji,Krnj mai a iii;ui twice uauy should, by exact proportion, cost 25,000 nor do we think that ailV ftnp who linrlorf-ir.l
the nature and value of the service will be prepared to say that the one bears any fair or
hust proportion to the other. It were vain to
urge as an apology for such excessive increas
ed allowance, that there is no means of arriving at the true proportion which the original bid, and the increased allowance, bear to the service rendered under each or to each other. If such proportion cannot be arrived at, the law forbids the increased allowance.
But in truth no law applies to this species of
A J. . . . . . f
contract, it seems to be ot a hvhrid race
neither an original contract, which the law will recognise, nor a legal extra allowance for
increased services. It is about eoui-distant
oeiween mem, and sustained by neither." "Your Committee have shown that the Postmaster General did not report the in
creased allowances, made in consequence of
me&e improvea oias, as any part ot the original contracts in which they were embodied neither did he report them as extra allow
ances when called upon by a resolution of the
senate to report the amount of those allowances made for extra services since the fih
of April, 1829. Thev Dass whnllr w.fh....
his notice in any of his reports to Congress, and seem in his judgment to be referable to no class of cases whatever. Indeed, no one could but feel that they were wholly without legal warrant, and that they could, therefore, fall under no known head. Nevertheless' immense sums of money have, through their means, been transferred from the Depart
ment to the pockets of individual-.; and the
tion lommenced, been wholly ignorant of the
ir&isieuce 01 any sucn mod ot appropriating or disposing of the public funds." The Committee proceed to a specific examination of the heavier contracts and extra allowances, mainly, it would seem, with a view of showing that the statements heretofore sub
mitted to Congress by the Post-Mater r.n.
eral arc essentially erroneous and deceptive. We understand them as charging that officer
with positive and intentional misrepresentation throughout. They recur at great length
to the subject of extra allowances condemn.
ed in their former Report, in substantiation of
the charges then made; and then finally con-! elude this part of their expose by presenting the following aggregate of sums which they allege to have been paid unjustifiably and
without color of law to a single contractor: "Passing over those cases in which an allowance on a contract was made contrary to law, but for which an equivalent service has been renderedand taking only those in which
the law did not warrant the allowance, and in which also no service whatever was rendered,
or in which the allowance was much above
the fair and iust value of the services, and
then taking the excess only of the allowance
over and above that value, your committee
hnd the following sums paid to Jamei Reeride, since the first of April, without any warrant of law or justice to wit: On the contract to carry the mail
trom Uagerstown to McConnelsburg, From Bedford to Washington, From Cumberland to Blair's Gap, From Philadelphia to Pittsburg, excess of allowance over service of 8,000 for 2 years & nine months, Same route carrying newspapers in most rapid line, half, From Batavia to Chambers!) urg, From Ne ir-York to Philadelphia Allowance for expending from January 1, 1829, to December 31, 1831, $6,000, service paid for, not performed, Detention, waiting for distribution of foreign mails,an unprecedented allowancc-and without sufficient evidence, Carrying mail bags from Philadelphia to New York a charge wholly unprecedented, For transporting the mail from Philadelphia to New York, from the 1st January, 1831, to 1st July, 1834, 2 years and 6 months, Reside has received $Si,372 17. His original contract was $6,000 a year for carrying a daily mail, but in his improved bid, which was afterwards made the contract, he agreed for $19,000 to run two daily mails, and a third mail for $1,500, making $20,000, and furnish guards and carry all expenses. This allowance, though enormous, falls far short of the sum actually paid in two years and six months on that route, So that the whole snm paid to Reeside, which is founded on no law, and on no apparent
justice, $110,191 85
e nave not gone through with the docu ment, but we have quoted sufficiently to ex
emphly its tenor and spirit. We understand
that Mr. Grundy, from the minority of the Committee, will submit a counter report, giv- : i.iv . i. " i .
nig a aincrent coloring to some or all of the
transactions alluded to. We shall endeavor
to give some account of it in our next. Aei Yorker.
L A WSOFIK DI A X A .
$2,932 00 7,793 00 9-559 52
20,000 00 8,750 00 3,987 50
18,000 00
4-550 00
1,560 00
33,122 17
W ild Man. A wild man has lately been found in the midst of the woods and mountains
of Ilartzwald in Bohemia, who it is presumed must have been there from his infancy. He appears to be about thirty years of age, but he cannot articulate a single word. He bellows, or rather howls, his voice being like that ofa dog. He runs on all fours, and the moment he preceives a human being, clambers to the top ofa tree like an ape, and jumps from branch to branch with surprising agility. When he sees a bird or any other game he persues it almost always with success. He has been brought to Prague but all attempts to tame him have been fruitless; indeed, he
appears incapable of acquiring the habits of
civmzeti me.
AN ACT to amend an act entitled an act regulaf ting the practice in chancery .approved Feb. lt&l. (Approved Jan. 31, 1835.) Sec. 1. Be tt enacted by the general Assembly oj the State of Indiana. That whenever it shall be made satisfactorily to appear, by the
affidavit of some disinterested person, filed du
ring the vacation of the Court, in the Clerk's office of the proper county, that anv defend
ant or defendants to any bill in chancery, or
to any petition or libel tor divorce, hied in the
Clerk s office aforesaid, is not a resident of
this state, it shall be the duty of the Clerk
aforesaid, forthwith to make publication for
three successive weeks, in some public newspaper printed weekly in the countv where
the'said bill, petition or libel may be filed; and if there be no such newspaper printed in
siad county, then in the nearest weekly news
paper printed in some other county, setting
forth the tiling ot such affidavit, and notifying said defendant or defendants of such bill, li
bel or petition, and that unless such defendant or defendants plead, answer, or demur to the same, on or before the calling of the cause at the next ensuing term of said court,
the bill, as to such defendant or defendants, will be taken as confessed.
Sec. 2. If such publication shall have been
made at least sixty days before the first day of the next following term of the Circuit Court of such county, such further proceedings shall
take place, as is contemplated in the seventh
and other sections of the act to which this is
an amendment,accordingto the requirements of justice and equity.
oec. S. I hat in any suit in chancery, which may have been, or may be hereafter, taken to
the Supreme Court, by appeal or writ of er-
ror,and the decree of the Circut Court revers
ed, in whole or in part, and remanded to the
Circuit Court, with mstructions,the complainant in the bill may, at the term of the Circuit Court to which the opinion of the Supreme
Court may be certified, dismiss his bill with
out prejudice to his legal or equitable rights L j . a . , .
uo.wiiiisiauaing sucn instructions the com
plainant paying all costs.
Sec. 4. Where a ground for a suit in chan
cery shall exist against a defendant who shall die, before or pending such suit, or if such
ground for a suit shall arise after such death,
and it shall not be known whether such decedent has any one or more heirs or not, or that
it there are such heir or heirs, that they are non-residents of this state, and it may be ne
cessary to make such heir or heirs (if any) defendants to such suit, such suit may be prose-
cuieu as against tne unknown heirs ol such decedent, and publication of such suit may be made accordingly.
AN ACT supplemental to an act entitled "an at regulating the practice in tuits at law," approved January 29, 1831. . Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State oP Indiana: That to anv sne-
cial plea of payment, setting forth matter of
set-on as provided in the tmeuty-sixth section of the act to which this is supplemental, the plantiff or plaintiffs may reply as many several matters in fact as he,she or they may deem necessary: Provided, hawever, that a replication of the statute of limitations to any such plea of set-off, shall only operate to prevent a
recovery by the defendant or defendants, of
any excess ot the amount of such plea over& above what the plantiff or plantiffs may be entitled to in said action. Sec. 2. After or before any issue in fact is joined in a suit at law, any one who is party to the same may withdraw any pleading on his part subsequent to the declaration, and file a demurrer to the next previous pleading of his adversary at any time before trial.
csec. o. lhat on judgments on writs of
scire facias for execution on any judgment at law, interest on the sum due, or costs, or bo.h, as the case may be, shall be allowed, and included, if the case admit of it. Sec. 4. The property of any boarder or occupier of a room at a tavern or boarding house shall not be liable to distress for rent due from the first lessee or lessees. Sec. 5. This act and the act amendatory of an act regulating the practice in chancery, approved February 10, 1831, passed at this session, shall be in force from and after their passage, and they ehall be published in the Indiana Journal and Indiana Democrat. Approved February 7, 1835.
of the white male inhabitant of twenty-one years.
ao a menu an act entitled
above tlie
mend the act entitled an act to in. ' '
the franklin covntv
'Tiroy,
Feb. 1832.
To amend an act to regulate the m0(J(1 doinir countv business in h.a . uc
in this State.annroveH Inn in ic'LC0Untit
In furtherance of "an act to provide a ft J tor the encouragement KH
approved Feb. 2, 1832.
To provide for an equitable mode of U ing the taxes of this Slate. ,eT.v
To vacate a part of the BrookviHe Connersville state road. A iniiif rfK-.ln. .-. i .
Militia. """' fltf
Ubjcct
To amend "an act to reiilnf., .
nrnved lVh. A 1S11 '-magef
J. .wv A.
To abolish imprisonment f..r
of females.
To amend an act entitled
ting grists mills and millers,
10. 1831.
in
an
.ici repu
proved Fi
In this paper we have given n .;. r
acts passed during the late session of I -rfntril A ccoml.l it
... i,c3l,lt,ilseu asa few connected with the proceedings of T day and Friday, the principal part of "
iiuMnt-saui moseuays as welt as of SaturJ and Monday beinir of a chnr.i. ... 3
o uimn
esting to the general reader.
Indiana Jounuxt
Liberia The American Colonizali.
ciety has determined to despatch to label in the course of the ensuing month. an) from New .Orleans, with the sixtv-two rJ
vuicu .iiiitcius, laieiy placed at the
uon oi me general Government hv t
ment of one of its Courts, and whom u
ciety have undertaken to restore to their
tive land. The vessel will alo carrv erf
pienuiui supply ol provisions and trade god with several bales of cotton. The) have 1
airecieu to he purchased and sent ...
Colon-, by a vessel shortly to sail from Phi
delphia, all the nectssary implements
maiiuiaciunng couon, such as cards, looms, &tc, in order that the women. &
dren, and men, unable to engage in the A
ol agriculture, may be usefully employed House of Industry. Xat. Int.
Indianapolis, Feb. 13. Firk. On Thursday morning about one o'clock, the citizens were alarmed by the cry
ot hre, which was found to be the kitchen of
Mr. Brown's Mansion House. Before aid could be afforded the building was entirely beyond the possibility of being saved, and connecting as it did with the dining room, the whole tavern establishment was at one time in imminent danger. The exceeding stillness of the night, however, and the praiseworthy exertions of the citizens, saved the main building, and, perhaps, all the buildings in connexion with it. Had the fire communicated to the main building it is altogether uncertain how extensive might have been its ravages. Journal.
A Baxk in Missouri The Legislature of
.Missouri was engagea at the last advices in a most animated debate on certain resolutions contemplating the establishment of a Bank in that State. The discussion had lasted several days, and there was little prospect of its speedy termination. The final vote on the subject, is considered by the editor of the St. Louis Republican, - as extremely doubtful.
Missouri is the only state in the Union with-
A ,., -i . . A'issouri is iiiconiy siaie in tne union with. American people have, until this investiga-! out a bank, deriving its charter from the sTate
v LIST OF ACTS ice. A memorial and joint resolution of the General Assembly of the State Indiana, praying a further donation of the public domain to assist in the completion of the Wabash and Erie Canal and in the construction of such other works of internal improvement as will have a direct tendency to open a line of communication between the Wabash and Ohio rivers. A memorial and joint resolution of the General Assembly of the state of Indiana on the subject of the White Water canal. For the relief of the securities of Russell Comyn, late collector of the county of Dear-
111 II To locate a state road from Brookville, in Franklin county, via Fairfield, in Franklin county, and Dunlapsville and Brownsville, in Union county, to Richmond, in Wayne counT) . 1- . .. . .
. .oviuu g lortne location of the scat ofi
justice in tne county of Dearborn, and for other purposes.
iL T rP"vide for the further prosecution of
t.uaii aim jcrie vanal, and for other purposes. To amend an act entitled an act regulating the taking up of animals goingcstray,& water crafts and other articles of value adriff approved Feb. 9, 1831.
To provide for the taking the enumeration
An Argx-mext. A Rhode Island n
alluding to the fault that had been found i
Messrs. Sprague and Patten for voting tlJ
selves in the recent attempt to elect a I
Senator in the Legislature of that State.
quiries drily enough, how these gentH
couia expect other people to vote for the
they relused to vote for themselves? TS
is something in that, sure enough. Every ought to know his own qualifications I
than others, and if he has too little confidd
in them to bestow his suffrage upon hini how can other folks find themselves warrl
ed in doing so! ir i i . i . . . .
u oeiieve mis argument is an old Rhode Island, for if we mistake not, a me rJ r a. i t. j i . . . ,i
oi me jrvnoae jsiana Assembly was fief
some years since to the Senate of the I'nj
States for six years, by his orcn vote. T was a tie between himself and anothci didate,and he, very judiciously nodou.it,
ing himself best, decided the election ii
own favor. J". Y. Cour. & Enqr.
Nile's Register has the following rcml
on the "Internal Improvement Kill," W
oeiore the legislature of this State.
praise of the spirit of enterprise in IndiM
rater premature, but we have no doubt ground work is laid for future structures w ill redound to the honor of the State.
Richmond Palladium
"We hope that the bill alluded to M
will pass. It shews a noble spirit in ona
the "young lions of the west worthy olifl
lion in the old states. It is the true jk To say nothing of the utility of the work tcmplated the simple introduction and bursement of so much money for labor in
Mate, will do more for the improveme
the state than the cost of its interest
payment will amount to. Capital and
lation, in new states, are the sinews of wet
though "borrowed"' is sound."
One George Shirts, the Collector of
town of Lebanon. N. J. has run away
the town funds, amounting to 25,000.
reward of $200 is advertised for his sp
hension. Not very extravagant, certain!
anf
(1
Mercury froze in several thcrmoincM
Bangor, Maine, and several towns afljac on the morninp- nf lh 4th instant. The
is well established. Penobscot River and
WPrp frnrpn mvp na low down as Sm
Cove, eight miles below Belfast, and so tnCaslino anH tho For Islands. The
inhabitants do not recollect such an ereni
fore.
The Red Rivr Chronicle says, the I
States Mail Jafplv mme into that place
stocking, carried on the back of a bull The mail consisted of thirty-five newspJ
and one letter. Whether the stocns
not. the
River Chronicle saith not. Limited Partnerships. A rr0P
has lately been before the Massachusetts erislature to allow limited partnerships,
by a man may invest any sum in business others, advertise how much he invests.!
will then be answerable for only that W A Linnf fl.id L .r.! ..-. ... c in Ww York'. 1
- --'"- v wait? Ritiu v aij vj a I'M nmnn(ll f.n .rl nnn nf t hf SfllTIC kind
State Cin. Chron.