119.70! The aggregate net ordinary expenditures of the younger Adams' administration Of Jackson's last four years.. Of Polk's four years... $51,671,943 99 104,051,745 81 110,683,428 21 116,381,026 34 232,820,632 35 elections-by frauds upon the registry-by | $37,243,214.24! Under Polk they increased to the issue and distribution of fraudulent natu- $53,801,569.37; under Pierce to $65,032,339.76, ralization papers-by ballot-box stuffing and and under Buchanan, in 1861, to $72,291,frauds in counting votes, enabled corrupt minorities to dominate for years the intelligent majorities of the great States of Pennsylvania and New York. (H. R. 638, first session Thirty-sixth Congress.) Defaults like Isaac V. Fowler's, the postmaster at New York, for $75,000, were but bagatelles compared with Thompson and Floyd's grander system of pillage. The abstraction by Floyd's nephew, Godard Bailey, in 1860, from the Interior Department, under Jacob Thompson, of $870,000 of Indian trust bonds, and their transfer to Russell, Majors & Waddell, upon Secretary Floyd's fraudulent acceptances, under a contract of that firm with the War Department, and similar fraudulent acceptances by Floyd, as shown by the records of the War Depart-der the wholesale plunder and corruption of ment, to the amount of $5,339,335, aggregated a fraud of $6,137,395, to be borne either by the Government or the holder. More Mammoth Indian bond robberies Under the numerous Indian treaties, up to 1861, with the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choc taws, Creeks, and others, funds in large amounts (held under the solemn pledges of the nation in trust for those tribes) had accumulated in the hands of the Secretaries of War, Treasury, and Interior. These were invested by Secretaries Woodbury and Thompson in nearly valueless Southern stocks and State bonds. Even the Smithsonian trust fund ($538,000) was sunk with the rest. By Woodbury $1,744,166.66 were thus invested, upon which the Government had paid as interest, up to 1876, $1,571,708. Of this fund, under Buchanan, Secretary Thompson invested in like stocks and State bonds $1,970,800, upon which the Government had paid as interest, up to 1876, $1,575,435, all in violation of law, and causing a total loss to the nation, up to 1876, of $6,862, 109.66. PART XV. Immensely increased Democratic Expenditures-Increased Taxation of the People to support this system of wholesale Corruption, Plunder and Fraud. Under the administration of John Q. Adams, denounced by the Democracy for "extravagance and fraud," the heaviest net annual expenditure was $13,296,041.45. Under Jackson, under the solemn Democratic pledges of "retrenchment and reform," the net annual expenditures suddenly doubled, even trebled those of Jackson's last year (1836), being Of Buchanan's four years................................ 261,155,809 62 Under Jackson (Democratic economy)... $12,917,985 99 26,012,936 45 27,670,857 05 25,095,256 58 58,205,158 09 65,288,952 41 A constantly increasing scale, doubling un Jackson and Van Buren, and closing under those of Pierce and Buchanan at five times the figures which, under the younger Adams, they denounced as evidences of extravagance and fraud. Analysis of the aggregates and ratios of losses under Democratic and Republican administrations. ment, prior to 1861, a period mainly conDuring the seventy-two years of our Governtrolled by the Democracy, the aggregate collections and disbursements were $4,719,481,157.63. During the period from 1861 to 1875, under Republican rule, the aggregate collections and disbursements, in consequence of the war expenses incurred through the Demosum of $25,576.202,805.52, or over five times cracy in rebellion, reached the prodigious greater under the Republicans than under the Democracy in the period prior to 1861 were Democracy. The aggregate losses under the $24,441,829.32, or $5.17 in every $1,000; under the Republicans the aggregate losses were only $14,666,776.07, or only 57 cents in every $1,000. In other words, although the aggregate collections and disbursements under the Republicans were over five times greater than under Democratic rule, yet the aggregate losses under Democratic reform were nearly $10,000,000 greater than under the Republicans, and in the ratio of losses to every $1,000 were nearly 10 times greater. Under the administration of Andrew Jackson, that model of Democratic reform, the aggregate collections and disbursements were only $500,081,747.75; but under that of General Grant, up to 1875 (in consequence of the war expenses incurred through the Democratic rebellion), reached the immense sum of $8,174,596,676.77-over 16 times greater under Grant than under Jackson. Under Jackson the aggregate losses were $3,761,111.87, or $7.52 in every $1,000. Under Grant only $2,846, 192.12 or 34 cents in every $1,000. In other words, although the aggregate collections and disbursements under Grant were over 16 times greater than under Jackson, yet the aggregate losses under Jackson were nearly $1,000,000 greater than under Grant, | $1,000 was $3.81-over 11 times greater than and in the ratio of losses in $1,000 were over under Grant. [See Table of Receipts, Expendi22 times greater than under Grant. Under tures, and Defalcations in Statistical Chapter of this Van Buren the ratio of losses in every $1,000 Text-Book.] was over 34 times greater than under Grant, and in like ratio under all the administrations of Democratic reform. Under the latest, that of Buchanan, the ratio of losses in every WITH SUCH AN ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD, DARE THE NATION AGAIN TRUST THE CANTING DEMOC RACY? CHAPTER VIII. The "Solid Southern" Claims. PART I. the quiet and modest estimates which the Tribune has made, the aggregate (1) of the claims for railroads and other public improvements, and (2) of private claims South-for cotton, war material, captured and abandoned property, &c., will be more than $300,000,000, instead of $202,000,000. $300,000,000 of “Solid ern" Public and Private Claims for Cotton, War Material, Captured and Abandoned Property, etc. The New York Tribune of April, 13, 1878, says: "The Tribune has already published a complete list of all bills introduced in Congress from the beginning of the session down to March 18 for the purpose of securing public improvements in the South. These public claims reach the enormous aggregate of $192,000,000. The Tribune has since caused to be prepared a complete list of all bills introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives from the beginning of the session down to March 26, presenting private claims. Of these there are nine hundred and eight, of which four hundred and seventy-seven ask for sums less than $10,000. These four hundred and seventy seven bills, there is not space to print in full, but their total is $1,010,000. Of the remaining four hundred and thirty-one private bills, three hundred and twenty-more than one-third of the whole number introduced-are altogether vague, neither stating nor hinting at the amount to which claim is made. This very vagueness is suspicious, and suggests the magnitude of the sum expected. It is certainly fair, however, to suppose that the average amount of these indefinite claims is at least as large as those asking for a definite sum. Upon this basis the aggregate of these three hundred and twenty blind asking claims is $3,500,000. There are one hundred and eleven bills asking for $10,000 or more each, making an aggregate of $5,747,793. The least amount, therefore, asked for by private Southern claims introduced in Congress from the beginning of the session to March 26, is $10,247,793. The bills introduced down to March 18 for public improvements in the South call for $192,000,000. The South, therefore, thus far, in a single session, has made demands upon the National Treasury for at least $202,000,000." Judge Bartley's figures compared with those of the Tribune. "That this estimate is far below the actual amount for which the South has asked, the counsel for a large number of claimants has already taken pains to prove. Judge T. W. Bartley has published in a Washington paper a long letter in regard to three large classes of claims now before Congress. He divides these claims into three principal classes and makes the following estimates: "The list of private claims presented in each House, exclusive of those in which the sum specified is less than $10,000, is presented herewith." Here follows the long list, giving the number of each bill, its introducer, its title, and the amount asked for by claimant; for which in full, see speech in the House May 1, 1878, made by Hon. Philip C. Hayes, of Wisconsin. It ends with the following RECAPITULATION. more.. Sum of Senate bills asking for $10,000 or more.. Total.... Sum of amounts less than $10,000... Total of amounts carried out. Least sum called for by private bills.. PART II. $4,926,793 821,000 5,747,793 1,010,000 6,757,793 3,500,000 10,257,793 192,000,000 202,000,000 300,000,000 Rebel Claims demanded as a matter of "Justice and Right"-All Property destroyed by both Armies must be paid for-Demand that Rebel Soldiers or their Heirs "be paid in Bonds or Public Lands for their lost time, limbs, and lives !" In his speech, above alluded to, Mr. Hayes, after quoting aforesaid list, says: *** * "Here are demands made upon us for over $300,000,000. Doubtless many of these claims are just and should be allowed, but the great majority of them are not entitled to even a hearing. * * * * Having shown the magnitude of these claims, I wish to say that the general sentiment throughout the South is that these claims ought to be paid. Indeed, pages. Let every one who feels an interest in the great work copy and obtain the signature of his neighbors to it, and inclose it to one of our Senators or Representatives in Congress as early as practicable, and urge its adoption : STATE OF FORM OF A MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS. 187 To the honorable Senators and Members of the House of bled: sir, the Southern people seem determined that they shall be paid. * * * * As a matter of policy the leaders in the South will tell you that they do not expect payment, but when they talk as they feel you will find that nine out of every ten of them hold to the idea that the Government, if it had any respect for justice, would have paid these claims long ago. Why, sir, the idea that the Government owes and ought to pay all damages occasioned by the war throughout the South is so firmly imbedded in the Southern mind that it will take several generations to root it out. No man, I care not how great his ability, can be a leader among the Southern people unless he openly indorses this idea. There is not a Southern gentleman on this floor who would not be overwhelmingly defeated at the coming election if he should dare to stand up here and declare that these claims ought not to be paid. * * No man can be elected to any office in that section who dares to proclaim himself opposed to paying these Southern claims. Men who expect to succeed politically must be in harmony with their people in this respect. * ** They hold to the idea that the Government is under obliga-paid in bonds or public lands for their lost time, limbs, and lives, while engaged in the late unfortunate civil tion to pay them. They go so far as to declare that the conflict. And we will ever pray. claims for captured and abandoned property, and for private property taken by the Union army in the way of supplies, constitute a part of the war debt of the nation." * * Judge Bartley's "little pamphlet" again Rebel forage claims, &c., "as just and valid a lien upon the Treasury as the bonded debt itself!"-Only more so. "Indeed, Judge Bartley, whose little pamphlet was distributed so freely among members of this body a few days ago, argues that the property taken for the subsistence of the Union Army saved the Government from raising money on the sale of its bonds in the sums represented by the value of the property seized and used, and that the claims for the payment for this property are as ust and as valid a lien upon the Treasury as the bonded debt itself. In fact, he thinks they should take precedence of the bonded debt in equity, because that debt draws interest, while the claims do not. The Judge presents his case in the strongest light possible, and closes his pamphlet of twenty pages with the following significant paragraph: "The foregoing views are expressed on mature consideration from a sense of duty to several hundred citizens of Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas, represented by the undersigned as their counsel. The positions assumed can and will be maintained, and cannot be successfully controverted in or out of Congress. If the plain language used is expressive of some feeling, it arises simply from a deep sense of the wrong and injustice done to injured parties, and is not intended to be discourteous, but in all due deference and respectful regard for the public authorities.'" Dr. J. F. Foard's Pamphlet―The wounds of the War-The easiest and best way to heal them is to compensate those who lost so much in the conflict ! "Only a few days ago I received a pamphlet written by Dr. J. F. Foard, of North Carolina, in which the writer discusses this subject at some length, declaring that the Government should pay these claims as a matter of justice and right. After devoting several pages to setting forth the losses sustained by the Southern people, he uses these words: The easiest and best way to heal them '-the wounds made by the waris to compensate those who lost so much in the conflict. In a subsequent chapter he says: "Let us go at this work promptly, earnestly, and honestly, that it may be as a monument of truth and justice, erected in the hearts of our children to remind them of the importance of national honor, peace and good will.'"' Southern Memorial to pay all Rebel losses in 3 per cent. 100 year bonds !-Lost time, lost limbs, lost lives, all to be paid for to make up for the "Lost Cause.' The last page of his (Foard's) book contains the following, which will be read with great interest, especially by the Union men of the North: That co-operative action be had in this matter, a form of a memorial to Congress is appended to these We, the citizens of the United States, most respectfully petition your honorable bodies to enact a law by which all citizens of every section of the United States may be paid for all their property destroyed for them by the governments and armies of both sides during the late war between the States, in bonds bearing 3 per cent. interest per annum, maturing within the next hundred years. representatives, of both armies and every section, be And we also petition that all soldiers, or their legal 99 PART III. Specimen Brick of “Solid Southern Claims-Its Bogus Character and Wonderful Growth. To show how some of these Southern claims are made up, the following "specimen brick' is given from the New York Tribune, of July 4, 1878: WASHINGTON, July 3.-The following claim is given as a specimen product of one of the great industries of the section of country which was lately in rebellion: In 1873 Mrs. Eliza Heber appeared before the Southern Claims Commission, in this city, with a bill of losses and damages alleged to have occurred on her plantation at or near Indian Village, Plaquemine Parish, La., while occupied by the troops of General Payne. She alleged that that officer took from her for the use of his men and allowed to be destroyed property as enumerated in the following list: 8,000 bbls. corn, $150 per bbl. 100 chickens, at $1 each.. 200 turkeys, at $2 each... 30 hogs, at $10 each... 8 oxen, at $50 each.. .......... 5 horses, at $160 each.. Making a total of... $12,000 100 400 300 400 800 500 5,000 3,000 $22,500 After filing the claims Mrs. Heber presented the affidavits of several colored persons, who, not being able to write, made their marks as signatures to the statements which they contained The commissioners having doubts about the validity and honesty of the claim, sent an agent to Plaquemine parish to investigate the matter. He reported that the claim was fictitious and fraudulent, and the claimant took no further steps in regard to prosecuting the claim before the commission. Later, when the Democrats obtained control of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Heber appeared with her claim before that body, but in the meantime it had grown to $47,975, with items enumerated as follows: 8,000 bbls. corn, at $2.50 per barrel.. 1 lot of lumber, staves, pickets, &c.. 4 mules at $300 each.. 30 hogs at $30 each 5 choice milch cows.................. 20 head of cattle. 1 lot of poultry.. SOLID SOUTHERN During the second session of the Forty-fifth Congress, John W. Caldwell, from the Committee on War Claims, in the House, to which committee this claim had been referred, submitted a report to accompany House bill 3293, saying "that Mrs. Eliza Heber should be paid as full compensation for all her claims for the property and supplies taken and used as aforesaid the sum of $23,150," and the committee reported a bill for that purpose, and recommended its passage. The principal proof in support of this claim was in affidavits made by the same persons who had testified before the Southern Claims Commission. The fictitious eharacter of the claim was made known to Secretary Sherman by the officers of the secret service, and he directed that efforts be made to prevent its passage in the House. An agent of the government was sent to Indian Village, the residence of Mrs. Heber, and took the affidavits of several respectable citizens, all of whom testified that the claim was dishonest; that Mrs. Heber did not own more than forty acres of land, and that only one-half of that could be cultivated, as the remainder was under water most of the time. General Payne said that he was in command of less than 2,000 infantry, and was encamped only two weeks in the vicinity of the claimant. He said that it would have been an utter impossibility for his men in the warm climate of Louisiana to have burned 1,500 cords of wood, or to have consumed 20,000 bushels of corn. The bill is still before the House. PART IV. Mil Contractors, &c.—They Already In a letter as late as October 31, 1873, but. published, we believe, in 1876, R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, a United States Senator from that State, prior to the rebellion. elaborates a plan by which the old slaveholders of the may evade the prohibitory clause fourteenth amendment respecting indemnity for slaves liberated by the war. How Hunter Proposes to Get Around the Fourteenth Amendment and Reimburse the Old Slaveholders for the Loss of their Slaves-$400,000,000. Hunter's sagacity is only equaled by his loyalty. The fourteenth amendment abolishes an "institution" of the Confederacy. It expels the last vestige of slavery from its soil and prohibits all compensation for slaves freed by the war. But the astute Hunter discovers that the prohibitory clause is unconstitutional, and therefore nugatory; that the slaves were private property; that their forcible emancipation was in the nature of seizing that pro $400,000,000 More Compensa-perty for public use without compensation; tion for Slaves Demanded. The South is determined to have compensation for its emancipated slaves to the tune of $400,000,000. The Macon (Ga.) Telegraph and Messenger-a leading organ in the Cotton States --says: "Those slaves were not cannon and bayonets and armed foes in the late so-called rebellion, and in no sense 'contraband.' They were our property, solemnly and specifically recognized as such, and duly protected and guaranteed by that Constitution and Union which our adversaries alleged they took up arms to maintain and keep intact and defend. Moreover, they took no part in that fratricidal struggle, save when forced to join the ranks of the invader and wage war against their best friends and benefactors. On the banditti principle that 'might makes right,' and to the victor belongs the spoils' only, therefore, can this robbery of an impoverished people be justified. "We cannot but indulge the hope that when we have helped to extinguish the public debt, and time has healed the gaping wounds of the past, when reason and brotherly love shall have fully gained the ascendency over prejudice and hate, even though it shall be the next generation, a brave and honorable people of the same blood and lineage will see to it that the value of our property in slaves shall be returned to those from whom it was wrongfully wrested. It will do no harm to keep this question before the people, that they may preserve the records and proper memoranda of their former, slaves, in the event that a returning sense of justice on the part of the Federal Government may compensate them, at least in part, for the loss of this portion of their rightful property." PART V. that the claim is in the individual owner; that the States, in the ratification of the fourteenth amendment, had no power or right to divert it; and that consequently the owners. of that property under the Constitution have valid or bona fide claims for reasonable compensation to wit, $400,000,000. Maryland formally asserts her claims for such compensation—Other slave States have official lists of slaves, only awaiting Democratic ascendency. But a discovery so sagacious was not original with Hunter. As early as 1867, in the Maryland constitutional convention, he was anticipated by the equally sapient conventionists. They formally asserted the claim under the constitution. They authorized the Legislature of Maryland to receive and dispose of the amounts due to their old slaveholding citizens when paid by the United States, and notoriously, in that as in other of the old slave-holding States, lists of the slaves emancipated have been prepared, and the claims covering their value only await for their payment the harvest of wholesale plunder when the Democracy shall pass into pow er. The “Missouri climax of rapacity”-Claimants furnished official certificates of losses by rebel raids-Democracy, when in power, will pay them. But in Missouri the climax of rapacity in proposed plunder has been reached. It is, A Brief Review of some of the however, only preliminary-only a precedRebel Claims-Direct Tax-Cot-ent-for further wholesale or general spoilation. In Missouri, a State commission has ton Tax-Special Relief-Deinvestigated and official certificates have been struction of Property-Compen- awarded to all claimants for compensation for sation for Slaves-Rebel Mail losses incurred or supplies taken by the rebel. forces which overran its territory; and these certificates, as the claims for indemnity for slaves, only await the success of the Democracy to be promptly honored by the government. Bills already introduced in Congress as precedents for these monstrous claims. Indeed, as precedents for their payment, two bills, in the Forty-fourth Congress, were introduced by Messrs. Knott, of Kentucky, and House, of Tennessee, appropriating small amounts for property and supplies seized by the rebel forces, and if they are hereafter passed or recognized by Congress, and should the nation be again inflicted with a Democratic administration, Missouri and every State South will realize the prodigious amounts these claims will involve. after the Congressional elections, as it was A Northern Democrat's prayer to the rebs. ** * The aggregate of rebel claims, thus far floor speaking words of encouragement to you in preknown, $2,985,554,827. What amount these Missouri claims have reached we do not know, but the known aggregate so far of rebel claims actually presented or demanded is really appalling! Already it equals $2,985,554,827, to wit: Refunding direct tax of 1861.. Refunding cotton tax, principal and interest.. Special relief bills (Forty-fourth Congress).. Use and destruction of property, and supplies destroyed or used by Union forces in the Confederate States... Compensation for slaves.. Payment of rebel mail contractors up to July 1, 1861..... $2,492,110 2,410,326,000 375,000 $2,985,554,827 In round numbers $3,000,000,000! digious sum, and still increasing! will it end? PART VI. senting claims like this one for reimbursement; but it is no true expression of Northern sentiment; they are the words of a siren that lures to death. You heard them and trusted them in 1860 and 1861: will you trust them again now?" Bragg shows up the rebel-breeding, rebellion-helping college. He showed, plainly enough, too, that the act of destruction was perpetrated by rebel 170,180,220 soldiers, not by those of the Union; that it 2,181,497 was settled by an American Congress in 1797 "that the loss of houses, and other sufferings by the general ravages of war, have never been compensated by this or any other Government" ("American State Papers," Claims, p. 199), and that, in any event, the College of William and Mary forfeited any right which she may have had as an educational institution sacred from the touch of war, by becoming herself an engine of war, an active participant in the rebellion. She not only sent her pupils to the red field of battle with words of encouragement and blessing, but she banished the muses from her groves, threw wide open her gates, and made her venerable halls barracks for soldiery to destroy the Government from which now in all humility she asks recompense. I do not state this too strongly; the report shows that before the footsteps of a Northern soldier darkened her halls they had been converted into barracks and a hospital in aid of the rebellion. The learned faculty cannot plead ignorance of consequences in case of failure, but they never counted failure among the possibilities." Claim of the College of William and Mary-One of the entering Wedges-Vote upon it-Claim of the Protestant Episcopal Seminary in Virginia-Vote. In the House of Representatives, October 29, 1877, Mr. Goode (Democrat), of Virginia, introduced the following bill : "Be it enacted, &c., That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to pay to the College of William and Mary, in Virginia, the sum of $65,000, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to reimburse said college for the destruction of its buildings and other property destroyed without authority by disorderly soldiers of the United States during the late war: Provided, That no moneys be so paid except upon accounts of such destruction, and the damage caused thereby, duly veri fied and proven." "Policy, me boy, policy "-" The good time coming" when Democrats like Bragg will be kicked." When a Northern Democrat like Bragg felt impelled to talk to his Southern friends in his manner, it became evident enough that the vote must be postponed. On the 10th of May, The bill was read twice, referred to the therefore, Mr. Goode moved that the bill be Committee on Education and Labor, and De- passed over, and after persistent questioning cember 5, 1877, was committed to the Com-stated that he did not expect to press the bill mittee of the Whole. There was considerable debate upon this bill, and it became evident that the ex-Confederate element were determined to force it through. Considerations of party policy induced a postponement of the measure until any further at that session. This meant that it will be pressed again and again at a more favorable time until it gets through. Bragg-who was it declared that "Bragg is a good dog?"-had a clear comprehension of the scope of this inoffensive-looking bill, when he exclaimed, in the same speech: |