Show iiii jlii from roin the st routs fouts berno beruo crat august zi the utah aimy am contracts to tomorrow morrow or the tl day a after a court bourt of in inz V by order of the secretary ot of war wll wil meed meet at fart leavenworth to 16 investigate b the condet con dut duc af batile capt van quarter wamer mamer at that post tor for a alleged ed disobedience of i tlona tiona in the matter of mule intile purchases the rhe court will coi col c three superior sil ell vellor officers and the investigation it is thought will be pui pul ddll doii with apen doors the public on hear i in 1110 for the fhe first lime time of the ptOLe ploce edings about to be ve instituted at forr fort would probably suppose that the quartermaster quarter master alaster is 18 suspected by the depar at washington washing ton of daving acted in in co iuston luston with the tre unile con cor contractors contractors tractors lo 10 ae he detriment of uhe the th public service and the exe exchequer bequer as elt eit allai ell as to his bwll biMi standing as ail an oth cerin in the military service servi seme cp 1 surmises of bis big p playing I 1 1 ip fast and loose with mith uncle e sams sama poc poe pocKet ice tl aly ill fi bolij conjunction 1 tili till eti oil orl with the he mine mihe men would naturally i lilov the reading ailing re of the dispatch ordering the court of Inqui inquiry vy jt it hap happens reds pers hove er that such a supposition oi or surmise is df ay opposite the ifie cacti facts the issue issuer between the secretary of war and the quartermaster quarter M master astern ig is that the latter has been too exacting in his dealin dealings dea ded lings m mith with ith the contractors that in irk several cases ae he rejected mul mui mules es which they allege came up tip to ah the specifications of the Depari and that the price be set on those abich bich he accepted was wads below their market value he is also alpo accused of partiality toa to a few of the contractors but the gravamen gra of the charges haiges against him is that he refi refused sed as is the the ibe agent of the government 16 accept all the mules which were offered to hint him by some contractors Irac too tou and also abused the discretionary power with which he was aa invested by pacing them prices which though hi iii reality tant were below the calculations calt e ions lons of their cupidity and the promises of those hose politicians in it washington who procured for them the patronage of f secretary floyd our re readers aders ma may now that it islat 13 not for the laxity but tl e rigor of his conduct that ivan JVan vliet vilet is brought to ibe the be bar he drove too hard bard in in a bargain with these injured innocents the mule men lie he had no thorough appreciation of the feces necessities aties the liberality and munificence of a government which subsists by the judicious distribution of spoils and which has spoils to the amount of ninety millions to distribute he was unsophisticated enough to think that tho doctrine of equivalents should be maintained td some extent in transactions betwee between ll the government and individuals vi hence if the mule was below the stan standard dard height under or over the required age broken down diseased or otherwise radically defective he be refused to purchase it and if it it passed inspection in all particulars he hp bought it together with the rest of the drove at a price which left only some twenty or thirty 40 dollar clars a kiad bead net profit to the condrac con trac tors out of these injuries inflicted upon those worthy me the contractors have sprung the court of inquiry they are fitly represented s by senator jim green he has been mixed up with this mule business from the first day he attended closely to it in washington last winter and succeeded in procuring large favors or large orders from th the e war wr department part ment ostensibly for his friends his bis brother I 1 is s concerned in these contracts and we feel warranted in saying that the self must be a participator in their profits he was the agent of bf the parties who received the orders to Furnish furnish th the mules etwas it was through his soll soli solicitations i citations the orders were granted and h he e is n now ow the attorney before the court of inquiry q iry for 0 r hese these parties he fie was was chiefly instrumental m in getting that court appointed and all the facts warran warrant t the assertion that he is one of the silent partners of that great greaf stock job brg ing hubble bubble coti cori cern which inflated that monstrous rubble ahe the he mormon war and ana which has made ten ons of dollars by it so much for tor greens connection with the Leaven leavenworth forth investigation we have fiade no doubt that van Vliet vile tas taB kab disregarded tue spirit of b his hib is instructions however carefully care cart fully u he emay may have ave 0 observed se arved the letter he must have grievously isly disappointed the secretary oe 0 war ar who ba had bad him stationed at leav en wort because he was s supposed ased to be less rim rig rigid gid mid others but military discipline hr hardens delis character and of all hum human an clay old said ARld soldier lera lerp alethe are the most intractable in the hands of the he potter van vail vliet disappointed espee and became an ail eye sore sure and a sturn baug bing jock block to the contractors and as the tho whole object of the second years war against the tho the buying or rewarding of influences conid could not be allowed to be marred iii in any degree by the stolidity of a captain I 1 of infantry the salesman or of I 1 fort snelling jor ordered dered an investigation lck Y felid fellow v reeling makes nak esus us wondrous kind 15 the contractors a dor fog for foi fol the utah army aimy bad a frient at courtl court whisp power was as high as il his 1 13 S sympathies y s were deep he stood up for tb the e cause canse thi their cause and hi hla hia s own the I 1 mil mii mut t be maintained Is says that p no q pr private i yate property shall be tak taken e n by the gov pov eminent r in nt except on that full com compensation p en art on is 19 made mate secretary floyd floxd and senator green endive en have hive ra rallied illet olice once more i in defense of the constitution irmay it may maj not no be generally known kno wn how bow these mule contracts v ere jobbed bobbed out in the first place there here were nere no formal an contracts entered info into between the war department and the mule mlle traders tr adels adeis the thie whole business busness was taken away from irom G gen en jessup Jessi ip to hose whose department it appertains by secretary floyd sho aho vho could haye baye no DO legitimate connection tio with it A in 1 its s executive aspect stich such bi business 1 siness has i always been bien transacted by the quartermaster quarter ma master sier general who is the r responsible I 1 person the secretary having re idere dpn jesi elslip a nullity by arrogating th the powers previously exercised by that thab officer proceeded to carry out the duties ditties of master general on a new plan hints vei mei f dropped to the lec Lecoin ompton ampton men med in congress that ji it was in the power of the secretary to oblige some of in the coun country t ry these country friends the Le compton democrats moc rats speedily summoned to the capitol jim greens greeng client soon appeared in res reb response ponso to the summons vice president brecken ridges ruges friends sped there too kill of ibe secretary himself were not hindmost in the therace race the pennsylvania clique had also ita its candidates on the ground ahe secretary gave save orders to them all to supply so man many mules mulas the number putdown down in inthe the order beng being in proportion to the congressional influence excited xer yer vet ted in behalf of the r recipient eci plent jo no price was fixed but the secretary sent autograph letters to the quarter quartermaster ili all master aster at fort leavenworth 7 telling him inah to allow a large per on the outlay odthe of the contractors in fact authority was wag given underhanded under handed to the quarter smarter seaster to give any price he be chose ar d it was because he ha did not avail himself of this authority to the utmost extent that be is arraigned before the court he evidently misunderstood the spirit of his instruct instructions lo 10 ns or he refused to lend himself to the robbing of the treasury these facture fact fac tare sare undeniable the rule adopted made the contractors indifferent to the prime cost of the mules because the thel profits were to be in prop proportion tu to the outlay of capital in fact the dearer they bought the more they and if they paid higher prices than tharl i they might have paid in the first instance who can blame them between uncle sam and the owners of a few mules here and there in the country why should they ibey not act in a liberal spirit we are not prepared to say the contractors are much to blame we mean the re isted contractors for there are many prominent men connect connected od with these contracts whose names do not appear but who share largely in the proceeds the mode adopted by secretary floyd not on only permitted buta but as 91 1 1 cou raged the recipients reci plenta pienta of lis kis hig his orders for sp son SOR at pw plying mules 0 to o give high prices and if tue the e a iv dij xii i standard revaluation wha which ch bad been applied aplin ed at has e excluded x the tili high profits of were asli asil assured dred the I 1 fault tault a it is ri marily manly with the secretary and not with them em r the conduct of van Y vliet liet ilet may have saved paved sav ed F something bom eom ething to the government but ut it would be an egregious mistake to suppose that his bis pur chases were riot ilot costly i atly the average price of the mules which were purchased for the expedition this summer was not less than one hundred and seventy seventh dollars it is within our knowledge that col crossman D Q G several months ago when stationed in this cit city received a proposal from caldwell geary of indianola texas to supply the government with all the mules they required 1 redI and deliver them at forb fort LAven lovenworth worth at at prices varying from eighty five to one hun hundred red do dollars liars a head their letterio letter ietter to that effect i wab was v as 10 forwarded i to washington and is now bonfili on file in th the e war department depar ament caldwell geal geary ry are well known to several officers of the army and to the quarterma quarter mas ma ter general I 1 and other gentlemen high in office it was they who f furnished urnis lied captain pope with lils bis animals animals when he went out on his expedition for boring artesian wells they are wealthy wealth Y responsible le men to whom the business of furnishing mules in large numbers is a comparatively easy matter from the number of these animals which are found in texas and mexico if their offer were accepted the jobbing of the secretary Secie secle tary of war and the Le compton fund would be curtailed this could not be endured by that dignitary or his political icil freen friends d s so he preferred erred instead of giving seventy hive five dollars a head for mules to give a hundred amundred and arid sixty five or more than twice the sum we have been informed that senator davis pf af niss miss mississippi i I 1 I 1 h has ap b been e en put in possession i of these facts and also one or two members bembe rs of the other branch of congress 1 we are inclined to think that they constitute good ground for demanding another committee of investigation on the conduct of secretary floyd kindred facts will doubtless be developed by the investigation which is about to take place at fort Leaven leavenworth and we submit the whole matter should be ventilated at the next session of af congress it is true officers who could throw most light on the subject have been put out of the way exiled to utah but sufficient testimony will be available to illustrate another chapter in the black book of corruption and profligate expenditure which this administration opened with th the I 1 country when it came into office and which shows even now a bankrupt treasury on one page and a few and but a few fraudulent ele eie election ebion successes on the other |