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Show LATEST rDESFATCHES.j EASTERN. The SimborA luvcsfliRation. j Washington, 20. Solicitor Bon Held came beforo the Ways and Means I committeo at the request, he said, of the Secretary of tho Treasury, to ex-! plain the connection of that depart-' Imcnt with lhc contiaet questions.' Bon field said applications to collect government debts were made as early us 1SG0, and some contracts wcro given, lhc rates varying from twenty to fifty per cent, but nothing was ever collected, col-lected, and the system dropped till the passage of tho law under which tho Sanborn contract was made. The reason the percentage was fixed in that at 00 per cent, was carelessness, nobody supposing anything would be collected. In reply to questions he said he didn't consult with Commodore Commo-dore Douglas its the law didn't refer particularly to Internal Revenue matters, mat-ters, and gave as an explanation for his instructing the revenue officers to assist Sanborn when it was the hitter's hit-ter's place to assist them, that the idea was mutual assistance. He did not know or suspect that any government officer was pecuniarily in tercstcd in the San born contracts. con-tracts. Sanborn, who had volunteorcd to make a full statement, appeared and naid his counsel had advised him not do do bo while the suits in Brooklyn wore pending against him. He oflcred to raako a general statement which tho committee declined to receive, and adjourned without deciding whether or not to make him a witness. I |