OCR Text |
Show THE SANBORN CONTRACT. Who is Sanborn? what is the nature na-ture uf tho Sanborn contract? are questions frequently asked, sincc the dispatches commenced giving information infor-mation concerning the man and the contract; and as the subject is likely to occupy consideraMe attention on the p;""t of Congress, we will briefly answer them. Mr. Sanborn, is a gentleman, gen-tleman, who, with some others, saw a way of making a ."good -thing," if properly endorsod, by collecting taxes which were not gathered in by the regular government collectors, and which government might be supposed to consider " bad debts." Col. Wood, . ex-chief of the United States Secrot 1 Service, had been at tho work, receiving receiv-ing ten per cent, commission; but certain other gentlemen seeing how it worked, got a bill through Congress authorizing the Secretary ot the Treasury Trea-sury to make what contract he pleased for collecting these " bad debts," and pay what per centage he doomed proper. Flence tho Sanborn contract; that individual and two others receiving receiv-ing the contract to mako these collections, col-lections, for which they :.woro to bo paid fifty per cent, of the gross amount am-ount collected. Sanborn was aimed with authority from the Secretary of the Treasury to prosecute his work, and collectors wcec instructed to lend him all the assiatanccjin their power, and were not to interfere with his operations. By virtue of this authority he had access to their books, found out who had not paid, and prevented them from collecting col-lecting from any and all parties on wnom ne proposeu going w wor. The result was that Mr. Sanborn was pocketing one half the gross tax paid by parties from whom the government govern-ment collectors, paid for the work, could have collected without any trouble. This entitles Mx. Sanborn to be called a "smart vman" in the nomenclature of the day; three quarters quar-ters of a century ago he would have been called a scoundrel and a public robber. The matter wns brought before the public gaze by District Attorney 'Penny 'Pen-ny securing the indictment, by a grand jury, ol the assessor and collector col-lector of his district, for turning thei r collections over to Sanborn, and allowing al-lowing him to deduct half. District Attorney Carey, we have the utmost confidence, will never be guilty of such an action against a fellow official, offi-cial, so long as he remains in Utah. But thus it was that Congress got wind of the matter; and when Secretary Secre-tary Richardson was called upon for documentary evidence on the subjee t, theSanlorn contract, the instructions of Secretary Boutwell and the subsequent subse-quent instructions of Secretary ltich-ard.-on, in regard to it, were laid before be-fore that body, w.ldch had another illustration il-lustration ot how rapidly a fortune could be acquired in this blessed land of ours by putting a little money "where it would do the most good." But the end is not yet ! |