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Show uruiitxtt uoki;so One F GruuTi Kos Corrni-tiouiHtit Corrni-tiouiHtit Severely fehowu I p. WttshiQtou, 9. Repretjeotntise VVhitiebu.no haa bjeu ftuluorzed to pretiein to the bouse the report ol the majority ol the hnuse naval committee commit-tee iu relation to tne odminihtration ot l;ie navy department under Secretary Secre-tary Kobeson. It says during the eight years ol RoOe6ou'a admiaiatra-tioa admiaiatra-tioa there disappeared from tbe navy regisier the named of sevi-nty vesaels, of which live were luot at sea ana lorty bix were snld anu tbR proceeilrj Pid into the treasury. Three were no:d and their proceeds paid over I contractors aud twenty were destroyed by order of Robebon uud the materialc cut up, paid over or credited to contractors. con-tractors. If this destroyed property wuich cost govsrnment $100,000,000 is credited at only $50,000,000, we tave au expenditure during tbe eight years ul over $2o2, 000,000. The property prop-erty suld and disposed of would certainly have yielded a revenue oi J2U,UO0,0t:O to any prudent private individual, iu la.i, government re-ceivid re-ceivid lor it Jeue thau 52,000,000 Now, eubelractiiig fiom tlie annual appropriation lor the navy the gums applied to its maintenance, it is luuod thai over $01,000,000 were applied ap-plied to construction, equipment and armament. This makes nearly $(i5,-C00.OCO $(i5,-C00.OCO applied to construction, a sum which, i( applied to building war vessels, ves-sels, would have given ua seventy new vessels like tbe Trenton, one ol Ihe beat in tbe navy, a uumber sufficient to have made the navy at once respectable and useful. Inquiring next whether the lawo enacted (or the government ot naval service and protection ol government's govern-ment's interests have been observed, the committee bay they are constrained con-strained by facta and tbeir sense of duty to tbe house and country, to answer that these laws have not been observed or obeyed, but on the contrary con-trary have been disregarded and violated. A number of instances are declared to be violations of law, among which are a disregard of the law requiring re-quiring supplies to be purchaasd of the lowest bidder, and that requiring proposals to be accompanied by a written guarantee and sureties, which the report stateB has been wholly ignored ig-nored in over 850 cast's. After referring re-ferring to violations of the law in contracts lor rebuilding ships and piohibiting any department Irom exceeding ex-ceeding ihe appropriations, the report re-port eaya that up to the close of Robeson's Robe-son's administration the lew prices having their effect on gencrui business did not aflect tbe navy department. Contracts were made at prices which had prevailed in yearB before; The report Bays the greatest loss was perhaps per-haps in the purchase of live oak timber. It appears from tbe report ol Lentball and Isberwood that large quantities of inlerioroak have been purchased and allowed to rot from exposure. Tbe committee especially refer to the report of Chief Engineer King in relation to the disposition of large quantities of material at several yards, resulting in laige loeees to government, gov-ernment, The committee find that for Die inJebtednecs of the navy at the lime the investigation was ordered to be made, and that for tbe unlawful Bale and disposition of large amounts of property belonging to government and the unlawful disposition of large Bums of public money appropriated for the naval service, George M. Robeson, U'.e secretary of tbe navy, W. W. Wood, hue chief of the bureau of steam engineering, Isaiah Hnuscom, chief of the bureau of construction and repair, aud tbe chiefs of tbe bureau of provisions and clothing from '72 to March, '77, are cbiefiy responsible. By the late chief of the bure:m of provisions and clothing, cloth-ing, Paymaster Watmargb, it is said that beirjg acting chief aloue during the greater part of this time he felt bound without contrary instructions from Iho bead of the department or the real head of the bureau, Pay mas ter General Bradford, to pursue the policy ol his said chief. This being so, it would tend greatly to relieve him. Tho committee recommend that the conduct of Chief Engineers Stewart, Fithian and Henderson, and Paymaster Russell be inquired into. Tbe report concludes by declaring that it is the duty of the house to mark its condemnation of the illegal practices of these former officers of tbe executive department upon which resta the responsibility of further action iu the-.preraiaca. |
