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APPENDIX.

[SEE JOURNAL, PAGE 63.]

ANNUAL REPORT

Of John Y. Smith, Superintendent of Territorial Property.

To the hon. the Legislative Assembly of Wisconsin Territory: The superintendent of territorial property would respectfully beg leave to report:

That in April last he advertised for sealed proposals for furnishing upon the capitol square, for the use of the legislature, two hundred cords of wood. On the 18th of April, the bids were opened, and were as follows:

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Joshua Boyles, being the lowest bidder, was entitled to the contract; but he being absent from Madison, and it being uncertain. when he would return, it was given to Peter H. Van Bergen, the next lowest bidder, who appeared and claimed the contract, and at the price above stated, as will further appear from the contract, a copy of which is herewith submitted.

In contracting for the stationery, I did not deem it prudent to

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advertise for sealed proposals, on account of the great variety of kinds and qualities in that line of trade, and the consequent difficulty of making definite specifications which would not be liable to equivocation. I went to Milwaukee, and after careful inquiry at different places, I closed a contract with Mr. P. C. Hale, of that place, a copy of which is also submitted.

In pursuance of a law of the last session of the legislature, the county commissioners of Dane county contracted with Peter H. Van Bergen for new shingling the roof of the capitol, at four hundred and fifty dollars, and also a verbal contract to cover the hips of the main roof with sheet lead. This contract was entered into on the 3d of June last, and was to have been completed by the first day of October.

Without any apparent good reason, this contract is not yet fulfilled; and some damage has accrued to the building in consequence. The roof, however, is nearly completed, and is well done as far as it has progressed, with the exception of a few items, which should be made good before the work is accepted.

Some time in June last; the clerk of the board of commissioners of Dane county informed me that the commissioners wished to ascertain whether I would give my consent to their doing any thing more upon the capitol than to new shingle the roof. In reply to this inquiry, I addressed a communication to the board of commissioners, dated June 30th, as follows:

"Gentlemen: Your clerk, Mr. Williamson, has corresponded with me, respecting the propriety of undertaking in the name of your county, to re-tin the dome of the capitol. This certainly ought to be done, and if you are disposed to do it, I will readily consent to it; but I am not authorized to bind the territory in any way to pay the expenses; and if you do it, it must be with the understanding, that so far as any action of mine is concerned, the legislature will be at perfect liberty to pay the expense, or

not."

On the 7th of October last, the commissioners contracted with Peter H. Van Bergen to finish the back piazza and re-tin the dome, for the sum of four hundred and eighty-five dollars. The work on this contract has progressed as rapidly as could have been expected, considering the lateness of the season when it was commenced. The tinning is completed, and it only remains to secure it properly at the top with sheet lead and to renew the sky

lights, to make it perfectly water proof: this will be done as soon as the weather will permit.

It will be recollected that an appropriation of three hundred dollars, to replenish the library, was made by the legislature at its last session, but by an oversight, there was no person named whose duty it should be to draw and disburse the money. In the absence of any person specially charged with that duty, I supposed it properly devolved upon the superintendent. I called upon the secretary of the territory for the appropriation, who informed me that as the law stood, he did not feel authorized to pay it to me. Consequently, the library has received no benefit from the appropriation.

The following documents have been received through the governor's office, from the several States and the United States, to wit:

Laws of Illinois, passed in 1842-43,
Acts of the 67th General Assembly of N. Jersey,
Reports made to the Legislature of Illinois,

Acts of Congress of 1842,

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No. of Vols.

House journal 27th Congress, 2d session, 1841-42,

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Laws of the commonwealth of Penn. from 1700,
Laws of Pennsylvania, 1842,

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Acts and resolves of the state of Maine, 1843,
Journal of legislative council of N. Jersey, 1843,
Minutes of general assembly, N. Jersey, 1843,
Harrison's N. Jersey reports, 1843,

Laws of Arkansas, 1843,

General laws of Indiana, 1843,

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Census of Pensioners, 1840,

Compendium of 6th census U. S., 1840,

Acts of the state of N. Jersey, 1843,

Acts and resolves of the state of Massachusetts, 1843,
Harrison's N. Jersey reports, 1842,

Laws of N. Hampshire, 1843,
Laws of Delaware, 1843,

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The territorial suits are not yet disposed of. The suit against the building commissioners, J. D. Doty, John F. O'Neil, Agustus A. Bird, and their sureties, came on for trial at the April term of the court, 1843, for Walworth county. The trial occupied four days, and resulted in a verdict against the territory for costs. The substance of the evidence on the part of the territory was, that the defendants had received from the treasury of the United States, by authority from the territory, forty thousand dollars, which they were bound to expend according to the provisions of law, in the erection of the capitol at Madison. It was also shown in evidence by two of the most competent builders in the territory, that up to the time that the work was taken out of the hands of these commissioners, there could not have been expended upon the building to exceed eighteen or nineteen thousand dollars. The witnesses stated that they made their estimates at Madison, immediately after the old board of commissioners were discharged, and that they took into consideration, and made, as they believed, sufficient allowances for the circumstances under which the work was commenced and prosecuted. It was further shown, that the money had been expended for other purposes than building the capitol—that one of the commissioners stated to Mr. Doney, who was employed to put up the engine in the steam saw-mill, that their object in building the mill was not to facilitate the building of the capitol, "but," (said the commissioner) "we want it to build up the town of Madison."

The evidence chiefly relied on by the defence, and indeed the only evidence having any bearing upon the case so far as related to the first 20,000 dollars, was a memorial to congress, adopted by the legislature of the territory, asking for an additional appropriation of 20,000 to complete the building. [See journal of the council, Burlington session, 1837, page 89.]

This memorial, reported by John B. Terry, (one of the sureties of the defendants) John P. Arndt, and Alanso Sweet, contains

what is claimed to be a tacit admission,insidiously interwoven in the body of the memorial, that the money had been properly expended according to law; and I would respectfully ask your indulgence in quoting that part of the memorial which was relied on as a justification of the manner in which the first 20,000 dollars were expended. "These commissioners, in the exercise of the authority vested in them, immediately proceeding to the performance of the duties assigned to them-having, however, at the outset, difficulties of no ordinary nature to contend with; arising from the scarcity of the proper materials, and the scarcity also of mechanics and laborers--the former of which could not be purchased, and the latter not employed but at very high prices. At a great, but not unreasonable expense, (taking the situation and resources of the territory into consideration) the public buildings were commenced, and have progressed as far as, under the pressure of adverse circumstances, could reasonably have been anticipated."

These palpable untruths, so far at least as respects the commissioners having "proceeded to the performance of the duties assigned them," and "in the exercise of the authority vested in them," appear to have been smuggled into the memorial, ostensibly as arguments to induce congress to make another appropriation, but really, as now appears, for another and a very different purpose, to wit: the exculpation of the commissioners from a known violation of law, and a notorious, misapplication of the public money; and if this memorial is to be understood as it was by the jury by whom the cause was tried, as absolving the commissioners from all further responsibility in relation to the first appropriation, the country may thank not only the commissioners, but the weak, or unprincipled legislature of 1837, for the fraud committed upon it. A careful examination of the memorial will, however, convince any man of discernment that it contains no such admission as that sought to be established by the defendants. The memorial, it will be observed, sets forth that the commissioners proceeded to the performance of the duties assigned them, but does not say what else they did, nor by how much they exceeded their authority. It speaks of the scarcity of materials and workmen, and of the high prices at which they could be obtained; but it does not say how many materials were procured, or how many workmen employed, or what prices were paid. It states that "a great but not unreasonable expense" had been incurred, but does

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