The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-12-04
REFORM.


Individual and isolated cases Of delinquency
in our public officers may be detected by they
GLANCE of the Executive, and the offenders pun
ished through his interference; but when an
abuse peryades the system, its correction is be-
yond his jurisdiction, and il can be eradicated
only by the prudent and energetic action Of the
Legislature. That il may be efficiently exerted,
its efforts must be guided by knowledge, and
though ours is butthe superficial information, ca
sually obtained by observers almost uninterested,
and without any intent of putting il to use, we
think we can furnish some slight hints sufficient
to communicate incipient idea, of the character
of some prevalent evils-and these ideas may be
fully developed by the resources possessed by
members of Congress, but removed beyond our
reach. A member may call for information
from the Departments, and we cannot; he can
obtain a resolution, permitting the Summons
OF persons and papers," which w. cannot do
BY the judicious exercise Of the prerogative
vested in them, valuable information may be
acquired but if they are exercised, as they
most frequently have been, the result must be
such as it has almost always been-that all the
labor expended in the cause Of reform must be
| fruitless. ...r III. h.
In the first place, we would recommend, that
| the person making ''call" ON any of the De-
partments should have an object; secondly, that
he should have distinct idea of that object;
thirdly, he should have the manliness and frank
ness TO declare it; and fourthly, he must have a
clear notion of the practical benefit derivable
| from the answer. It's a fact well known, that
members of Congress make calls without know
ing what they want as often as they vote with
out knowing the question. 1t is well known
that they make these calls without an idea of
what may result from them; and ii is equally
known, that instead of directly combining their
queries to the point which they wish 10 learn,
| they extend to every object bearing any relation
to it-thinking that amid the mass of elements
which must, in consequence, be presented to
| their analytic skill, they can obtain the one of
which they are in search! We might narrate
numberless anecdotes, in illustration of the sin
gular character of the scalls" often made by
Congress. We shall allude, however, but to
two. A gentleman, who seems to have enjoyed
the reputation of being one Of the body of indie
fatigable seekers after small evs--and blind to
the great ones over which he stumbled in his
favorite> pursuit, had incidentally heard that an
extravaganza sum had been paid by public off,,
Ger for an ox-yoke. Resolved on exposing this
instance Of criminal prodigality, he did not pro-
coed as any one except a veteran Congressman
would, and inquire of the Department whether
it had detected or could discover the truth of the
guiltimputed to the individual accused, but he
Scaled" on the Department to furnish him with
schedule of all the accounts of all the officers
of the Army and Navy for the two preceding
years. Five clerks were Immediately detailed
upon the duty of answering this inquiry. After
several months oflabor, the document was COM
pleted-and by order of the House was printed
As is the fashion in such cases, it was read by
gratiied by having document printed on his
motion, he studied it and pored over it with due
intensity Of industry, but the or-yoke aoas no
a0tere to be found. He, scrutnized the bant-
ling, but the mark of guilt was no where Disco
verable on it, We have related the preceding
/
may be erroneous in some unimportant details,
but the main facts we believe to be correctly
stated. The same observation may be applied
to the following account made by another hon.
orable gentleman. Its object, or the cost of an
swering it, we do not at the moment remember.
But nearly ayear after the call had been made,
the manuscript answer to It appeared at the Ca
lpitol in the form Of several large boxes filled
with papers--which had been despatched from
the Department in two carts.
To read manuscript does not suit the dignity
or the Incidence of the Representatives of the
People. The proposition to print such a mass
Of rubbish would have required more impudence
than any one possessed. The boxes, therefore,
yet unopened, we believe, remain in the Capitol,
an instructive monument of the futility and ex-
travagance Of at least one sscall'' by Congress-
This document, it was anticipated by the gen.
ence, was to prove a giant in the cause of re-
form but instead of realizing any such expec-
tations, il lies alifeless mass in a lumber room,
a tangible proof Of the folly of its father. .a.#
! Calls made so blindly can evidently never be
4 L = . 7
productive Of any benefit. We say nothing
whatever Of the cost ofpreparing and printing
such documents. When we asserted that we
could call the attention of Congress to abuses ex-
isting within the immediate limits of their juris-
dcton, we had no reference whatever to their
own pay and mileage, or to the extravaganza so
frequently appearing in their contingent expen-
ditures, or to the unnecessary cost consequent
on answering their calls. Any reformation in
these matters is almost hopeless We mean 10
bring forward no individual instances of guilt
even if we had the opportunity Of knowing
them. Our comments, as we have already said,
will be confined to abuses existing under the
sanction or the liberation Of the law. +
Georgia.--A letter from Miledgeville to the Au-