Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1853-12-28
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP.

making the requiIeu chonSeS Al oui SoAsu'h
system at the present session. The steady
and remarkable increase of our foreign COM
merce of late years, ard the increased dispo
sition of our fellow citizens for foreign travel,
render the presence of many more such agents
of the Government Of the United States
abroad, and also absolutely require, for the
public interest, that they shall; be in a posi-
ton to enable them. in all things, to conduct
their business wholly for the best n'erest of
these Americans who may need their services,
To this end, it is time that We had adopted
the English Government Consular system.
at least, in so far as that ignores the propriety
of permitting COnsuls to live on what they
raay be able to make out of their individual
countrymen. whose mistortunes absolute
necessities. for the most part, alone compel
them to apply 10 them for services for which
they are made to pay heavily. English Con
suls are proverbially political sentines on the
| advanced posts of English CONNER ce, render
| ing much more important information and
| assistance to their Home Government, than
ours are required to do. Indeed we know of
| nothing going further to secure for and per-
petuate England heretofore acknowledged
commercial supremacy, than the services rem
dered to her foreign office by her Consuls in
| every important port known to foreign COM
MERGE If we would become really great
commercial nation, we must have such a force
/ of mind (intelligence,) energy, activity and
American nationality scattered, like En-
gland 5, far and wide in every direction. 1t
| will cost the National Treasury something,
to be sure; yet mere bagatelle, in compari-
| son to its advantages. Indeed, it will so
| stimulate American trade and increase its
profits, as that while in increased duties paid
| in, it will compensate the treasury itself ten
fold for the outlay 1t will also greatly in
/ crease the profits of Americ IN merchants and
ship owners. as well as the comforts of Amer-
can travellers in foreign parts. Strong pre-
juIices have, up to this time existed among
| Senators and Representatives from rural re-
| gions against paying salaries to this class OF
officers growing partly out of their own un-
acquaintance with the details Of our foreign
commerce. and partly from the fact that at
many points where our existing trade makes
| the presence of n salaried American Consul
now absolutely necessary, ten years ago no
such necessity existed These gentlemen, so
keenly alive to the growing requirements of
| the interior, have heretofore seemed too
many Of them) incapable OF realizing that the
march of our foreign trade has been quite
parri possu with that Of our Interstate com
| merce, 10 push which forward, by means Of
legislation, they are usually so willing and
| anxious
We are among those who believe that our
methods and modes in all things essential to
our national increase and general business
| prosperity. have entirely changed mt least
| once in twenty-five years, since the foundation
/ of the Government of the United States. o.
course, there are exceptions to this general
rule. Yet all rejecting men will comprehend
and justify the truth of our remark. Twenty
| five years ago railroads and steamships were
| In Soip ,yg1 4,
ture means OF business communication in this
| country. Twenty-Five years before that time.
! Oliver Evans was pronounced n luna ic by n
jury of his fellow citizens of Philadelphia. for
insisting that, in fifty years, carriages would
| travel by steam between our cities ut the rate
of ten miles per hour! And then too Gin
| cinnati was in woods, and st. Louis was a
| French Indian trading post and Missionary
| settlement merely. While Senators and Rep
/ resentatives from tie interior have with com
mendable public spirit, legiElated promptly to
meet the requirements of the vast changes in
| American commerce, as illustrated by the
| changes which oil realize as having taken
| place in our home industrial condition there
| are more or less of these gentlemen who do
! not get seem to comprehend that an American
consular system which was wise, prudent and
| proper fifty years ago. is well nigh a. ill-suit-
ed to the condition of American foreign COM
merce in 1853, as such domestic commerce al
legislation as was capital in the year 1900
| would be, in this age
Or INTEREST TO DEPUTY posTMAsTERs.-
Some time ago. we had occasion to publish
the following Information in our Washington
news columns. viz:
an Important Treasury DeciSoD-
Some time ago person, formerly postmas-
ter, applied for the extra commissions with
which he had been authorized to credit him
self In his returns. by the order OF the Post
master General, bearing date July .. l54j lin
a seperaie item in his ACCOUNT The sum in
dispute was that necessary 10 make the amorr:;
OF his compensation equal to the amount re-
ceived LII the corresponding quarter of The
previous year. 1t was contonded b. the then
Auditor "f the Treasury and the then Post
master General, that by his failure to credit
himself with this sum before going out Of
Office, he had forfeited his tights to the said
extra coniml ssions, although the same were
credited in his account by the proper clerks
in the Auditors Office. This position was
overruled on an appeal by the claimdnt to the
Comptroller
This publication has brought an avalanche
of applications on the Sixth Auditor for new
statements OF accounts of ex-postmastcrs
Among others, the lion VIM Clark, on. c.
Of Michigan, enclosed q letter to the Auditor
on the subject, and was 81 answered as to
afford, by publication of the reply. more
specific information on the subject than was
within our reach when VIC obtained the data
for the original article in question Having
obtained this correspondence, we publish it Of
course
ALLEGAN, Dec. IA, 1853.
Hon. SAMUEL CLARK
DEAR SIR: L cut out Of the Detroit Free
Press the enclosed notice, which will thank
you to read and call at the Auditor S Office of
the Post Office department ard ascertain
whether thereis anything to my credit, for
was postmaster ut this place from iS:;.; to
lSl9, except n few months to make room for
MY friend kellogg Will write you Oil an
other subject in IL few days.
am, sir, yours, very respectfully,
ELISHA Ely.
AUDITOR OFFICE, 2. o. DEPARTMENT.
December % 1853.
SIR In reply TO the letter Of Mr.. Elisha
Ely, Qate Postmaster at AIIeghan, Michigan.
referred by you to this Office, L have the hon
or to inform you that the article clipped from
the w dshinston Sflr7" entitled AN impor- !
tant Treasury decision" has no connection
with his account, which was adjusted in ac-
cordance with ihc order OF the Postmaster |
General, (Johnson,) Of July 9th, 1915, and |
A.