Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1854-02-08
NUMBER ss.
RICHMOND wHIG,
OmeIallsm,
From the Westminster Review.

p0h'ca as to private life The experience of tho ayr;c,,
"' nha' that farming by bailiG entails loss wh ia,
' 'am'ns pay', is experience s,i better liustra
ted IN national history than in landlord. .eco,n, hl
Inc admitted fact, that int stock commands. .. h,.n
wherever individuals compete with them 1. . .,p,
more certain fact when the joint stock company
" Tue Nho'e nation This transf.rence Of power from
'e"eies 10 members OF parliament, from these to the
executive, from the executive board ou the hoard
'"'s anu hon inspectors through their subs
down TO the actual ~orkers-ths operating through se
es of levers each Of which aorbs in friction and inertia
part OF the moving iorceis in virtue of n.
pleIity the direct employment by society of ;ndivh
ais private companies and spontaneously formed ips,;tp
u"n Is good in virtue OF its simplicity Fully To re,li,s
the contrast We must compare in detail the WORKING Of
the two systems
oieiiism isbabitually slow. When non governmental
agencies are diatoy the public has its remedy IL
To employ th' m, aud finds quicker ones ind.r ,h;s
discipline all private bodies taught promntnc, r.,
,or IN State departments there no such
eIohE ohahce ~ suits must be patiently borne Muse
caAosues mist be hopelessly waited for Wbilst NV
.he people themselves, Crystal Palace Is designed e,ec
ted and hled in the course Of n few nonbs ,ha ia.s
,s,ae takes twenty years to build itself new houss
mist by private persons the debates are daily rn,,
anu dispersed over the kingdom within few boprs n,
their utterance, the Board OF Trade tables are resn,
published MONTH and sometimes more after date And
so throughout ii 70 IL Board Of ueIti uLic, since
lsi9 has been about close the
but has done il yet and which Los an Io, sy,,
over projects Tor Cemeteries that the London Metropolis
company mas taken the matter out of its hands Hero
IS paentee who has had fourteen years core,nondena
with the Horseguards before getting de- finite ansnsr
issPecnhg the use oil his improved boot for the Army
mere s plymouth port admiral who DELAYS sepding nm,
to look for the missing boats of the Anazon until ten d.T
alter the wreck. -''
Again, officiasm is stupid Under the natural o,...
OF things each citizen tends towards h test fnct;on
hose who are competent to the kind Of work they under
succeed and IN the average of cases, advanced
IN proportion 10 their eicieucy whilst the incompetent
society soon hnds out, employ forces To tv
something easier, and eventually turns to use Bnt IL
quite otherwise in State Here as evsrv
one knows birth age intrigue, and syccpban.
cy' determine the selections, rather than merit The
TOOL OF the family readily finds place in the Church n
the family have good connexions. A youth TOO III Cd
seaed Tor any active profession, does very well for an Of
hcer in the Army Grey hair, or q title. il far be,,s-
guarantee OF naval promotion than genius s Nav in
deed, the man Of capacity often finds thaf in government
o'nces superiority hindrsnce-that his chiefs hate to
oe peseted with his proposed improvements and are Of
Tended with his implied criticism. Not only therefors =.
legislative machinery complex, but it ia made OF inferior
materials. Hence the bluEders daily read of-the
supplying to the dockyards from the royal forests of tim
Der unit Tor ue-the administration of relief during tho
IRISH iamine in such manner draw the abo1rrrs
from the field and diminish the subsequent baryos, -
oneourth-ue building Of iron war-vesses that sboplS
have been Of wood and the insitting on wood for NAL
steamers that should be of iron.
further characteristic Of oficalism Ia s sx,,a-.
ganee In its chief departments, Army Navy. and
church. employs far more officers than are neednl and
pays some Of the useless exorbiantly TIL, VOL
done by the Sewers Commission has cost as Sir HI,
tells US from 500 TO 400 per cent the
outlay; whilst the management charges have reached Ok
40 and 40 per cent on the expenditure The trustees o
bour by the way, that has Ia,
Ken century TO compete-are spending is OOOl wear
IN doing what 5000i has been proved sufficient for The
Board o Health causing SURVEYS to be made of ali
sae under Its contro-a proceeding which, as Mr.
stephenson states, and as every tyro in engineerno
knows, is, for drainage purposes a wholly needless eI
pense These public agencies subject to no such in
huence as that which obges private enterpr;se IN h
economical Traders and mercantile ho,Ies snc.osSS
serving society cheaply; such them as cannot do ,b
are continually suppanted by those who can Tbey can
not saddle the nation with the results of their e,ra
gance, and hence they are prevented from bsre -,
CANT shopkeeper leaves of his accounts mo ;,sr
analogous TO that 6o00Oo0 of its revenues which Par
lament anows 10 be deducted on the way the Erche
quer walk through mandatory and you see that m.
stern alternative careiuness ruin dictate the savin
every penny visit one Of the national dockyards and
the comments you make any glarng wastef,nas. a.,
carelessly met by the slang phrase-'N1nkv nsrs n
How invariably offciaism becomes corrupt every on,
KNOWS fhposea 10 no such anseptic tree competi-
ton-not dependent for existence as all private unendo
ed organizations, are upon the maintenance of yisorops
vitality, all law made agencies fall into an inert over fd
state, from which to disease is short STEP Salaries flow
irrespective of the activity with which duty /, perforsd
cnnue afler duty wholly ceases; become rich n,;ya e.
the idle well born and prompt perjury TO bribery tn
simony Eat India directors elected not for anv fines
or krowedge they may have, but they buy votes Inv
missed parorAge-a patronage alike asked and given in
utter disregard of the welfare Of hundred mons Of na
Pile Registrars OF wills not only get many ,ho,sa,S
work which their mseraby paid deputies leave half L.
but they in some cases defaud the and that
repeated repmands Dockyard promotion il the resnlt
not OF efficient services but Of political That
ney may continue to hold rich vngs cergymen preach
what pey do not believe; bishops make false returns or
their revenues and their elections IN col
lege felowships, well to do priests make oath
ma' ,ha ,,h, .hfy arc pGrptr, pia' ct doetu, From
the local inspecting, whose shut 10 an abuse bv
contractors present. up to the prime minister who and.
mepad oet,ns 10, nus relations this veuaity is daily H.
usraed aud that 10 spite Of public reprobaton and of
pefpeua attempts to prevent it, 1t the inevitable re-
suit OF destroying the direct between the pro
its obtained aud the work performed M ;ncon,ns,sn,
person hopes' by the oher of douceur in the 7pss to
ge' permanent place in msrcantle Office but
where, as under government, there Il no en-
ployers seli-nterest to forbid-Ehere the an
Po'ntintht IS made by some one whom ineficien-
cy entails no oss-here douceur is operative In hos
pitals in public charities in literary funds en- endowed
schools in all social agencies in which duty done and in
come gained do not go hand in hand the like corruption
iouhd and Is great in proportion the dependence of
income upon duty s remote. In Stste-organizaiiops
therefore, corruption is Unavoidable In tradipe
orgahHauons u rarely makes its appearance, and when
does, the instinct OF self preservation soon
remedy
To all which broad contrasts add this that whilst pr-
Vae bodies are enterprsng and progressive public bod
YES arc unehangng and, indeed, obstructive. That of
cialsm should be inventive nobody expects That Il
should 90 out OF s easy mechanical routine introduce
improvements and this at a considerable expense of
thoush' and application without the prospect OF profit
uonsry 1t srenuou-ly resists every amendment oi-
IN itself or n anything with which II deals Until now,
unt county Courts are taking away their practice, all
officers OF the Law have doggedly opposed law reform
The universities have maintained an old curriculum for
centuries aer ceased 10 be dt and arc nou, sepIv
oosructing threatened reconstruction Every postal
Improvement has been vehemeny agans. by tho
postal authories Mr. Winston can say how pertiuacous
Is the conservatism Of Church Not even
the graves consequences In view prevent official resist
anee; witness the fac, that though AZ While sincn men
toned Professor Barlow reported 1920 Of the Admiral
compssses then in store that t one half we're
mere lumber yet, Notwithstanding the constant rak Of
shpTreeks thence arising "very little hmeioraton In ths
state OF things appears to have taken place until 1888 to
ls4V Nor s official obsuciiveness to be readily over
borne even BY powerful public opinion; witness tho
se that Though for generations, nine tsulhs Of the
hon have disapproved this ecclesiastical system which
pampes the dones and starves the workers and though
commissions have been appointed to reoy w. still
mains substantially as Not only do those State in
srunentales resist reform in themselves but they hinder
reform in other things In defending their vested inter
ess the clergy delay the closing Of town burial grounds
As Mr. Lindsay show Government emigration-a gents
are checking the Of iron for sailing vessels EIess