Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1858-06-11
A Great Drain.

A Great Drain.
The country demands that the Navy should be put IN
position of efficiency bearing some reference to the de-
mands and exgences of the service and to the necessity
for defending the national honor which the usupations OF
foreign governments may at any time force upon u.s.
The existing difficulty with England has drawn attention
to this subject as has also drawn attention to the I'M
manned and unprepared condition OF our coast deenc
Men cy out against extravaganza and expense In re-
publican government we look for republican simplicity
and republican economy and the thing natura-thed de-
mand for economy proper Veg for no fancy yachting
squadron in the Mediterranean nor for any superiuous
y elegant specimens of naval architecture pretty enough
to brag about but not worth fifty cents IN the dollar Tor
actual service; nor do we go for maintaining lazy
drones at high pay in any branch of the public service
We only insist that the navy should have sufficient
weight of metal with strength and speed, and class OF
steam vessels that can enter and defend any harbor
our coast in case of actual hoses and also that the
coast decnccs of the country should always be kept SO
that they could really answer the ends designed at the
shortest notice. The country will not rest satisfied
until these things are done.
But one great drain upon the Treasury has been the
extravaganza in public buildings not only at Washing
ton City, but throughout the country Custom Houses
safe collection and keeping of the public revenues with
the necessary business connected therewlth-they are
now marble paIaccs-Grecian temples-modern editions
of the edces beyond the resources
of any State revenues out of all proportions to the trade
Of the ports where they bui-out of place in the
situations in which they arc stuck-out of keeping with
all our ideas Of republican simplicity Or with the prac-
teal character of commercial transactions We will
oJoJ ,4
in the last few years than there has been upon all our
Notifications More money than would build all the
ships our navy wants and in some cases. money
than the ports where these buildings stand will yield in
revenue for many years TO These things have got
to be jobS-stupendous jobsand we should much like
to see tabular statement of the disbursements made for
the erection of Custom Houses since l64O with an estl-
mate of the amount still required to finish those in pro-
gress. It would astonish most people.
The custom-house at New Orleans, all built with
Northern materials WILL when finished, cost about as
much as the Capitol at Washington. Last Fall, while
in Charleston we wandered along up near where the
Wilmington and Weldon r. r. Co. used to have its
steamboat landing and found there, in section red
oIent of fish and ofaI, hardly apprOachable without
wading through difficulty and dirt, marble palace
going up-a something that might have been intended
as seat of worship for Diana of the Ephesans, with
its fued columns and carved capitals, and what else
know not. This building was the new Custom House
a building which is to cost milons-to be ornate
than anything else in South Carolina. Why all this
travagance? The thing could not ornament the city
if the application Of the public money for that purpose
could be defended. 1t could not answer the ends dc
signed an Ota better than plain decent building at one
fifth the cost and that would have been than enough
Go to any place, North Or South that has recently
cot new custom house, and has had shrewd Congress
ona borcrs and the same sort of thing has been going
on The thing is an outrage and ought to be exposed
In some future age, not long after the time referred
to by Macauay when traveller from the great Empire
of New Zealand shall sit asrde of broken arch of Lon
don Bridge, and moraze upon The ruins of st. Paul.
some inquisve person from Bornco shall pass through
the seats of former Empires in North America, and In
sketchng the ruins of public buildings class those
of the present crop of Custom Houses the remains of
to the " Almighty Dollar"
There is such thing going it too strong. Marble
Custom Houses skirt the Northern Lakes and the Yves
tern Rivers. From Passamaquoddy to the mouth
of the Rio Grande they CLEAN white and glori-
ous-ikewise on the Pacific coast only here in Will
mngton VIC have little republican affair." stuck down
an alley and lcaky in the roof at that
BGgN The long article on our navy, which we copy
from the Washington Union, will be found interesting
J ;etun4i,,n af 4hc nrcscnt lime If is nrOner that