The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1859-02-24
WAsHIk&pos Cl79Fl1F
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS "a. 1859.

RErRENcIIsEST in TIE PuBIIc EXPENDITURES.
There are few who viii dispute the general prop
ositon that the ordinary expenditures Of the govern
meat oueI tobe brsughtwifhin afiy millions ear
We DO not believe that there any persons who
Subscribe to this proposition cordially than tLe
President and his cabinet and confident in
the conviction that the administration viii make
larger reduction in the amount Of the ordinary ex
penditures than has been made rby any adn.inistra
ton since the foundation Of the government II has
as yet got through but complete fiscal year that
Of 1878 The appropriations for that year we're
made by the Congresa which expired before It's acr
eession to the government and the execution Of tho
! orders Of that Congress imperative upon and
not optional with it, As II was, il expended less
than Congress appropriated for the year in question,
by sixteen milions of dollars. - $ ~ - 8 - s -
There extraordinary circumstances, too, which
imposed heavier charge upon The administration
during that year than usual The Utah expedition
aud wars with some eight tribes OF Indians
on opposite frontiers of the country had to BIO car
ried on-at the time that the Secretary OF ar
was attacked in tierear by Congressman, the lobby,
and the contract brokers here in Washington, IN a
manner more deadly than if it had been by as mary
tribes of sayages with their toiailawks and scalp
ing knives. That was the year, too, in which the
overland mail to the Pacific was first established
at great cost under the orders Of an expired Con-
gress over which the administration could have
had no sort Of control.
The second fiscal year of the present adminstra-
tons management of the government is not yet
expired and the third only estimated for but, if
no misfortune bcals the country the result will show
a curtailmont Of expenditures, which, when at the
proper time it shall BIO proudly exhibited before the
people, will coniou,d and dismay the men who have
raised premature outcry at the alleged extravaganza
OF the present admin stration The President and ha
sabinet understand that all true and judicous econ
omy must be instituted by themselves; and are act
ing accordingly Reform cannot originate in Con-
grcss, even though the economists par excellence OF
that body were ever much in earnest in their pro-
iessions. and understood perfectly well the disease
obey we're seeking Their whole action must
be mere guess work they but mutilate when they
would retrencl Their whole diagnosis for the dis
ease of ovcr-expenditure suggests nothing but ampn
iaton. Their system Of practice reminds us Of Mo-
iiHrcs 4uach atiu HIS PAich', Ahc H"asA aoAo s'o
patient y
4Nyhat do you do with this arm :"
Patient :" Ny armr'
Quark |" We must cut off this arm immediately"
Patent. |" Tho deuce cut off my arm r
i Quack II is the new practice. Don't we pruno
trees to make them healthy and don't you see that
this arm hinders the other from thriving 2"kes rs
Patent AYE. But I have occasion for my arm. =
Q,mek. Here's an eye, too, which must be i'm
stantly plucked OUT" @,..s y, ~ 1891 3,
Patient. /" Pluck ont my eye r. tsft e5.ea 4.
Qaaes ''Don't you see il Injuries the other, and
occasions nists Have it taken away directly, you'll
see the better with your left
The Quack's is the only principle we can discover
in the practice Of Congress in cutting OFF the arms
and plucking out the eyes OF our public cxpendi-
Iturc The notion Of wise retrenchnent coming from
Congress- is prcpostcrons. IT efforts in that body
were ever so sincerely made, there is utter lack
Of information to guide and direct their efforts We
have sllowa that regulations sagely proposed by
members M other day, for one branch of the
service, had been in force twenty years! Those
WHO are in earnest only mutilalc the patient.
Those who are not in earnest keep up great
noise all the time, but take good care to do
no execution they resemble the sporting gem
tloman in the story, who was not remarkable rs
shot and ''whose shooting season, for many years,
was devoted with great consistency to one identi-
cal jaok-snipe which, after all outlived him. Every
day the sportsman had his shot, and every day
the shot missed the mark. Still he pcrsevcred,
and had always good excuse to keep him in heart
The last time, the powder damp, the wind was
tho wrong way, or tho sun in his eyes, but his time
he is always sure Of his game, and the bird is the
same thing the spit, until away it hics at the
report of the piece The sportsman looks blank, and
determines to pick his flint and try again So the
shooting goes on from day to day, from season to
season, from session to session, and the game goes
OFF, II will always be so with the bird Economy,
30 long as the only chance Of bagsing it il from
those who persist in hunting 1t only in tho Capitolne
boys.
+ ~ WANTED A REVENUE TARIFF r N Is
Assuming, then. that tho ordinary expenses Of the
government will be brought within fifty millions