The Kanzas news., 1859-05-21
-afe5 badger 80 From the London Times.
Corruption In the United States. r
what They. Thirk Of Bsaih England.

-Ss- @ 49, --s-s - i5tzts4fsslisl = Ea5TE Fl-F
What They Think of gss in England.
When things go wrong in any of our
public departments, We are told by Ger.
tain section of politicians to look at Amer:3
ca. We are recommended to- observe the
economy and integrity of fadministratiou i'm
sured py Democratic institutions, and to
contrast the operation of a really popular
Government with the results Of the system
prevailing at home. This advice has lately
been taken to. some purpose, though with
consequences rather different. from those
which were anticipated; and at the present
moment we can act upen the suggestion
with very good effect indeed We have
got into a BIT Of scFaPe with our Navy.
After spending enormous sums of money,
we are somewhat short of ships; we are in
doubts about the established system of
management, and are Investigating the
| question with a view to reforms The
Americans, as it happens, have been doing
| Just tie same sthing. ! They also have ap-
pointed an Investigating iCommittee's To
inquire into various branches of their ma
val expenditure. and into the general con-
duct of affairs In their dockyaFds; but here,
we feel thankful to say, the analogy of the
two cases. abruptly terminates. h w Whatever
may be the constitutional faults of the Brit
ish Admiralty, il is certainly not charged
with any such political corruption as has.
been formally alleged against the cores
popding department in the United States.
The American Committee has finished its
Investigations, but, not being unanimous
inits considerations, it has presented two
reports, One of these. signed by three
members, while admitting the vices of the.
system in operation, exonerates the officers.
actually concerned; the other, signed by
two members, directly duplicates, not only
the Secretary of the Navy, but the Presi-
dent of the United States himself, and char
ges these high officers with proceedings
dangerous to public safety, and deserving
Parliamentary censure. That these re-
and appreciated, we print both sets of res
sion this morning. 90 e aa'i -ao.g '.|ls.r-
tons was manifold. It was alleged that the
corresponding with our Portsmouth Dock
yard-was so managed in its several de-
partments that electioneering; jobbery was
public service; that the contracts made for
the supply of timber and coal were regala
ted by political considerations. to the dam
age of the public purse; and that in par
ticular negotiation for the supply of marine
engines the interference of the President
was solicited and obtained on grounds of
party feeling The reader, after comparing
the rival reports on the subject, will proba-
bly, have little difficulty in arriving at
general conclusion; but it is important to
observe that in any estimate of the case the
action of electioneering politics upon the
large masses of workmen in Government
establishments proves to be infinitely more
scandalous in the land of Democracy and
the Ballot, than 1t is in this country. We
hear now and then of political influence at
Chatham or Portsmouth, but nothing has
ever been imagined of the kind now reported
from America. The departments ofsthe
Brooklyn Navy Yard were all coolIy dis
tributed, as the Report of the Minority as
sures us, between the Democratic members
from New York, the Secretary of the Navy
being party to the arrangement. One
member had the master carpenter as bis
perquisite, another the master painter, an
other the master blockmaker, aud so forth.
Ldcu Vi JDSSo IndSteT- NOFhi1eu uHQerSJOOQ
to whom he and each of his fellows owed
their places, and not only were they liable
to removal in case of political defaication
on the part of their patrons, but they were
held to account by these patrons for the
appointments of the artisans working under
their orders. We are even treated to doc
umentary specimen of the kind of privileges
claimed. A member of Congress, in a
note produced before the Committee, tells
the master carpenter Il will have my pro-
portion of men under You. If you do not
give ,them, i will lodge charges against
you" In another case the master painter,
having refused to Feappoint a workman dis
charged In disgrace, was told, ''Yous may
set it down as fact that I viii have you re-
moved, if can. if you don't put that man
on again;'i and. having persisted in his OBJ
duraey, he was removed, surely enough,
two or three months afterwards We ask If
anything in our elections makes any ap-
proaeh 70 system like this 2 a I'D -,lesa{
Of the coal contracts we viii only say
and we take the description of The case
from the more favorable rcport-that the
fuel for the United States Navy is supplied
by coal agent, and that the agency was
cohferredaupon DR.. Hunter, a practicing
physician at Reading in Pennsylvania,
who paid no sort of attention to the duties
of his Office. but left the management of
the business entirely in the hands of large
coal firm in Philadelphia, one of the part
ners of which was nearly connected with
the Naval Secretary The case of the ma
rine engines. however, deserves greater at
tention. Seven of these machines were re-
quired last Summer for as many sloops Of
war, and tenders were invited for the sup
ply in due form, and in due form sent in.
What follows we extract bodily from the
minority report: sia,s..f
!, Before the Secretary had passed upon any of
Col " c. Patterson OF Philadelphia 10 the