Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1859-09-08
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP.


amazingly. The Secretary has very recently con-
minated arrangements through which the cost
of conducting the busine~ Of ths pablic stores
there is to be reduced from SIS 000to SiOO OO per
annum; a contract being made for hereafter doing
much of that business, heretofore done by persons
on Government salaries. Whefeupon the various
organs of the army above referred to-and each
division Of II has its own organ-blate out lugu-
briousy against the injustice of depriving honest
Democratic laborers of their wages received from
the Government, &C., &C. -s-sz7'7s7.sasss
There Is no more pernicious doctrine than that
involved In such complaints. The Government
does not exist to afford employment for any men,
and much less for men Of one political party. To
hold a contrary doctrine involves holding the
doctrine that 1t is right and proper to exPend the
public funds for party purposes az well as the
doctrine Of the propriety Of tithing the pay Of
Federal employees for partizan political expenses.
Or in other words, it leads to the justification Of
unlimited corruption in all branches of the Gov
eminent, and to outrageous oppression of those
who serve the Government on the part of any who
may manage to constitute themselves political tax
collectors for the nonce. 1t also encourages the
active interference in politics of the very last
in the land who should rightfully be entrusted
with the responsibility of leading the public
mind We refer to the shoulder hitting haunters
Of grog shops, and other seekers after unimpor-
tant places under the Government who, attaching
themselves to the political fortunes Of this that
demagogue for what they hope to make by the
oPerat on, influencing the action Of the varl-
GUS conventions Of all parties, 80 that year by
year the latter become more corrupt, and of
course, more and more reflect the will Of those
whose interference i'm politics is for selfish and
improper ends. Such is the legitimate result of
the spoils' doctrine now practiced b; all
parties when and wherever in power.
OF late years the increase Of the proportion Of
members of the National Legislature utterly un-
qualified for the intelligent discharge Of the ma
tionai legislators functions has made thinking
men ponder seriously over the rapid degeneration
of American public affairs. We attribute that in
crease to the prevalence of = the spoils doctrine;
which generates everywhere a battalion of small
nieddlers In politics who shape results in all con-
tested cases in nine cases out Of ten to the real
injury OF the public service
Twenty five years ago the man who would have
suggested the propriety Of teking into consideTa-
ton the question Of the politics of an applicant for
mechanics or laborer's work would have been
hooted out Of society. Now, however, the first
question asked Of all who apply for such work
under any branch of the Government whether
general, State or municipal, with either Iarty in
power isis he for or against US, politically,
Thus, work is often accorded, not according to
the relative capacity of applicants to execute it
best for the public interest, but plumply with
ference to their Cthe applicant's) politics We
regard the habit as being, in plain English, a
habit OF paying for partizan political services oat
Of the public funds; which we imagine will find
no apoigiss Of character when thus broadly stated
Indulgence In it is fast leading, in all quarters
OF the country, to the habit Of regarding public
contracts patronage. The treasures of the State
and city Of New York have been plundered of
many untold millions in that way; and for the
last ten or twelve years there has hardly passed
day when Washington city has not been disgraced
with the presence OF gangs Of distinguished gen.
tlemen'' more or less conspicuous in party poll
TICS. engaged in endeavoring. to bring personal
influence to bear in the disposition of contrac 8
that should rightfully 90 to the lowest bidders
OF course, every Federal Administration seeks to
counteract the schemes Of such parties Yet,
under all Federal Administrations that have held
power in the last twelve years, such men have
worked infinite mischief to the public interest
All such practices but legitimate results of the
otious and corrupting " spoils' doctrine
~
TROUBLE on BOARD OF AMERICAN MERCHANT
MRN.-Since Congress undertook to interfere by
statute with discipline On American merchant
men, fOrbdding whipping, &c, real tragedies
seem gradually to have taken the place Of Jack .
old punishnents! Hundreds Of cases have oc-
CURED requiring the interference of the courts of
law against the Preparation OF acts of cruelty
the part Of captains and mates upon seamen, fire..
quehtly amounting to downright and fragrant
murder Thus, ON the 18th ut, Jno w. Moody,
the second mate of the Mary, of Bath, Me- muir
W.
Dor, under most cruel circumstances; and on the
very next day the ship John Fife, OF New York,
arrived at Greenock, reporting the murder Of mo.
Mccarthy, a seaman, by the captain, who man.
aged to get his vessel OF to again before lie
could be arrested.
These are not isolated cases we regret To have
to say; as almost weekly such reports find their
| way into the newspapers. Congress having taken
the subject in hand, is responsible for much of
this new order Of things. Its Legislation upon il
50 Tar has simply increased nsubordination on the
part Of seamen on United States mere hant vessels
ON the one hand, and changed W hat was par
atively slight cruelty the part of the officers OF
such ships, to brutality which sets little value in
deed upon human life, when the fact is realized
that the result of the increased insubor-
dination has been such to induce jurie In ports
where such cases usually tried to sanction the
use of most desperate and really disproportionate
remedies by masters and mates. /
The Two BusABoos.-The Republican party
journals are busily engaged In applying the
thunder" Of MIR. .. A. Douglas TO the advantage
of their own organization. Thus they claim for
Mr. Seward that he is the great antagonist of the
propositions To reopen the African slave trade and
establish (by Congressional acton) "a slave code
for the Territories" 1t is naughty in them thus
to be flching the capital Of Senator Douglas, who
orig mated the idea that something may he made
at the North by persuading ignorant people there
that the Southern Democracy are planted upon that
platform II is useless to deny the allegations, and
to prove time and again that there Is no more pros
pect that the South in the Charleston Convention
will vote for any such interpretations of the Gin
cinnat platform, than that she 1.-THE South) will
vote to make Douglrs the nominee-one being as
likely to occur AZ the other. Douglas deserves to
be thus imPudently robbed Of his thunder, manu-.
factired as that was wholly out Of what he well
knew to be the propensity Of the sensati onlss OF
the North to be humbugged --..r'. ....