Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1863-08-13
The Way to Amend it.
From the Indiana Journal.

8lo6 Win " ldiSt statomelt vi tue odllaIies
paid government officers in this State, and
comments thereon as follows: W
Few persons have estimated the enor
nous cost of running the Federal Govern
ment machinery under Republican or
Abolition Administration. We admit
that the resources of the country are al
most unlimited. but can any Government,
no matter hsw great may be its resources,
be prosperous for any considerable length
of time, when it is the policy of the par
ty in power to feed and fatten as many as
possible out Of the public Treasury"
Few persons have estimated the enor-
nous cost of running the Federal Govern
ment machinery under Republican or
Abolition Administration" 1t is true,
but still fewer have estimated the cost of
doing the same thing under q disloyal
Democratic Administration. Let US sug-
gest few elements OF such an estimate.
1st. Uuder such an Administration the
Government would be surrendered to the
Rebels at once This would load the
North with the debt of the Confeder-
acy. which viii be about three times as
large as ours. and, of course. annihilato
all our stocks and currency. The aggre-
gate expense of this little Democratic"
operation would be about sc, ,000, 600. 900;
the biggest national debt in the world, or
that ever was in it.
2nd The Confederate tax system would
take the place of ours, and it would grab
Is per cent of the gross product of every
farmer, mandatory, shop, mill, and
stock yard in the country. which woald
be an "expense" of decidedly unpleasant
cc:.anortions:
81. The economy ~%lth which tine reve-
nue. thus raised from country thus pros
trated, would be managed, may be judged
from the honesty and frugality with which
the same class of men have managed in
times past Suppose for instance. the
editor of the Sentinel. who is particularly
distressed by the extravaganza and pee
ulations of the present Administration
had the control of things. how does the
record show he would do? AT the spe-
cial session of the State Legislature. in
1858, committee was appointed to in
vestigate certain frauds and abuses in the
Office of State Printer, then and now held
by that gentleman, who reported, through
Mr.. Newton. Democrat, quite little
volume of exactly the sort of facts which
we need to find out what he would DO.
The testimony, which will be found in
the House Journal for the special session
of 1858. from page 307 to 319. is ad
mirably calculated to moderate the agony
of the Sentinel in contemplating extrava-
genccs which exist chiefly in its own
falsehoods, and to lead the public to a just
opinion of the sort of economy which
would be practicsd under an Adminstra
tion of the Sentinel's editor. We may
premise that the State furnishes the paper
for all public printing. and that the use
of State paper is a fraud. And we may
explain further that the "quasi quires"
spoken of by the witnesses were the top
and bottom qrires of each bundle of pa
per, which this editor, who is so shocked
at the peculations under an abolition
Administration that he can't tell the
truth, was in the habit of-well, OF get
ting from the State without paying for
them. 1.-The wise conuey it CALL"
First, The editor, under the pressure of
an oath. said (sec House Journal. page
317), at has been our custom to take
two quasi quires out Of each ream," which
is just one tenth of all the paper purchased
by the State. In other werds. it was the
custom of the editor to convey" ten
per cent. of the whole amount spent by
the State for paper to his own pocket
We commend the memory Of this custom
to his repentant reflections when he re-
u = L. F.l. lrfa,-
directory"
Ncxt, James Appleton (ses page 316)
said:
"The State paper hardly ever came in
an injured condition, and the outside
quires (the quasi paper) were as good as
tie inside. To every bundle of two reams
we took four quires."
There is no excuse OF damage or dirt,
then. to palliate this economical" nppro-
priation of State property to private pro-
fit. 1t was plain downright psculat;on.
But besides taking ten per cent OF all the
State paper, this Mortified denouncer Of
Abolition dishonesty occasionally did
what some Of the witnesses relate on pages
3l2. 31S. 311, 3l3. as follows:
Dir. Strickland, paper maker, said: 'I
am q paper maker, and have been making
paper in Mr.. Sheets mill about fifteen
years. Have been making State paper
during that time. / can tell
State paper from other kinds. =
generally notice bills posted up,
and have seen various ones which took
to have been printed on State paper. Do
not rscollect of having ever seen . JOB
coming from the Sentinel Office that [
thought was net printed on State paper"
ID. 312.
franklin Ratti testified: "All ths job
work ever did ct the Sentinel was print
ed en- State paper. except when the paper
was not large enough. could enumsrate
about thousand sheets Of paper for the
Pennsylvania Central Railroad. ID 312.
Thomas Warner testified: II know of
their Bingham d Doughty using State
paper on the Daily Sentinel for three OF
four days in 1856. They were out of pa
per at the time. and heard Mr.. Miles,
the pressnan. say they guessed they would
replace the State paper then being used
on the Daily. l. think they used State
paper on the theater posters: eight quires
every day for sceek When went af-
ter the paper to work the thsstsr posters
on, / cut open bundle and took the frst