Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-01-14
From the Daily of Jan. I3.
Swindling.


officials in New York, Washington anc
elsewhere for dishonest practices, ar,
seized upon by the opposition with the
avidity of starving men, Their political
stock was gone some time ago. They
had been living upon poor credit
Even that was also exhausted But
here is new supply opened up to them.
1t is a kind they are thoroughly ac-
quainted with, moreover this peculation
| of funds from the public crib
There has been no time in the history
of this country when the national ne
cessities demanded the disbursement of
sums of money through all departments
of the government approximating in
magnitude those now required Gov
ernment operations were small before /;
they are immense now. 1t required
many millions even, to make up for the
losses suffered through the thievings of
members of the last democratic admins
tration All these immense sums must
pass through the hands of numerous
subordinate agents and clerks. There is
no help for that any more than there is
for the fact that among 50 many agents
and clerks some scoundrels viii inevita-
bly, be found. Among the extraordinary
opportunities necessarily opened by the
gigantic operations of the war, for vii
lainy, villainy will be found till human
nature undergoes a radical change. 1t
cannot be reasonably expected that this
war win be any exception to the general
rule of wars in this respect. On the
contrary, as this war of selfdefense
forced upon US, exceeds in the magni-
tude of it's operations almost all other
wars of history, it would only be rea-
sonable to expect corresponding
amount of official swiRdling.
Now, no imputations are made upon
the honesty of the members of the Ad-
ministration, that we have heard of.
The case, then is unlike that of the last
democratic administration, in which
Floyd and Cobb, &c, stole and flourish
ed Further, the administration is not
responsible for the fact that there are
still rogues among mankind, or that
among the almost numberless agents
and clerks required to conduct the de-
tails Of the immense war now waged,
some should be found, hitherto honest
men, who are unable to resist the Temp
tations unayoidably thrown In their way.
what is the administration responsible
for? For two things. First, for the
exercise of the greatest caution in Sc
lecting its agents. When the small
amount of rascality discovered IN pro
portion to the unparalleled amount of
business done and the disadvantages un-
der which the business was commenced
is considered, we think the present ad-
ministration will stand fully acquitted of
negligence in this respect In fact we
believe it will receive the palm in histo-
ry for its successful vigilance,-espe-
cially successful in comparison with the
condnct of all previous great wars. The
other thing the administration is
responsible for, is the exposure and
swift punishment of fraud among Off
cials high or low. And this is the very
thing it is accomplishing. Bear in mind,
that the dishonesty among the agents of
government which the opposition are
clamoring about, is not dishonesty dis
covered by this opposition, and attempt
ed to be concealed or covered up by the
administration. The exposures, theSar-
rests, of which they are endeayoring to
make capital, are those made by the ad-
ministration itself. The robbers should
be visited with the quickest and severest
penalties OF the law. We believe the
administration is exerting itself that this
be done. The opposition, accustom-
ed to the Democratic. administra-
tions of late years, very likely are not
able to appreciate snch unusual conduct
of the present. But we are happy to
believe that this administration is doing
its duty in exposing and furnishing Of
tenders, without fear or favor; and the
people will reward it accordingly.