New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-12-14
THE TREASURY UNDER GEN GRANE

THE TREASURY UNDER GEN. GRANT
The Hon. Elihu B. Washburne has been for
the last fourteen years leading Representa-
tive in Congress from Illinois, is a resident of
Galena, and an intimate personal friend of
Gen. Grant Certain enterprising puryeyOrs of
news in Washington, putting these facts to-
geter, have concluded that Mr.. Washburne
will probably be called to the head of the
Treasury Departmcnt--which may be good
guess, and may not We hazard little in say
that no one kROWs anything in tho premises
but Gen. Grant, who is i'll no hurry to share
his knowledge with others
The World seizes the opportunity to assail
Mr.. Washburne as "a man of narrow mind,
land of no administrative experience"
and to insinuate that he is to be appointed to
the Treasury as a reward for hG personal de
"votiOn to Gen. Grant" Such aspersions de
serve no answer. But The World proceeds to
discourse in this vein:
"a man OF great vgor and capacity at the head Of the
Treasury Department one who should extricae our H.
nances from their present amentabe condition.
ON larger scale work like that mplished by Ham.
ltOn, at the begin ing OF the Government would be en-
would he the keest and most deserving candidate FOR
the place TO which Gen. Grant has been elected"
If The World were as DESTROYS of retIench-
ment and economy in the public service as it
pretends to be whenever it can hope to make
party capital by doing SO, it would recog-
nize and honor the determined, vigorous,
unwearying resistance which Mr.. WashbuIne
for years has offered to every attempt to de-
pete the Treasury for private ends, or even
for public objects which, however commend
able, must be postponed till the Finances are
in better condition. If there be one man in all
the land who, more than any other, has been
vigilant and efficient in repellinR raids on the
Treasury, that man is Elihu b. Washburne.
But we had intended rather TO demur to The
Worlds suggestion that "great vIgor and ca
"pacity at the head of the Treasury Depart
"ment" are required to "cxtIicate our Finances
" from their present lamentable condition"
The qualities eminently needed in that post
are stern integrity and wise frugality Finan-
cial genius is a drug in the market-we are
surieited with it. Our waste-basket OveTfOws
daily with projects for paying off the National
Debt without taxing any one, or for making
the country rich beyond the widest dreams
of avarice 10y doubling its amount and
never paying it, You may scare up on any
curb stone in Wall-street a lame duck who
wants to sell for Million or 40 plan--no,
"schenen is the wOrd-fOr making everybody
great, glorious, and happy, through some mys-
ferrous wave of the magic wand of Finance.
Yet 10 one would think OF giving over ten
cents for orr scheme" simply because it is
so old-fashioned, 50 downright, and makes no
drafts whatever on the Imagination. Its out
lines are as follows:
! ]. Collect more revenue and spend a good
deal less Employ the surplus, so fast as real
| lied, in paying off Debt.
2. Build fewer gaudy opera-houses in cities
out of the profits of illicit distilling. and vastly
many more cabins on Western prairies and in
| Southern forests as homes for pioneers strue-
Cling to become independent thrifty farmers
8. Import fewer thousand-dollar Cashmere
sbawls and lace walls, and put more American
furnaces into blast, set more factory wheels
turning, and make at home half the Metals,
Wares, aud Fabrics, we now buy abroad.
4. Starye out the mob Of supeifuops Traders,
brokers, and SPECTATORS, who now infest our
cities, and vastly increase the number who
earn an honest, useful livelihood by herding
cattle and growing corn
OF course. this is sorry scheme when
eoWpared With the Car more brilliant coan-