Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-07-08
OFFICIAL COuRUPFION-WHO Is
RESPONSIBILITY? ..


forth their best efforts to elect him
OFFICIAL CORRUPFION-wHO Is
RESPONSIRLE?
The of effect that pet piece of Radi-
cal legislation, the tenure of Office law, is
thus stated by that able Republican
paper, the New York Times &
Notwithstanding the notorious corrup-
ton Of the service, We believe it is a fact
that no person has been TeDieped from office
under his la0 It's only effect thus far has
been to give practical immunity TO thieves,
and they have not been slow to avail them
selves of its benefits. ....... .
"To get a man out of Office under this
law you must first convince the Commits
siOner that the officer complained Of has
been guilty Of misconduct in office He
must then convince the Secretary Of the
| Treasury, who must convince the President
| who in turn must convince the Senate.
"In FIVE or six cases we believe the Com
missioner has succeeded in convincing the
President that officers have been guilty Of
corruption in office. Ia these cases the
President has suspended the delinqhents
! and reported the cases TO the Senate. II
is curious fact, one worth nOiing az
we are passing along, that all of these
delinquenis were, we believe, Republicans"
In the cases mentioned by the Times,
the Senate refused to allow the President
to turn out these corrupt officials Well
may the Times remark -
"With such a state'of things, how can il
be expected that fraud will be suppressed
and the revenue collected2 The action of
the Senate is, we confess, iEexplicable.
Here we're five or six officers suspended for
misconduct in office, on the recommends
ton of a Commissioner, who was himself
q Republican. Many Of these men were
not only charged with crime, but they were
under arrest and Indictment; and yet in
no case has the Senate set the seal of its
disapprObatiOn upon their conduct by af.
irming their transportation, and THIS removing
them from Office. Callieott is still Col
lector of the third district, only he hap
pens TO be serving his term of office, by the
order of Judge Nelson, in the Albany pen
tentiary, Instead OF in Brooklyn. /.
cit il impossible TO estimate the extent TO
which this action, or rather this nom action
Of the Senate, has contributed to the pre-
sent decentralization of the seTvice.p
In subsequent article, the Times
says
The case against the Senate is much
stronger than We supposed at the former
writing. President johnson, on the re-
commentator of Commissioner Rollins,
suspended fire revenue officers under the
tenure Ofoflice bill for misconduct in Office.
The officers suspended were ali Republ-
cans. The Senate has never confirmed one
OF these suspensions. ss
''Of the officers thus suspended, one has
since died, three have been convicted of
corruption in Office, and are now 10 the
penitCntiarv. The other, Collector james,
of the Richmond district, Uas restored 10
office BIZ the Senate, Notwithstanding the
conclusive character Of heeVidenCe against
him, affirmed and supported by the report
Of the Finance Committed of the Senate
recommending his removal. Yet the Sen
ate refused to remove him, although in
diCtment- upon which he mnst yet be tried
were pending against him. Soon after his
restoration TO Office the trial Of the officers
Of an adjoining district came on before the
Chief Justice at Richmond. On this trial
one Of the witnesses, describing his negu-
iiations with the officers on trial, ADD how
they advanced their price from six thous
and dollars a year, az at frat agreed upon,
TO thirty thousand dollars, said that when
they reached that point he protested, a.
surfing them that he had never paid more
than twenty-four thousand dollars forsim-
liar services in James district
. But we are not vet done with the Sen
ate. For a long time il has been well
known that vast frauds we're committed
against the government in Chicago. These
frauds were so extensive and their exist
ence 30 notorious, that early in the present
session of Congress prominent Republican
Senators called upon the Secretary and pro-
tested against the longer continuance in
office of the Collector of that district He
was a Republican, hut his removal was
promptly recommended by Commissioner
Rollins, aud a successor, we'll known 70 the
Secretary as an honest aud upright man
and an efficient officer Of the government,
nominated by the President He was not
confirmed. Another was nominated who
was entirely satisfactory TO Senator Trum-
huIl who desired his confirmation, bot he
from The Chicago district, under the rule
established by the Senate to confirm no
man against the wishes of the member
from The district in which the appointment
is made, he tao was rejected. And these
frauds, without parallel in any city Of its
size ia the country, continued more than
six months, nnul some man could be found
accePlshie 10 The member appointing from
that district
This tells the whole story The whole
sale frauds which have been perpotrated
upon the country through corrupt off
cials, are the necessary consequence of
Radical legislation They first passed
ball taking awaythe power Of removal
from the Executive, except where those
removals were approved by a partisan
Senate, aud when The President attempt
ed to suspend such Of their corrupt off,
cials as he CHANGED to fad testimony
against, the Senate interposed to protect
aud prevent the removal OF their venaI
partisans This is the true state Of the
case as the facts prove, and as a leading |
Republican Journal is forced to admit
The titlsof the tenure Of efiics law should !
read "A bill to prevent the removal Of |
thieying Radical officials and to license
wholesale plunder and robbery Ii has
been productive Of nothing but mischief |
1t has put The employee above the en-
ployer and destroyed all fear of removal |
on his part Under its operation, the
government, instead of realizing tax of
SlS0.O00 600 q year on whisky alone,
realizes the meagre sum Sf S7,000OO0
after paying these officials 1000 GOO for !