The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1868-12-24
The Keystone of Gen. Grants
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dicted with a good degree of GER
tainty, when the country knows who
is to. be its Secretary of the Treasu-
ry and its commissioner of Internal
Revenue. Those departments of
the Government which control the
collection and disbursement of the
revenue, are the departments which
win make or mar it. They hold the
same relation to the Government
now, which the War Department
held during the rebellion and their
proper management demands sub
stantially the same qualities,-a
thorough comprehension of the ne
cessities Of. the country, a practical
knowledge of men for appointing ex
ecutive agents of the Government
and unfinching courage. both phys
ical and moral, in meeting emergen-
cies and dangers as they arise.
The collection Of the revenues OF
the country,-the honest, prompt
and energetic enforcement of the
Tax laws,-will be the first and fun
damental condition of success for
the new Administration. Under
the existing laws the appointment
of the men who are to perform this
work rests nominally with the Pres
ident, but actually, so far as the
practical performance Of the duty IS
concerned, with the Secretary of
the Treasury and the Revenue Com
missioner. The Supervisors are
the most important of the subordi-
mates, on whom the detailed enforce
ment of the Tax laws depends. If
the Secretary and the Commissioner
are men who will make it their bust
ness to find out accurately and for
themselves, "who are the very best
men to fill those places" and will
then see to it that such men are ap-
pointed in every case,-no matter
who may like it, or who may dislike
1.-THE taxes will be collected, the
burdens Of the debt will be fairly
distributed and the machinery of
the Government will work easily
and we'll But if they are men who
weigh character by letters Of recon-
mendation, who think that a candi
date with q thousand signatures to
his application, must ofnecessity be
more fit for the place than man
with a hundred, or one with none
at all, who ask the party whom they
may appoint and who listen and
obey when the party tells them
whom they must not appoint, then
we shall have these places filed with
hungry and unscrupulous adventu
rers who will use their power to fill
their own pockets, or else with men
to weak to be honest and utterly
powerless against the agencies OF
corruption that will be brought to
bear upon them.
It is not enough nowadays that a
man in Office will not steal himself;
he must have the ability and the
pluck to stop others from stealing.
Itrequires, in these later days of
the Republic, ten times the talent to
be an honest Office holder in even
the humblest capacity, which it did
to make man a great statesman fif-
ty years ago. Honesty in office, in
this sense has become ono Of the
rarest, as it is one of the highest, of
human gifts. The men who stand
we'll in society,-who e,.joy the re
spect and confidence of their neigh
rs,--who have lived quiet, blame
less lives, but have shown no spe-
cial force or talent anywhere or in
anything, who likes every body and
whom everybody likes in turn, are
often deemed the fittest recipients
Of public favor and the most proper
men for public office. And compal
atively speaking they doubtless are.
AS things go, it is almost q matter
for pablic thanksgiving that we have
some offices not filed by notorious
scoundrels and knaves. But this is
not enough for the coming necessi-
ties of the country. We want in
high office men of nerve, as well as
Of good intentions, men who can
not be deceived and who will not
be bullied,- men who will give pow
er to men too weak to WELD it, or
so facile and complaint as to let it
slip from their grasp or be wrested
from them by audacious and reck-
less men.
The Treasury Department is the
key of the whole position. It is not
enough that the coming Secretary
be man Of sound views on finance.
or correct notions on the currency,
or true Republican. He must
be one who knows a knave at sight,
who can detect a humbug or a
pretender as quickly as experts de-
tect counterfeit bill - and who
will never. under any circumstances
or any pressure, put a third rate
man.in a frst-rate place. The coun-
try was fortunate during the war in
having such man as Stanton in
the War Departments man who
had intellect, energy and courage.
He may have made mistakes-pro-
baby he did: but he made things
move, and they always moved in the
right direction. He held no terms
with dishonesty or with imbecility.
It was as great crime in his eyes
to be incapable as to be unfaithful,
for the one damaged the nation
quite as much as the other. We
need just such man in the Treasll-
r \
himself to be during the war. We
must have a man ofiron will,-fear-
less, clear-headed, and just in doing
his own duty, and in compelling all
subordinates to do theirs. Weak
ness, tinidity,. or, to put it more
mildly, an excess of. caution, has
been and still is the besetting sin of
the Treasury Departm under the
present Administration. The polit,
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