Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1869-02-24
prcsileni Grnni's Task.

render to the country the best service possible
/ Economy, rctrcnchmeut, and faithful collectio
Of the revenue are efficient and necessary mean
to reach the great end proposed" the poymcn
Of the public debt" lie docs not talk of repudi
ntion. he docs not talk Of shaving the debt h
does not talk Of Sinking the duty Of the Govern
mont to its creditors. No The debt is 10 b. pail
honestly, fully paid, 20 the last threc-tenths of
cent Of principal and interest 10 every creditor
and as fast MS it becomes due. This stands on
boldly in Grants little speech It is the pre-
eminent purpose of his administration, as it is tn
only one which he specifies Al the rest is sim
| ply an assurance that the influence and Efforts O
every member Of the Executive branch Of the Gov
eminent shall be used for this end the as.uranc
being, that IL he does not succeed in his first at
tempt 10 get such assistants, he viii remove then
and try others, and il need be still try again am
again. This is ample proof of his earnestncss
lie will " fight il out on this line if it takes al
summer, or all the years Of his administration
That is his meaning Now let us consider th
task the new President has promised to assume
and some Of the difficulties in the way OF success
In the initiatory step Grant will have no difficulty
as he can and will find heads Of departments VIII
are equally bent with himself upon this work
but in the selection of subordinate officers all owe
the country there will be many difficulties. First
from the number and general character Of the can
didatcs, IL is both fact and misfortune TIM
a large proportion Of the candidates for Office mr.
men who, through want Of capacity, industry, o
tact-and sometimes for want Of integrity, or he
cause Of bad habits-are unable to support them
selves in the profession business for which the,
were designed They want to live somehow, an,
therefore they want an oihcc--no matter what i
it will pay But worse than these are the crowd
Of Adventures who want positions to be prostitut
ed by the sale Of patronage, profits on contracts
and robbery OF the Government by all the art!
known to professional rogues Second, in The
means Of avoiding bad appointments. How shall
these be avoided The President cannot know
every body in the army Of place hunters that viii
beseige him. neither can the head Of each depart
ment They must TO a great extent depend upor
others, and the natural and customary resort ioi
information has been to Members Of Congress, S,
far as candidates in their own Districts are con
cemed. Here comes difficulty. Every member
especially Of the party Of the Administration, will
be burdened with his share just the sort of can
didates We have named, along with others. Som,
of them will undoubtedly be excellent, and known
to the member to be so. With these he will hav,
no trouble except that Of securing places wher,
they will render good service But many of tn,
candidates will not be personally known to him
he must take them ON the Recommendation Of 9TH
ers who are known to him. aud exactly here is
the source Of many unfortunate selections. Tn,
people themselves are at fault in that they care
lessly recommend candidates sometimes to ge
rid Of them sometimes because it is hard to say
No sometimes to crafty clever fellow who has
mistaken his calling, sometimes to discharge per
sonal obligations but very rarely we think, af
ter serious consideration of the fitness of the mar
for the place We therefore suggest one way il
which the people may greatly aid the Govern
ment, and that is by making it rule never t.
recommend a man to an Office they think him qu
fitted for and never to recommend any man fol
any place whom they would not trust in their owl
business.
Admitting, however, that the right men are il
the right places, then will come another sort o.
obstacles " Economy Retrenchment " that
sounds well, Theoretically it is excellent, but
practically Now undoubtedly the President and
Cabinet ministers will all start with the full pur
pose o presenting to Congress the most moderate
estimates on which they think the Government
can be conducted That will be the rule, anC
every body every where agrees that it is all right
yet as soon as the Administration shall attempt
to work by this rule it will be hampered on all
sides with all sorts of pleas for exceptions. Bos-
ton, surely, is for economy Boston voted for
Grant and Retrenchment Boston insists that the
Public Credit shall he maintained, and the Pub
lie Debt paid to the last dollar but Boston must
have two hundred thousand dollars to lay the
foundation of post Office and then Boston will
be very apt to insist that it will bequte disgrace
full if so great and grand a nation shall look back
after it has put its hand to such pillow. No il
must run the pillow straight through the treasury
even if it touches bottom We name Boston on.
y by way of illustration.
There will be hundreds of cases of like chanc
ter, not a Congress has passed without such
and we are afraid none ever will pass without
them NJ. C's. are human they wish to please
their constituents they wish TO do for them Us
much as they can and doubtless in some cases
a proper adherence of member to the line Of
economy may cost HIM his seat. Fellow citizens
again the remedy is in your own hands. If you
would have economy in the government, you must
iorbear to ask extravagint or unnecessary expen.
dtures for your own interests II you do not
your neighbors will not, other sections will not
and the whole country will not and so the most
earnest endeayors Of the President may fail. II
will be hard tlsk, il he shall attempt to force
Congress to economy through the Veto and
surely neither he, nor Congress, nor the people
wish to see the President and Congress in conflict
through another four years term. God forbid
SO we say Let the people take care of Congress
let them iorbear all unnecessary expenditures, in
their own cases and let them insist that their
own member shall refuse such expenditures ior
others We are sure President Grant will en-
deayor to redeem his pledge in perfect good faith
we know that he can do much by his personal
and official influence but if the people will have
thorough work. they must themselves be earnest,
consistent, and practical, in insisting upon and
sustaining it. IL must not be safe thing for
Congress to take the bit in its teeth and fhsh the
country to financial ruin The way is temptingly
easy by steamships, by ship canals, by railroads ;
and many men, and millions OF money, are ready
to =" ring these things in, and other things that
are Of far less utility than these Let Congress
stop all this let it add no more land to tho big
farm until the mortgage shall have been paid OH /;
but rather bend all its energies to economy,
retrenohment, the faithful collection of the reye-
nue., and payment of the public debt" And let
the people insist upon this, as She course now in
dispensably necessary for their own interests and
the interests of the country.
The pre-emnenee thus given by Gen. Grant to
the preservation of Public Credit is most Justly
given for therein lies the honor Of the Govern
ment, its regulations at home and abroad therein
lie even the perpetuity OF the Government, and
its future power to defend the rights Of the ma.
tion against foreign or internal foes and
therein also lie the present and future prosperity
of the people Just think, for moment, that
every Government note or bond, every greenback,
and every national bank note in the land, is de-
pendent upon Public Credit for its value On