The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-04-30
THE DAILY EVENING TELEGRAPH-PH PHILADELPHIA FRI

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running and turns cut millions and millions OF
yards, there is no economy in its use. slnSlc
ward of cloth made in such an ESTABLISHMENTS
might cost half million dollars a tnousanu OIL,
lions of Yards could be manufactured ut a small
price per yard. But to manufacture on large
scale You must have the command of an extern
sive market for the sale OF your goods; and
the cost of manufacture plus the cost of
transportation is far less, and brings the
goods to distant customers at far cheaper
rates. than If they were made in each locality
where they are consumed either with or without
the appliances of modern machinery. The pro-
tectionist policy is therefore, hostile to the use
OF the mechanical inventions by which produc-
tion has been so surprisingly cheapened in this
age. TO make the most of the command which
mankind have recently acquired over the forces
OF nature, goods must be manufactured on an
immense scale in large establishments admitting
of the extensive use of machinery, and dis
tributed throughout vast market by cheap
modes of conveyance. This method of produc-
tion and distribution illustrates, more signally
than anything else, the most valuable achieve
ments of this improved age, whose whole spirit
and tendency is adverse to the protectionist
notion that the producer and consumer ought to
be near neighbors, and insured against the
intrusion of distant competition. "The stars in
their courses fought against Sisera" and the
chief agents in the progress of modern civiliza-
tion are equally fighting against the fossil
economists who are trJ ing to infusc new life
ih'O 4" NOOiilOu Nhu W ihS SyStOll'
SOME FACTS FOR PRESIDENT GRANT.
From the NJ Y. Times
One of the most striking instances of what Mr..
Mill calls ''the blot ON American institutions
that is, the condition OF our civil service-was
presented on Wednesday in the kilograms of the
Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco to the
President The facts are these:--Three thou
sand miles from Washington, almost in another
country, United State Mint has been for some
q
by private citizens, under the superintendent
of an official-R b. Swain, Esq.-lnown and
esteemed by all parties for his integrity and
ability. His subordinates and employees have
been equally valued and trusted by the whole
community of California for their honesty and
fidelity. No Republican or Democrat has ever
nnroathed n word of reprOach against the
thorough integrity and fai!hfuness Of "a, ~ ines.
Mint officials, Mr. Swain himself is man of
fortune and high position outside of his official
place. 1t will interest our readers to know
something of the honest work done by these
California ofiice-holdere In the course of each
year some $50, GOO, Geo worth of bullion are put
into the hands of these men for coming, being
deposited by some tWeLUe thousand different
persons, and requiring siGty thousand separate
assays.
SO nGc6sBafy is loss and wastage that the
Government allows one-hfth of one per cent on
the amount of bullion handled This legal
wastage in gold would be in one year 500, So
lhlS Is the loss allowed TO tlc superintendent.
We need not say that, under political superin-
tendent appointed suddenly by u successful
party this has been usually the loss, whether
through incompetence or dishonesty. Under
the changes threatened, this amount Will GER
tainly 90 ''up the chimneys, as the saying is
in San Francisco. Under Mr.. Swains manage
ment this legal loss was reduced in one year
QS66) to $2126; and in silver, owing to the silver
contained in gold, there was no loss, but gain
of S3141 though the leZal loss was $500.
n ppiupr'S 1pDY rtmpOt results
equally remarkable.
During the year 1866 the legal loss allowed
him was $44, 923; the real loss was only $1503.
Taking gold and silver together in that year.
$50, ,0O0, 600 of bullion were manipulated in the
San Francisco Mint, and the legal wastage was
S109, ,G37, which of course could have gone into
the pockets of the Superintendent and his sub
ordinates, and which will undoubtedly do so
with their political successors
The real loss to the Government was only five
hundred and siXty-threc dollars.
We hear much of California ''sharpers' and
rogues (and undoubtedly our California fellow
should like to know of any important Eastern
office managed with half such integrity and
business efficiency as this.
General Grant is said to have n leaning
towards honest men who do public work as if
it were their own We commend him to these
simple facts in San Francisco
This mint, as is well known is an important
national institution. 1t was established in 1854,
and has coined since then over $240 000 600, or
half the amount coined by the Philadelphia
Mint since 1898, 1t had accommodations for
coming $5, 600, 600 per annum, but so efficient
has been its management that its work is from
four to five times that amount.
This well-conducted business establishment,
managed by Republican and an appointee of
Mr.. Lincolns, saving to the country nearly one
hundred thousand dollars a year, and above all
showing the nation that public business was
capable of being conducted as honestly and
thoroughly as any private business, one might
have supposed was safe from being the prize of
successful partsans in an election campaign.
Certainly the vast majority who voted for
President Grant never supposed that he would
so come under the control of the professional
politicians as to hand about such offices as
these for party rewards.
Had he stood firmly on the position that an
honest official, doing his duty well to the coun-
try, should not be changed for partisan reasons,
the whole nation would have hailed him as the
great reformer of the Gay. He would have in
augurated a new era IN our affairs.
For some reasons unknown to the public, the
President felt it necessary to change the whole
force at the San Francisco Mint, and to hand
the establishment over to new mcn-probably
Immediately the leading merchants and citi-
zens of San Francisco. the Chamber of Com
merce, and others, without distinction of party,
| form public meetings and telegraph to Washing
| ton that change would be very disastrous to
| business interests; that Il large amount of bull
| lion is awaiting coinage, and that officials
! would not understand the management, and thus
| great delay and loss would ensue. 1t is rumored
! that the administration will delay the proposed
! removals.
But the whole transaction is enough to call VI
n blush of shame ON the face of every friend o
republican institutions, The loss and delay tC
| public and private business will be just as grea
| q fpNU m hS lnDpp 81 n