New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-12-09

n the act warrants tho Interpretation that
the contract should be awarded to the
Alaska Commercial Company if their propO-
sition was az favorable to the government
as that of any other party, and upon that
basis the contract was awarded to that
company. A copy Of the contract and Of
tho papers connected Herewith will be
transmitted to Congress. About $4,000 seal
skins have arrived at San Francisco as the
product Of the year 1869; on which the
owners have paid one dollar on each as re-
quired by the sixth section of said act.
INADEQUATE SALARIES.
Iconsider it my duty to call the attention
of Congress to the inadequacy and Unequal
ity of the salaries Of the officers in the
Treasury Department, as fixed by law. The
offices recently established are supported by
proper salaries, but the salaries attached to
many of those created at the organization
of the government are insufficient. As a
temporary means of alleviating the admit.
ted evil, Congress has from time to time and
for many years made annual appropriations
to be used at the discretion of the Secretary
for additions to the salaries of officers in
the department. In the nature OF the case
this is disagreeable duty for the Secretary
to perform; is usually unsatisfactory to the
parties interested, and the result has not the
sanction and support incident to system
of specified salaries established by law. AT
the present time the sum of $2l 500 is dis
tributed by the Secretary in his discretion.
After careful examination Of the subject,
find that an additional appropriation, not
exceeding SIG, 900 year, will be sufficient
to provide adequate salaries for the officers
of the Treasury Department.
ton of clerks has been observed by this de-
partment and with beneficial results. 1t is
worthy of consideration, however, whether,it
would not be wise to provide by law for an
examining board, the majority Of whose
members should not have been officers Of
the department to which the clerk is to be
assigned. In case Of appointment and ap-
proval, this system should also be extended
to the principal customhouses and revenue
Offices Of the country. By such an arrange
ment definite security would be taken for
as far as they can be ascertained without
actual service in the discharge of official
duty. 1t is well understood, however, that
no examination can furnish security that
the person examined will prove satisfactory
upon trial, and there should always be a
speedy and easy method of removing such
persons from office. do not therefore
accept the idea that the tenure of Office for
the clerks and employees in this department
present tenure of Office furnishes the most
security which the people Of the country can
have that the business of the government
will be efficiently and properly performed.
The work of the Treasury Department does
not differ essentially from the business done
in the banking houses and merchants
counting rooms, and there is no reason why
the tenure-Of-Office should be permanent in
one case that does not apply with equal
force in the others. 1t docs happen practi-
cally that there are in the Treasury Depart
ment and in every bureau and Office of it,
men who have been connected with the SER
vice for several years, and who possess all
the knowledge derived from experience and
tradition that is essential to the performance
Of their duties. Excluding the employees Of
the Bureau Of Engraving and Printing, and
the messengers and labOrers, there were
2l43 officers and clerks connected with the
Treasury Department at Washington on
the first day of November, 1870. and of
of March, 1869, leaving 654 as the total
number of appointments made since that
time.
Previous to the war the business of the
department was SO small that on the first of
March, 1861, only four hundred and thirty
three persons were employed, and of these,
fifty-seveH are now in the service; one has
been in Office over fifty years, one over
thirty-fi years, seven over thirty years,
one over twenty-five years, ten over twenty
years, fourteen over fifteen years, and
show that the changes in the departments
are not SO numerous as to deprive the SER
vice of the knowledge derived from expe.
rience. On the other hand, the introduce
ton of new men secures additional energy
and efficiency. Two errors prevail in the
community in connection with the subject.
One is, that under republican government
every man has right to an Office. This is
in no sense true. The only right is that of
to Office persons best qualified to perform
the work. The other is, that Offices in the
Treasury Department are prizes which the
young men Of the country may wisely
seek.
Speaking generally, it is misfortune to
young man who possesses even ordinary ca
pacity for business or labor to remain perma
nently in the public offices ofthis city. 1t is,
however true, that many of the most valuable
clerks in the treasury are young men who
are pursuing professional studies, or who
having completed their course, remain from
one to four years in the Department with
the purpose, by industry and economy, of
securing a small amount of money with
which to commence an active life elsewhere.
A system of life tenure would exclude all
these men from the service, unless they
chose to accept it as permanent pursuit,
which, in the main, would be an injury to
them and to the country.
. am also fully convinced that any more
permanent tenure of office would materially
impair the efficiency of the revenue system.
There are many thousand men employed in
the custom and internal revenue service,
and however careful the preliminary exam
ination might be, the evils which now i'm
pair their efficiency would undoubtedly
exist. No system of examination could ex-
clude all those who are dishonest, or who,
under the pressure Of necessity, or the offer
of wealth, might yield to temptation. 1t
often happens, and it would happen under
any system, that men a1e found who are
and yet lack the energy or courage neces-
sary to the enforcement Of the revenue law
a duty which often requires sagacity, and
kind of intelligence too subtle for discovery
through formal questions.
Men who are thus unqualified should be
removed from office, and this without an in
vestigation, which, indeed might furnish
nothing tangible in justification Of the act
So, too in the custOmhouse, the collection
districts and branch service will fail to meet
just expectations, although no dishonesty
may be traceable to any person connected
with the Office. In such cases the interests
of the government demand change, and a.
change must be made without hearing Of
the parties concerned.
may be warranted in saying in this con-
nection that the evil of office seeking,
although great, is probably exagger,
ated in the public mind. It is true there
are more applications for appointment to
office in this department than can be met,
but the number of applicants who are well
qualified and who could pass any proper ex-
animation is not unusually very large. Out
side Of the department and in several States