The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1871-11-18

'ffnoa. .IaiaE NUMBER y.
The Secret OF Maladministration.
4v CFrom the Washington Patriot.
In Dante's terrible vision o
hell, the severe poet has Launched
his bitterest invectivcs and mos
Fsweeping condemnations agains
the barterers, sycophants, ant
corruption-mongers of his time
These, indeed, were tho worse
curse of the Italian States, and
did them far more injury than all
tho violence, brutality, disorder,
and intestine feuds with which
they were vexed. And the Sc
cret of the general maladminis-
tration which is now dragging
the United States SO rapidly
down to ruin. disgrace, and ig-
nominous degeneracy, is the
venial leniency extended to just
the same kind of criminnlity
that Dante condemned. 1t is
not discovered frauds that hurt.
but the unpunished proclivity to
fraud that prevails generally. 1t
is not riot, nor Ku Klux. nor
Tweed, nor. Hodge, nor Evans,
that makes our fostering sore,
but the deep, inward, corroding
gangrene Of which these things
are mere outbreaking surface
pimples. How can-we look for
an amendment of tho civil SER
vice when the Chief Executive is
charged with having exchanged
appointments for donations, and
with bartering offices for houses
and lots9 How can we dream of
purifying the franchise when the
whole "Government' dabbles in
elections9 or of improving the
contract system, Sc. long as the
President takes stocks in a sand
stone company, and the Secreta-
ry OF the Treasury Operates" on
Wall street, and tho Secretary of
the Interior devotcs his. attention
to Southern railroad specula-
tions9
Here is the commerce of q
great nation struck down, par
alyzed, prostrate, helpless, pite-
ously appealing for relief; but
what chance is there that the
needed relief will be afforded,
when it can only come through a
Congress whose leading interest
is to prevent the only changes in
the tariff that will extend that
relief7 The whole machinery of
Government, State and National,
is full of rust and rottenness.
The purlieus of every public Of
flee and every legislative hall,
and every Executive chamber,
swarm with needy sycophants or
insolent corruptionists, ready to
cheat, swindle, or bribe in behalf
of everything that "pays." And
nearly everything does pay, now
a-days, for the brokerage is uni
versal, and all the functions of
Government, Ito initiate q great
writer's Words from the highest
honors and public trusts down to
the meanest and smallest offices,
arc sold as openly as asparagus
in Fulton market or herrings at
Alexandria. The taint of cor
ruption has spread like a vicious
pestilence, and it has brought
with it its necessary consequences
of disorganization and inef1icien-
cy, even where there is no actual
venality, the suspicion of cor
ruption hangs heavily and i'm
pairs the feeble, slim forces of
honesty and integrity. An up
right, honest man can scarcely
take Office anywhere now, no
matter how great his public spir-
it, for his consciousness of purity
and integrity will not protect
him from the suspicion that nee
essarily attends upon corrupt
COMMUNICATIONS. Misrule has
brought undeniable weakness,
and national failure has followed
close upon national mismanage-
ment. The necessary reform for
the present inveterate abuses
must be a reform by the cautery
and the knife, and must be pre-
ceded by a general return of pub
lie opinion to n condition of
wholesome severity and implaca-
ble resentment against venality
of all kinds.
In lengthy article on the mis-
cradle state of affairs in the dis
tricts of South Carolina which
incurred the Presidents displeas-
ure, the Boston Post uses this
Dlain language "Were u stranr-