The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1871-09-06
The Magnificent Success off HeP""
cam Financial Management

can Financial Management
1t may be admitted without reluctance anu
without moments hesitation that an'on9
the tens of thousands of Republican onioe-n
ers in this country there are many hn'''''n
ones. Thai some of them have ropoeu anu
are still rohhinp the Treasury is altogether
probable. 1t is truly lamentaoe' out IL Is not
a novelty. No administration rom Washing
tons down to the present time has escaped
the depredations of peculators. In diligent
search for some means of breaking the force
of the Tammany disclosures 1t would be won
derfu of the crimes of these thieves were not
dwet upon with much emphasis by the des-
pairing followers of Hall, Tweed and Sween-
ey. They find none of them, but merely take
them in hand after Republican official vigil
lance has detected and furnished them. 1t
is only wonderful that SO few of these rascals
are discovered considering the immense in
crease of the official corps and of the public
funds liable to be stolen arising from the
Democratic rebellion. We heartily wish that
instead of contentng themselves with roar
ing over such frauds as they find already de-
reting out those that are yet undiscovered. 1t
is their legitimate function as minority par
ty to do this work, and we are sorry to see
them do it so feebly. The Republican minor
ity in New York have done much better, but
they meet with singular disbursement in
the fact that the criminals whom they drag
into the light are glorifed by their political
associates!
But there is class of pretended discoveries
OF fraud and peculaton which our political
opponents attempt to palm off on the public
as genuine that are simply imaginary. The
fraud in these cases is wholly on the part Of
those who establish the fact of wrong-doine
only by deliberate falsehood. We refer to the
charges of corruption so freely made with ref
erence TO the higher officers of the govern.
ment and the general management OF the ma
tional finances. The frauds whose existence
has been proved are aoh0tiy those of subordi-
mates. So lar as integrity of purpose, as dis
closed by its acts, and so lar as success in the
accomplishment of great and benefcent ends
are concerned, no government in the wor,(
ever had such reason for pride and self-con
graduation as the government of the UNITED
States in the year of 1871! How eloquentl
do these two wonderfully significant facts an
swer the loose Democratic charges of mis-
use of the public funds:
The credit of the United States is better to
day, notwithstanding the burdens imposed
by the Democratic Rebellion, than it was un
LANES Rnnhanan fhn hoo; 4,
1861.
The ordinary current expenses of the gov.
eminent, on gold basis, aside from those
which are made necessary by the Democratic
rebellion, are to day not so great as they
were during the last year of Buchanan's ad
minlstration if we take into account the in
crease in population.
the force of these two facts cannot b.
broken by puerile manipulations of the pub
lie debt statements as are relied upon for tina
purpose. Such immense and complicate,
financial concerns as those of the Unite
States do not ADMIT of statement so luc
as to obviate the necessity of common sens
in studying them. And yet we see Dem
ocratic editors deliberately sitting down t,
prove frauds against the Secretary of tb,
Treasury or his surbordinates by calling at
tention to the easily receivable ambiguitie
il his debt statement. Different totals giyei
by the Secretary and by Treasurer Spinner
referring to utterly different things, are coolly
represented as referring to the same things.
and immense deficits are in this way made tt
appear. Even the Secretary's marvellously
clear and detailed monthly report-such re
port as no thieVing government in the worlt
would ever dream of issuing-is made to tel
the same story of dishonesty by boyish Jug
Cling with TIE interest and Pacific Railroad
accounts of which children in a grammar
school would be ashamed. 1t is only such
answers as these that the Democracy can find
to precise and definite proofs of frauds on a
scale hitherto unknown in the financial an
mails of any country.