Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-10-04
Public Honesty.

country would have been shocked at the de-
t,lcation By an off :ial Of the amount Of
few thousand dollars.
To day We read with caImness Of the con-
d1ct Of an assistant postmaster, who has
-.olen SIXTY thousand d1Ilars, AMI are i'm
patient at the details Of the frauds OF pay
master wh1 mas become defaulter TO the
amount 81 nearly million. We have no
cars TO listen to the stories OF lavish squan-
teriuss Of public moneys IN the Southern
states. and il we are % take our country
press as criterion, only chose opposed to
The politics Of the Tammany ring manifest
any anxiety to remove from office the men
Who have added fifty millions to the debt Of
81 single citv within a few months.
How are we to explain this striking con
c-ast which such q short time has produced
can it be true that the people Of America
have declined in morality So rapidly as these
facts Indicate? If this is true, history con
tains nothing So sad
But we are not ready To believe that the
public conscience has yet become 20 cal
ious as to no longer be able to regard dis
honesty with adherence IF We have come
to that pass, the sooner we give up the ex-
pertinent Of Bepublcanism the better For
honesty licsat the foundation Of all morality,
and no nation without it can hope to escape
the fate of those nations whose corruptions
have eaten away their lives and lett them
wrecks uTon the shores Of the centuries, sad
reminders to Us Of the present, that without
virtue no extent Of territory, no stores OF
boundless wealth, no splendid institutions
reared by the broadcast culture, no amount Of
exhaustless resources can save nation from
internal decay and eventual ruin But ii
cannot be true that the nation whose $ ms
were 20 ready to sacrifice Themselves to pre-
serve it from the destruction menaced by
fratricidll arms, will not find its sons ready
to sacrifice much % save It from more insi1I-
GUS attacks.
Before the war, tue present complex ma
chiuery Of government was unknown to us.
The National Government did not require
vas. army OF officers to collect and expend
its revenues. The sums which are now year
" raised for revenue seemed fabulous to Us.
Our State aud municipal governments were
unburdeued by large debts by which to ala
the schemes Of unprincipled men, and then
We felt it more honor t. serve the State and
to watch over its interests than now, when
Offices are 81 multiplied and the National
Government has become 50 much more re-
atty to a. through its tax collectors than
formerly. Then, too, the immense amount
of speculation induced By the war has made
il less uncommon to see fortunes rapidly ac-
quired. and has made US less cautious as to
the means by which money is accumulated,
and less CAREFUL about the small extrava-
gances of officials Moreover, the absorbing
question Of whether the nation would con
tTnue to exist at all or not, and since Its set
Element. the unsettled condition of Southern
affairs have aided in turning cur attention
from decentralization Of govern uent fnan-
ues with the exception OF the larger ques-
lions relating to the National debt.
All these things have influenced US to pay
very little attention TO the details of the ad-
ministration Of public affairs Forgetting
that in small matters as well as great eternal
vigilance is the price Of liberty, We have
failed to require Of public servants that strict
accuracy that Washington deemed so Impor-
tant
To their accounts We have given but casu-
Al attention. We have allowed our officers
to fall into the possession of too many whose
ostentatious parade Of patriotism and
~
only served u gloss over utterly deprayed
characters.
As a consequence, while We slept, the evil
one sowed tares throughout our whole civil
service 4 vast army of men arose who re-
garded the governments Of the country a,
birds % be pluckrd- Of large number Of
the latest Offices they obtained possession
They succeeded in sapping the virtue Oh
many Of their associates FIRST, they were
content with bribery and in taking their
share Of large contracts. NJ citing with No
opposition, their boldness increased until
the country is filed with deaulters, anc
New York city awakens to fad herself II
the hands Of Wholesale robbers.
Neither party can now boast itself upor
It's hoaesty. Both have leaders mixed up il
this wholesale corruption. While the city
Of New York IS striving to rid itself Of tn,
Dem ,cratic leaders, the Tribune is demon.
=trating the melancholy fact that the bes
Office in the gift Of a Republican adminstra-
ton IS held by one who has been guilty oil
the most shameless corruption, and the New
York merchants are complaining that theil
custom house is as corrupt as its chief off
Ger.
And yet we do not believe that this cOuntr,
has become GOmOrrah. That we were no
prepared for all the products Of the war !.
plain, as it is plato that our people have beer
too careless Of their governments--or, to speal
more correctly, of the minor matters Of gov
eminent administration. But we believ
it is only necessary 10 arouse the American
people to a sense Of the dishonesty that ha
been allowed by them to grow up withou
rebuke, to produce an expression that vii
demonstrate that there is still as much vlrtu,
as ever amongst Us, and that there can be
as much zeal displayed in preserving Us from
moral ruin as was necessary II preserve u
from a territorial disunion. But somethin.
should be done Immediately. The disease 0
dishonesty should be attacked at once and b,
driven from the political body before it be
comes constitutional. Every delay is danger
Gus, lest the people themselves become to,
corrupt to care whether their government
are properly managed or not
Here are two methods of reform which
should both be adopted. FIRST, there should
be an attempt throughout the country to in
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