The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-03-13

4AAAVO" IL, AOsSs A~AA -
The Custom House Scandals and tho Gem
eral Order BnsIness-True Reform Will
Como When We Reform the system.
The reform in the general order business
which Collector Arthur announced On Monday
/ viii give general satisfaction to the commu-
ni ity. AS we understand the order Of the
Collector, 1t takes the business from the one
firm Nset and Stocking) to which it had been
entrusted by Collector Grinnell and Collector
Murphy, and divides it among number of
warehouses managed by merchants in good
standing. The change will, we trust, satisfy
the people, as it is quite sure to satisfy the
country.
We are not sanguine enough to believe that
this Encouragement of the general order SER
vice will really accomplish the reforms neces-
sary to a proper management Of the Custom
House. The truth is, this whole business has
been more of scandal than q grievance.
Disappointed politicians and revenue jobbers
and adventures who have lived for years
upon the revenue service have made general
order" the pretext for an attack upon the ad-
ministration. The grievance with them was
not that the government and the merchants
were robbed, but that they had no share of
the plumber. The character Of many of
the witnesses who testified so vigorously
before the committee of the Senate was
not Of the most inspiring nature. They
were many of them admitted jobbers They
had lived out of the revenue. Carriage con-
tracts, labor contracts, general order bust
ness, every variety of Custom House profit,
had been at their disposal for years. The
whole revenue machinery of the port had been
devoted to their personal profit and the sus-
tenanoe Of the particular party they happened
to serve. So long as Collector Smythe and
his friends were In power-so long as the
friends of one Of the Senators were in the en-
joyment of the public plumber under Collector
Grnnell-we heard none of the clamor which
has filed the air for several months. So far
as Leet and Stocking were concerned, they
were in, while nearly everybody else who had
been in was out. One of the oldest phases
of politics is that the greatest jobbers, when
they have no employment, are the most turbu-
lent reformers. Two-thirds of our liberal
reform republicans for instance, beginning
with Carl Schurz and Lyman Trumbull, have
been jobbing and holding office all their lives
and in Pennsylvania we have reform party
headed by such man as Colonel Nc
Clure, whose political life, as shown
by the HERALD correspondence from Phila-
delphia, has been o series Of jobs, and
who, as Senator in the State Senate, simply
registered the DEGREES of the Pennsylvania
Railway. So when the trouble about the gem
eral order business began, 1t was well under
stood to be war upon two men who were in
luck, and not upon the system by which they
benefited. For this reason, while we commend
Collector Arthur for proper Difference to that
public opinion which always antagonizes
monopoly, we have no enthusiastic belief that
his change will bring with 1t Custom House
millennium.
So far as the administration is concerned
the verdict of the country will be, In the old
Scotch fashion, "Not proven" There is no
evidence to connect General Grant with the
monopoly given to Leet and Stocking. There
were in any way partners in their business.
Thetvorst inference that can be drawn, 80 far
as General Porter and General Babcock are
concerned, is, that they saw fellow staff off,
Ger and companion enjoying good thing, and
that, so far as their influence was concerned, it
might as well 60 to one who had been with
them in camp and field as to Bixby or Mud
| gett, or some of those who had been all their
lives in Custom House business. The letter
which General Grant gave to Colonel Leet was
not only proper letter, but considering that
Colonel Leet had served with him for 80 many
givenit would have been surprising. Here was
q man who saw his military family about to
separate. He was entering upon the highest
reward the nation could bestow, and was
naturally anxious that those who con-
tributed to his fame, no matter how humbly,
should have their way through the world
made as easy as possible We see nothing in
General Grants letter that does not do honor
to his kind nature. As to the complaints
made by merchants, let us remember that
merchants" will always complain so long as
duties are collected, and if the President OF
the United States were to charge himself with
the adjudication Of every question that comes
to him from our merchants he would have en-
ployment enough for twenty years. In deal
ing with the President we are bound to use the
widest liberality. He cannot be summoned
hither and thither and compelled to execute
the duties of his Office in the corridors of q
hotel. Nor should we wonder when we are
told that the nature of the general order bust