The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1872-05-31
4 Spccimcn Civil Servant.

Some time ago an announcement was
made from Washington that Mr.. Samu-
el l.. Casey, Collector of the Port OF
New Orleans, had been removed from
his place. Tho official career of this
man had been SO scandalous, the protec.
tion which he had so long enjoyed was
so powerful, that the announcement of
his dismissal was received with equal
approval and surprise by the public.
His faults were mainly those of an un-
scupulous partisan. He was the broth
er .in-law of the President. 1t was
thought that these circumstances Sc.
When it was stated, therefore, that Gen.
Grant had dismissed him, the act was
greeted with very general praise. 1t
was not only good but promising
thing to do. People began to think
that Cincinnati was doing bene.
ficient work, even in the Executive
Mansion. There were those who i'm
agined that Cramer might be brought
home.
But the approval, as in many other
cases, came too soon. There is no con.
firmation of the good news. Casey still
sits at the receipts of Customs i'll the
Crescent City. The name of no success
sor has as yet reached the Senate, though
the end of the session is near.
1t will be well to rehearse some of the
reasons why Mr.. Casey is not a proper
person to remain in any high Govern
ment office. Many well.meaning people
think the only objection to him is his
relationship to the Presidents family.
This connection serves him as tower
of strength. He can do what he pleases,
and. defend himself against all criticisms
by merely saying, "All that is nothing
but hostility to Ulysses" Under this
egis, Mr.. Casey has allowed himself
| liberties that ought not to be permitted
even to brothers in-law. One of his ex-
ploits was putting In practice an entirely
new, and, we may hope, unique system
| of controlling political organizations.
| When the Republicans of Louisiana as
sembled in State Convention at New
Orleans last Fall, they found the con-
vocation removed to Mr.. Casey's Gus.
tom house and guarded by United
States troops. This arbitrary abuse of
power was for the purpose of keeping
out such delegates as might be consid-
cred unfriendly to Grant or Custom
! house interest. Tickets of admission
were required of every citizen who de-
sired to enter the building-which was
the property of the nation-and Marshal
| Packard sat in his office and peddled
out the coveted pieces of pasteboard
which gave entrance to the Custom.
house, guarded as it was by companies OF
two United States Infantry and four
Gatling guns. These facts have never
been gainsaid; they can never be
defended.
Having succeeded in dividing the
party at the Convention, Collector Casey,
| intent on having things his own way,
tried to break up the State Legislature,
| which had in 1t an anti Grant majority.
In violation of law, he lent the revenue
cutter Wilderness to the conspirators,
who fled in order to prevent quorum.
Laughing at this shrewd trick, he kept
that vessel, the property Of the nation,
steaming up and down the Mississippi,
in full sight Of the city,. with the fuga-
cious legislators on board, defying civil
process from their floating fortress.
These are fair specimens of the kind
of work Collector Casey has thought
proper to furnish for the benefit of the
| President and kinsmen who pretend to
be in favor of reform of the Civil Ser
vice. Nobody attempts tojustify these
instances of zeal, but the President, for
whom these outrages were committed,
accepts them and continues his favor to
the perpetrators, and the entire party
which supports him agrees to profit by
this shameless lawlessne5s. There are
gentlemen devoted to the cause of re-
election whom we cannot suspect of
insincerity in their advocacy of reform
in the appointment and control of civil
officers. But they are blind and dumb
before these glaring proofs of the con-
tempt in which their President and
| their candidate holds their principles.