Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1872-01-26
OUR CIVIL SERVICE.
Grants Administration indicated.
An Unanswerable Array of Facts.

paper men at the national capital, has, at
pared some facts showing the condition of
the civil service under the present Admin
and comparing it with the state
OF the service under preceding administra-
tons. He presents the result of his re-
searches as a conclusive answer to the
charge that the civil service under General
Grant is more corrupt than ever before.
We have prepared a brief digest of his ar
ticle:
a great cloud of misconceptiOn and mis-
was engendered by the de-
bate in the Senate, of December last, but
it is as certain to be dispelled as truth is to
triumph over error. The man who, in the
Senate or out of it, asserts that the civil
service is worse now than ever heretofore,
makes statement at utter variance with
the facts and if the people could know
all the labOrs of the different departments
of this Administration for the past three
years, there would be no need to utter one
word in its defense.
The records of the Treasury Department
and the Department OF Justice show that
the recent exposures of defalcations are
the result of O Strjcter accountability en-
forced by the present Administration and
not the result of corruption on the part of
its officers.
DEFALCATIONS SINCE MARCH l. 1869.
The following is list of all the losses of
public funds through the crime of defaica-
tiOn or ENLIGHTENMENT, known to the re-
cords, O1ly part Of Which is believedtO have
accrued during this Administration. The
amount actually recovered in each case is
deducted, while the amount which n1dy be
recovered on the bond is not deducted:
Internal Revenue. S263 1SJ 80
Customs (ncluding detalcations of
deputies) $4,000 90
Treasurers Office. .... 55,037 -
Pension u, 800 W
Land Office. Is, 597 %
Money Order Office (Postofice De-
partment) Ioo,J 4Z 70
partment) -. -. $1,000 90
Paymaster Generals Office (War
DEPARTMENT. -. .............. s63 800 IS
ment $500 90
Total O979 1868 g.
Now, as compared with this, the Govern
ment lost, in t,CO single detdIcatiOnS, in
New Orleans, under Johnson's admins
tration, an amount nearly equal to the
ABOVE, tO-WlG.
The Sub-Treasury, Treasury and
National Depository defalca-
ton Of Whitaker and May, in
1861 less amount supposed to
be recovered, (grOss amount
81, 10000 0JOUUO w
Steadman Internal Revenue de-
falcation, First Louisiana Dis
trict, discovered on his removal,
April IL 1885,. 212. 336 93
Total ............ ST. 62 1856 90
1t should be remarked that the amounts
charged against this Administration, az in
the J. F. Bailey Fourth New York. case,
are all held as accruing under it, though
the fact is that in three-fourths of the
cases they are the embellishments of the
appointees of former Administrations,
discovered and exposed by the present.
Mr.. Crounse then takes up each depart
ment and unfold from their records the
facts showing corruption and those prov
ing integrity.
RECORD OF THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT.
On the 1st of March, 1869, of the entire
number of Collectors of Internal Revenue,
who had, at any time, been in office dur
ing the existence of the Bureau, there were
but sixty whose accounts were finally
closed. This single fact fifty illustrates the
condition of the bureau at that time, and
if any of the critics want to know why no
progress could be made in this direction
between the years 1865 and 1869, let them
summon ex-Commissioner Edward A.
Rollins, who will a tale unfold. Since the
LIST of March, 1869, the accounts of four
hundred Collectors have been closed, and
out of go Collectors who have been super
seeded in office since March 4, 1869, the ac-
g I ho1 l. taIo l.lO Cd
on the books of the office, and those of
siXty-five more are in a favorable condi-
ton for that result. In forty cases of Col
lectOrs, suspended since March t, 1869, the
Bureau has ordered suit to be brought on
their official bonds for the recovery of bal
ances found to be due. -- -
The following comparison shows to
whom belongs the moral responsibility of
appointing these delinquents, and the
amount of both money and taxes for
which suit has been brought on their
bonds. 1t must be borne in mind that the
investigation of their affairs, and their re-
moVal from office has, in every case, been
accomplished by this Administration
Amount of
Uncop ed and
No. OF Amt of Unabated
Collectors. Money. Taxes.
AfER i1ooln. oy : s6a.8lo 81 s2ss, 22a 90
A 3p6nso6. Dy % 797,o68 90 2,ao8.a6l o.
Appointed by ,,,.o,o 10
The lesson enforced by these forty cases
] in litigation, thus condensed and classl-
| fed, is, that three-fourths of the cases,
| four-fifths of the money, and nine-tenths
| of the uncollected taxes are the inherit
ance of previous Administrations, mainly
| of Mr.. JOhnson's.
AS to the zeal and fidelity with which
the Department has enforced the law
l against delinquents, as compared with