Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-02-09
A Few Facts Regarding the Admins
tratlOn Of National Affairs.

perslstently pushed in every department of
the General Government. A great cloud Of
miseonception and misapprehension was'en-
gendered by the debate in the Senate, of De
cembcr last, but IL is as certain to be dispel-
cd as truth is TO triumph over error. The
man who, in the Senate or out of IL, asserts
that the civil service Is worse now than ever
heretofore, makes q statement at utter vari-
ancc with the facts; and If the people could
know all the labors of the different depart
ments OF the Administration for the past
three years, there would be no need to utter
one word In its defense. assert, and have
the evidence at hand TO prove It, that there
has not been period for many years when
all the departments were more thoroughly
united in pushing the work of reform, and
of bringing corrupt officials and violators of
the law to Justice. 1t is capable of abundant
proof by impartial investigation that every
department of the Government, from the day
of the Inauguration of President Grant TO
the present, has been earnestly at work in the
reformation of abuses, in roofing out corrupt
officials, and I'm infusing n greater degree of
efficiency and economy in the modes of trans
acting the public business. And If they have
not been able to correct all the abuses that
exist, it is simply because the system of pub
lie affairs bequcathed to this Administration
by its predecessors has covered so much that
needs reform that IL has been morally and
physically impossible to grapple with every
existing evil in less than three years. pro
pose to contrast the degree of official iuteg-
rity shown by the officers of this Administra-
tion with those of past Administrations
particularly that of Mr.. Johnson--and to
make that contrast with facts and figures,
which can neither be successfully contradict
ed nor obscured by the ebullitions of personal
hate or calumny. An Administration is
judged, not alone by its success In carrying
out measures of public policy, but by the de-
gree of official integrity in its subordinates,
and it is abundantly capable of proof, to any
ono who will inquire dispassionately, that in
this regard the standard has been Immensely
improved in the past three years. The en-
bezzlements and dcfalcations of the pres
ent day are not only not the result of
decline of official integrity, but they
are the direct result of the fact that
the Government is holding its subordi-
mates to n strictcr accountability than
ever before. | assert, and the assertion can
not be successfully contrOyertCd, that the de-
faleations which have come to light during
the past three years are, in the main, the re-
suit of a greater vigilance in guarding the
public interests, and greater rgor in pros
ecuting public offenders. The records of the
Treasury Department, and Of the Depart
ment of Justice, prove this beyond question.
The number of suits begun; tho number of
indictments rendered; the number of convic-
tions obtained, which are all matters Of
record conclusively establish this fact. 1t
has been the rule on the part OF every depart
mcnt, whenever fraud or embczzlement oc-
too, as matter of conscientious duty, per
formed without ostentation, and therefore, for
the time being, without the knowledge of the
press or the public. 1t is fact not general
iy known, that within the past three months
three different branches of the disbursement
account of the Government, viz, the pay of
the army, the pay of the pensioners, and the
payment of money orders, have been almost
simultaneously and thoroughly Investigated
by special agents and inspectors, and the
only deficits discovered were in the two eases
of the two pension agents at Philadelphia,
amounting to Sl2, 600, every cent of which
has been or will be recovered. Yet the dis
bursements of these three bureaus reach the
large sum of ninety millions of dollars per
annum, every cent of which is exposed to
the operation of such temptations as may be-
sct'a thousand different disbursing agents.
1t is a fact, for which no executive officer
claims, and none should expect, especial
credit, that whenever a fraud or an irregu-
larity is discovered, instead of turning away
from it, there is Il resolute and unsparing in
VestigatiOn of it. In word it is the rule of
action with this Administration to expose
fraud; it was the rule with the last Admins
tration to conceal it; and the facts herewith
presented will establish that the fraud and
corruption which have been brought to light
during this Administration is not only the re-
suit of more determined and unsparing eX-
ecutiOn of the laws, but that the responsible
ity of its existence belongs largely to past
inistrations-nOtabiy that of Andrew
johnson. 1t is, therefore, in the highest dc
gree unjust that this Administration, in ad-
dition to the UNPLEASANT duty of exposing
and cradicating crime, should also have cast
upon it the burden of a responsibility which
does not belong to II.
DEFALCATIoNs or THREE YEARS.
The following is list of all the losses of
public funds through the crime of defalca-
t@lon @ vi eilIncHElyileilt hllown W tiic lccol
%y part Y M'cH Is beHeVeu 10 nave accrued
during tins Administration. The amount
actually recovered i'm each case is deducted,
ON % the o bond I is not deducted. ~ ''00 '''''
Internal Revenue ses9 ts5 "a
Customs (includng defalcations of
deputies) s)................... 100000
Ireasurers ONCE. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 55,o3'' u
fenslon Bureah. .'.'..'............... pl.3JOOl
Nm 6S i,i ,i5 l"''''''"
menn - o''' 1a2 ai9 or
Discussing Account post OGce De,
partmenD 10000 CO
Paymaster-Gencral's Office ONr De
partmenp ;;.......ii...i ;.........:. 463, 900 is
rIccuniep bureau wv Department. 9'oOO'Ot
Total ~ oar oco .,
This includes every case in which the law
OlhcerS OF thc GoNernment nave declared
that the evidence is OF such character as to
warrant prosecution FOR the crime OF EN-
bezZlement or defalcatlon, ana includes all
the well-known cases which have attracted
public attention during the past three years
Now, as compared with this, the Govern
ment lost, in ticO SiRgie detalcatiODS, in New
Orleans, under Johnsons Admins tration
an amount nearly equal to the above, to-Wit
The sub.rro,srrv Treasury and Ma.
tionai Deposifory defaication Of
Whitaker and May, in 1867, less
amount suDposed 10 be recovered
gross amount, 81. 800. .OOO ........ $3.50 900 OOC
Steadman's internal Revenue defalca-
tion, First Louisiana District. dis
covered on his removal April 12
1869. 9......................... 212. 1896 o;
ro,o, a, oc3 ooc a.
io'ui ''''''''''''''''''' si'ooE''''o'' o
This comparison might be extended al
most indefinitely, with still more striking re
suits.
INTERNAL REVENUE COLLECTORS.
On the ist 0i March, l9o9, OF lhe entlr'
hulnper Oh Solectors OF lhterhai revenue