Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1872-01-26
GRANTS ADMINISTRATION TRIUMPHANT

We present in another column an array
of facts concerning the state of our civil
service, to which we invite the careful at
tention of every honest reader The state
ments there made, fully sustain the opin-
ion we have repeatedly advanced, that
there has been steady and gratifying inn
provement in the efficiency and integrity
of our civil service, so that now it COM
pares favorably with that of any of the
leading nations of Europe. The exhibit
made .of the; percentage of losses in the
Treasurer's Office is without parallel we
believe. In eleven years the loss in hand
ling .ffty-tfUe thousand millions of dollars
was less than one dollar IN O. million. The
record of the Postoffice Department is
likewise encouraging and unsurpassed. In
three years that branch of the Govern
ment through its thirty thousand officers
has handled over tao hundred and thirty
millions of dollars with the loss of one
ninth of one per cent on the dollar. We
do not think that with all the diligence,
and zeal that self-interest provokes,
there is anything in the record of
private business any greater fidelity, to
trusts imposed. This is the official record
of an Administration assailed, by foes
without and professed friends within, with
a violence and malice unknown in the
heat of former political controversy, 1t
stands, however, unchallenged andT I'M
challengeable, as complete vindication Of
the President and full reply to his as
sailants.
There are ffty-ttree thousand civil Off
ciers holding position under the present
Administration. The monies they handle
aud the trusts imposed are measured by
thousands of millions of Edollars. They
are scattered over territory of three mil
lions of square miles. It is utterly impOs-
sible to supervise closely or continually
their transactions, They are appointed,
as long custom has ordained, in such a
manner that neither the President nor his
heads of departments can personally
know of their qualifications. Under
these circumstances every intelligent
reader can see that with every possible
precaution, some abuses and delinquencies
must inivitably exist. That strict integ
rity and great zeal have reducedthese de-
falcations to an exceedingly small sum the
semi-official figures under consideration
prove.
Compare this record with that of the
party that assails this Administration and
how striking the contrast! While Presi-
dent Grant with his fifty-three thousand
officers stretching from the Atlantic to
the Pacifi C has collected and disbursed the
immense revenues of the country, with
the loss of a trifing per cent; while he has
ferreted out frauds and reglarly punish
ed the offenders (; the Democracy in the
control of the mighty commercial empO-
rum of the continent, with a few thou
sand sub-ordinates within easy reach, by
deliberate and multiplied efforts running
through several years, has robbed it of
hundreds of millions Of dollars; debauch-
ed its temple Of justice by batering out
to its Fisks, Goulds and highest bidders the
DEGREES and flats of its judges; mortgaged
TO a corrupt eclesiasticism the schools of
the young, and fixed upon our free inslitu-
tions q stain that dozen honest admins
trations at Washington will hardly efface.
Yet this is the party that presumes to sitin
judgement as to honesty and capacity in
the administration of public affairs.
We present honest minds the exhibit the
present administration makes of its
official record, and if they can not fully
appreciate its merits, let them contrast it
with the record of the rival party that
asks for public confidence and support.