Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-02-08
A Few Facts Regarding the Admins
tratiOn of National Affairs.

The following paragraphs are taken
from a recent letter in the New lofh
Times, written by the Washington cofie-
spondent of that paper:
The truth is that for the past three years
reform has been practically, positively, ana
persistently pushed in every department OF
the General Government great cloud OF
misconception and misapprehenslon was en-
rendered by the debate in the Senate, of De-
cember last, but it is as certain to be dispell-
ed 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 q statement at utter vari-
ance 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 in infusing 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 bequeathed to this Administration
by its predecessors has covered so much that
needs reform that it 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 integ-
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
one who will inquire dispassionately, that in
this regard the standard has been immensely
improved in the past three years. The EN-
ent day are not only not the result of a
decline of official integrity, but they
are the direct result of the fact that
the Government is holding its subordi-
mates to stricter accountability than
ever before. / assert and the assertion can
not be successfully controverted, that the de-
faleations which have come to light during
the past three years are, in the main, the re-
suit of greater vigilance in guarding the
public interests and greater rigOr 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; the 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
ment, whenever fraud or embezzlement oc-
cured to probe it to the bottom and this,
too, as matter of conscientious duty, per
formed without ostentation, and therefore, Tor
the time being, without the knowledge of the
press or the public. 1t is fact not general
ly 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 cases
of the two pension agents at Philadelphia,
amounting to S42 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-
set a thousand different disbursing agents.
It is fact, for which executive officer
claims, and none should expect, especial
credit, that whenever fraud or an irregu-
larity is discovered, instead of turning away
from it, there is 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 a more determined and unsparing ex-
ecution of the laws, but that the responsible
ity of its existence belongs largely to past
Administrations that OF Andrew
johnson. 1t is, therefore, in the highest de-
gree unjust that this Administration, in adj
dition to the unpleasant duty of exposing
and eradicating crime, should also have cast
upon it the burden of responsibility which
does not belong to it.
DEFALCATIoNs OF THREE YEARS.
The following is list of all the losses OF
public funds through the crime of defalca
tion or embezzlement, known to the records
any part of acltich is believed to have accrued
during this Administration. The amount
actually recovered in each case is deducted
while the amount which may be recovered
on the bond is not deducted.
Internal Revenue ue.. 1868 1S5. s
Customs Gncluding defalcations of
depu0es) 34,OUO.O
Treasurers Office 55,n37 4
Pension Bureau Observation-Disclosures. 81 5000
Money Order Office (Post-ofice Depart ''
menD ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. -. 133, ,94a 2
Paymaster-General's Office (War De- ''''''''
partmenD Observation-Disclosures. 463 200 q
Freedmen's Bureau (War Department. $4,000
Total. 81 ,O97, 1886
This includes every case in which the Law
officers of the Government have declare,
that the evidence is of such character as t.
warrant a prosecution for the crime of EN-
bezzlement or defalcatiOn, and includes al
the well-known cases which have attracted
public attention during the past three years
Now, as compared with this, the Govern
ment lost, in taco single defalcdtions, in New
Orleans, under Johnson's Administration
an amount nearly equal to the above, to-wit
The Sub-Treasury, Treasury and Ma
tional Depository defalcation of
Whitaker and May, in 1867, less
amount supposed to be recovered,
(gross amount, 81, 500 900. ....... $3.50, 900 90
Steadman's Internal Revenue defalea-
ton, First Louisiana District, dis
covered on his removal, April 12,
1869. s69.................,....... 212, 1856 9
Total. Observation-Disclosures. 81 ,O62, 1865
This comparison might be extended al
most indefinitely, with still more striking re
suits.
INTERNAL REVENUE COLLECTORS.
On the 1st of March, 1869, of the entir
number of Collectors of Internal Revenue
who had, at any time, been in office durin
the existence of the Bureau, there were bu
sixty whose accounts were finally closed
Since the 1st of March, 1869, the accounts O
four hundred Collectors have been closed
and out of two hundred and fifty Collector
who have been superseded in Office sine
March 4, 1869, the accounts of one hundre
on the books of the Office, and those of sixty
five more are in a favorable condition for tha
result. In forty cases of Collectors suspend
ed since March 4, 1869, the Bureau has OF
dered suit to be brought on their oficis
bonds for the recovery of balances found t
be due. These suits include not only tn
cases where embezzlement or defalcation
charged, in which criminal prosecution ha
begun, but the cases, where from neglect
want of due diligence, official incapacity
or other cause, a settlement has not yet bee
obtained.
U7lcold an
No. Of ABet Of Undboted
Collectors Money! Tdres
Appointed by Lincoln. Z $63, $40 81 1868 228
Appointed by johnson % 797,963 55 1905, 1851
Appointed by Grant. 10 1885 65 342613
The lesson enforced by these forty cases
litigation, thus condensed and classified, i;
that three-fourths of the cases, four-ffths {
the money and nine-tenths of the uncollec
ed taxes are the inheritance of previous AZ
ministrations.