New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-09-17
WORK FOR CONGRESS.

The last Congress- especially the last session
of the same, was pretty much devoted to In
vestigations. Argument to show that they
were needed is not necessary. Their results,
meaeer and unsatisfactory as they were in
comparison with what might have been had
the inquiries been pushed with any sort of
vigor, are proof enough that the time called
for them. In the language of the President OF
the late Massachusetts, Republican Convention,
"Where there is so much smoke of lnvesti-
"gation there must be some fire of truth"
Out of those investigations-nO need TO re-
capitulate them here, they are catalogued
in their bad eminence in the minds
and memories of the people-there came
as has been confessed by the most servile
supporters of the Administration ruined repu-
tations and sOiled garments. 1t Is to the
credit of the Republican party as political
organization that it recognized the need, and
upon the motion of its own leading men
initiated them. 1t is less to the credit OF
that party that it walked on tiptOe through
the whole business, handled oilenses and
offenders very gingerly, selected two or three
scapegoats. and saved the rest, shufliihg Oft
responsibility and sacrificing truth, justice,
and common honesty TO preserve the party
and keep in office.
Strangely enough, too, but with the grand
audacity that wins so largely in the game of
politics, the party that had so administered the
government that popular demand which
could not safely be resisted compelled it to
arraign itself and investigate its own miscon-
duct, came forward with the number of inves-
10 bod for
its continuance in power. There was never a
greater exhibition of assurance. Nor did it
stop there. With the track of the last Congress
fairly strewn with dead mems bones, cold
anatomies of what had been Christian states
men, the leaders of the Administration
ton party-n drunken madness wilder than
that of the plague besiegcd Indian officers,
who, drinking to their comrades eyes, sang
zone cup to the dead already and hurrah for
" the next that dies"-jeered at investigations
and made the very fact of their survival of
them an argument for their continuance in
power They have the face indeed to make
the number of Investigations already had the
ground for demanding that there shall
be no more. "The people are tired of
Investigations" they say, and they are
opposing all propositions that look to the
appointment of investigating committees. The
Carpenters and Buffers in both branches of
Congress are prepared to sneer down any at
tempt to inquire into the derelctions of the
party in power, and to summon the PARTISAN
ship of House and Senate to their aid. 1t will
hardly do. The Republican party cannot afford
to slight public opinion in this matter, or to
ignore the fact that the events of twelve
months past have reused the popular con-
science to degree of sensitiveness to which
it has long been stranger. We rejoice to
believe also that the spirit of partisanship to
which these men have so successfully appealed
in the past is dying out, and that, even in the
next Congress, the Republican majority will be
sufficiently free from it to take up and carry
forward the searching inquiries that are called
for by an indignant public sentiment.
The demand for investigation will meet the
new Congress at its threshold. The drunken
and arbitrary Durell, the lobbyist Sherman,
and the corrupt Delahay-judges who disgrace
the bench-need prompt impeachment. The
condition of affairs in the District of Columbia.
where the President has taken it upon himself
to reinforce broken down reputation at the
public expense, cries aloud for prompt action.
The Treasury accounts, the defalcations in the
Internal Revenue Department which were con-
nived at and covered up till the flight of the
offenders brought exposure, the shameful as
sessment of Post-Office clerks in st. Louis to
pay the expenses of Presidential reception.
the outrages in the name of the Government
upon New-York importers, the Vienna dis
grace, the strange manner in which pardons
are granted, the purchase and sale Of seats
in the Senate, the laundering and worse
management Of Indian affairs by which tho
savages are armed and equipped at Govern
ment expense to make war upon the frontier
settlements and exploring expeditons-are all
proper subjects, and there are many beside.
for Congress to look into carefully, and correct
where correction is needed. There need be
no fear that legislation will be neglected.
That will be the cry, perhaps, but there is no
soundness in the plea. We need investigation
more than legislation. We have been going
on IN blind haphazard ways too long
already. The rogues in tho party have
duled the public ear with their senseless party
cries while they have plundered right and left.
The time has come when there can be no valid
excuse for refusing to take up the work of
publication. The Republican party is safe in
office and in power. IL cannot be disturbed
by any opposing organization. Only its own
corrupt tendencies can destroy or weaken it.
The question for the next Congress and the