The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1874-12-22
The Mys,eries of Government.

Mr. Alexander Delmar, in his Re
collections of the Civil Service" in the
last number of Appleton's Journal, tel S
Us something about what the people do
not know concerning the management
of some Of the business con6ded to the
general government These who be-
iieve in adding to the responsibilities of
the g .vernment, by giving it control of
the telegraph lines, railroads, DC, dc,
will find in this matter for +, Election.
"Taken together, these reports (of
the bureau officers) should present a
complete Iii story of the transactions of
the government during the period they
cover But do they do so7 Not bi,
Of it. defy any man to tell me, be-
yond the barcst summary, what sums
Of money the government has received
or expended during any late year, from
whom it received the money, on what
dates or on what account, to whom it
was paid, at what times and for what
purposes I defy any man to inform
me- how much public property the gov
ernmcnt has on hand, whore it is, what
it cost, when It was purchased, in what
condition 1. is and what 1t |, worth now
II defy any man to inform mol what
merchandise belonging to private par
ties is in the bonNed warehouses OF the
customs, whom it belongs to, when it
was entered, and who are it's owners
know very we'll that there is AL &C
count Of commodities in warehouse
published every month by the Treasury.
This account was started by Robert j
Walker in 1916. was dropped when he
went out of office, was subsequently re
sumci by MIR. Guthrie. was dropped or
neglected when he went out of Office,
was resumed by me in 1866, and has
been continued to this day in the exact
form in which I then cast it; the only
form in which, in the face OF tho most
hitter and determined hostility in the
New York Custom House and in Con
gress, I could cast it. But this is not
an account Of what is in the warehous-
es 1t is only an account Of what ought
to be in them, according to the books.
It is stock account, not an account OF
stock; and venture to say that there is
margin enough for some millions of
difference between the two. al
III defy any man to inform me wheth
er or not the m ,neys received by the
collectors of the revenues are paid i'm
mediately into the Treasury. defy
any man to say whetheror not private
paper is placed at times in the public
repositories instead of money. have
known these practices to occur, and
have stopped them. defy any man to
show me by the published reports that
the same sums de5ited by one branch
Of the government against another have
been credited by the latter branch in
favor Of the former.
1.-THE evidence before the country is
never more than fragmentary. All is
disorder from one end Of the system to
the other, and oil will continue to be
disorder until there is intelligent and
watchful supervision. l am no partisan
l am not finding fault with any admin
istration or any party. The admins
trations have been all the came; the
parties have been all alike. ] dopb'
nobody's motives; 1 suspect nobody's
honesty. / simply point out q cardinal
defect of our Civil Service, such de
feet as only staiistican, as only ont
who himself has been All officer OF thu
government, would be likely to observe
and perceive the causes and bearing Of
such defect as Major Ba'four
an English statisticau, pointed out year
ago with reference to the British gov
ernment, or as II de Audiffret pointet
out subsequently with reference to tn
| French government"