The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-06-17
Grant at Long Branch.

Again the President has abandoned the cap
ital, where the law sllpposes him to be Away:
present at the Executive Mansion and occupied
with official duties, and has regularly estab'
lished himself at the sea side for the summer
months, not to return to Washington until
October This is the signal for general exc
dus of all the principal offce-holders. The
example is infectious, and in few weeks the
Cabinet, generals, admirals, assistant secreta
ries comptrollers, auditors chiefs OF divisions
and the like, will be scattered all over the
country, taking their ease and making merry
at the public expense.
This pernicious practice, which seriously
deranges the public business and is often most
damaging to private interests, was wholly un'
known before the advent of Grant He is ex-
clusively responsible for it's introduction and
the mischevous consequences that have atten'
ded it for the last six years.
No former President would have entertained
the thought of quitting the capital for another
residence, or of renouncing his trust tor con-
secutive months into the hands of subordinates
while seeking personal pleasure Grants pre-.
decessors were generally content with two OF
three weeks of relaxation in summer for health
and some of them would not even indulge
themselves to that extent, under sense OF
duty which claimed their whole time for the
public.
Though in robust health and in the full vigor
of life, Grant has sought every sort of pretext
for gratifying his coarse tastes and induIglng
habits which have brought discredit upon the
Office which he occupies but does not fill He
has been absent from Washington nearly half
of the time he has served as President, and
that, too, without ever failing to draw the last
cent of his pay and perquisites.
His exam pie has furnished an immunity to
others who have imitated.it, and the result has
necessarily been decentralization Of the whole
public service. Practically, the Government
is turned over to the charge of interiors with
out responsibility for more than third OF
every year. Direct supervision being thus
withdrawn, temptation offered to weak or
venal clerks, and collusion made easy, whiskey
frauds and robbery Of the customs revenue
have fourished at cost of millions annually
to the Treasury.
Through his own personal solicitation, the
Presidents pay was illegally doubled and the
emoluments of the Office were increased beyond
all precedent. While the Republican Congress
which committed that outrage was driven by
public opinion to repeal the grab, and to restore
the former compensation of members, they had
not the courage or the honesty to touch that
pdTG vi GuC law WulCu hlltCIcu OliuV, nio W NhiC'h
was, in fact, the pivot upon which the whole
iniquity turned.
The employees in the departments at Wash
ington are allowed one month of absence each
year, without loss of pay. Every hour beyond
that limit is charged against them and deducted
from their salaries. But the President and the
Cabinet, the Auditors and Comptrollers, and
others who established this rule for the clerks,
fail to apply it to themselves, and appropriate
without scruple to their own use large share
of the time which belongs to the public, and is
paid for by oppressive taxation.
It is easy to understand, under loose, prod.
igal, and reckless system like this, where rigid
accountability has been cast aside, restraint re-
moved, and neglect made the rule, how corrup-
tion has spread itself everywhere, and plunder
mas become a recognized practice. Besides the
other evils which Grantism has inflicted on the
country, it is estimated that the mere money
cost of that atrocious system since 1869 has
been more than one-fourth of the whole ma.
tional debt, by Rings and robbery.-New York
Sun