New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-06-16
"REFORM FROM THE INSIDE"

"REFORM FROM THE INSIDE"
Let us see. Here but q little while ago
only so short time that you can count the
months on your finGers-there was much serious
and solemn talk about the brutal manners OF
q licentious and unbridled press which insisted
that there was a great deal of dishonesty and
corruption in all departments of the public
service Many leading statesmen stepped down
and ont. with the remark that if this was the
way public servants were treated, they
would have no more of it. Many politicians
who were willing to serve their country
at reasonable salaries anywhere where
there were "chanccs," and where they were
not watched-high toned persons who, like
the indignant street car conductors "wouldnt
"have no bell punch put on Them" said it was
shameful, the way the press treated public men.
Many good men said it was wrong to create
an atmosphere of suspicion around our purest
and best it impaired our confidence in human
nature Many patriotic persons with shrink
ing sensitive souls said it was too bad that
the efietc monarchies of the Old World
should be permitted to plume themselves
over the model Republic, because upon
the confession of our own newspapers our
government was badly and dishonesty admin
istorcd. Mr.. Morton expressed the opinion
that we had "the best civil service on the
"planet;" other Senator's thought "investiga-
"tions- were beneath the dignity of Congress;
Mr.. Butler was positive that the only obstacles
to our permanent prosperity were the lack OF
paper currency, and the license of the press;
and the President himself was fixed in the
belief that all the departments were working
beautifully, and the only trouble in the world
was that the newspapers persisted in making
n fuss
We'll, row, let us see where we stand. The
clamOr has been that there has been cOrrnp-
ton in the administration of the Civil Service
and the demand has been for reform. The
Administration organs and orators all SAID
" Nonsense ~ But BrstOw went into the
Treasury and has been working up reforms in
the rottcnness of that department ever since
he learned the ways of it and found his
"bearings" The men who were saying, so
short a while ago, that no investigations and
10 reform were needed there, are Boosting
now Of the manner i'll which they re-
form the party from the inside. Jewell
went into the Post Office Department and
began unearthing corruption and instituting
reforms the moment he got fairly installed.
The men who said little while ago the
charges of corruption in the Government
service were unfOunded and malicious, are say
ing now, "See how we reform abuses so soon
Gas we find them OUT And the very people
who little while ago were denying the
existence of corruption in the CIVIL Service,
are discussing Bristow and jewell as possible
Pro ,dential candidates, because they have discOv-
cred abuseswhcre there were none, and instituted
reforms where none were needed. The new
Attorney General likewise, we observe, is re-
ccyIng great praisc-whch he d@servcs-fcr
setting ON foot reforms in department in
which there was, according to the same au-
thoritics few months since, no need what
ever of a change.
All this is but a repetition of what occurred
earlier when the thick-and-thn organs in
sisted there was nothing wrong in the Credit
Mobilier transactions, the Salary Grab, the
Sanborn contracts, and so forth, and so
forth, until the party had been forced
into an admission of the wrong, and
an effort to correct it, when they all said:
"Sec how soon we correct an error when we
"dscover it," But we wait now for the up
turning of Mr. Secretary DelanO and the De-
partmcnt of the interior. Reform stops just
now ut the door of that department. An I'M
bridled and icontiOus press has preferred
charges against the administration of that de-
partment, and because of that fact, President
Grant holds on to its chief, and faces pub
lie clamor. 1t is department which
offers larger opportunities for corruption than
any othcr and from all that can
be gathered has suffered few to escape. Pub
lie attention has been directed to it for the
past four or five weeks, and the conviction is
general that investigation, Ovcrhaulng, purga-
ton, are demanded. The President stands by
his friends and retains his Secretary. That
NAV do for him; but how about the party
The elections of 1875 are coming on. The
XLIVth Congress, with Democratic majority
in the House. is approaching its first ses-
sion. Wouldn't it be well for the gentle
men who boast of reforming the party
from the inside, to take some steps toward
securing the advantage which will accrue
from voluntary reform in that department.
before their opponents come in and begin in
the Department of the Interior the series of
investigations upon which they propose to
make the most of their capital for the
campaign of 1851 And if the President will
not concede to their wishes in the matter, had
they better weaken themselves still further by
resolutions of fulsOme adulation of the
Executivef There are several Republican
State Conventions yet to bc held. DO they
mean businessY