New-York tribune., 1875-10-12
PTEvIkE T1SFIF

Never ran anything so smoothly and easily
and beautifully without human guidance as
this benetcent Government OF ours. LAKE, the
"Flying Dutchman." 1t appears to foreign
nations, and indeed to Simon Cameron ana
other able seamen on deck, plOwing the
raging main in the most tempestlous weather
and on the stOrmiest seas with all sail set anu
never man at the helm. Here Tor
weeks and months the stanch old snip
has been bouncing along over the most
lumpy and uncertain sort of water with wind
from all points of the compass, and signs OF
more wind gathering in Ohio and Pennsylva-
MIA. and the captain-whOse labOrs were Thought
a few years ago to be so arduous that the
Hon. Nathaniel p. Banks of Massachusetts,, in
the large -heartedness with which the states
man of tho period bestows other peoples
money. moved to double his pay and give him
5000 year for standing by"-is some
where this side, 1t is believed, of the Rocky
Mountains. but no mortal knows exactly
where and now, without any one at the wheel
or any one in charge of the Interior Depart
ment we are going on IA beautifully ana
smoothly, and withal as safely, a. though we
had Great Silent Man at the helm, with
sign over him, Passengers not allowed
"to talk with the man at the
"wheel." and frst-cass statesman in
the Interior Department, Christianizing
the Indians and fingng indefinite articles at
the universities. Md we seem to be going
along ~ on q Summer sea. There 8 nobody
at the helm and scarcely anybody anywhere
else, and yet nobody is seasick. Not even a
Republican State Convention 40 far has laid
its hand upon its hcavng bosom and said,
"This is too much.' 1t s either stanch
and steady ship, or the party that should by
thi. time be leaning over the rail has an UNI
common stomach.
TO drop the nautical figure; how well we
do seem to be getting on without any Presl-
dent and without any head to the Department
of the Interior, and what is vastly more
curious, without any Commissioner of Indian
Affairs-for if we are correctly informed, the
Rev. T.. p. Smith, the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, has as good as resigned-every-
thing but his pay. After what the
Hon. Mr.. DelanO said in his letter
of resignation about the exhausting
"laborsr which his Office had required OF
him, and the need he felt of rest from the
"years of toll he had given to the Govern
ment, We supposed the Department which he
left could not possibly have gone on for
day without a head. 1t was generally believed
that the President, recognizing as he did in
his certificate of character to Secretary
DclanO the need of having O devoted
and faithful officer III the position
that gentleman vacated. would hasten
to appoint to the place some one who, though
he might not Christianize the Indians at the
rate Mr.. Deano did, nor be able to exhaust
himself in giving little more than half
the time he was paid for to the service
of the Government, might yet keep the
Department running, and save the Indians
from relapsing into barbarism. But time
has worn on the President, who went West
with the consciousness that the Interior De-
partment was without a head, has left and
continues to leave it so. Not only has DelanO
resigned. but Commissioner Smith has virtually
resigned; Assistant Attorney General Smith,
the law officer of the Interior Department, has
resigned; Indian Agent Saville has resigned,
and nobody knows how soon Contractor B0ser
may resign.
In one Department the canvas is all loose
and tapping and still the ship goes on. 1t
was supposed we were to have somebody at
the head of the Interior Department to-day. 1t
is postponed, we are told, for a week, or until
the President returns. All, it's blessed good
old,ship. If we only paid President 100000
a year we shouldn't need him at Washington
at all, perhaps. And if we only had a Secretary
of the Interior who could exhaust himself in
getting the office, we should MT require any
body to spend half his time in the Depart
mcnt. And as for the Smiths we might save
money by not having them at all.