New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-12-20
0EEICIlL DLCINEIIN.

OFFICIAL DECENCIES.
They are sadly in need of a new code OF
official etiquette at Albany. Among State Off
GERS of all grades even to the highest as well
as among members of the Legislature, there
appcars TO prevail the most lamentable loose
ness of ideas MS to what it is proper and I'M
proper for them to do. There seems to be no
such thing as a nice sense OF honor with some
of them. If they pause Oh this SIDE OK actual
malfeasance, if they can use their positions 10
gain Legitimate profits without sublectlng
themselves to prosecution for felony or sus-
pension and removal, they are outraged at
the accusation of wrong-dong, and are as
eagerly defended by their personal and party
organs as if they were the innocent objects OF
some conspiracy of calumny. Mr.. Francis >.
Thayer, Auditor of the Canal Department, Is
the most recent instance i'll point. According
TO his own showing, which he has yet to sus-
tain under oath before the Canal Commits
sion, Mr. Thayer has been using his
position to carry on an extensive panh-
ing business. Accepting for the present
his statement that he has purchased claims
against the State at a discount for other people,
but never for himself, that he has advanced
money on State obligations 10 help persons III
need of the money due them, and at mod
crate rate of interest, even supposlng that ne
could not have hindered or helped the pay
ment of these claims-which IL not true-the
fact vet remains that Auditor Thayer has done
a discount business Of 100000 in the past
year in the very obligations for auditing which
the State pays him good salary. And TINS
man is utterly unconscious of the character OF
his actions He considers the movement for
his suspension a base political maneuver, and
his organs cry ont that he is attacked because
he has already attacked those who are now
accusing him. Like all this tribe OF fellows
who either sell their votes III the Legislature
or do n brokerage business in a State Office
they look at you in amazement if you accuse
them of improperly. What have they done
that is wrong7 Are they in any danger of in
dictmenti Il there any ofense that can be
proved against them in court of law? Sup
pose they have done this and that, Is there any
statute making it felonyl
Auditor Thayer is only one Of class An
other good specimen is Canal Appraiser Ihad-
deus G. Davis. This man is a member OF a
commission which must act upon and decide
claims amounting to several hundred thousand
dollars every year, and which Is peculiarly
liable to suspicion Of dishonesty, inasmuch as
il has been so frequently composed % n0to-
rous rascas. Mr.. Davis, when detected by the
Canal Commission in aiding and abettng
frauds in awards to be made by the Canal
Commissioners, boldly asserted his right TO act
as counsel before any branch of the State Gov
eminent other than his own. The fact that he
occupied Judicial position as an arbiter of
claims against the State was in his eyes no
obstacle to his appearance as counsel before an
other tribunal in the matter of claim pre-
cisely similar. His action improper! Bless
YOU, the Thayer and Davis kind of State Off
Ger don't know the meaning of the word !!
Have they kept the letter of the lawf If 80,
they have done their duty.
Then there were those interesting transactions
in the Baxter award. Surprising that the Con-
trailer did not share in the profits Of that con-
federation of Davis and Thayer to bleed a
creditor of the State, it was strange sense
of honor, was it not, that led him to allow q
bargain for obtaining an opinion from an I'M
suspectlng law officer to be concluded right in his
office and the victim to be blcd of a thousand
dollars at his own desk IL is only another in
stance of the same lack of conscience, though
handy so gross, that allows members of the
Legislature to practice before tribunal which
that body can abolish at any time it chooses, and
which permitted a United States Senator from
New York to argue case before q court where,
from the judge down, all the principal actors
were his political creatures.
What these men need is q sharp rebuke that
shall teach them, and oil others like them,
that man occupying public position of trust
must not only keep the letter of the law, but
must respect its spirit. When he complies
with the law he has done half las duty. He
owes as much to the general requirements of
dccency and what should be his own sense Of
honor rs to any written regulation. A mem
ber of the State Government Of the Legs
lature should have higher ambition than to