The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-12-16

small fraction Of the salary now appro-
priated for its support. 1t would not be
fair to compare the cost of the public print
ing at present with that OF the period pre-
c,ding the war, when there were extensive
subjects Of legislation which are now pro-
hibited or ignored, when Legislative docu-
ments were far more voluminous than at
this time, and when the political parties
which happened suceessively to be domi-
nant were apt to give out the printing ms
reward for party service.
The duties OF Register Of the LanG-Ofhce
are the last Zee bic sands OF business almost
exhausted. In State settled two hundred
and seventy years ago, with a large proper
tion Of its mountainous territory recently
severed from it, the ungranted and vacant
lands are OF little value and but rarely found.
There is scarcely clerk in the basement Of
the Capitol who could not discharge all the
business Of this Office in addition to his pre-
sent duties without doing rs much or as
prolonged daily labor as is usually required
Of employees in commercial houses. The
labor Of some OF the clerks in the Treas
urer's office is contingent upon the uncer-
tain and irregular calls OF persons transact
ing current business with it, and is neces-
sarily attended with unoccupied intervals
of time. The duties OF the Register could be
safely dcvolvcd upon that office without the
slightest occasion for an increase OF its
clerical force. The principal business Of
the Land Office is such rs requires my con-
current action, and with fair comprehen-
sion OF its labors the present Executive
could, without very serious inconvenience,
personally perform the whole OF them. In
respect to the other duties OF the office, it
will appear, by reference to existing pro-
visions Of law, that the Executive IS really
Superintendent OF Public Buildings and
Grounds, and it is Obvious that, with the
aid OF the engineer at the Capitol and the
senior member of the State police, he can
not only look after and preserve the public
property without the interpoSltion OF the
intermediate or nominal Office OF Superin-
tendent of Public Buildings, but can do so
as well without it rs with it.
Every controlling reason which created
and preserved the office OF Second Auditor
before the war has ceased to exist. Then a
great system OF internal improvements,
often involving an expenditure OF several
millions of dollars in single year, as we'll
as the keeping Of complicated current ac-
counts in connection with the debt, neces-
STATED the maintenance Ct this office and
made its duties responsible and laborious.
But what was formerly the main business
OF the office has beer eXtinguished by
the Constitution. The Government can
no longer construct public works or con-
tract new debts. The present bus mess
of the Second Auditors office is mostly
made up of the fragments of an obso-
lctc system, and Of such other and in
congruous matters as properly belong to
other offices. In any event, the accounts
connected with the literary and free.school
funds and the Miller Manual-Labor school
ought to be kept in the office OF the Super
intendent Of Public Instruction, subject to
such audit at the office OF the Auditor OF
Public Accounts as all expenditures Of the
Government should undergo at that Office
and elsewhere. 1t is not likely that the
funding OF the debt will involve any con-
siderable labor in the future, and the ac-
counts pertaining to the public debt can be
carried on efficiently under the direction of
the Treasurer.
| In this connection I respectfully suggest
that il the business Of the basement offices
shall be re0rganized no legislation looking
to that object should run counter to the very
admirable system of checks and balances
which now apply to receipts and expendi-
lures Of public money, and which properly
operate upon and between the offices OF the
Auditor of Public Accounts and the Trea-
surer. In making the proposed rearrange-
ment it will not be difficult to give due
| effect to the principle which requires that
| the officer who auditS an account and issues
warrant for its payment shall never be the
same officer who pays the warrant or dis
burses the fund.
1t is always the case that formidable in
fluences and combinations resist such re-
forms rs l have here proposed. An office
ever struggles for existence long after lis
usefulness and its duties have been swept
away. Unnecessary and supernumerary
Offices will be found to have struck their
roots deep into the body polite, from which
they draw the nourishment they live upon.
| III the effort to uproot them conflict is ap-
parent betwe en- those who support the Gov
| ernment on the one hand and those who
live upon it on the other. The latter class
is prone at such a time to be allied in oppo-
sition to the increase of their labors, to the
cutting down OF their salaries, and still
more to the destruction OF any OF their
places. AS is entirely natural, and perhaps
eXcusable, in such case, they condemn any
change as mischieyous and rash innovation.
With the wisdom of experts they assume
sail it with that ridicule which is the most
formidable weapon in the whole armory OF
diaecticS.
Nevertheless, the need for greater reforms
than now propose is shown by a compari.
son Of the cost OF supporting the Govern
ment at this time and that of the period OF
ten years preceding the war. Leaving out
OF the calculation all payments towards the
debt and free schools, the remaining ordi-
nary expenses Of the Government now,
when we have been stripped OF third OF
our population and territory and more than
half our wealth, are 81 per cent. greater
than they were before the war, when the
original Commonwealth tlourished in the
plentitude Of its wealth and power.
The reforms now recommended will in.
evitably come sooner or later. l believe it
to be best for all concerned that they shall
come quickly. JAMES l.. kEMPER.
NATIONAL BANKS.-Our Staunton cor.
respondent sends us some interesting de-
| ois;onS IL, hank roSes AS however the