Wilmington journal., 1876-01-14
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Congress aseassemnlcd-Ehe s,ryins
investigator Abroad in the
HOusc-A member S'roubies
she navy DnperIIn~nt
Nysfh so .a.e Pert nent
Questions -Uncan-
my 7sevcEOP-

fFtom our ;-2ul.s Cprrespoa,ientl


| GFiom our < sul.r Correspondent
WAsEISGT3N, Jan. 10.-Congress ha
reassemaled and gone to work in
business-like way. ihe curious inves
tigator is loose i'll tie House, and
pointing to other portions of the "glo
riuus reensd," portions that Republi
can orators have not referred t., il
tneir spread -eogie fatulence.
The resolution of Mr.. Goode O
Virginia, requesting the S cretary O
the Navy to inform the House whethe
the eight vessels OF war authoriz d b.
the act OF February 10, 1873, hav,
0een constructed, aai if so the cost q
each Vessels, and thu aggregate c -
of those buiIt-wiii, it is thought
"""u up p subject full of damning de
! tails.
| there was another resolution Cffe, ed
instruciing the Committee on Nava
| 3tfairs to inquire whether any of the
| public money appropriated about the
| time of the V:rg:nius difficulty, has
| been nisaDpiicd TO promote the inter
| est Of any pn.itical parry, or whether
| II has been applied for tha employment
| If persons posseasing 40 mechanical
skill with ii supposed or implied ccndi-
ton that they would support the nom
'pees OF ANY political party.
4 probe applied is sure to result i'll
uncaGny Developments. The fact that
our superfuous navy yards have long
been u1ed as a means OF the most per-
niclous political corruption, is almost
too sef-evident for proof. Mr.. Gooda' S
resolution WAS aimed directly at the
Norfolk navy yard, which By being
packed with enfranchised mcndicants
u4ler the name of laborers. just prior
TO the election, was very near the
meaus OF his defeat. His seat is now
contested, and, if the majority Of the
Hou*e were not of his political party,
it is 'lot probable that he would re-
tain It.
This packing Of navy yards for po
litical purposes has been practlced for
years, not only at Norfo K, hut at
Portsmouth, n. H, Boston. New York,
Philadelphia, Pensacola and San Fran
cisco.
We have no need for more than
three of these yards, say those at New
York, Norfolk and San Francisco.
ILS-5e1 "JtIitl IttSC bo J"O oii tIIS Az
lautic coast and one on the Pacific.
The reduction would cut down the APP
prnDriat!on to figure beyond the
dl cans of the severeSt economist, and
would enforce the efficiency of the ser
vice by a concentration of forces and
facilities Each of these yards is a fat
salaried sipecure for commandant,
his staff, secretaries, messengers and
a horde Of other loafers, called "me-
chauics" and laborers on the payroll.
This is the perennial status III the
yards, but, just before an election,
there is busy note Of Pr paration
4 declaration Of war, with iret class
naval power, could not be the occa-
sion Of greater hustle, or the intro
duction Of larger number OF voters
(not workmen) to the pay iists. They
ire placed there by the Candidate who
has the favor of the Admins ration,
and o I'D out of the Natiouai Treasury
tins bonus for their votes. 1t is the |
price of the prostitution Of their
citizenship and their |
concIence A charity three cursed,
cnrslng him that gives, and him that |
receives, and ourslng the country.
Pubic ;hools are good. education |
is mighty aud com meudabie, but would |
it not he more seeruiy for some dis
men who are platIng cl |
about the schools, for |
political effrct, TO work off little Of |
-heif reforming energy here, aud to |
begin by reforming this oae (by no
means AID OF their peculiar lnstitu
lions?
1t is believed that Investigation with
L view to the reduction of expenses |
Will be much broader tHan the field |
7uggested III Mr.. Goodies resolutions. |
We nave SIX fleets on the seas, four of |
them II foreign waters. 1t is difficult |
to see what use there Is for them. We |
have no foreign commerce worth men |
and, If we h"d a commerce, |
there would be a. little necessity for |
protecting it, i'll this age, az there |
would be for sending a convoy with a |
stage coach between two New England |
villages. It is known to many that |
our lazy Of junks and pleasure Yachts
is impotent to affori protection in a |
WIZ with first cIas. naval power, and
It is wret tched policy to ftuut our I'M
pote,:ce IN fcrelgn seas.
am not ignorant of the fact that |
the Navy has recently covered itself
with glory hy Its protection of a citizen |
But the Question arises after all, is it |
our duty as 4 nation to protect all our
Idle tourists that are bummiRs around |
IN out of the way places? Is 1T right to |
tax the country for the minute minority |
that has the means and inclination TO |
go abroad. or, to draw it finer, the still |
minuter minority that go among stran- |
gers?
[ fear am tranecending the province |
of your correspondent, whose conven- |
tional roll is to tell what he sees with |
his eyes and hears with his ears, but |
TO spare yon from the reflections, the |
sights an sounds suggest. There are |
a few millions of emotional UatrlOts |
who will dissent from these views, in |
order that sentimental tourists may |
write gushing ditties sugges ed by the |
sight of the flag III foreign ports; they
are willing that forty millions shall be
taxed at home. There is still IN this
hurdredth year OF our national life
much of that cheap patriotism that
finds its most exalted expression IL
the defiance of a cock on his ancestral
dung hill.
Carlyle's brief history of EDgland
is, that tue country consists Of hfJeon
millions of people, mostly fools. We
have copied III many things (our naval
establishment especially from the
mother country and, perhaps the great
est difference after all between US and
England, is, that there are forty mill
ions of US here. JACK.