Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-03-29
w ELL PUT.


readers with generalities. Let us
come to close quarters. 1t looks as
though none of us could state a fact
without overstating il; still it is fact
that the public service of the United
States is not as honest and fanltlcss
as it ought to be. Investigations dis
closes many things done by nfsieiais
that humiliate and shame the moral
sense of the nation. The amount of
this wrong doing should not be ex-
aggerated. Corruption in office is the
exception, not the rule. Despite the
talk of all of us about the filth of pol
itics, it is fact that the highest STAN
dard of American morals is still that
which we2apply to our government !;
to the conduct of public affairs. The
conscience of the people is tenderest
and most eXacting as to what con-
Germs the conduct of public service.
This fact, so generally overlooked, is
one to which we ask thoughtful and
hopeful attention. Schuyler Colfax
has had no penalty to pay for his
Credit Mobilier transaction to his
church or society or business circles,
or i'm Odd Fellowship, or in educa-
tional circles. The church conscience,
society conscience, business con-
science, Odd Fellowship conscience,
educational conscience have all for
given him, but the sensitive political
give him; it proscribes him utterly.
George III. Pendleton won't suffer il,
his church standing; but in politics
he is as dead as though he was in his
grave. Belknap suffers national dis
grace because he is charged with ac-
cepting the voluntary gift of a part OF
the profits of monopoly business,
which somebody had to do. and
which Evans was doing as honestly as
anybody. While Henry Ward Beech
er with three witnesses against him
to where there is one against Bel.
knap, and accused of a crime beside
which that of which Belknapis is accus.
ed is virtue itself, stands Sunday after
Sunday the idol of the greatest relig.
ious congregation i'm the land. If the
Beecher episode had occurred in pol
itics instead of the church, Mr.. Beech.
er would be the most thoroughly dis.
graced, scorned and powerlcss man
in America to-day. We do not say
this to intimate that he is guilty
but simply to illustrate that the peO
pie are more sensitive and exactins
as to purity in the conduct of theil
public affairs than as to any other re
lations of American life. 1t is tn,
truth, too, that the great mass of th'
officials of the country adjust them
selves and their conduct to this sensi
tive moral censorship to which the,
are popularity subject. There is M
equal number Of men giving sucl
thoughtful care to the propriety o
their motives and their every act a
the men who fill the various offices o
the country from city to government
Actions that men would do withou
/ hesitation in private business ant
their private relations they will thinl
very seriously about and mostly re
fuse to do as officials.-Gdte City.
In many respects the above is wei
put. The gist of the line of argamen
is strictly correct, but the manner o
putting some of the examples nigh
lead the reader to infer that the write
ascribed guilt where he really di
mot. In the case of Beecher, the Cat
guards its example by saying that
expresses no opinion as to his guilt o
Innocence, and we presume the sam
is true Of its remarks in regard I
Colfax, at all events we would sa
that we go further than
negative position and affirm th,
we believe Mr.. Colfax innoccn
But as to Belknap and Pendletol
there is sufficient to shake the cont
dcnce of any person in the correctnei
of their conduct. But, as we hay
said, the point in the Gates articl
viz: is that the public conscience d
mands more rigid accountabilit
from officers of the government tina
from any other class. 1t is mo
notorious fact that the public wi
consider that objectionable an
; wrong in a public officer which the
will call sharp, shrewd busine
transaction in the ordinary busine
: man, and the former will be the ol
ject of the finger of scorn while Il
: latter will sail swimmingly along III
rebukcd in business and social circle
> and even in his church relations. "
have recently had occasion to call a
tention to this fact in this very col
nection right here at home. The pnl
lie will sit in judgment and pass SCI
:. tence upon a public officer for &C
which they will duplicate in the
every-day business, social and reli
ions life. There is mania ragir
against public officers which Is i
3 clined to class them all in the rogn
y list, when all the while the same pu
llic will, in large numbers, from d,