The New York herald., 1876-01-28
Pennx-wisa Economy.


showing a little awkwardness in beginning
elsewhere-in this city, for instance under
the rule of Mr. Tweed-have not accustomed
1t to be sparing of the public money, and 1t
Is only charitable to lay the bungling be-
ginning at Washington to this cause. Being
beginners on q road untrodden for several
years by either party the democrats may
not be ungrateful for a little advice
and here we give it. To cut down the mod
crate salaries of our consuls abroad is poor and
penny-wise economy. Our foreign service
costs very little; the State Department has
never been extravagantly managed 1t may
be well to abolish some useless foreign mis-
sions, but the House, if it is wise, will iS-
crease the salaries Of consuls general in
South American States and require Of them
valuable trade returns and statistics which
will help our merchants to re-establish a
foreign trade which has too long languished.
To cut down the salaries of West Point
professors and of the scholars there is also
trivial economy, sure to be made at the ex-
pense of the public good. The total saving
will be very small, and if the military school
is to be kept up at all it ought to be fairly
dealt with.
Let the retrenchment committees look else
where. For instance they can safely cut off
at least six millions of the navy estimates
We do not need formidable navy, because
we ought not to go to war with anybody and
nobody wants to make war on us. The
entirely needless expenditure of the Navy
Department during the virginius excite
ment-not less than six millions flung away
for nothing would support West Point
dozen years it would build
railroad half way from the Texas
border to the City of Mexico it is more
than equal to the foundations of Yale and
Harvard, the two great universities Of the
country Nobody is going to attack us, and
we need not waste money On great naval
establishment. Then, again, why not sell
some of the navy yards-the one at Boston
for instance, and even that at Brooklyn?
They are of no use, and are constant sources
Of corruption and expense The yard at
Boston is frozen up every winter anyhow,
and that at Portsmouth, always free of ice
and far more economical to keep, is quite
sufficient for the Eastern border.
Again, there is the army, with its barracks
and its allowances and its various leaks
under the present management Millions
can be saved by judicious retrenchment of
War Department expenses. This place needs
thorough investigation, and the committee,
10 nd ~ xu,1 ka ~
how much waste it will uncover and how
much money it can save In the expressive
language of Colonel Sellers, There's millions
in it." Let them examine, for instance, the
expensive and useless Notifications, on
many of which from a hundred to two hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars are flung
away in massive masonry every year. when
it is the universal conclusion of engineers
that sand or earth batteries, cheaply thrown
up whenever they are needed, are better de-
fences than the most costly stone walls. We
have fallen too readily into the European
fashion of extravagant and constantly in
creasing armaments. But nobody is going
to attack us ; we have no ambitious neigh
bors, and we do not mean to rob any one
else
Again, let the democrats take good look
at the Post Office Department They can
save millions there by judicious laws and
regulations, without increasing the rates of
postage. They need only reform old abuses
in the contract system, turn the express
matter out of the mails and make judicious
reforms of other kinds, and millions will
fall into their lap.
Here are the true fields for economy, and
we advise the democrats to turn their atten-
ton to them at once and leave off the petty
business about which they are now wasting
time and getting nobodys thanks.