Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1876-03-08
SHALL THEDOWNWARD TIDE
BE TURNED.


question of the methods of administer
ing tho Government, and a reforma
tion in the public service. Under the
present administration there has boon
a steady expansion both of offices and
Of expenditure. The promises of civil
service reform, so vigorously made in
theory, have not one of them been
kept in practice. At the very moment
that President Grant recommended to
Congress system of civil service rules
which would give subordinate offices
to the most competent, he was himself
overriding the rules and appointing to
higher offices from merc political and
personal reasons.
1t is an undeniable fact that the
whole force and influence of the pres
ent Administration have been on the
side of the expansion theory of Gov
ernment, as against the principle Of
confning the functions of Congress
and the Executive within safe prac-
tical sphere. Under the influence of
the Administration the back-salary
grab Of 1873 was passed, which added
fifty per cent. to the pay of the mem
bers Of Congress, and hundred per
cent. TO the salary of the President
The former disgraceful grab was swift
ly repealed, under the irresistible pres.
sure of the public opinion of the coun-
try; but the latter being restrained by
constitutional amendment necessarily
remains unrepealed until the expira-
tion of the present tenure of office of
the President.
We have seen the tendency towards
expending the functions and the ex-
pense of the Government manifested
in numerous directions. New bureaus
have been created which have no prop
er relation to the powers OF Congress,
as clearly defined in the Constitution.
Instead of cutting down the offices
and enforcing economy in all directions
with the natural decrease of the cnor-
mously extended business of the de-
partments and bureaus which grew
Immediately out Of the war, we have
seen the whole Republican forces in
and out OF Congress combined in the
successful effort 10 hold on TO every
avenue that led to political patronage,
and every channel that communicated
with the public crib. The expenses of
the Government, which 1t was prom
ised in the last Presidential campaign
in 1872 should be largely reduced, have
instead been steadily and largely in
creased with the single exception, pcr-
haps, of the last fiscal year. For the
fiscal year Of 1872 they were sl53, ,OOO,-
900, exclusive of the interest of the
public debt; forthe year 1873 they were
$3.50, 900, 900; for the year 1874 they
rose to sl94, 100000, and for the year
1875 the amount is placed at sl72, ,000,-
600. This, too, at time when univer-
sal economy and curtailment have
been the order of the day in all private
business and public corporations.
That the whole weight OF President
Grants personal influence is in favor
Of the expansion OF expenditure and
the consequent burdens Of taxation is
evidenced in tho following facts He
has directly recommended in his mes
sage and passed personally upon the
attention of Congress oil those enor-
nous internal Improvement enterprises
which, if carried into effect, would add
of millions to the National
iebt, and seriously embarrass the pub.
ic credit. He is in favor OF the James
River and Kanawha Canal job, the
great jetty system of Captain Eads,
ind that comprehensive plan for cx-
lausting the Treasury known as the
Levee Improvement. He
las again and again recommended ex-
'ensive schemes of enlarging the navy
md swelling the army expenditure by
additional appropriations. He urged
lpon Congress the purchase of all the
lines of the country by the
Government, and the management Of
his purely personal and business
agency, which is used by comparatively
small part of the population, by a
'orps Of Federal officers, and at the ex-
3ensc OF the whole people. He re
commended Postmaster-G General Cres-
wells foolish scheme of Post Office
savings Banks, by which the United
States Government would have gone
nto the banking business on an enor-
nous scale, swelling alike the power
and the temptations to fraud and en-
bezzlement Of every Postmaster in the
and.
While such have been the course
and the attitude Of the President on
domestic questions, bis foreign policy,
80 far as his own individual guidance
Of it is concerned, has been in the same
direction Of expanding the power OF
government and increasing the taxes
Of the people. Hisprcposterous scheme
Ior the purchase of San Domingo has al
most faded from the minds of'our easy.
going and rapidly progressing people.
Il would have been, IL carried out, the
of q foreign race of igno-
ant and uncultivatcd people TO tho
Republic at an expense of millions and
he carrying on kind of personal
government on foreign island, the
military and naval expense Of which.
would have cntailcd perpetual drain
ipon the Treasury. Only last year he
tent, without the slightest authority
If law, personal envoy to the Samoan
Islands, armed with United States
,annon and other presents, to u savage
King, and It is understood that his in.
luence maintains Colonel Steinbcrgcr
hero today, nominally Prime Minis