New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-07-30


one just past, will he successfully met.
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BUSINESS ~ POLITICS.
Once during the Administration of President
Grant a rough man Of boundless cheek waited
upon the commandant of Navy Yard with
letter from n high political functionaiy' re-
guessing his appointment as foreman IN ore OF
he departments of the yard, where there was
need not only If skill and experience, bui con-
siderable scientific knowledge. An election
was coming on, and the position ot the writer
of the letter made the request equivalent 10
command. DWELL, my man." said the com
manCant, "what are your qualifications
"Haye YOU ever bosscd this kind OF WorE
before ~ "No.r ever been employed Mt 10
cat ALL "No." ever worked in Navy 1arf
cat anything2" "No." "What have yoi
"done9r 81 We drove a hack" w ell, y0H
"may 90 back to Mr.. - and tell him th't
81 shan't appoint YOU" The gallant Com-no-
dore was holder than most men IN his pos
ton would have been, but his disobedie1ce
WAS overlooked, and Mr.. - found place
for his protfgG somewhere else. Probably :.
was easy enough TO have him placed upon to
rolls of the nearest Custom House, and or
merchandise and 0bs,ructing entries in such
odd moments rs he can spare from the bust
ness of practical politics.
We have heard so much of abuses like this
that they have almost ceased 10 provoke us;
yet there Is something pathetic i'll the account
given by Mcssrs Jay, Turnure and Robinson oil
the absurditlcs OF The system of Custom House
appointments in New-York, the dreadful trly-
esty Of government under which the Revenue
is impcrlllcd, commerce hamporcd and lie SerV-
ice brought INTO rcproach lay n'lusiing the
most important, difficult and delicate duties to
men OF whose capacity aud integrity the ap-
mounting powers know nothing whatever. Mr.
JAWS commission foupd ignorance and at least
4 strong suspicion of dishonesty prevailing III
almost every department of the Custom House,
and nobody Acknowledged the unsallsiacto-
~ condition of the force more frankly or
complained of 1t more bitterly than the
officers at It's head All this is an cd
story. investigating committees have brought
it out time and again. and enforced
its party moral with much vSor as
almost TO make us forget that the investigators
Themselves in common with other Congress
men, were responsible for the wrong. - Often
indeed, has the rOttcunc>s O' the Custom House
system been exposed that most OF Us have be
gun TO despair of curing It, and there Is wide
spr ad belief that the attempted reform by
President Hayes wi end as the labors OF 80
many committees have cndcd-in nothing at
al.
We believe that the difficulties Of Custom
House reform are greatly exaggerated. Let it
be once understood that the President and his
Secretary Of the Treasury are fixed III their
determination that % he New-loFk Custom
" House shall be not only what is now -, the
"most important bat what il ought to be, the
" best managed business agency OF the Govern
"mcnt,n and If the reform does not follow almost
rs a matter Of course, the fault viii bc nothing
else than the inciicicn"y Of the CollectOr-aud
Ger that difficulty We suppose tn PRESIDENT
would know how to find a remedy. There is
no reaS0L why the task should be much more
difficult in The Custom House than it was in
the Post Office. Gen. Grant found Mr.. James
in the Custom House, placed him in his Ircs-
cnt position, and let him have his own way,
and NJ. James has given us a mail service
which is the pride Of the United States. There
has been no parade of speeches and promises,
no cl boratc apparatus of reports and rules, no
revolutions in politics. no blue ruin blasting
the Republican party; but the energy and
talents of one man have cleared this g business
agency" Of abuses and organized it upon
business basis. Mr.. James was, OF course s'ls-
tanned by the Administration at Washington,
but we do not believe he ever got mach active
aid from that quarter, or ever looked FOR much.
The Collector of - Port when he begins to
initiate the POstmaSter's example, will have
larger task before him, because his department
is in worse condition than the Post Office
ever was, but he VIII have all the help and en-
couragcment from headquarters that be asks
FOR, unless the President is an arrant humbGg;
and if he does not succeed witl, such backing
the people viii 0e justified in concluding tha1
il is because he does not wish to.
THE FfF-fONGLISIG