The New York herald., 1878-01-14
Fs,n.~ao wooa's ..Dr.s-Hsssr

there is any great merit in the resolution
which his perseverance has forced through
the House. What good is ever to come of con-
verting eighteen of the regular committees
into committees of investigation They
have business enough to attend to. if they
discharge it well, in the ordinary duties
allotted to them. When there is reason
able ground for suspecting abuses or frauds
in any department of the government it
may be the duty of Congress to institute an
examination and ascertain the facts; but
to go in quest of frauds on n mere
chance or mere vague hope Of finding
them is different matter 1t is like COM
missioning eighteen Don Quixotes to sally
| forth in search of adventures when their
time would be better employed in cultivat-
ing their estates at home. Even If the COM
mittees had nothing else to do there would
be some objection to furnishing them with
this kind Of employment. Investigations
are costly, since the expenses Of witnesses
must be paid when they are subp@naed
from u distance, and the expenses Of the
committees wien they visit distant places
for the purpose Of taking testimony. Most
| certainly the expense and consumption OF
time are not valid objections when there
are known facts to go upon which seem
to render an investigation necessary.
But the conversion of the regular COM
mittees into so many criminal inquests is
an abuse OF the authority of the House un-
less there is good ground for suspecting
malteasance in some particular quarter.
In the last Congress, which was remark
able for the number of its investigations,
there were comparatively few which did not
set out with particular aim, and yet the
greater part of them were fruitless and
worthless. In the cases where they
amounted to anything the abuses were first
discovered by the press before they were
taken up by Congress In the most con-
spicuous case Of all-that of Secretary Bel
knap-all the main facts were brought to
public attention in the HERALD several
months before his impeachment, and the
same thing happened in every case in which
the investigation led to any valuable result.
Gross abuses in the public service cannot
exist for any length OF time without coming
to the public knowledge. The things in
which abuses are most likely to be prac-
tised are the pecuniary transactions OF the
government, particularly in furnishing
supplies for the army and navy, materials
for the navy and supplies for the Indisn
Department. The legitimate profit Of
such transactions is always sufficient to
create competition, and the rejected appli-
cants for contracts are ready enough to i'm
pute fraud and to revenge themselves on
their successful rivals by communicating
all they know or suspect to the newspapers
and to opposition Congressman. With so
many channels open gross frauds cannot
long be concealed, and if they are investi-
gated as soon as there is some definite
knowledge to so upon Congress does all
that should be expected Of it in such mat
ters.
The idea that it is necessary to sweep all
the departments with so extensive a drag
net as has been constructed by Mr.. Wood is
supremely ridiculous. Here are eighteen
separate committees, every one Of which is
armed with the power of sending for per-
sons and papers, of compelling the attend
ance of witnesses from Maine, from Florida,
from Texas, from Oregon, from Alaska, from
every State in the Union and from every
Territory, not to ascertain the truth of any
particular charge or suspicion, but only to
find out whether something cannot be dis
covered somewhere on which charge might
be founded. Now, if such vast machinery
Of detection is necessary it is impossible
that the government should ever be cor
rectly administered by any President. If
it requires eighteen committees of eleven
members each, with power to go through
elaborate examinations of multitudes Of
witnesses and record and digest thousands
of pages Of testimony in order to find out
what is going on in the public service, how
can one President be expected to know any
thing of his own administration 1t is
absurd for the constitution to impose on
him the duty of taking care that the laws
be faithfully executed if so much investipa-
tion and such carloads Of testimony under
oath are necessary for finding out whether
the government is well or i'll admins
tered These swarming investigations are
necessary or not necessary. If not
necessary there is no justification for the
waste of time and money. But if they are
necessary no President can ever be respon-
sible for his administration of the govern
ment, because no Preside ent has any adequate
means of knowing what is going on in the
various branches of the public service. Mr..
Wood must take one horn of this dilemma
or the other Either the President and heads
of departments are free from all culpability
simpler and easier way of reaching the
truth than the cumbrous system about to be
put in operation by the House.
Everybody knows that these multitude
nous investigations are mere party device