The sun., 1879-07-27

When the vctoes forced Congress to sepa-
rate the expenses of the Judiciary from the
Legislative and Executive BILL it was not
foreseen that practical and valuable re-
form would be effected by the act OF separa-
tion. Under the old system, bills for the
Legislative, for the Executive, and for the
judicial branches We're reported indcpen-
IDENTIFY. The cost of each department could
be known at n glance, except such items as
were packed upon an omnibus bill at the
end of the session. This always contained
more or less jobbery as the Sundry Civil
and the Deficiency bills now do.
1t has been customary of late years to vote
the expenses for the Judiciary in lump,
Including under general head five or six
hundred thousand dollars for the marshas.
for services connected with the courts eX-
clusively. This item for the marshals was
put in separate bill, together with the
clause forbidding payment for serving at
elections in any State, and was vetoed. The
Fraudulent President thus took the re-
sponsibilty of refusing this regular appro-
priation, unless accompanied with the con-
dtion that an unlimited number of deputy
marshals at five dollars n day could be ap-
pointed to oversee and influence elections.
In the absence of any fund to pay the mar
shas, except by the fees which they receive
In civil cases, the de .fdcto Attorney General
was forced to give them instructions as to
the course that should be pursued if they
were willing to wait upon the justice OF
Congress for recognition in the future.
Considering what Mr.. DEvENS has done
heretofore to pervert the law and to prosti-
tute the department to the lowest order Of
partisan work, his circular to the marShalS
is significant and instructive in this and
other respects He tells them:
THE bill providing expenses OF the United States
Courts Tor the fiscal year ending June 80 lssO is apvor
toned into specific appropriations that be diverted
TO other expenses under any circumstances To enable
the department to keep court expenses within the limit
OF each appropriation it will be necessary for you to set
forth the items of Vo" 1unoa with great care. You will
please avoid asking for Girde Of go sum. bat will
make requiOn ei augmentation the amount
estimated You will particularly observe this direction
otherwise the reg1iion 1iRL r,f0te Jor rnc, h
hs rule and delay will thus be caused This apportiun.
m"nt of funds will require you keep your 50
81: --- "s known how much money is III your hands
to the credit OF each Appropriation at any given time"
THIS is the first time that anything like
rigid accountability has been required for
the expenditures of the Department of JUS
tice, and the change may be ascribed entire
ly to the abnormal relations between Con-
gress and the Fraudulent President. The
practice has been to vote about three mil
lions year in gross, and to allow the
Attornoy-Gcneral and the marshals to
spend this large sum in their own way, the
approval Of the former being voucher for
tn" accounting officers.
Under this lax system, which invited
fraud and corruption, hundreds of thou
sands were stolen, and Landaulct VIII
LIAMs and others like him rcjoced in the
opportunities of plunder. Now the mar
shals must keep separate accounts OF all
the court expenses, and Congress will know
exactly where the money goes, and how
much is needed under each particular head,
This principle ought to be applied TO every
branch OF the public service, and to make it
moro perfect the appropriation bills should
be multiplied, so that each would be u com
pletc grant for any given department or
branch of it.
At present the general civil service Is pro-
vldrd Tor in the Legislative Executive and
Judicial btil and the Sundry Civil bill, with
additions and arrcaragcs in deficiency bills.
To understand the cost Of any part, ii is
necessary to examine all these bills sepa-
ratcy, and to select itcms which are scat
tered and mystillod according to nm old
usage, And crcn then the inquirer gropcs
toa certain extent in the dark. Nothing
would be simpler than to group these ee.
mcnts togcthcr-salarics expenses, con-
tinGcnelcs and also that the plain people
would know what they are paying for Con-
gross, tor the Executive, for the Judiciary
for the army, for the navy. for the Indians.