The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1879-05-22

One Of the doors through which abuses
enter tho Treasury is known as Permanent
Appropriations, for the payment Of interest
ON the public debt, the customs service, and
other branches not voted in the regular
bills. They undergo no scrutiny by the
committee, are drawn from standing fund,
and escape all criticism or examination by
Congress In fact, they are I'm the hands Of
the Secretary Of the Treasury, and arc APP
piled largely at his discretion. Thus he can
Increase the number Of clerks in the Custom
Houses, aud other officials not designated
by law, without the consent Of Congress.
This system is necessarily loose and open
to criticism, because every dollar Of tho
public money ought TO be voted for specific
object, SO that it might be traced and the
accountability be directly fixed. Not one
man in hundred thousand knows how
these permanent appropriations are OK
pended, whore the accounts showing the
outlay are to be found. or who Is responsible
for the honesty Of the transactions. The
practice is one that ought to be cut of. In
England the supply bills cover every item
OF proposed expenditure, so that II ship
is to be built, Parliament knows precisely
what 1t is to cost in detail, from topmast To
keclson. II there be excess. the responsible
Minister has to answer for it in the Com
mons.
Even in the ordinary appropriation bills
we are given to the Jumping mode, by
which tens and perhaps hundreds Of thou
sands are stolen every year, for want of
proper and rigid scrutiny. The British
method Of itcmizing strictly which is sim
pie and easily done by means Of little in
dustry and order, would result in q great
saving and be more satisfactory to the
taxpayers. In the last Congress, the Sun
dry Civil bill, which is a sort Of omnibus for
everything not included I'm other bills, and
which usually runs up to fifteen or twenty
millions. was rushed through the House
without even being read The patriots on
both sides swallowed 1t entire, as an alli-
gator does cat, and seemed glad to go it
blind, leaving impoverished constituencies
to pay the piper while they danced.
To illustrate the operation Of the perma-
nent system practically, let us take the
customs service. There are one hundred
and twenty-eght ports recognized by law.
or this number thirty-six, or say one
fourth, do not pay running expenses. Cas-
tine. Frenchman's Bay, Machias, Saco, Wal
dObOrOuRh, York, Barnstable, Edgartown,
Nantucket, Bristol and Warren, Newport
Stonington, Dunkirk. Sag Harbor, Great
Egg Harbor, Little Egg Harbor, Perth Am
boy, Alexandria, Petersburg, Tappahan-
mock, Beaufort IN c., Pamlico Albemarle
Georgetown Is. c., Natchoz, Teche, st. Au-
gustinc, st. Johns, st. Marks. Brazos de
Santiago, Sandusky, Superior Mimi, Du-
luth, southern District of Oregon, and
Alaska, together form this class.
The expenses of these Offices exceed the
receipts by about ninety thousand dollars a
year. in round numbers; and they are kept
up solely for political considerations. Collec-
tors, deputies, appraisers, clerks, and the like
are paid large salaries for doing next to
nothing. They are little more than par
tisan pensioners, who feed at the public
crib, vote the regulation ticket wear col
lar round their necks, and shout for u third
term Of Grantism at the top Of their lungs.
lI.i-. - ..saIV .-i..s, s.o.-e,s.'.. III -tJa .-
| public service, and IS permitted to exist
because members of Congress are either
unwilling or incompetent to do the duty
which they were elected to perform.