Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-02-27
la,lcaster fntelligenrer.
FRIDAY EVENING, FEB. ~, 1880
Those ssGOOd Fellows"

ECASs 90 ~O~'
Those ssGood Fellows"
In the current number of his Progress,
in commenting the present efficiency OF
the postal service, Col. John w. Forney
saws: "You can overlook Gen. Brady's
scandalous favoritism in the star system |
when YOU remember the promptness and
security SO characteristic of the Ameri-
can mail" There is much of the cur
rent popular idea in this expression,
though a more perfect non sequitur or a
more illogical sentiment can hardly he
imagined. 1t isthe expression OF creed
that has not only wrecked FOrney but
many like him as public men, and it has
bred every manner of political demorall-
zation. Why should Brady's scandal
ous favoritism he overlooked in the
promptness and security of our pos
tai system? Is a faithless, profiigate and
corrupt administration of public affairs
to he condoned, fOrsooth, because in
some respects it gives us good
return? Is there any reason why
an honest and upright official should not
be also an efficient and progressive pub
lie servant, that we are continually hear
ing this excuse for corrupt and dishonest
office holders. that they were at least ac-
commodating, clever and efficient
In Washington, in Harrisburg, IN
New York and Philadelphia, in every
capital in the country and in all the
great centres of political influence this
type of men have been holding sway for
many years. They spend the public
money like lords, they lavish favors
bountifully which they are able to COM
mand by the abuse of their opportunities :;
they steal like freebooters, and with the
generosity of the brigand scatter their
iIl-gotten gains among their beneficiaries.
In legislatures, while they promote the
schemes of the lobby they do not hesitate
to divide its spoils with their friends :;
they ride on free passes, but they get
them for their constituents too they
plunder the state, but they share the
game with those of their OWL political
kidney, or their cOngenial associates.
And when they are exposed and their
Offenses brought to light and the hic a.
cet of public OblOQuy ought to be written
on their gravestOneS, come along the
fellows who enjoyed their favor and say
:. Well, it is true he was unfaithful to
his trust, he violated his official oath, he
stole from the public, but he was such a
clever fellow, such an Obliging official
that they ought to be easy with him.
He gets into city councils and he is
big with schemes of Improvement" He
overridcs the law; he defcs constitution
al, statute and municipal restrictions
he plunges the local government into un-
timely debt he sometime 6 divides
with the contractor and reaps his own
profit where he sowS SO recklessly at the
public cost-and when the bubble bursts
and when his course is run, and the peo
pc have done with his folly, and every
body sees how many parts fool and how
many parts knave he was, there arethOst
who excuse him because some good may
harm done through his influence
lie gets into the management of railway:
and the stockholders property becomes
the field for his expansive operations. IL
:! improves and 8 enlargeS,' and dis
plays great enterprise, - gives patron:
new facilities and earns the title of a pub
lie benefactor, while the people who have
their money invested are shOrn of divi
dends and their capital bankrupted, tha
he and his favored crew of cOrmorants
may fatten Oh the spoils. Again, he rum
Il bank and runs it the same way. An(
when he is brought to book we hear tin
same apologies for rascality.
All this reasoning seems to proceed OF
the assumption that there cannot b
clean-handed aad stiff-backed officials
who are at the same time progressive ant
popular public servants. We believ'
there can be. Such men are abundan
in business circles and they should b
found to be put in charge Of public af
fairs. Better thousand times have you
old fashioned, old fOgies who believe in
conservative policy, who would out o
an honest spirit of economy and pru
dcnce restrain much of so-called mOderl
progress, than the radical spirit whicl
guises under the pretense of improve
ment purpose to enrich individual
at the public cost. But if cOmmunitie
will but exercise themselves to max,
diligent search men can generally b.
found for office who, in their regard fo
the form and spirit of the law, yet are no
unmindfUl of the demands of intelligent
administration and governmental pro
gress. The most baleful of political her
estes is that which affirms Forney's the
Dry, that because ordinarily letter il
carried safely and delivered honestly ,ont
should excuse vast official dereliction
and condone enormous schemes of public
plunder in the postal service. That is TIN
very doctrine which has made aw-maker
law-breakers; which seduces well dis
posed officials into profigacy, demoralize
politics and glozes over every sort o
corruption, irregularity and incompe
tency.