The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-06-05
HE WAY THE GOVERNMENT Is RUS.

HE WAY THE GOVERNMENT Is RUS.
Defalcations continue TO be unesrthed
almost daily among government officials;
not being confined to either civil or mill
tary or naval circles, but coming to the
surface throughout all the departments
and in every part or section Of the country.
In nearly every instance the discovery OF
tie fraud or defalcation indicates the
e'ossest negligence, often for months and
years, on the part of those next higher in
authority to the criminal and whose duty, in
law, 1t was to see to it that his accounts
were kept square, In the first place such
fact indicates that every official in the SER
vice seems to have as little to do as possible
with the routine or real labor Of his Office,
but puts off everything he possibly can NJ
on his subordinates, turning over govern
ment moneys and matters that his
eye should at all times rest upon to those
under him in authority. The responsible
or superior officer in the meantime spends
his days in idleness, or directs his attention
and personal supervision to some private
business. Nearly half the cases of theft or
fraud or neglect in the public servic, as the
facts plainly show, arise from this want of
close personal attention on the part Of SUI
periors to their subordinates, clerks, deputy
marshals, collectors, inspectors and others.
But a case has just come to light in Atlanta
in which another and doubtless fruitful
source of peculation and fraud has been
disclosed. A clerk named NALL, in the
Atlanta post-ofilce has defaulted to the ex-
tent of $1,000. In looking into the man
aEement Of the office, in view of this case,
1t is found that NAILS father.in-law is on
while NALL himself is on the bond of the
post-Oce inspector in that section for
$1,000. Neither the inspector nor the post
master therefore could afford TO give pub
licity to the defacation by dismissing NALL,
as they would thereby lose their bondsmen
under circumstances rendering it almost i'm
possible to obtain others, and disclosing to
the department their own criminal negli-
gence in not overhauling NAILS accounts
and Diminishing him. Here were number of
men, all interested in the others retaining
their positions, each with direct pecuniary
benefit in the office and ON one anothers
bonds at the same time. The result is u
long-concealed defalcation amounting to
thousands, and another ugly government
scandal. The Atlanta post-office has fur
nished two or three such scandals within
the last eight or ten years; and the fact is
doubtless owing to just such reckless and
unbusiness-like arrangement of the bonds.
This is only one case among hundreds, and
is illustrative of the loose manner in which
the government offices are filled and man.
aged Notwithstanding the elaborate red
tape display 1t is time that the Washington
heads were looking into these frequently
recurring defalcations and learning some
wisdom. Heads of government offices out
Of as well as in Washington should be COM
pelled to give their time and personal at
tention and supervision to their offices and
their subordinates everywhere, and at all
seasons and hours. If they have to neg
lect government business for their own pri.
vate affairs, the Office ought to be placed in
other hands. POSTMASTER GENERAL
GRESHAM has taken step in the right di.
reCtlon In this connection by ordering post
masters to remain at their post unless a
ssa2e of abseasss-a.~s been obtained, as
in military and naval circles, and
such leave of absence should not
be granted as matter Of course. Again.
no bondsmen should be accepted by the
government who are pecuniarily interested
In the office, or who are receiving aid or
favor from the official by reason OF the fact
and in return for the fact that they are his
bondsmen. If the higher authorities would
look closely to these two precautions sug.
gested by the commonest business sense
the defs!cations and disgraceful scandals
now SO frequent would be soon wonderfully
lessened, and the government service
placed soon beyond question upon a much
higher plane of honesty and respect ability.
As 1t is, no private business in the country
is run so loosely and neg ligently.