The Portland daily press., 1898-08-29
Rad ADMINISTRATION AND WAR.

The stories which the soldiers OF tht
First Maine are telling of bad food al
the Chickamauga camp affords an ex
ample of the effects of war on the ad
ministration of government, and throws
"a strong light upon the reluctance OF
some of the strongest and ablest Ameri-
can statesmen to embark the nation in
the struggle with Spain. There has been
a prevailing idea that long periods OF
peace tend to national decadence and cor
ruption. We don't believe that idea has
any foundation in fact; certainly it has
none SO far as the administration of gov
ernmenU is concerned. The war with
Spain meant the throwing down of q
large number of the safeguards of the
| treasury which have been built up by
! the painstaking and patriotic care oi
statesmen. These statesmen have been
almost entirely in Congress, and largely
in the House of Representatives, which,
being nearest the people and more fire.
quently accountable to them, naturally
| takes the greatest interest. 1t is rare that
| the head OF one of the great adninistra-
tive departments of the government con-
Germs himself greatly, or at least effec.
lively, to reduce the expenditures of his
department, He is much more likely
to feel dissatisfied that Congress does
not give him all he asks. These large de-
mands are not the result of corruption
wholly or in large part, although there
have been times when corruption in the
executive departments has been rife.
But each subordinate official, if he be
a man of enterprise and zeal, is anxious
to develop his department to the greatest
nicely, no matter what the cost. Even
"a government great as our own cannot
afford to give free rein to all the i'm
provements, the fads, and the expert
ments that jealous officials may be anx-
ious to try. And Congress is the power
that curbs this executive extravagance-
in what may be termed its meritorious
form. Congress also curbs extrava-
gance in its deleterious form, in other
words, corruption. The Civil War period
was necessarily a time of corruption in
was attracted entirely to battles and
seiges. There was no strong public sem
timent to counteract the swarm of in
tsrested persons who fiocked to Washing
ton for their own profit. Fortunately.
President Lincoln, with rare. discern
with him, selected for his war minister
Edwin NJ. Stanton, who was the foe of
iobbery nnd faithful sentinel for the
people. With a weak, or worse man in
Stanton's place, it is hard to conceive
what might have happened. AS it was
there was much loose administration,
which Congress set about reforming soon
after the close of the war. In the years
| of peace that have intervened since, one
abuse after another has been Topped
of, one restriction after another has
been placed upon executive officers, un-
til the executive branches of the govern
ment service at the opening of the present
war were very generally managed on a
business-like basis. One of the most
important regulations was the law relat-
ing to the purchase of supplies for the
government, providing that they should
be well advertised and establishing safe
guards SO that the government might get
what it paid for. In times of peace it
would not be an easy thing to palm off
upon the government poor meat or other
goods. One of the first things that the
War Department asked Of Congress when
war broke out was that these restrictions
be removed. 1t was necessary that it
should be done, since great quantities
of supplies must be bought hurriedly,
| by agents all over the country. Congress
suspended the restrictions, as it was re-
quested to do, and the usual result fol-
lowed. 1t was the same result that would
follow in any private business from the
throwing down of safeguards. The gov
| ernment has got poor service and many
people have undoubtedly gotten rich.
This in one Of the natural, necessary and
invariable results of awar. A better ad-
ministration at the head of the War De-
partment might have made it less; but
it would still have existed. 1t is as
much the concomitant of war as the
killing of men and the destruction of
property. What makes government pure
is a strong public sentiment with tntelli-
gence to watch and ability to correct IL
time Of war that public sentiment is
turned in another direction and not only
does not keep watch of the admfnistra-
tion, but even hampers it by lending a
hasty ani hysterical support to whatever
is labelled 'needed for the war" War
is return to mediaevalisln, and with
it comes touch of one of the most
glarlng of mediaeval failings-loose ad-
ministration in the government.
CAPTURED BY SPANIARDS.
A,~ LATHAM roopivad