The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-01-16
TIME For A CHANGE.

II 10 NllllE AIGlG W DIS d NAldllEE III AAlG
political complexion of the government.
The evidence of it is cropping out all
the time. 1t is known that there is a
vast amount of rottenness in the Post
office Department Many officials of
that department have been indicted
and some of them are now being tried
for the offenses of which they are ac-
cused.
It is believed that the full measure
of the wrong-doing in the Postoffice
Department is not yet known, and
doubtless will not be until there is a
Democratic administration. The eff
forts of Democratic senators and rep
resentatives to have a thorough in
vestigation of that department is OPP
posed by the Republicans. As long
as the Republicans oppose an investi-
cation, the Democrats, being in the mi
nority, can do nothing.
May not there be just as much rot
tenness in other departments as there
has been found to be in the Postoftice
Department? There is no reason why
it should be confined to that depart
ment. There is nothing to show that
an honester and better class of en-
ployes is to be found in other depart
ments.
1t is probable that money is being
taken from the treasury in many ways
that are not strictly legal-at least,
are not approved by Congress and the
people. In the House on Thursday Mr..
c. B. Lands proposed an amend
ment to the legislative, judicial and
executive appropriation bill restricting
the use of the government horses and
carriages to the President, his secre-
tary and cabinet officers. He said, in
support of his amendment that the
horses and carriages now used by gov
eminent officials, if lined up on Penn
sylvania avenue, would reach from the
Peace monument to the White House.
The inference from this statement is
that scores of horses and carriages
have been purchased for the use of
minor officials and are kept at gov
eminent expense. What the annual
expense of furnishing these officials
with horses and carriages is no one
seems prepared to say. 1t amounts
probably to hundreds of thousands of
dollars. And all of this outlay is
without warrant of law and without
protest from the President or any of
his cabinet officers. Such a condition
of affairs wouldn't have been pos
sible a quarter of d century ago,
though the difficulties of getting about
Washington were much greater than
now.
The amendment offered by Mr.. Lam
dis is timely and ought to be adopt
ed. There is no good reason why the
money of the people should be used
to provide horses and carriages for the
army of minor officials at the ma
tional capital, They should provide
horses and carriages for themselves
when not on government business, and
when on government business they
could walk or ride in the street cars.
for all the assistant secretaries, chief
clerks and others is enough to make
the early Presidents of the republic
turn in their graves.
And there are other abuses which
ought to be corrected, one of them be-
ing the printing abuse. Vast sums of
money are wasted in the government
printing Office. Tons of stuff that is
never read by anybody except the
and the authors of it are
printed every year. Only the other
day Gen. Charles Dick of Ohio, a
member of the House, asked leave to
print" a little speech. His request
was granted. The speech appeared in
the Congressional Record the following
1t filled. sixty-one pages of
that publication, most of it in solid
How much that speech, in
tended for campaign purposes in Ohio,
cost the government, we are not pre-
pared to say, but the amount was
large. And there is plenty of that sort
of graft.
The time has come for reforms. The
people realize the need of them and
they will turn the Republican party
out of power if the Democrats will
offer them the right kind of ticket and
Dlatforu