Year: 1878

members of the Assembly who are consistently
opposing the increase of superfluous offices and
political patronage, and endeavOring to cut
down all unnecessary expenditures. Of what
ever party they may be, we most heartily
commend them. 1t is easier, as we are well
aware foP the minority to take right stand
in a matter of this sort than for the party III
power, which is beset by applicants for place
with arguments and claims difficult to resist.
And the minority, who in this case happen
to be Democrats, expose themselves to the
imputation of acting from selfish and partisan
motives in opposing the distribution of places
and patronage to opponents. But no matter
what their motives, they do a cOmmendable
and praisewOrthy act when they save the
State from useless expense, and society from
one of the most prolific sources of demoraliza-
ton and political corruption For it is not
the amount of money expended in salaries
upon sinecures that measures the loss and
damage of such appointments, or the amount
saved by abOlshing these places that repre-
sents the actual saving to society and the
State. 1t may he that from merely money
point of view it is hardly worth the while OF our
Representatives at Albany TO waste their val
liable time in discussions upon the appointment
of committee clerks and messengers. and other
subordDatcs, whose salaries are only an lnslg-
ntcant item in the general budget The sup
porters of a system of liberal expenditure are
ant to taunt the advocates of small economies
with being close-iistcd, small -souled and mean,
and 10 doub; fear OF ridculc on this score Is
often their most potent ally in carrying through
of questionable morality and
utility whatever. 1t is always so easy to be
generous with the money of other people or OF
the State, and so hard to stand the charge of
being niggarly for saving other peoples or
the States money at no pecunary profit TO
ones self. Simply as a matter of money saw
ing, however, the small economies in State ex-
pcnditure are not entirely beneath consid-
Grafton when the aggregate OF leakage from
useless Offices is taken into view. There Is
some satisfaction, too. in times like these, III
finding some men in public life who realize
their responsibility, and show disposition to
discharge conscicntiOusly their trust, and APP
ply 10 public business the same rules which
govern them in the conduct of their private
affairs.


But the great evil of this increase of Off
cllitSln Is i'll iut IbiilICsti tDiihI'AI'h ~ VII
genders and perpetuates, and the dcmOralizing
consequences it entails. Even If the State
could well afford to pay the crowd of hungry
politicians who hang upon Legislatures and
infcst departments and burcaus-pay them for
doing nothing except what was described IN
one of the recent Custom House invcstiga-
tions as "reading the newspapers and talk
ling politics lit would still be most mis-
chievous to do it. For the practice not only
encourages idlcncss and all the vices OF which
ldleness is the parent, but it breeds race OF
pestllent politicians who, having no higher ann
than to provide easy places for themselves,
and no occupation except TO attend caucuscs
and conventions, control nominations, and
manage in their own interest the elections,
are constantly corrupting the sources of power,
bringing into disrepute what shonld be the
science of politics and undermining the faith
of the people in free institutions. The young
man who gets a taste of political excitement
in campaign and follows up its associations
by seeking an Office is, in nine cases out of
ten, no matter what his talents or hls
promise, ruined, if he succeeds. Our
politicians have no training at all except
of the very worst sort. The schools
from which they are graduated are almost
invariably those in which trickery of the low
est and worst sort is taught, and every kind
Of crime against honest government winied at
and encouraged. The worst thing that can
befal young man just beginning life Is TO
have his talent as politician recognized and
rewarded by appointment to a sinecure And
nearly, if not quite, all the "soft place" I"
,nI I of,ielai arr sought and ohtuiupI
by young men-the promising young men who
are fascinated by the cxcitemcnts of politics
in the first instance. and then carried away by
!hem till they have no inclination or taste for
any useful pursuit. To appoint them to any
of the few official positions where there are
actual duties TO be performed and they are not
exposed to the temptations and curse of idle
ness is bad enough in its effects upon their in
dependence and sef-rcliance; to put them III
"soft places" is sure ruin.


From the merely economical point Of view
s,myly as a matter of dollars and cents-the
effort to stay the increase Of supcrluOus Off
ccs and enlargement of political patronage is
worthy of commendation. But the effect upon
political morality in the publication of politics
il of vastly greater Importance. There are a
thousand ways in which the State may fool
away its money-in gifts and contracts. and
extravagant and wasteful expenditure of all
sorts-but there is none so surely runOus and
suicidal as in the increase OF sinecures and the
endowment thereby of a school of training for
idle, lazy and tricky politicians. Ii is a meas
urc of economy to cut down patronage. What
is better, it is measure in behalf of better
morals and purer politics.


TIE URECK.


When the Huron was wrecked on the North
Carolina beach, the public and the press were
IL e