CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



131 



one single instance, and that was, unless I am 

 greatly mistaken, by the Senator from New 

 York (Mr. Conkling) when the committee 

 brought in its last report on the New York 

 custom-house. 



"Well, sir, this Committee on Retrench- 

 ment, with such powers, was organized five 

 years ago. What was the occasion for its or- 

 ganization, and why were such discretionary 

 powers conferred upon it? The Senator from 

 Vermont (Mr. Edmunds) stated that at that 

 time the civil service of the United States was 

 in a very demoralized condition. I take it for 

 granted that was the reason and no other, for 

 certainly I cannot imagine that the Senate 

 would have organized a committee like this 

 actuated by mere motives of political hostility 

 to the Administration. But if it was organ- 

 ized for the purpose of ferreting out abuses 

 connected with the public service, then I think 

 if the reason was good then the reason would 

 be good now, unless the character of the civil 

 service has changed so immensely as to make 

 what was very imperfect then very perfect 

 now. 



"The Senator from Vermont has told 119 

 that great improvements have taken place. I 

 have no doubt of it. I think in course of time 

 all things are bound to improve, and yet I 

 doubt whether there is a single Senator on this 

 floor who would undertake to assert that the 

 civil service of the United States is to-day as 

 perfect as it ought to be or as it might be. 

 Nay, sir, if you search the history of this 

 country you cannot point out to me four con- 

 secutive months during which so many em- 

 bezzlements and defalcations have come to 

 light as have been laid bare to the public eye 

 during the last three or four months. If I 

 am mistaken, I shall be glad to be corrected. 

 A great many of these frauds, embezzlements, 

 and defalcations, were not discovered by dili- 

 gent inquiry or investigation, but by some- 

 thing like accident ; we simply stumbled over 

 them, and there they are. So it would seem 

 that as to the condition of the civil service, 

 however much it may have improved, yet it is 

 not so perfect at this time that a measure 

 which was once considered eminently condu- 

 cive to the public good in ferreting out abuses 

 and wrongs can be cast aside now as entirely 

 useless. 



" For years and years the Senate without a 

 single dissenting voice has been voting for 

 conferring exactly those powers which the 

 Senator from Illinois now demands upon the 

 Committee on Retrenchment. Now it is sud- 

 denly found entirely improper, nay, even 

 dangerous. There is something said of secret 

 proceedings, of putting our hands into the 

 private concerns of other people, of ruining 

 innocent persons, of star-chambers, and other 

 frightful things. Why, sir, if a committee with 

 such powers was not dangerous before, I ask 

 in all candor why it should be dangerous 

 now ? If it is dangerous now, I should like to 



know how Senators could find it compatible 

 with their conscientious convictions to vote 

 for such a dangerous thing before? Either 

 they were not conscientious when they did it 

 before, or they would be equally conscientious 

 in doing it to-day. Either it never was a 

 proper thing, or it is now just as proper as it 

 ever was. What has happened, I should like 

 to be told, that you should look at this com- 

 mittee with its powers now with such re- 

 markable apprehensions as a, source of mis- 

 chief and danger ? Who has been injured in 

 the past by the exercise of the powers this 

 committee possessed, and which are now 

 claimed for it again? Look into its record. 

 Whose rights have ever been violated by it ? 

 Whose private affairs have been invaded? 

 Where is the innocent person that has been 

 harmd by it? Whom did it injure? None 

 but corrupt men whose misdeeds ought to 

 have been dragged into the light of day. 



"I tell you, gentlemen, whatever we may 

 say of the improvements that have taken place 

 in the civil service, the people of the United 

 States are startled at the frequency and the 

 enormity of the disclosures which are now 

 accumulating from day to day. Do not give 

 yourselves up to any delusions in this respect. 

 The American people demand honest govern- 

 ment, and to secure it they want to have all 

 the means used that are compatible with the 

 laws of the country. The people of the United 

 States demand the exposure and overthrow of 

 corruption, regardless of the advantage of any 

 party, and of the interest of any person, how- 

 ever high or low. 



"It seems to me we are standing at the 

 threshold of a great moral revolution in our 

 political life that bids fair to sweep beyond 

 the overthrow of Tammany Hall at New York, 

 and in that revolution the science f how not 

 to do it ' will be at a great discount, and all 

 the arts of concealment will not be of avail 

 much longer. Neither will the cheap decla- 

 mation against corruption in the abstract, 

 against the sinfulness of sin, and about the 

 beauties of virtue in general, as it resounds 

 so frequently in this Chamber, avail much 

 longer. We have had enough of that. The 

 people will not much longer take that worth- 

 less currency as a legal tender ; the people 

 want to see energetic and fearless efforts to 

 put down abuses bodily, not in theory but in 

 practice ; and, if we mean to serve the country 

 and to command its confidence, we must take 

 such measures as shall make it clear to the 

 whole world that we hate no political party 

 more than we hate corruption, and that we 

 love no party more than we love honest and 

 good government." 



Mr. Morton, of Indiana, said : " Mr. Presi- 

 dent, the first suggestion I have to make is 

 that that resolution as it stands is much broad- 

 er than the resolution offered by the Senator 

 from Illinois ; that the amendment offered by 

 the Senator from Illinois is a limitation upon 



