SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 1885. 



OFFICIAL SCRUTINY OF THE U.S. 

 COAST-SURVEY. 



Serious charges have been brought by the 

 authorities in Washington against the adminis- 

 tration of the U.S. coast-survey. During 

 many days past, the newspapers, under more 

 or less sensational headings, have given cur- 

 rency to statements and insinuations of a dam- 

 asfino^ character. Some of the articles which 

 have come under our e^^e are obviously wrong, 

 some contain half-truths, and some are in- 

 spired with animosit}^ toward particular men, 

 or toward the prosecution of purel}^ scientific 

 work. Up to the time when these lines are 

 written, we have seen nothing in the jour- 

 nals which bears the stamp of official accu- 

 racy ; but there appeared on Frida}^ last what 

 purports to be a summary of the results at- 

 tained by a committee of investigation ap- 

 pointed by the treasury department. If so 

 much is to be said in public, as is contained in 

 this statement, we regret that the charges are 

 not authenticated b}^ a signature, and that the 

 circumstances under which the inquirj^ has 

 been conducted are not clearlj' made known. 

 The credit of an important branch of the pub- 

 lic service, as well as the personal standing 

 of its leading officers, is involved in these 

 criminations. A decent regard for justice, and 

 a fair consideration for those who have long 

 maintained a good report, require something 

 more than anonymous and semi-official commu- 

 nications, sent out by telegraph, in which it is 

 not possible to discriminate the pen of the 

 reporter from that of the authorized investi- 

 gator, and in which it is still harder to deter- 

 mine what are the charges of the complainants, 

 and what are the conclusions of the tribunal. 

 Either reticence should govern an investiga- 

 tion until some conclusion is reached which 

 can be openly made known, or else there 

 should be sufficient publicity in the conduct of 



No. 132. — 1885. 



the inquiry to acquaint the public with the 

 extenuating circumstances of the defence, and 

 the answers which are made to the preferred 

 complaints. Unless we are misled by these 

 unofficial statements, it appears that the super- 

 intendent of the survej^ has been deposed from 

 his office for alleged mismanagement, that the 

 assistant in charge at Washington has been 

 first removed and then restored, and that sev- 

 eral persons employed by the survey (chieflj- 

 in subordinate relations to the service) have 

 been brought under censure. 



We have no disposition to apologize for, or 

 to screen, continued neglect of dut}^, or abuse 

 of the high responsibilities which are attached 

 to the conduct of an important post ; but 

 certain facts of an explanatory character 

 should certainly accompany expressions of 

 blame. The friends of the superintendent 

 are aware that he has been for a long while a 

 sufferer from a painful disease. He has been 

 advised, as we are informed, to seek relief 

 from acute and distressing attacks by the use 

 of agents which are extra hazardous. There 

 is no doubt that his efficiency as an adminis- 

 trative officer has thus been serioush' im- 

 paired. It would have been well, under 

 circumstances of so much responsibilit}', if 

 he could have been quietly retired in view 

 of the long-continued, efficient, and able ser- 

 vices which he has rendered to the cOuntiy. 

 Failure resulting from physical infirmity, -and 

 from the emplo3'ment, however injudicious, of 

 the prescribed means of relief, is failure still, 

 so far as the conduct of a public office is con- 

 cerned ; but it is not the failure of a dissipated 

 man indulging in vice. The accused is not 

 to be condemned like one who has surrounded 

 himself with bad associates, or who has appro- 

 priated to his personal gratification the public 

 money. His previous record of fidelity, ap- 

 plication, and uprightness should be remem- 

 bered. A sharp distinction should be drawn 

 between erroneous methods of control which 



