George Boutwell

They are as nearly indispensable as one man can be to another, or to the safe management of business.

From their statements it would appear that every member of Congress was the recipient of an amount of patronage in the nature of clerkships that he could and did control.

Neither from my experience in Congress nor in the Treasury Department can I deduce much support for the doctrines of the class of politicians called Civil Service Reformers.

Pleasanton may have been, and probably was, a good military officer, but he did not possess the qualities that are essential in the discharge of important civil trusts.

I stated the facts, and he said he would send for General Pleasanton and ask him to resign.

I went to the Executive Mansion and asked General Babcock to go to Long Branch and say to the President that the business of the Internal Revenue Office was in such a condition that immediate action was necessary.

I learned that the commissioner was engaged through the agency of Ward in making a contract with a Connecticut firm that was in my opinion at once improvident and irregular.

I have come to the conclusion that Pleasanton is not succeeding in his office.

I created a commission and all the officers except a few who were too old for active service were subjected to an examination and those who were found incompetent were discharged from the service.

The expense of printing was increased by this arrangement, but it seemed to be more important to attain absolute security against fraud than to save money.

For further security, I made arrangements by which two bank note companies in the City of New York prepared sets of plates for a single printing on each security, the red seal being imprinted in the Treasury Bureau.

During my administration, as far as I know, there was never the loss of a sheet of paper nor was there a fraud committed in connection with the business of the bureau.

Who could have answered for the peace of the United States in 1868 if President Johnson's term had been six years instead of eight months?

The contests that are sure to arise among a mercurial people would thus be transferred from the battle-field to the ballot- box.

A serious objection to a long term in the Presidential office is the fact that a spirit of discontent, that always exists, will develop into insubordination or even revolution.

When great questions are under debate appeals are made to the principles of government and proportionately the education of the people is of a higher grade.

The people have an opportunity to see and hear the men who are engaged in public affairs and questions are discussed upon their intrinsic merits.

The voters are converted into a great jury, and after full allowance is made for weakness, corruption and coercion, they are advanced at each quadrennial contest in their knowledge of men, in their ability to deal with measures of policy…

There is no form of education that more fully justifies its cost than the education that is gained in a Presidential canvass.

The means of communication are such that two years may give the mass of the people better means for judging men and measures than could be had in four years at the opening of this century.

The changes that have taken place since the Government was organized would justify the shortening rather than the lengthening of the Presidential term.

In a popular government there must be elections, and in all such governments business interests must be subordinated to the general welfare.

The total of production and consumption cannot be affected seriously by a political controversy that does not extend usually, over a period of more than three months.

The disturbance of business is due to the importance of the election, and the importance of an election is due to the amount of power that is to be secured by the successful party.

I end by the expression of the opinion that the vote of the House and the vote of the Senate, by which the doctrine was established that a civil officer is liable to impeachment for misdemeanor in office, is a gain to the public that is…