Friendship That Pays

Tb ere is no business that pays better in these times than being the friend of sonie official party in Washington. Tho position of the eminent family of Cattoll in the administration of the atfairsof govérnment has nevor been . clearly define J, bnt it has leng been known to be au important one ; so much so that a member of the Houso Naval Cominittee romarked the otlier day, "ETerything we touch seems to turn up a Cattell." And now it apjiears that Mr. E. G. Cattell has received from a contractor who supplies the navy with clothing the hanjsome Biim of 100,000, or four per cent. on the contracta, for nothing at all except Mr. Cattell's influence with Secretary Robeson. Mr. Cattell is not shown to have rendered any service for tuis commission ; it is _not easy to see how he could honestly render any under the regulations of the navy and the laws -of the United States ; bnt he is a frieud of tiie Secretary of the Navy, and a secretary who keeps a friend is au expensive person to deal with. Secretary Belknap's friends wore cheaper, but they wero many. One of them, to be suro, charged a thousand dollars for a simple introduction, and the trader who paid for the infcroduet.ion had to pay also for the appoiutment whieh followed it ; bnt this seems to have been an exceptional oase, and at loast Gen. Beiknap's friends can plead that he did something for the money, albeit 'twas little. Gen. Rice, was usually reasonable ,in his prices and pronkt in his service. He got appointments for severa! posttraders, receiviug $2,000 from one, $5,000 from ano. her, half the net profits from a third, and a i third of tho net pronta from a fourth. Waa he connected with the War depr.rtment? Oh no, he was only a townsman and friend of Belknap's, and he was allowed the privilege of making a good thing out of his friondship for the sake of old associations. Gen. Rico says hc never gave the Secretary anything but a little wine and a few cigars, and he does not s?cm to anderstand that there was anything in his transactions to which a reasonable committee could take exception. So to the cadetship broker, Lilly, who charged $3,000 for iutroducing young Boardslee to Congrtssman Hayp, tliiuks that, it was merely legitima! i btwiuixia; aod when it appears thut he hitó bei; v. Uu: habito dealing in appoinlmt;nts io West Point, he insists thatit was all legitimate busitk'hm. He had a wide circle of friends in Congreso, and he made all he oould by the connection. The naso of Mr. Orvil Cirant falls in the sanio catogory. Orvil lacks the capacity and activity of a great rasoiU, and many practical persons will aaj that hc has noglected his opuortuuitics ; but in a shambling, shifting way, ho seems to have turned l)is conneotion with the White House to profituble account. We hoar of him eveiy now and then iug along the frontier, with a pocket f uil j of traüosf ieeosea, which he pedilk aniong the settlers at ridiculously low prices. At one post he allows himself te be pnt off with a f ew hundred dollars ; at anothcr he accepts an unsnbstantial partnership. Bnt as the Government supplies him with transportaron, he can travel far at sinail cost to hituaelf, and striking every trader on the route ke oan piek up, in the course of a season, a pretty comfortable living. It would be intoresting to know j hot niany partnerships he now holds in firma to which he has oontributed neither capital nor labor, and what is the definition he would give for the word " blackmailing " if he had to pass an examination in the dictionary. But the public functionaries who supply these thrifty friends and relatives with facilities of course aro not bribcd. They -would be shocked at any imputation upon their own charactors. If none of the money expended for the purchase of piivilege finds its way to their pockets, they flatter themselves they are honorable men who hare dono their whole duty by the public. Thoy have not trafücked in offitíes themselves; they have only suffered other people to do it under their protection. Appoiutnients in their gift are bought and sold, and when they are blamed for it thoy prof ess a lofty indignation at partisan comniittees and venal and unscrupnlous newspapers. Iublic offleers havo something to do besides koeping their hands from picking and stealing, and it soems to us it would be a good idea for most of the niembers of the administration to begin a reform by revising their visiting lists.