The care and protection which the Government owes to the people do
not embrace the grant of public buildings to decorate thriving and
prosperous cities and villages, nor should such buildings be erected
upon any principle of fair distribution among localities.
The Government is not an almoner of gifts among the people, but an
instrumentality by which the people's affairs should be conducted upon
business principles, regulated by the public needs.
Applying these principles to the case embraced in the bill under
consideration, we find that at Portsmouth there is a post-office and
an internal revenue collector's office for which the Government should
provide.
It is represented that the quarters now furnished for these offices
are inadequate and that more spacious rooms are desirable. In the
post-office there are six employees, and the collector of internal
revenue has five assistants. The annual rent paid for both these offices
is $600.
Upon these facts the proposition is to expend $60,000 for a building to
accommodate these offices, entailing after its completion quite a large
sum annually for its care and superintendence.
Though the sum of $60,000 is the limit fixed for the cost of this
building, if it should be completed for this sum it would be an
exception to the rule in such cases; and if it is absolutely impossible
to do the public business in the quarters now occupied by these offices,
which does not appear to be claimed, there can be no difficulty in
securing in this enterprising city adequate accommodations at a rent not
largely in excess of that at present paid.
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