se them as a body of wretched peculations, is simply false and
slanderous. I maintain that fidelity is the rule, and that its reverse
is the petty exception; and that it would be in opposition to all rules
by which men conduct their lives to suffer such exceptions to influence
our conduct, or diminish our contributions to a good cause. In business
how often we are harassed by petty dishonesty or great frauds!
Nevertheless, the tide of business sweeps on. Why? Because the good so
outweighs the evil. The railroad employee is negligent, and some
terrible accident occurs. But the railroad keeps on running all the
same; for the public convenience and welfare are the law of its life,
and private peril and loss but an occasional episode. By the same rule,
we support, without misgiving, the Commission, because the good which it
certainly does, and the suffering it relieves, in their immensity cover
up and put out of sight mistakes, which are incident to all human
enterprise, and which are guarded against with all possible vigilance.

* * * * *

But allow all the good which is claimed, and that the good far
transcends any possible evil, and then we are met by these further
questions: Is such an organization necessary? Cannot Government do the
work? And if so, ought not Government to do it?

I might with propriety answer: Suppose that Government ought to do the
work and does not, shall we fold our hands and let our soldiers suffer?
But the truth is, Government does do its duty. Some persons foolishly
exaggerate the work of the Commission. They talk as though it were the
only salvation of the wounded, as though the Government let everything
go, and that, if the Commission and kindred societies did not step in,
there would not be so much as a wreck of our army left. Such talk is
simply preposterous. The Commission, considered as a free, spontaneous
offering of a loyal people to the cause of our common country, is a
wonderful enterprise. The Commission, standing ready to supply any
deficiency, to remedy any defect, and to meet any unforeseen emergency,
has done a good work that cannot be forgotten. But, compared with what
Government expends upon the sick, its resources are nothing. I have not
the figures at hand, though I have seen them; and it is hardly too much
to say, that, where the society has doled out a penny, the Government
has lavished a pound.

No sane defender, therefore, of this charity