The Editor’s Defense of a Federal Appointee
After losing his status as Public Printer, the newspaper editor takes up the cause of the embattled Port Townsend Collector of Customs, Victor Smith.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Two weeks ago, a letter was handed to the Collector at Port Townsend, requesting us to copy a communication addressed by him to the Territorial government organ. We did not publish it, although very much pressed for room at the time. The Legislature has seen proper to dispense with our services, and consequently we are at liberty to use our columns more for the accommodation of our friends and their local and personal interests. One other consideration has influenced us to give Mr. Smith a hearing: the wicked and corrupt combination that has been formed against him by personal and political enemies, for the purpose of ruining his reputation. Notwithstanding we may have preferred our friend Wilson for the office of Collector of the Puget Sound district, we were as willing to have Mr. Victor Smith as any other man outside of the Territory. He came among us as a gentleman of high character and ability, as the confidential agent of the Treasury Department for the whole Pacific coast. He will be in no danger of suffering serious permanent injury from the wholesale charges of personal and official dishonesty charged upon him by the editor of the North West. That gentleman has yet to learn that characters for honesty and integrity, built up in the eastern communities, are not to be swept away at one dash of the pen.
“Characters for honesty and integrity that have been built up in the eastern communities by the persevering toil of years, are not to be swept away at one dash of the pen.”
This editorial highlights the 1860s era of 'spoils' politics, where editorial positions and government appointments were inextricably linked to political loyalty. The intense scrutiny of Victor Smith mirrors modern debates over public accountability and the power of media to shape the reputations of civil servants in the Pacific Northwest.
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