6457. PATERNALISM, Condemned.—
Having always observed that public works
are much less advantageously managed than
the same are by private hands, I have thought
it better for the public to go to market for
whatever it wants which is to be found there;
for there competition brings it down to the
minimum of value. * * * I think it material,
too, not to abstract the high executive
officers from those functions which nobody
else is charged to carry on, and to employ
them in superintending works which are going
on abundantly in private hands. Our
predecessors went on different principles;
they bought iron mines, and sought for copper
ones. We own a mine at Harper's Ferry of
the finest iron ever put into a cannon, which
we are afraid to attempt to work. We have
rented it heretofore, but it is now without
a tenant.—
To Mr. Bibb. Washington ed. v, 326.
(M.
1808)
