"3. Mr. Fairchild is rather technical, but is entirely trustworthy. You might put him in French's place, and let him get the run of the department, which is a very large and complicated concern, while the other officers, who are experienced, will be there to give information and to carry on the routine. Both yourself and Mr. Fairchild can judge better what changes are desirable after you have got acquainted with the men and their capabilities, and with the functions of their several offices, and shall have ascertained your own wants in respect to assistance. "4. I hear a Mr. Gilfillen highly spoken of, but I have no personal knowledge of him. "5. I send you a letter of Senator Gibson, who is entitled to consideration. Please return it to me when you have read it. "6. I think it would be well for you to ask Mr. Marble about men--what he knows about the existing officers, and what he knows about any experts with whom he is acquainted." A. M. GIBSON TO S. J. TILDEN _"Private and confidential._ "17 DUPONT CIRCLE, WASHINGTON, D. C., _Mch. 8/85_. "MY DEAR SIR,--I am dreadfully embarrassed financially, and, although very reluctant, seek employment in the government, since I see no other way open to me as a means of livelihood. I have rendered the Democratic party some service. You, perhaps more than any one else, know and appreciate the work I have done during the past ten or twelve years. I came to Washington comparatively unknown to all the public men of the country save Judge Black. Grant's first term was just closing, and jobbery and fraud were rioting in every department of the government. At considerable personal peril, and with inevitable social ostracism to myself and family, I began the work of exposing rogues and roguery, rascals and rascality. You signalized your life by overthrowing the Tweed ring, and destroying those who organized it and profited by its robberies. You exposed and broke up the canal frauds. You were rich and powerful politically, but you know how potent those whom you brought to grief were to do you injury. "My first work in Washington was to assail the Navy ring, and to make known the jobs and frauds by which the Navy had been ruined, and millions of dollars stolen from the public treasury to enrich contractors. I followed this work systematically for years, and I do not exaggerate when I say that the country would not have a realizing sense to-day of the way its Navy has been destroyed and its Treasury robbed of hundreds of millions if my work had not been done.