The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1849-04-04

SSh' S"eh, ~ SohJuuStioh Win TIC A'Sh'se,
appoint all officers Of the United States,
whose appointments are not by the Constr
tuition otherwise provided for. The Collector
Of the Customs for the District Of New York
is one Of the officers, whose appointment is
thus vested in the President and Senate ;
but by law this officer is attached TO and
forms part Of the personnel Of the Treasury
Department. What does President Taylor
propose to do in executing this constitutional
dutyi viii he do as the last four Presidents
did-receive the applications Of his fellow
citizens in person for this Office, and examine
the testimonials Of their capacity, honesty,
and fidelity himself, and make the appoint
ment without even consulting the Secretary
Of the Treasury Not at all. Gen. Tay-
lor, as well as every other man, knows that
Collectors Of Customs are Immediately re-
sponsible to the Secretary Of the Treasury,
who, in turn, is responsible to the President
for their conduct He, therefore, requires
the performance Of all the duties in relation
to applications Tor the Office Of the Collector
Of Customs for the District Of New York at
the hands Of the Secretary Of the Treasury,
and when the cases are fully and clearly
made up, he makes the selection Of the APP
pointee from among the applicants, il any
one Of them be deemed capable, honest and
faithful, and il not, from among the citizens
who have not applied In making this Sc
lection, the opinion Of the Secretary Of the
Treasury necessarily has, and ought to have,
more weight than that Of any other head Of
Department, and very properly too, for he is
held responsible for the administration Of the
concerns Of the Treasury.
Y The Constitution also declares, that Con-
gress may by law vest the appointment Of
such inferior officers as may be thought
proper in the heads Of Departments. The
law, for instance, vests the appointment Of
the clerks in the First Auditors Bureau in
the Secretary Of the Treasury, but the head
Of that Bureau is appointable by the Presi-
dent and Senate The Secretary Of the
Treasury is necessarily and wisely consulted,
in the choice Of the head Of that Bureau
under the present NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
the Secretary Of the Treasury is held re-
sponsible for the execution Of his Office, of
which the First Auditors Bureau is part,
and the Secretary of the Treasury holds the
First Auditor responsible, in turn, for the
execution Of the duties Of his Office but we
would inquire, how is the First Auditor to
discharge the obligations imposed upon him,
unless he shall have voice in the selection
Of the clerks which the law allows him / He
cannot do Justice to himself, nor perform the
duties Of his office as they ought to be per-
formed, unless he is allowed to be heard in
the choice of the clerks apportioned to him.
1t is utterly impossible. The doctrine Of
the division Of labor and responsibility is as
applicable to the Secretary Of the Treasury
and the heads Of Bureaus, as to the Presi-
dent and the heads Of Departments. If II
is right to adopt It in the latter, il is right to
do so in the former, and the country has
cause to rejoice to know that this rule pre-
walls and will hereafter prevail. Unless the
clerk Of Bureau is responsible to the head
Of that Bureau, the head can never succeed
in discharging his obligations to the Secre-
tary Of the Department to which il belongs,
and the Secretary cannot discharge his OBJ
legations 10 the President. IL the Bureau
clerk knows that he owes his appointment
exclusively to the power Of the Secretary,
and that the head Of the Bureau had no
word to say in the premises, there will be no
obedience, no subordination to the head Of
the Bureau. This was the practice under
the last four administrations, and hence the
dilatoriness in most Of the Bureaus Of the
Government with the public business. A
distinguished chief Of Bureau told US,
few days ago, that if the business was his
own, and he could get no better clerks than
those he had, he would pay two-thirds Of
them to stay out Of the Office And yet, for
years past, this head Of Bureau has had to
DtdF the uiuiIiS VI VIC WHoic county luT
neglect Of duty, Incidence, and every other
official vice How different would il have
been il he had had even an advisory voice
in the selection Of his clerks. The practice
has been for the Secretary to send down to
the chief Of Bureau, the name Of a given
person for clerkship in that Bureau, with
instructions for that chief to create va
cancy, if there were none, and then TO nom
mate to the Secretary the name Of the per-
son sent down, without why or where
fore. When this was done, the nominee
was confirmed, and went into Office over the
head Of his immediate superior. This prac-
tice is now changed It has been changed
to what twas in the early days Of the Re-
public. The chief Of Bureau, who is re-
snonsible will be left free To suggest to