American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1851, 1851-09-03
WAsHIsGTOn,
FoaEros News See telegrsphic despatch.
rhe Non-sehie.i Prineipie.


Tn. Mon.ronioal Principie.
The appointing power vested in the Chief
Executive officers Of the United States Govern
ment is the source Of more corruption than al
other causes combined. 1t appears strange t.
us that the people throughout the nation dc
notlook into this. important subject and resolve
upon correcting the evil. Congress has the
disposition to do 80, but its attention cannot DC
drawn toward it without the influence OF tne
people at large, Other topics are vehemenuy
urged upon that body, and it has lt.e uisoio-
ton left as TO the choice of what IL snail take
up for consideration at any moment
There are some twenty bureaus and twelve
other chief offices in the service of the Govern
ment in this city, having from half dozen to
ninety clerks, &C., each. In these bureaus and
offices the direction and labor, with rare excep-
tions, fall upon subalterns. The "heads,' as
they are called, in half the instances, never
well understand the business they are expected
to conduct They are mere politicians, who, it
Is well known, are the most trifing and imbe-
Gle fellows in the world. Yet they have a tre-
mendous control over the clerks under them,
though they crouch in servility to the Secreta-
ries above them and the Secretaries, with the
President, constitute conclave of prescription,
and are often compelled to do work that q judge
of the Spanish Inqusition, in its bloodiest days,
would almost shrink from. In hundreds and
thousands of instances the best and most compe-
tent and honorable clerks under our Government
have in the morning left their families, whose
bread depended upon the monthly salary, re-
paired to their accustomed places of labor to
perform their duty in good faith, and returned
in the evening, disheartened, detected and sor-
rowful, with note Of dismissal, and no hope
for the future!
There Ia no clerk under the Government
whose tenure Of employment is more certain
than this Should this be SO?
But it may be said that the interests of the
Government are more important than the well
fare Of these individuals So they are; but
does any one suppose these interests can be best
promoted under such system? We do not.
On the contrary, faithful and efficient men can
not 30 well be retained in Office; but helpless
ness, imbecility, and toadyism are invited by
such . state of things.
The plan we have proposed is, to have every
years, within which he cannot be removed ex-
cept for cause and upon fair trial He would
thus be an independent man, and would stake
his advancement or reappointment upon his
good character and official usefulness.
We would vest the power of appointment in
the head of each Office or bureau, subject to
the approval of his Secretary for these heads,
being responsible for the labors performed I'M
der them, would be interested in the procuring
of good men.
We would have these heads in turn nomi-
mated by the clerks under them-(who would
in general select from their own number, and
thus secure both talent and experience i'm
this case also subject to the approval of the
Secretary.
The Secretary would in this wise prevent
corruption, while he could not practise it, hav-
ing no nominating power.
Under this arrangement the various bureaus
and Offices, and the various persons engaged in
each, would exhibit at once salutary rivalry
and q laudable esprit du corps, from which the
public service would derive great benefits
Two-thirds Of the force now in Office would be
found capable of performing all the duties, and
in more satisfactory manner than at present.
There would be neither bunglers nor irones,
of which we now have very many.
The policy Of an administration depends upon |
the President and his Cabinet, whose c0unsels
can be as faithfully carried out by the men of
one party as of another. The spoils notion pro-
ceeds legitimately from the present monarchi-
BAL principle of appointment and dismissal, and
will be sent to old Beelzebub in its company.
Lest men now working for Office may oppose
his from interested motives, let crafty them,
or the sake of carrying the point. Let US '
go it blind, and permit the next Administra- :
on, (Whig, Democratic, Abolition, Fire-eater, !,
r Union Conservative, or by whatever name !
! is to be called to work one year under the
resent plan, and then enter upon the new,
nth the Departments as then manned. OF
curse electioneering trifers viii at that time
i'll the places, but that will be the case any
low, and the proposed scheme will teach and
improve even these, until they shall become
pretty fair clerks.
Congress should act upon this subject early
in the next session, before the business OF
President-making shall stand In the way, ana
before chapfallen party shall have motive
for opposing it,
ApporxrMExT.-We learn that Mr.. George
w. Brega, the Washington correspondent of
the Philadelphia Inquirer, and who also CORE
spends for, and sends telegraphic dispatches to
the New York Herald, has been reinstated in
a twelve hundred- clerkship in the Post
Office Department.
Mr.. Brega was first appointed to Office under