Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1858-07-27
CLEVELAND, July 26th.


0ROtation in Onlee.o
A writer in the Leader, some days since, over
the signature of " Nineteenth District" gives
some rather curious reasons in favor Of " Rota-
ton in Office" According to the notions of this
writer, Offices are made for the oFFIcE-HoLD-
Fra, and SHOULD be distributed about among the
people, as rewards for their respective merits =
Wade Csays Nineteenth OistrictO has held the
office of member of Congress for six years;
and then goes on to enumerate eight gentle
men. of equal merit" with Mr.. W, and there
upon states the melancholy result, that it will,
eUs Oso, require fOrty-eight years to place these
eight gentlemen on an equal footing with Wade.
Now. then, mera IS merii; and it strikes me
that !, would not be very difficult to name nine
other citizens of even greater merit than Wade
and the eight others mentioned by {" Nineteenth
District" Ii might be invidious to name these;
will there ore leave it to each electOr TO deter
mine that matter for himself
But unless " Nineteenth District" intends TO
place Wade and the " eight others" at the zero
Of qualification, below which, no merit" for
that Office can be found, there must be descend
fag scale, where men Of an eighth, fourth,
half, and so on through the series of vulgar
fractions, will be entitled to their dividend" Of
Office. equally with the larger shareholder" in
the political "a bank" These Offices, therefore,
/ being held according to the notions Of '' Nine
teenth District" as a common fund for the
reirard of merit and not trusts to be executed,
at whatever cost or hazard to the holder, for
the safety and prosperity Of the people, to whom
they belong, and for whose good alone they
were created are 70 be " farmed out' for such
period and no longer. as will reward the 'merit"
of the holder. Well, justice Is Justice, and what
ever is 4 mans due must be paid to him, " be
The same. more or less" On this principle of
a. Nineteenth Districts" !" there must be men of
.. short session and Z" long session" merit-the
men of one term and tioO term merit, as well as
your THREE TERN chaps, like Wade, Hitchcock,
| Backus, TAYLOR, Perkins, Williamson, Riddle,
Bissell, and Griswold- Now, then, JUSTICE re-
ouires that the small fry" be not omitted in
/ this distribution of the rewards of merit. -
But AGAIN. thsFo may be found another class,
standing at the head Of the list of candidates
for otfice'-men in the District, of merit sufi-
cient to entitle them to be elected, not only for
THREE. but for -FOUR, FIVE, sIx-even to iTEE
/ terms. Vow, what shall be done with these
"a Tritons among the minnnws"i Are they TO
be elected and kept in Office, according to fhslr
merits, and thus head of we chaps who stand
shiTering down at the zero of . one session."
until their Fmerits" are FULLY compensated
If 50. It will be cold comfort to the middlings,"
/ ike Wade and the gentlemen mentioned BY
"a Nineteenth District Again, IN reference to
this PLATFORM Of I" Nineteenth District" may
we nos ask whether there should not be mar
imum of "merit'' established, above which, no
man should be permitted toi seek an election
to the House Of Representatives, but should be
reouired 10 east his hook into Uncle Sans
I . T7--,,,,ffx-a e Sh nopd and therehv
not disturb the "plscary" Of Wade and his
eight rivals
but further. Nineteenth Districts" plan Of
eonferring Office according to supposed scale
of merit, necessarily excludes experience, or
rather makes il a demeTIf, because If included,
the occupant of Office would have one nserIt Tex
| peEience) of which the green aspirant would
/ of necessity be destitute This seems to be
defect IN the system Of " Nineteenth District ;"
INIT his system of rotation would be no sys-
b.. without this defect But perfection is,
perbaps, not TO be affirmed Of any system, and
| especially Of one Of " Office seeking. bad
theory, However, may after all be not so bad IN
practice and genius Ike that OF Nineteenth
| District's,' inspired By hope. may yet remedy
these defects. Let US suggest-A genius Ike
that of "a Nineteenth Distnet's," at once ongi'
naI and profound, may be able TO invent
/ NERrroxErER, (pardon the coinage of word
the novelty Of the case demands - whereby
the gauge Of the EERITs OF each man OF =
wears old and upward may be accurately deter
mined and transferred to 5 ticket to be deposit
al in a pox, and drawn, as we now draw juToTa
the man whose name should be first drawn
10 be member of Congress for the term ndiea-
,ed by the ticket. Rr. if no such accurate
method should be discovered, then an 1ssEssoR
Of nnerit. and "bO1rd of equalization might
Be- arranged, SO as to obtain an approximate
degree Of merit for each adult male Of the DIS
triet. sufficient probably for al practical PuI-
poses-the names TO be deposited and drawn In
the way indicated above.
Now, Mr. Editor, need not enlarge upon
the benefits to be derived from this NEW Prinel-
Die upon which members of Congress (and
which is equally well adapted to State, County
and Township ofiees) may be appointed: IT'S
needless to dwell on the amount OF breath spent
in stump-spseehing, swearing, lying, newspa-
per squibbing-to say nothing Of the more sub
stautial article of cash-which this method
would save to the people and candidates for
\ Office; and for the suggestion OF which, we
would all be indebted 10 " Nineteenth Distinct,
az the ORIGINAL discoyerer and proprietor.
LET EN- CIRCULATE