Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1858-09-09
Rotation in Office.


As a principle, rotation in Office, with
a few people is right, unless it can be
shown that certain individuals have ex,
elusive privileges, which the masses are
bound to observe and protect. 1t may
be said, by some, that while a man per.
forms his duty, why make a changer
The answer is apparent, for if he has
performed his duty, it is nothing more
than he undertook to do, and the PEG,
pie expect; but that this lays the foun.
datien for a continuance of the incum-
bent, goes upon the presumption that
no other individual is qualified, or thai
the people are under SO deep an obliga-
ton to an officer for doing nothing more
than he was bound to do, that it would
be dangerous to the public service to
make a change. The reasoning is fall
lacious, and well calculated to create
distinctions between the people at large
and c6fce-AOLaers; for it takes for grant.
ed, that none but official dignitaries are
honest and qualified; and moreover lays
the foundation for deoeitful and design.
ing men; to creake lifssterms, by in.
trigue and dissimulation, at the expense
of the true interest of the people; which
is anti-republican in its tendency, and
destructive to the harmony and union Of
any party in the advocacy ~ofprinciples
Qualifications and integrity being equal,
then rotation in all county Offices, is
correct in principle, and therefore should
kont all proper occasions be enforced by
the people.
In the Offices of Sheriff and County
Treasurer, the Constitution i~ntervenes,
and disqualifes the encumbent at the
end of the second term. This provision
is a wise and salutary restraint upon the
ambition and intriguing disposition Of
men, and stands based on the idea, that
county Offices of this class, from the ma.
ture of the duties performed, are SO con.
stantly brought in close competition with
the people, that by small favors and
petty intrigues, a man may easily plar
his own succession, and by means of .
few active friends, thus created, foisi
himself upon the people, through party
machinery, even against their will. A
similar Constitutions prohibition should
have been applied to the offices of coun.
|ty Auditor and county Clerk; for the
same reason prevails in the m case, as
in the other; but the application of the
principle is left with the people to en-
force on all proper occasions.
As an illustration of the principle,
take the case of Mr.. James Albert, the
present incumbent of the Auditors Of
fee, and we have a practical example of
a man attempting to FORCE his own sue
cession through the schemes of party tao
tics and cunning devices, upon the peo-
pie of this county, and that too in vic
lation Of former pledges solemnly ex-
pressed. The case, in many respects is
a strong one, for in the start Mr.. Albert
came into Office, as a timid young man,
only asking one term. This was cheer
fully awarded to him, but by the time
his first term of Office expired, he had
passed through new associations, around
the Court House, where new ideas in the
distance opened upon his imagination,
md hu fha DofroDooo Of Tho oHoa he
was enabled to render himself a for
midable candidate for a second term;
but the principle of rotation in Office
then pressed him so closely, that he was
compelled to endorse it in general terms,
which was easily caught up and put
forth, by his friends, in q pledge, that
he would not be in the way a third time.
Upon this condition he was again re-
nominated, and within the meantime
there was ample room for him to intrigue
for the succession again, and by this
TIME, as a man Interested, he made good
use of his position, for at the next Coun-
ty Convention, Notwithstanding he was
confronted, by many Of the delegates,
with his previous pledges, he was there
in order to secure his nomination, com
PEELED to pledge himself distinctly to
Frank McWhinney, Aaron r. Conger,
G. H. Edison, and many other dele
gates and Republicans, "that if they
tcoud then nominate him and confer the
office to him once more, he aroUM pos
itirely actthhoM his name and not be a
candidate a fourth hm'e," which pledge
was received and acted upon as entire
ly satisfactory, and Mr.. Albert was
nominated and elected accordingly
But the Office would expire, and the re-
ceipt of some sixteen hundred dollars
per annum, out of the county Treasury,
was too much for Mr.. Albert to forego;
if the personal sacrifice could be posi-
bly, averted; for by this time the jack
plain and joiners tools had lost all their
charm for him, and in place of the car
penter's guide the meshes of the politi-
clan had taken possession of his imagi.