The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-02
LIE NEW YORK PREss.
EDITORIAL OPINIONS OF THE LEADING JOURNALS
UPON CURRENT ToPICs-CoMPnED EVERY
DAY FOR THE EVENING TELEGRAPH.


From ne Tribune.
Some of our readers will undoubtedly re-
member the menagerie-man's description o.
an amphibious animal-"He can't live in the
water, and he dies on land;" and this is pre-
cisely the purgatorial position of great many
seekers for office in Washington. If the Pre-
sident smiles upon them the Senate frowns; II
they are distasteful to the White House, there
can be no nomination; if they please his
Excellency, there can be no confirmation
and thus their money is expended and their
patience exhausted while the rays of hope
Youchsafed to them are cold and scanty. Under
such distracting circumstances, sensible men
would pack their valises, pay their tavern
bills if possible and return to their sweet
homes without delay.
Half the time and money, and ingenuity
oftenexpendedin fishing and fighting for place
of small perquisites, and less honor, would set
these deluded gentlemen up in business, and
keep them proftably going afterwards. But
there is a distemper which men catch in lob
bies and caucus-rOoms, which, without being
kind enough speedily to kill, makes fools OF
them and sends them upon a feverish chase
after wild-geese for the rest of their days. If
ANYTHING could cure them it would be the
present deadlock in Washington; but they
are long past all chance of recovery. The les
son which they afford, we hope, will not be
lost upon our youthful and more unsophisti-
Gated readers. A stern resolution at twenty
one never to seek for place but to wait for
place to seek him, will be money in the pocket
of any young man wise enough TO make and
firm enough to keep the wholesome vow.
The Government, we admit, must have SER
wants and servants must be paid. We have
no fault to find with office-holding, provided
IL, ,opo11a aO1 bOnaet (lnr
quarrel is with ofice-seeking adopted as
trade or profession followed often after lament
able failure, fascinating its victim to beggary
or worse, filling his whole nature with the
poison of sycophancy, and gradually reducing
his manliness to a minimum. All this wreck
of character and ruin of fortune would be
avoided if the wretched business of soliciting
place could be brought into the disrepute
which it deserves. We believe that we could
find in this city at least one hundred gentlemen
of frst-rate talents and the best commercial
education, of agreeable manners, and of un-
spotted character, from whom a Collector of
Customs might safely be selected, who would
accept the trust, but who would wait very
long while indeed before asking for it. Such
a person would go into office honest, keep so
while in and surrender his place unblamed
and immaculate. This would be one of the
blessed results of forcing the Government to
look up man Wnen II wanted MIN,
and to put him in charge of affairs unembar-
rassed by pledges and promises, his personal
dignity preserved, his noble soul unmortgaged,
his integrity left free to assert itself. We beg
pardon, III these times, for drawing an idea
picture, and for dreaming of disinterestednes'
and purity. We suppose that we must tax,
the political world as we find it, and that tn
petitioning and palavering, the bribing ant
the button -holing. the sheer beggary, tn
knee-crooking, and the lobby-haunting mus
go on-an incurable disease and a national dis
grace Wherefore we beseech those who ar
worth saving to keep out Of this slough. lie
them go to Washington, if they must, to Sc
the President, the Secretary of State, th
marble Washington, and other curiosities; br
let them smite, as the enemy of their soul, til
first serpent in the shape of friend wh
whispers to them word of the delights an
emoluments of the national service. Goo
men should not cheaper themselves by suin
for recognition, and with the very first gem
fexion, the good that is in a man is eithc
sensibly diminished or altogether disappears