The Portland daily press., 1867-12-05
DAILY PRESS.
Thursday Morning. December 6, 1867.

PORTLAND.

Thursday Morning. December 6, 1867.
A Cry Of Distress from the Executive.
All the Presidents before the present in
cumbent have had unlimited power in respect
to removals from Office The partial check on
the appointing power furnished by the consti-
tutional provision requiring the assent of the
Senate before nominations to Office could
take effect was rendered in degree nugatory
by this sovereign authority to remove. So
ong as the President had the power to create
vacancies in offices which the interests of the
government required to be filled, the Senate
had at best only the choice OF the least OBJ
iectiouable Of the appointees of the Executive
as means of excluding improper persons
| from Office. This being the case, ambitious
Presidents-and they are all ambitious of a
-election-were enabled by the immense
patronage at their disposal to devote them
selves with great assiduity to the business
of looking. out for the second term
| The question was not, who Is the fittest
man for particular position, but whose In
| fuence will be most valuable to me at the
next election. This time honoredp abuse
| which " our fathers" left us among the many
good things in their heritage was unchecked
| till the passage of what Is known as the Ten
ure-o.-Ofice bin, in March, 1867. This act il
intended to restrict the President to his lead.
ing duty Of executing the laws instead Of
| executing his own subordinates by the
summary method of decapitation, with ref
erence solely 10 ulterior ends of his own
| and regardless of the exigencies of the pub
lie service The present statute requires that
in case of all officers, except members Of the
Cabinet, whose appointments have been by and
with the advice and consent Of the Senate,
the President can only suspend from Office for
upon the case, and either sanctioned or an
nulled the proceeding of the Executive
Thus was oyerthrown the guillotine IN the
Presidents back yard, where he almost daily
filled his private basket with official heads. Sd.
No wonder that In his late message the
President cries out in extreme bitterness of
| spirit at the removal of the chiefest among
his Jewels. No wonder that his rhetorical
| asonies are SO excruciating as to be more
than equivalent to the tearing of the hair
and rending the garments of the ancients or
| the fearful hdri-kari of the Orlentals. He
applies to himself in his condition of forced
abstinence from innocent official blood
the most depreciatory epithets. Under
| the hateful act, which, having been blasted
and blighted at its inception by thunder
bolt veto forged by some grim old le-
| gal Cyclops who works in the White House
basement, is of course unconstitutional, the
President has become a mere ''commen In
| former and an "accuser," The spirit Of An
drew jackson and all his successors Is strong
within him as he dwells on the gigantic
wrong. 1t is as il the African monarch, who
from time inmemorial has possessed an
unquestioned right to wear two tails as in
sigma of eminence, should by the laws of
his unfeeling legislature be limited to one.
Beyond declamatory invective, MIR. john
sons objections to the Tenure of Office act
are these: 1t destroys the subordinats's re-
| sponsibility to bis superior by making his
tenure of Office no longer dependent upon
the mere will of the appointing power; the
Senate is not a proper body to decide whether
there have been good grounds for the suspen-
sion of an officer, because it may be hostile to
the Executive on political grounds ard so be-
| come incapable Of deciding such questions
with Judicial fairness, the Senate's action
cannot possibly he anticipated, for it proceeds
according TO no settled rules and decides ac-
cording to no settled principles, and 1t is,
therefore, unsafe for the Executive to avail
| himself of even the limited authority left him
by law - aHoHi fo'i tauo. lv.n
There is no hope that Mr.. johnson will ev-
er secure any redress for the loss OF patron
age which is his real grievance; but for the
real imperfections in the present system of
appointments and removals, including some
OF those mentioned by him, remedy has al
ready been suggested. The remedial princi-
pie is to be found in the CIviI Ber~ier- -p1H OF
Hon. Thomas A. Jenckes of Rhode Island,
though the language of that bill In
its present form makes it applicable
solely to officers who are appoint
ed without the advice and consent of
the Senate. It provides that hereafter the
civil offices to which it has reference shall be
filed by persons who ere found to possess the
best qualifications in an open, competitive ex-
animation. The examinations are to be con-
Quoted by three commissioners, who are to be
known as the Civil Service Examination
Board The Board also prescribes the quail
fications which shall be deemed requisite for
any branch or grade of the civil service, and
also what misconduct or ineficiency shall be
considered ground for removal from effiee.
1t is authorized to try offenders upon charges
preferred against them by the proper parties
The President or the Senate may order be.
fore this Board for examination applicants for
any Office where the Senate Is party to the
appointment, but we do not find any provis-
ions for the trial of any but officers of lower
grades. II the terms of the act were extend
ed so as to embrace this class Of cases also 1t
would, when supplemented by Senator Patter-
sons Foreign Service bill, not only hold all
officers to strict and immediate aecounta-
bility and submit the charges of the Execu-
tive to an impartial body proceeding accord
ing to established rules, but also give the
country far better class of Off, ials than 1t
has ever before had. The, last considera-
ton is vitally important one. The
pernicious favoritism and nepot.sm,
which have hitherto had full sway in these
matters, would henceforth be unknown, and
brains instead of influential relatives would
be the prime necessity for office seekers. The
government which fails to give Its Offices to
the best men as general rule lacks one of
the first elements of Success. An examina-
ton of some kind hes been found SO absor
lutely essential to the accomplishment of this
end, that one Is required for both the civil
aud foreign service of England, France and
Russia, and even of the halfciyilized govern
ments of Asia. 80 afw7I0 49, dpii.r
l1Ic ali The State Secretaryslip.
70 the Editor Of the Press. '''" 'iHl .rt
/ observed in your issue Of the 25th a
communication presenting the claims OF tie
Hon. John J. Perry to the Office CO Secretary
of State. In order that the cla;,os of bo,h