The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-12-22
Executive Nominations to 0IIices
From he N. Y. Times.

From De NJ Y. Times.
Senator Edmunds has introduced bill to
prohibit any officer of the army or navy from
holding civil Office. What the precise mo-
tive of the bill may be we do not know. II
it is to prevent the drawing of double salaries,
that object is already attained by existing
laws. No military officer appointed to civil
Office can draw the salaries of both positions.
II its purpose is to require an army officer to
resign before taking civil Office, we see no
special objection to the law, nor any special
nee essity for it.
But if its object is to exclude officers of the
army and navy from the list of candidates for
civil office, it seems to us detrimental to the
public service, and unjust to the distinguished
officer of the army whom the people have Just
placed at the head of the civil service. II
General Grant should see fit to continue Gene
raj SchOfeld in the War Department, and to
appoint Farragut or Porter Secretary of the
Navy, Congress ought not to interpose, by
special legislation, to prevent him from doing
so. His judgment and his action in the mat
ter should be left untrammelltd. Both those
departments are to a certain extent technical
in their duties and their character, and it may
be that Gen. Grant will think that their duties
can best be performed by men who have had
training and experience in the special matters
which belong TO them.
We can easily understand why the large
class of professional politicians who assume
the exclusive task OF governing the country
should object to putting these great depart
ments into the hands of military or naval
officers. The distribution of their patronage
the making of their contracts and the dis
bursement Of the large sums of money at their
oommand-Wlll be better managed by politi-
clans than by professional men, the politicians
themselves being judges. We may expect,
therefore, q determined resistance on their
- % xrnkAn
Secretary OF War or naval officer Secretary
of the Navy. The whole political aud party
interest OF the country will be arrayed
against it.
The proposed bill will be equally injurious
in its application to the Indian Bureau. The
transfer OF that bureau to the War Depart
ment will be of little advantage If all its pre-
sent machinery of Indian Agents, SuperiH-
teDdents, etc., Is to be transferred with it.
The great utility of the measure lies in getting
rid OF all this, and in having the duties now
assigned to the vast army of ofHce-holders
created for the purpose performed by the army
officers on duty at the various Indian posts,
who have become familiar, in the discharge of
their regular duties, with the various Indian
tribes with whom they have to deal. These
army officers ought to be the Agents and
superintepdents through whom the Govern
ment distributes its gifts and makes its arrange
ments with the Indian tribes. They can do it
more intelligently; they are less likely to BE-
interested in jobs and schemes of fraud they
have more Of the confidence aud respect OF
the Indians, and are in every way better fitted
to perform these duties than the Agents sent
ont by the Government for that special ser
vice. We should be- sorry to have any law
passed which should prevent the War Depart
Iuent on the President from securing the SER
vices of the officers Of our army in this
capacity.
Indeed, we see no necessity whatever for
any laws which shall interfere 0iM he mdepen-
dent Judgment and discretion ofhe President, ia
his selection of suboIdinatss for carrying on
the Executive Department of the Government.
One of the wisest things done in Congress thus
far was General Buffers introduction of his
bill to repeal the Tenure. OF Office law. The
law was passed under pressure of a necessity
(real or assumed) which will no longer exist
when Mr.. Johnson's term ex pires; aud we
have never had an Executive in whose pa
triOtism, Judgment, and disin.erested regard
for the public good the whole country has
placed more undoubHng confidence than in
General Grants. He has great task before
him-one of great difficulty and of great re-
sponsibility-in nothing more weighty or
more important than in clearing the civil SER
vice from the abuses the ruptious, and the
imbecilities that have gathered around it. He
ought not to be needlessly fettered or ham
Tered in this matter. UNTIL at all events, he
gives Congress reason to distrust his wisdom
and his purposes, he should be left free to
consult his own judgment in this important
branch OF his own department.
The Senate retains absolute control over all
the Presidents nominations to Office; and
recent events show that 1t is not likely to
relax the rigor with which this control is ex-
ercised. 1t is much more likely to dictate to
! the President what nominations he shall
make, than to confirm, with too much defer
ence to his wishes, those which he may send
in. While this state Of things lasts, where is
the necessity of making new laws to prohibit
him from sending in such nominations as he
may think htS Is not the Senate's control Of
the whole matter absolute enough already