The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-24
AnnOinlmeNts Is to Office.

From the ". T. Times.
We do not propose to advise General Graut
how to make appointments to the forty thou
sand Offices he will be expected 10 fill as soon
as he becomes President, partly because he
has not asked our advice, from which we infer
that he does not want it, and partly because
we do not suppose he would take it even if We
should thrust it upon him. But We venture
to submit to our readers a few suggestions on
the subject, so that they may not be taken by
surprise itthey should find them substantially
acted on when the administration passes into
General Grants hands.
l. All the offices of the country are filled
now. Where they prove to be well filled
where the new President finds that the in.
cumbents are honest, faithful, and efficient
officers, and not Extensively obnoxious as poll
ticians-it strikes us that it would be wise
to let them alone. The country will thus have
the benefit of the experience they have ac-
quired in the discharge of their duties, aud
the Treasury will be- saved from the pew
swarm OF hungry Ofice-seekers who are await
ing their turn.
ii. The President will find himself sur
rounded by an amy of persons VINO will
claim the night of telling him whom he may
appoint and whom he must not. AT the head
OF the host will be- the members OF Congress,
who will begin by demanding, IS their rights,
this control of his appointments. 1t would
D6 WlSt, WS LulIhi lOI Iuo new ITb5llbuJ 10
begin by denying this right in toto, and by re-
fusng, in the most positive manner, thus TO
surrender the appointing power into other
hands.
This claim of Congressmen to dictate the
Presidents appOintees, each for his own dis
trct is comparatively modern; but it has
come to be very peremptory aud absolute.
No one thing, probably, decided s0mauy votes
IN the House in favor of impeachment as Pre-
IAh "A IN MAJ ,hAr
to make his appoiDtms nts for him. That is
the way in which every member eX poets to
pay oil his Obligations to those who were most
active, devoted, and effective in securing his
election. The Presidential patronage is as
sumed TO bs the common stock on which the
members OF Congress are TO draw for the pay
ment OF their political dsbts; their checks on
that bank are the Illegal tender'' of the couu.
try 1t strikes us it would be we'll for the
new President TO ispel that del9sion, aud TO
give Congress ard the country 70 understand
that the Offices OF the country are parts of ths
machinery by which the executive fulfl5 his
oath to enforce the laws and carry on the
GOvernment. His duty and his interest alike
require that none but good men should be
appointed to fill them.
Ill. Copgressmen may naturally be sup
posed TO know more aOout he character and
fitness of applicants and candidates TOR office
in their respective districts than the President
can; ana he may, with great advantage, there
fore, call upon them to tell him what they
know about them. Upon the Information
which he may hs able thus 10 gather from
members OF Congress and others he can, il
the exercise OF his own Judgment, be able u
make good appointments; hut it should bs hi
judgment, and not heir pishes which control,
the selection. For member of Congress Il
tell the President why man ought to be ap
pointed, what are his qualifications for th,
place, is to render the President service; bu
for him to demand an appointment in order t,
pay off political obligation of bis own, ani
to tell him who must be appointed aud whc
must not, is little short of an imposition an,
an insult.
". The President may as we'll uuderstau'
at first, what he will very soon learn, tina
applications for office, backed up by grea