The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-06-10
THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 1869.
THE ROW OFFICES.

nominated candidates for the lucrative Row
Offices which are to be filed at the coming
General election. Some of the proceedings
connected with these nominations afforded a
powerful new illustration of the necessity Of
such change of the law as will compensate
all leading city officials with moderate salaries
instead of enormous fees. Take the Recorder
of Deeds, for instance What good reason is
there, under the sun, for giving to the incum-
bent of that Office larger annual remunera-
ton than the people of the United States pay
to the President? He is not required to pos
sess any special qualifications or to discharge
any difficult duties. Practically, his labors,
after he has secured a nomination and cleo
ton, consist in appointing few clerks, hunt
ing up securities and then abstaining from
any serious attention to his official duties be-
yond careful supervision of his fees. Any
body can do all that is usually required of
Recorder of Deeds, and ten thousand men
in Philadelphia could for three thousand dol
lars per annum, transact all the business
legitimately devolving upon the head of the
Office quite as well as it is usually transacted by
the men who receive more than thirty thou
sand dollars.
Under the present system, an Office of this
character is regarded as a rich prize by greedy
politicians, and they resort to the most despe-
rate and disreputable devices to secure it.
They look forward to it as the eliminating re-
ward of years of intrigue and partisan chica-
merry, and in their eagerness for triumph they
become ready to bribe, barter, cheat, and
caiole in the most shameless manner All
the base passions and the base motives of the
human heart are enlisted in the contest; and
whatever may be thought of the general ap-
plication of the maxim that partisan ma
neuvring 's the madness of the many for
the benefit of the few, it certainly applies to
the usual struggles for this position, and is
doubly true of the nomination made yes
terday.
After some fashion John A. Houseman was
declared the nominee for Recorder of Deeds
He is reported to be wealthy. Why should
he be singled out as an object specially worthy
of further enrichment? What superior
claims has he upon the respect, confidence,
generosity, or regard of the citizens of Phila-
delphia that they should stuff more green
backs into his well-ined pockets? None that
we have ever heard of-none that were seri-
ously urged as reason for his nomination.
1t is commonly believed that he owes his tenn
porary triumph mainly to his connection with
and services to the Gas Ring, which has already
surrounded itself with odium by the pernicous
influence it has exerted upon the Republican
party in this city, and by its arrogant attempts
tomake thousands of good Republicans the sub
servient servitors of its favorites. 1t is high
time that combinations of this character
should be broken up, and no better oppor-
tunity than the present could be desired for
giving ''all whom it may concern" distinctly
to understand that the influence of the Gas
Ring ceases with nominating conventions, and
that in a contest before the people its candi-
dates are inevitably doomed to an overwhelm-
ing defeat. The better sense of the conven-
ton which assembled yesterday was clearly
against this pernicious influence. Determined
to nominate Houseman at all hazards, it was
compelled to exc out its deficient
strength by bribery and fraud. How
many delegates were bought and paid
for no man knows except those who kept the
account books, but large number were un-
doubtedly secured in this manner. Even the
sufficient to overcome the repugnance of the
convention. Cheating was then resorted to,
and the Committee ON Credentials reported
that a set of Houseman men were entitled to
seats who had no earthly claim to a vote upon
the foor-a notable instance of the frauds of
this description being furnished by the at
tempt to deprive Samuel G. Perkins, Esq,
one of the Vice presidents of the convention
of his seat Subsequently, false voting in the
interest of Houseman was repeatedly at
tempted, and in one instance the knavery of
this description was so manifest that large
body of the delegates were upon the point of
leaving the room. Finally, after many dis
graceful scenes of disorder, which were the
fitting counterparts of the corruption, in
tripue, and fraud which characterized the
whole Houseman movement, he received a
majority of votes cast; but the convention,
conscious of the wrongs that had been perpe-
trated, very properly refused to make the
nomination unanimous, and then adjourned
amid great disorder.
Under these circumstances, we consider that
every Republican is perfectly free to vote as
his own judgment and conscience shall die
tate. and that the true interests of the Repub-
lican party will be much better served by de-
feating the candidate of the Gas Ring by an
overwhelming majority than by his election.
To e..dorse him is to endorse not only an in
sidious and arrogant influence, but the most
discreditable acts that ever disgraced parti-
sonsbin. while his defeat will teach the grasp