The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-04-21

mistakes in this irnp nportant branch
OF the public service. One expedient Is open
TO him: he might, whenever such q list as that
of Ashley's backers for example, is presented
TO him, select from 1t the names of half dozen
who are known TO him TO be di5interested and
reliable, and obtain from them sll the infor
nation in th-ir possession, all the facts bear
irg on the case, and then require them to
assume personally the responsibility of tbs
appointmy into certify, on their official honor
and personal character, that it is one which
they would themselves make If they had ths
power. Such certificate would be worth
thousands OF sim pie signatures, given without
reflection, and simply as means of escaping
importantly. OF course, it would involve
some trouble but so momentous and 80 i'm
portant function as that of appointing thou
sands of public officers throughout the country
cannot and ought not to be performed with
out trouble. And no trouble taken to secure
its proper performance ought to be- considered
useless.
Until we have a settled civil-service system,
based upon recognized principles of justice,
and governed by fixed rules of administra-
ton, we shall be subject to all the evils which
we now experience. The President will con-
tinue to be crushed with applications, over
ridden and overruled by members of Congress,
and treated, in all respects, as the chief super
intendent of frst-class soup-house. The
administration will be corrupt and inefficient,
the country will be disgraced, and republican
government will contrast unfavorably with
any and with all other forms.
OFFICE. SEEKING AND A CIVIL SERVICE
LAW.
From the N. y. World.
The disoreditable scramble for offices which
has been surging against General Grant since
his Inauguration provokes the spleen of some
of our contemporaries, who insist that the
proper remedy for this intolerable pressure
upon a new President is to be found in the
passage of a civil service bill, like that which
has been SO persistently advocated by Mr..
Jenckes. We have more than once conceded
that there would be some advantage-or,
rather, some prospect of advantage, as only
experience can test the value of such mea-
sure-in the passage of Mr.. Jenckes' or some
equivalent bill; but we do not see that any
thing is gained by sverstating its possible
good consequences. To say that, If it had
been a law, it would have precluded the
disgraoeiul scepes that have lately been
enacting in Washington, is such a display
of nonsense and irrelevance as could be
made only by writers whose vague and fighty
enthusiasm has not permitted them to
give any exact attention to the subject Mr..
Jenckes' bill would have included none of the
eleven hundred Offices for which General
Grant has already sent in nominations to the
Senate. We should have witnessed precisely
the same discreditable scramble with the bill
enacted into law, as We have witnessed
without it. Mr.. Jenckes civil service bill, as
any one may sse by reading it, and as its au-
thor has frequently explained in addresses to
public meetings, applies to no officers whose
appointment requires confirmation by the
Senate. But the prodigious huddle of appli-
cants by which the new President has been
besieged and overborne. have been applies ants
for offices Of precisely this description; for
offices which no man can fill until after he has
passed the ordeal of the Senate.
II it be asked why civil service law might
not be passed including all the officers of the
Government, as well as those inferior officers
who are appointed by the heads of depart
ments, and do not require confirmation by the
Senate, the reply is, that grave doubts are en-
tertained whether such law would not be in
conflict with the Constitution. This is the
reason given by Mr.. Jenckes for including
within the scope of his bill only the Washing
ton clerkships and such like inferior Offices
The language of the Constitution applicable
to the subject is, that the President "shall
nominate, and by and with the advice of the
Senate shall appoint, ambassadors, other
public ministers and consuls, judges of the
Supreme Court, and all other officers of the
United States whose appointments are not
herein otherwise provided for, and which shall
be established by law; but Congress may by
law invest the appointment of such inferior
officers as they think proper in the President
alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of
| departments" A civil service law would
| operate as q restraint upon the
appointing power; and Congress has no
| right to restrain or curtail q power
which is conferred upon the President and
| Senate in full measure by the Constitution.
| In those cases where the Constitution autho-
rizes Congress to invest the appointment in
the President alone or the head of q depart
ment, it may Of course prescribe the condi-
tions which must be observed to make the
appointment valid; but it cannot abridge any
| authority which has been fully conferred by
the Constitution itself. II law should be
passed requiring q candidate for the Chief,
Justiceship to be examined like a law student
| applying for admission to the bar, and the
President, disregardiDg so absurd law,
| should fill vacancy In that high office by
| sending to the Senate the name OF an emil
nent lawy er who had not passed such an ex-
animation, and the Senate should confrm
him, we suppose nobody can doubt that he
would be fully entitled to discharge the duties
of the Office. II quo UarrGnto were issued, 1t
would be sufficient TO show that the ofheer had
been nominated by the President and con-
firmed by the Senate, thus possessing every
title to the Office which the Constitution re-
auires. The same reasoning will apply to
every officer whose appointment is vested in
the President and Senate.
Now, it ought to be evident to everybody
who has even slight acquaintance with pub
lie affairs, that civil service law which ap
piled only to petty clerkships and such like
inferior offices, would be a futile remedy fol-
the great mania of office-seekiDg which breaks
out at the advent of every new administra'