Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1869-05-12
rHE spo11s OF po11r1cs,

ITO the rictors belong the spoils,"
is the battle cry Of the a6herepts of each
new administration in the later times.
There was a period in our country's
history whom this matter of office was
managed differently and better. Then
and it was not so long aso-the Office
sought the man, and not the man tue
Office, because it was believed by the
appointing power that he possessed GER
tain qualifications for it wEich would
render him the most desirable person to
properly, intelligently and honestly iul-
fill its duties. If, by his management OF
its affairs, he proved that his selection
10 the place was a wise one, he remained
in it during life or good behavior. Even
then there were some dishonest officials,
SOM few black sheep in the Govern
ment fold, but they were not many at
least they were not the rule, and II was
still not Arcadia, only Amcrica-ou II
was America governed with economy
wisdom and virtue. The badge OF olhce
was n badge of honor, and the we"rer
was looked up to with respect. Ther
were giants in those days." and pigmiss,
justa as there are now, but while the
honorable Senator or Congressman
might not be intellectually Titanic, yet
few men doubted his integrity. He
might be weak, bu, he was not corrupt.
1. was, altogether, n good system ot
public affairs, and we might better have
spared the loss Of II better one Of another
sort. Under it the country was never
shocked and Inundated, rs it was the
other day under our present plan Of
making appointments, when Senator
after Senator rose in his place to whine
and lament over the fact that the Offices
under this Administration were not dealt
out according to Senatorial dictat'on,
rs formerly. On what page, or in what
section of the Constitution are the
public offices made the property OF
honorable Senators? 1t may be u dis
graceful fact in the history Of politics,
but it is Il true one, that today the
largest office is Senatorially considered
to belong to the man who has worked
hardest to place this or that Senator in
his seat. The means he may have
employed are nothing, for the result
alone is taken into account. The man
who carries the State by means of
forged aud coffse.stained tax receipts
and naturalization papers on the one
side, receives the caucus nomination
for the SenutorShip and the bully on
the other side, who hits hardest and
o~ftenist on election day in his precinct,
considers he has a paramount right 10 Il
place in the Custom House or Post
Office.
We owe all this to Andrew Jackson,
a soldier more than statesman, who
first promulgated the obnoxious doctrine
that to the victors belong the spoils.'
The very expression is brutal, and
smacks Of the bloody, pillaging wars OF
the border, rather than OF our amiaole,
fraternnl contest at the polls. 1t is u
barbarism barbarouS rs war itself,
arising out Of an entire misundcrstand-
ing OF the principles Of our elections.
We may be ever so fierce the day before,
but the day our mau IS either elected
or defeated, We are all friends again,
and neither side was in the habit OF
considering nm election nm excuse for
spelling or plundering a political oppo-
nont. The whole affair. before Jack
sons doctrine came into fashion, was
friendly and fratcrnal in every way.
But under the new dispensation in poll
tics, an election no longer represents to
u certain large and rapidly increasing
class of cormorants, the triumph or
defeat Of n sublime principle Of govern
ment; instead, it means simply that
they have lost or won the spoils.