New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-07-10
MORE ABOUr OFncK-SEEKING.

MORE ABOUT OFFICK-SEEKING.
We are so anxious to induce correct habits OF
thinking and acting on this important subject
that we have infinite patience with those who
controvert our view of it. One of them, after
much that is incOnsequent, says:
''While indscnminate denunciatiOn OF ONCE Seekers
has little effect upon the jobbers and the pothouse pot
clans It does beat back and discourage those deserving
men who respect themselves and respected by others
It, therefore Indirectly aids the vile and unprncpled
But, pray tell u.s. dear TRIBUNE, how many men that
have eminent In public affairs have not been ONCE
seekersi Have had as many as three Presidents OF
the United States who did not seek that object Did not
Henry Clay seek again and again and did not the Ed
itor OF THE TRIBUNE his defeat as over the
death friend There who have sought, won,
and done honor TO high positions. Would The TRIBUNE
have the President ignore such men, and appoint un-
known men to important places-unknown men who
could not be unknown II they had rendered any signal
service to our causei II 10 be active and aspiring in
political affairs TO be rewarded with neglect and even
with denuncaton then men OF character and capacity
will turn away with disgust and not even fifty OF the
leading men in n district can coax them back. The
field will DO left clear for the 'iobbers."
Response by The Tribune
Our correspondent asks" Have we had as
"many as three Presidents of the United
Estates who did not seek that Office f"-and we
answer, Yes more than twice three! We
venture TO say that neither George Washington.
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madi-
son, John Quincy Adams, Andrew jackson,
William Henry Harrison, James X. Polk,
Franklin Pierce, Abraham Lincoln, or Ulysses
s. Grant, ever solicited the aid of any man TO
make him President. There are eleven; and
we doubt whether all the others were SO indeli-
cate as to solicit votes.
If by seek" our correspondent means moth
ing more than desire, he uses words with mex
cusable carelessness Mr.. Clay did desire to be
President; but whom did he ever solicit to
support hint We know not.
We object to oflice-begging that it unfairly
places the persons begged of in a most perplexing
position Here is one you know and would gladly
serve, yet whom you do not consider just the
man for Minister to Lisbon or Consul to Liver
pool. But he gets up petition for the office,
and brings it to you for your signature, giving
you the alternative Of complying with his solicit
tation OF mourning his ill-will. So you either
sign, thereby declaring what you do not believe
and would rather not say, or refuse, and are
regarded by him as an enemy; when in fact you
wish him well, but think there are better men
for this place, and that one of them should ill it.
We say it is unfair and indicate to corner
any one in this way.
We mourned the defeat Of Mr.. Clay in 1874,
but not mainly for his sake. We sorrowed for
our country, not for any one citizen. And now
looking back calmly, after an interval Of
quarter of a century, we say that, in our DELHI
crate judgment, this country would have had
twenty-five per cent. more wealth, and some
Two Millions more people, had Mr.. Clay been
declared elected, rs he truly was. New-YOrk
and Louisiana gave him majority of their
legal votes, but gigantic frauds deprived him
of their Electors as they did Gen. Grant last
Fall
Our correspondent asks, if we would have
the President "ignore those who have won and
hOnored high positions, and appoint unknown
4" men to important places" Why, Sir, this is
Just what we would not have, and what your
system secures Those who have done nothing
for the country are always foremost to do
for themselves. They can badger fifty men
into signing their papers where genuine, modest
merit cannot get one. There have been in
stances of men who did not even vote at an
election starting bright and early next morning
with begging-paper land getting half the
town to sign their petitions for Office No
means were ever better adapted to an end than
is the begging system to level all distinctions
between merit and demerit, eminence and insig-
nificance.
Our correspondent thinks it pity If men
who are active and aspiring are to be
ignored in the bestowal Of Office. The " ac-
/" tive will not be ignored, If you leave Presi-
dents and Governors to make their selections
unbored by the aspiring" who are often
very different class. Leave every one free to
sign or speak for those whom he deems most
worthy, and all will go well; but the button
holing abuse puts everything at hap-hazard.
Away with it Led.