The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-04-02
THE TENURE-0F-o OFFICE ACT.

THE TENURE-0F-0FFICE ACT.
The great hobby at Washington,
aside from the scramble for office,
is the action of Congress relative to
the repeal of the Tenure Of Office
bill. r t1ai' 'tt-.t
The Senate, on-the oath passed the
following substitute for the bill to
repeal the act:
Strike out all after the enacting
clause, and insert as follows:
s.That the first and second sections
of an act entitled ar act regulating
the tenure of certain civil offices,
passed March 2, 1869. be, and the
same are hereby repealed, and in
lieu of said repealed sections, the
following are hereby enacted:
"That every person holding any
civil office to which he has been or
may hereaf.ep be appointed by, and
with the advice and consent of the
Senate, shall be entitled to hold such
office during the term for which he
shall have been appointed, unless
sooner removed by and with the con
sent and advice OF the Senate, or by
E the appointment, with the like advice
and consent of successor in his
place, except as herein otherwise
provided.
"SEc. 2. Ind be 10 further enacted,
That during any recess of the Senate,
he President is hereby empowered,
tin his discretion, TO suspend any civil
officer appointed by and with the ad
vice and consent Of the Senate, ex
cept Judges of the United States
Courts, until the end of the next
session of the Senate, and TO designate
some suitable person, subject to be
removed, in his discretion, by the
assignment of another to perform
the duties of such suspended officer
in the meantime, and such person SO
designated shall take the oaths and
give the bonds required by law to be
taken and given by the suspended
officers, and shall, during the time he
performs his duties, be entitled 20
the salary and emoluments of such
officer, no part of which shall belong
to the person suspended.
"And it shall be the duty of the
President, within thirty days after
the commencement of each session
of the Senate, except for any Office
which, in his opinion, ought not to
be filled, to nominate persons to fill
all vacancies III offices which existed
at the meeting of the Senate, whether
temporarily filled or not; also in the
place of all officers suspended; and
if the Senate during such session
shall refuse 10 advise and consent to
an appointment in the place of any
suspended officer, and shall also re-
fuse, by vote, to assent to his sus-
pension, then, and not otherwise,
such officer, at the end of the session,
shall be entitled to resume the pos
session of the office from which he
was suspended, and afterward to
discharge is duties and receive its
emoluments as though no such sus-
pension had taken place.
The House refused to concur in
this action of the Senate, and the bill
therefore returned to the Senate
simply as repeal of the original
act. The Senate refused to recede
and asked for a conference commit
tee.
1t seems to be the determination
of some of the members of the
House that this bill shall be repealed
and it is limited that antagonism to
the Senate is the handspring OF this
determination.
If we are to believe>those who
framed this bill, its provisions we're
not aggressive. 1t was simply in
self defense that the Senate passed,
on its part, the bill. We were told,
that the then acting President refused
to concede TO the Senate that por-
tien of the appointing power which
under the constitution belonged to
that body. The Tenure-of-Office
bill was to confirm the Senate in this
right, and not to take any power
which belonged to the Presidential
Office. Is it proposed now that the
Senate shall yield this rightful con-
stitutional power to President Grant,
But say some: "the President does
not want to debar the Senate of Its
rights. He merely wishes to be
untrsmmeled.n Will a law which
merely compels him to yield to the
Senate that voice in the appointing
power to which it is rightfully en-
titled, trammel him If so, does
not the Senate yield its right by
acceding to the repeal of that law :?
OF course President Grant is
s'trammeled." In fact, we know of
no ruler in the civilized world who
is not more or less "trammeled.'' 1t
is apart of the genius of our Govern
ment. We must have better reason
given than we have yet heard, or we
shall insist upon the Tenure Of Office
act remaining upon the Statute
Book.
A CONGRESSIONAL "sucker," that
is to say Representatives, Congress
from the "Sucker" State of Illinois,
took exception to a remark of Hon.
Job Z. Stevenson in the room of the
House Committee on Elections, a.
few days since, and, having no better
argument to offer, endeayored to
settle the matter by fisticuif. He
got rather the worst of the encoun-
ter, and the two were separated by
other members of the Committee.