The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-15
SPIRIT or THE PRESS.
EDITORIAL OPINIONS or THE LEADING JOURNALS
IRON CURRENT TOPIcs--ooMPILED EVERY
DAY FOR rHH EvREINs TRLBeRAPB
EepenI Of the Terure. of.Onlce Lnr.

Repeal OF the Tenure Of-Ofiice Lave
F,rorp the ~. u. World
We suppose there is little reason to DOUBT
that tha bill repeating the renure-Ot Ohoe act
will pass the Senate, as IL has the House. The
repeal will be generally approved by the peo-
pls. who, knowing that the public service Is
rsvoltipely corrupt, desire that General Grant
should be deprived OF every excuse for falling
10 rsform IL. AS between the rasoally Repub-
i;csn officials who now hold places and any
nossible use the new President may make of
bis mower. the people do not hesitate mo-
ment 10 prefer the arbitrary will OF the latter.
We are willing to conoede that the power of
removal for merely political reasons, or re-
moyal without reasons, is subject to great
abuse, and that it has been greatly abused.
Rut the experiment of different system, pro-
osedip0 from the motives 1t did, and attended
by the results it has, has pretty much discou-
raced any expectation OF benefits from giving
a greater fixity to the tenure OF ONCE Wnat-
ever fate might have attended Mr.. JencKes'
bill under more favorable circumstances,
there ia no chance that it can be passed now
Our experience OF a liked tenure, win
onubrous and roundabout method OF re-
moval has poured odium upon what
MIGHT perhaps, have been promising
reform, We have found that officers are more
likely to fail in integrity than in capacity;
and that dishonesty is infinitely the greater
evil of the two. The duties Of most
administrative offices are very simple. Our
whole history hardly furnishes a remember
able example of any great detriment to the
public interests by the ignorance or imbecility
Of merely ministerial officers. The chief evils
to be guarded against are frauds, defalcations,
bribery, collusions between officers Of the
revenue and those who ought to pay it. These
evils have grown to such height under a
fixed tenure, that everybody feels that the
great urgency at present is not to keep men
in Office, but to turn them out. Honesty is
thing that can be tested only by trial. Knaves
are often 80 crafty, subtle, they 80 habitually
oover their tracks and conceal the evidence of
their crimes, that they may remain long in
Office without any tangible evidence Of their
guilt. They may be suspected, and yet there
may not be against them scintilla OF proof
which might not be consistent with inno-
cenoe, although it raised suspicious of their
guilt. If the President has the power of
prompt removal without any necessity of
giving reasons, or any liability to review, he
can clear out all suspected persons at once,
without injuring their reputation if innocent,
or waiting for complete evidence il they are
guilty. The real motive for removal might do
great injusticei if the President were compelled
to disclose it; but if he can remove without as
signing any reason, and this practice is
habitual, no wrong can be done, for no mans
uOu0bty ID lmpedCHeus IL tn6T6 Is tAuRlDl6
evidence of malversatiop, the officer should be
prosecuted after his removal and made to
suffer the legal punishment; but when man
is merely removed, he should be deemed inno-
cent until he is proved guilty. This constant
liability to removal cuts off all possibility Of a
ohioanipg defense when there is guilt which
the evidence does not reach, and it invigorates
efficiency and fidelity. Such a power is
indeed liable to great abuse; but the abuses
are as nothing compared with the widespread
rottenness which has grown up under the
opposite system.
When, as may often happen, the Presiden,
and Senate are Of different politics, the evils
of q fixed tenure become stupendous. Each
branch of the appointing power wishes to
keep its own Partisans in Office, and knaves
are furnished with the ready defense of saying
that charges against their character are in.
vented by political hostility. The effect is to
out the sinews Of responsibility, or rather to
abolish official responsibility altogether, and
leave no resource against official corruption
but the slow, tedious, cumbrous forms OF q
legal prosecution, where flaw in the indict-
ment or evidence morally conclusive but
legally inadmissible, or the slackness or con-
nivance of prosecuting officers, may enable
scoundrels to 60 scot free. This is surely a
bad system: it is not easy to imagine any
thing worse. 1t has brought about such a
state of things that, if General Grant shall be
honest, efficient, and resolute in using the
power about to be restored to the President,
it will be a long time before any scheme for
giving fixed tenure of Office can even gain a
hearing.