The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-02-05
sATU RDAY, FEBRUARY s, 1870.
THE SALE OF CADETSHiPS.

YEsrRaDAY the National House of Representa-
tiyes took an important step towards reliev-
ing itself of one Of the scandals that bring it
into discredit, by the adoption of a resolu-
tion offered by Mr.. Slocum, of New York,
authorizing the Committee on Military Affairs
to inquire if any member of the House had ever
sold or offered to sell his influence as men,
ber in securing appointments to the Military
or Naval Academy, and whether any member
had received, or expressed willingness to re-
ceive, any valuable consideration for using his
influence in connection with such appoint
ments In Offering this resolution, Mr.. Slocum
called the attention of the House to the fol-
lowing advertisement in the New York Times
of February 2:-
UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY.--vacant
cadetshp to be Oiled before Jufe. Parties OF means
address CONGRESSMAN, Box No. 1iI, III hes oflce.
Also West Point vacancy.
and remarked that she thought it one
of the crying evils of the day that
to hold Office was deemed dishonorable,
and that to have the name of poll
tician was little better than to be called a
thief, and it was just such articles as that
which brought members of Congress into
disrepute"
We hope that it is the sin itself and not the
publicity given to it that constitutes the
offense in this case, for it has been q matter
of notoriety for years past that many men,
bers of Congress considered the amounts they
were able to realize from the sale of appoint
ments to Annapolis and West Point as per-
fectly legitimate perquisites; and it cannot be
at all difficult for the House to obtain all the
information it wants on the subject, if it
is really interested in relieving itself
from the odium that such practices
cast upon it. There was much virtuous
indignation expressed by several members
yesterday at the very idea of member of
Congress being guilty of such conduct, and
Mr.. Woodward, of this State, informed the
House that similar case had come under his
own notice, and that he had intended to offer
q resolution on the subject. Mr.. Wood, of
New York, took occasion to say that he had
recently observed an advertisement in a
Philadelphia paper offering an appointment
Of this kind for sale, which seemed like an
attempt to remove some of the odium from
the New York delegation to this city, but as
nobody but Mr.. Wood has seen the adver-
tisement in question, the Philadelphia Con-
gressmen may rest in peace for the present.
Mr. Sco6eld said that he had seen in two
different newspapers published in the west
ern part of Pennsylvania an intimation that
some member of Congress had sold one Of
these appointments for the sum of $500,
which seems to locate the offense, so far as
this State is concerned, on the west of the
Aleghenies. The resolution of Mr. Sloca IL
was adopted without opposition, for it was
one of those delicate matters that the parties
most interested would not be likely to oppose
openly in the House. 1t too often happens,
however, that nothing more is heard of inva3-
legations into the peccadilloos of Congressman
after they are placed in the hands of committees,
and unless some of the indignation expressed
yesterday was more real than our past expe-
riences would make us believe, this affair
will be hushed up, and no further effort
made to drag the offenders to light Those
members Of Congress- who are really
free from blame should insist, how
ever, on the committee doing its duty and
prosecuting the Investigation with vigor, foI
the entire House now rests under an impata-
tion that is in the highest degree dscre-
ditabie.