The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-03-08
FEDERAL PATRONAGE.

FEDERAL PATRONAGE.
BroTn the NJ ". Times ...u ID
IL is now about forty years since the prin-
ministrative Offices of the Federal Govern
ment we're proper rewards for partisan labor,
and that their bestowal was prerogative of
the partv in power President jackson was
the first President who made practical ap-
pGcation of the doctrine. Immediately after
his Inauguration he entered upon a system
of removals from Office and the appointment
of those who had promoted his election. The
incumbents Of almost every Federal Office in
the land, from the highest to the lowest,
were removed to make room for adherents
Of the administration. As an illustration Of
how radical departure from previous prac-
tice was involved in this course, IL may be
stated that Washington made but nine re-
movals in eight years, one of which was that
Of defaulter; John Adams made but ten
removals in four years; jefferson but thirty
nine in eight years. Madison but five in
eight years; Monroe but nine in eight
years, of which six were for cause, and John
Quincy Adams but two in four years, both
for cause.
The precedent established by Jackson has
since been followed by each succeeding ad-
ministration. The principle was afterwards
still further extended to rotation in Office"
in order to provide for q redistribution of
patronage in cases where party maintained
its power for second successive term. The
whole system was very soon demonstrated to
be bad one-it ignored official experience,
capacity, or integrity, and led to frauds and
corruption. Still, the powerful stimulus
which resulted from it, in the way Of partisan
discipline and control, prevented its being re-
formed, and it has finally become recognized
feature in the political management of the
country. 1t is only within the last decade that
a full sense of the demoralizing effects of the
system has been experienced, or any serious
attempt at reform been made. The opposi-
tion which has been manifested towards
every scheme of reform has been very strong,
and constitutes an humiliating demonstration
that the springs of our political action have
been poisoned, and that interest and not
principle controls.
In 1861 new feature was engrafted upon
the old system, which, in its practical results.
has proved most mischievous. After his
Inauguration, President Lincoln very soon
discovered that the demands upon his time
and the vast accession of anxious labor which
had been precipitated upon the Executive
by the war, utterly precluded him or his Cabi-
net from bestowing the attention to the dis
tribution of the Federal patronage which had
previously been given. The rule was there
upon tacitly adopted and has been acted upon
ever since, that all purely local patronage
should be confded to the Representatives in
Congress, while the Senators should control
the bestowal of offices pertaining to States or
portions of States embracing several Con-
gressional districts, and be consulted as to the
fair distribution of general Offices among the
States In the emergency, probably no other
equally practical plan could have been devised
as temporary expedient While the war
lasted it was physical impossibility for the
President or his Cabinet to have performed
the labor required by the old method.
The consequence was that every member
and Senator at once became the central figure
of political ring, and the object of local
animosities on the part of every unsuccessful
aspirant for Office. 1t was good thing for
the country, undoubtedly, so long as the
war lasted, to divert those animosities from
the administration to the members of Con-
gress, but it was a very bad thing for the
Representatives. We know of scores of in
stances where bright political prospects have
been ruined and districts thrown into the
hands Of the Democracy in consequence. If
members fully appreciated the dangers of the
brief authority which has been given them in
the bestowal of patronage, they would regard
it as curse instead of a benefit, and with
one accord apply the only sure remedy by
the enactment of Civil Service bill. They
would thereby serve themselves and the
country.