The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1871-11-30


plauded
1t was few days after the fall of Richmond,
said the speaker shortly before the close of the
war, when Abraham Lincoln, pointing out to a
friend the crowd of office-seekers besieging his
door, spoke these words:-sLook at this specta-
cle We have conquered the rebellion; but
there you see something which in course of time
NAV become far more dangerous to this coun-
try than the rebellion itself" Abraham Lin
coin was not only good but wise man and
think before this generation passes away the
people of the South as well as of the North will
recognize in him one of the noblest and wisest
the country can boast of What did he mean?
He meant that this country was strong enough
to resist any temptation to destroy it by force,
whether it came from without OF within, but
that there was an element of poison in it which
bid fair to destroy its very vitals and he saw
the symptoms of that disease in the large num-
Der of men who, impelled by the workings of
our civil service, were actuated by morbid de-
sire to live at the expense of the public purse
Once it was considered an honorable thing to
serve the government as public officer. Now
public office is not looked upon so much as an
uoilOl, lo WliO loiuS IL Is It5dTuCu DIS d SUD
ject of suspicion and distrust, because in these
days it is not the honor but the salary of the
position that is most sought after Politi-
cal changes transform the sentiments of officers
who depend on appointments, because it is said
political zeal and services rendered to the party
must be rewarded. A public office, in the due
understanding of the word, is an honor and a
trust. This very idea of rendering party ser
vice means that an officer is not appointed
because he is fit man and responsible one
for the place, but because he ought to enjoy
certain emoloments and use the influence of the
place for the further advancement of his party.
Look at the manner in which public offices are
distributed. When new President is elected
you are suddenly told that you want a new
postmaster in your city. You protest that the
present incumbent is good officer, and an
honorable trustworthy man. You are told that
that does not matter; he must go because he
does not belong to the new party. The new
President is generally at first conscientious
new men generally are; but he has great
many appointments to make-many more than
he has personal friends to appoint. Suppose
then, he issues general order that none but
honest and capable men of his own party need
apply The first thing he will be surprised at
is the stupendous number of honest and capa-
BILE men who are interested in the welfare of
the country and are willing to sacrifice them
selves in its service. He had never until then
conceived what a tremendous accumulation of
honesty and capacity there was in the country.
Of course the President must rely for the
merit of these appointments on outside persons
more OF less. The Congressman knows best, he
thinks, whom to appoint from his district
Now, members of Congress are very conscen
tious, trustworthy persons in great many re-
spects. They know what is best for their con-
stituents, and sometimes they have peculiar
ideas of what is good for themselves, and often
they come to the conclusion that what is good
for themselves is best for their constituents. A
man wants to be collector of Internal Revenue.
The Congressman, doubling that his friend,
who desires the place, is just the man for so re-
sponsible an office, must nevertheless recon-
mend him because he cannot break his promise
or his valuable friend will become an implacabe
enemy, and his own chances of reelection will
suffer in consequence. The importantly which
a Congressman is made the subject of by his
constituents who want Office is something won
derful Have you ever had an insurance agent
try to force you to take policy? Imagine ten
insurance agents condensed into one and you |
have it. Look at the Custom House in New |
York. 1t is little government of itself The
revenue which passes through it amounts to |
over $3.50, 000,0 900 annually, far more than the |
revenue of the Republic not a great many years
ago. The responsibility of its chief, the collec- |
tor, is second only to that of the Secretary of |
the Treasury itself. 1t may be presumed, there |
fore, that only men would be selected whose in |
tegrity stands not only above reproach but |
above suspicion, men of the very highest order
of administrative ability, and command
ing energy, for it will require all those
great qualities so to direct and supervise
the movements of that vast machinery that the
interests of the community may not suffer-
But it appears that the collector of New York
is not appointed solely with view to collect the
Custom House with its legion of subordinate
officers and its immense patronage mainly to
control the politics of the city of New York,
and thus it happens that instead of men of I'M
blemished integrity and superior business tai
emit, men are appointed to whom you certainly
would not trust your private concerns In ap-
pOintments in the Custom House the Congress-
man is no longer the mighty man, although he |
nay obtain an appointment now and them
The ward politicians, the small wiTe-puller the ]
nan who keeps a a corner grocery where voters |
,ongregate has the control The collector must |
respect the claims of those who hold any power |
whatever in his party. The committee which |
last year investigated the affairs of the New
York Custom House evolved the fact that |
there was an old apple-woman on the pay-rolls of
the Custom House as a clerk.
She probably had in some of the lower wards
a cousin or uncle who kept a liquor shop where
voters could be manipulated. Even virtuous
man in that position, under the present circum-
stances, will not succeed in keeping the Custom
House clear of rascals. The speaker then de-
Washington, and cited cases of selling the sig
natures of prominent Senators to gain offices
with. In the speakers opinion, the trade in
office was pernicious to the interests of the
corruption. The American people may be able
to stand the loss of money, but they cannot
stand the fearful Generalization resulting from
this political traffic. The open contest for great
principles degenerateS into a concealed contest
for public money. The speaker was of the opin-
ion that our present political system was one of
such great temptation that men fell who in pri-
vate life would not do a dishonest act. Before
the nomination and after the election the cam
didate for Office has already made so many
pledges, occasionally the same to different par
ties, that he goes into office already dishonor-
ed man. Members of Congress in some re-
spects make the most of the appointn ents, and
of course they ought to know best who are their
friends. Taking care of political friends means
giving them an Office or a government contract
This is mortgage on mans future political
influence. The Congressman introduces his
friend to the President as one honest and capa-
BILE, and the man is appointed to office. The
speaker, after introducing some humorous IL
lustrations of pressure" in Washington, en-
larged at some length upon the state of affairs
in the Government Department, and expressed
the opinion that favoritism and political inhu-
ence were still the cause of appointment, al
though in several departments boards of exam
ination had been organized. The inspectors
appointed by the Collector of the New York
Custom House themselves swear that they are
in the habit of taking bribes-that it always
was and always will be so. Such a:e the natu-
raj consequences of the system as it now exists.
An appointee to any government office knows
that he will almost certainly have to go at the
end Of four years, or when the new administra-
ton begins, and it is great temptation to him
to make the most of his time and enrich him
self and friends. He has no official pride in his
position, because of the, manner in which he
was put in AS to the President himself, sup
pose he has pet scheme which he wants to get
through Congress at any cost-and Presidents
are apt to do these things sometimes
The Congressman must help him, or the
President may refuse to give him any further
appointmentl-or he may lose his patronage,
which is the only stock in trade the Congress-
man possesses. That gone, and his constituents
will never send him back again. On the graves
of great many public men fitting epitaph
would be:-"This man died from too much
Post Office The President himself has
power in appointments and removals greater
than that of any constitutional monarch in Eu-
rope, and with the greatness OF his power comes
the greatness OF his temptation. Whaa seduc-
tive facilities he has for approaching the Con-
gressmen, and thus the spoils are the means,
the inducements, with which the independence
of the Legislative Government can be under
mined. jackson first did thi; Tyler did it;
Buchanan did it, and 1 need no descend into
the history of more recent days. Why do we
hear so much of the one-term system? Because
Presidents can use their power to appoint and
remove for the pul pose of securing reelection.
We hear of sweeping changes in the New York
Custom House. We hear OF great number OF
newspaper men put into profitable places,
whose duties will not conflict with their news
paper work. Not that they are expected not to
WRITE; but to keep up writing. The speaker
here described how political parties, which at
first are comparatively pure, finally when IN
power degenerate into an association OF ohice-
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