The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-03-23
THURSDAY, MARCH 90, 1871.
THE COLLEOTORSHZP.


expectation of all bis friends, and the Senate
will undoubtedly confirm the appointment
If this we're merely question of providing
thoroughly competent Collector for the port
of Philadelphia the appointment of Mr..
Forney weuld call for nothing but congratu-
tatjons. But, unfortunately for the Presi-
dent at least, there are other considerations
involved, which cannot be overlooked by
those who see in the laundering policy Of the
administration one of the greatest DANGERS
not only to the Republican party, but to the
nation at large. Two years of the worst pos
sible mistakes in the distribution of the
Federal patronage have not taught the Presi-
dent wisdom, and he blunders as badly now
as he did when he first went into office
That the new Collector will perform the du-
ties of his Office in an eminently satisfactory
manner is certain, and we are safe in saying
that his appointment will give satisfaction to
every one except, perhaps, to the individual
most interested-himself. Mr.. Forney is q
man of very great ability, and as a politician
and en- editor he has labored earnestly for the
success of the Republican party. The Presi-
dent could scarcely have fixed upon better
person to succeed Mr.. Moore, and yet the
acceptance of the Collectorship of the port of
Philadelphia does Mr.. Forney more credit
than his appointment does the President.
Few men in the Republican party have
worked harder for it than Mr.. Borney, and
few have deserved more liberal rewards at
the hands of those who dispense re-
wards and honors at Washington. That the
Colleotorship of the port of Philadelphia is an
Office that will confer honor upon the gentle
man who has accepted it few men in or out
of the Republican party will be willing to
admit, and it must be confessed that Mr.. For
ney would have consulted his own dignity more
if he had refused any favors at the hands of
the administration unless they were in some
degree proportionate to his personal and
political deserts. When President Grant went
into Office two years ago, Mr.. Forney was
prominently mentioned as likely to obtain a
Cabinet position, or at least one of the most
desirable of the foreign missions He was
not only one of the foremost men in the Re-
publican party, but he had been an ardent
advocate of the election of Grant upon the
stump and in the columns of his two inauen-
tial papers. The President, however, distri-
buted the valuable offices in his gift according
to plan of his own, and Mr.. Forney was appa-
rentlynever even thought Of. For two years the
President has refused to be governed by the
advice of others, and has obstinately persisted
in comforting the honors in his gift upon men
who can give no influence to his administra-
tion and who can do nothing to
consolidate the strength of the Republican
party. Suddenly he appears to have ava
kened to the fact that there are discordant
elements in the party which elected him,
and which he hopes will re-elect him. and
he is now casting about to win some of the
real working Republicans to his support.
The criticisms which he has received from
every Republican journal in Philadelphia
have not been pleasant, and the brilliant
idea has occurred to him that it would per-
haps be as well to gain some newspaper
support in this vicinity by conciliating lead
ing journalists. The North american was
captured by the appointment of Colonel
MoBIiehael as Solicitor of Internal Revenue,
and now it is proposed to make the Press
an out-and-out administration organ by re-
questing MIR. Forney to accept, not the
Secretaryship of State or the mission to Eng
land, but the Collectorship of the port of
Philadelphia. The President must, indeed,
think that the leading men of the Republi-
can party are for sale cheap, If he hopes
to strengthen himself in this city and State,
and to reconcile the contending factions of
the party, in this fashion. We had hoped
that Mr.. Forney, for his own sake and for
the credit of the profession of journal
ism, would have refused this paltry at
tempt to deprive him of his independence
as o critic of the doings of the administra-
tion. The Press has spoken out in very
plain terms on the San Domingo job and the
Sumner affair, and it should be in position
to speak with equal plainness in the future, If
there should be occasion to do so. In fact,
no journalist should compromise his inde-
pendence by accepting Office, but certainly a
politician and editor of Mr.. Forney's standing,
who has aspired to Cabinet position, should
not lower his dignity by allowing the
President to put him OFF with the Philadel-
phia Collectorship. So far from such an ap-
pointment being an honor, it is, under all
the circumstances of the case, degradation
which man OF Mr.. Forney's sensitiveness
must feel keenly That a newspaper
of the influence Of the Press can
be converted into an administration
organ at such cheap rate is not com.
plimentary to the profession of journalism;
and it shows that, while the President il
anxious to gain newspaper support, he places
rather a singular valuation upon it. Mr.
Forney resigned his position as Secretary OF
the Senate in order that ha might eritioize