New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-01-12
THE ONE-TERM PRINCIPLE,
WHY MIR. SUMMERS RESOLUTION SHOULD
BE REJECTED.
SPEECH OF SENATOR CoNKLING IN TIE U. s.
SENATE, YESTERDAY.

r.
u s. Senate, yesterday, in opposition to Mr.. Sum-
IS iont resolution proposing an amendment to
4Io constitution combining the President to one
term:
Go has been made in the Civil Service IL will
.+ he real and useful. II will be vain II it does not
80 che chief evils il is meantj remedy Place-hunt-
a., &c one Of the great industries Of the naon--it Is
Imost mania Public employment is set above private
noton and this though for the honest and the COM
tent public employment is the poorest field OF Ameri-
%, exertion. Public agents and representatives have
noen hindecd their duties and their time taxed by
opplcants for office. In this their usefulness has
becn impaired and they have been much behed, too by
those who cannot understand that any man or anything
honest and who feel robbed whenever an appointment
% mode without in some way, paying toll to them.
The President has been made the object OF gross as
sau because he would not yield to demands sometimes
sordid and vile touching patronage ana the purest
pubc administrator has been exposed 10 suspicion Oh
abusing the appointing power for personal ends These
evils among Others have cursed the pupnc service ana
Tho ronosed change is not worth trying unless 1t
r o rnroot them The very first step In the new plan
"a 10 divorce appointments from patronage and favor
, Tho head and front of the change is to make the
botowal place longer hinge on the Will or the APP
ponting power In other words we are about to try tho
withdrawal political patronage from politics The first
effect and chief merit claimed for this is. that nomina-
tons and elections by the people, will mot be helped or
hurt by hopes fears of the gain or loss OF place In
the presence this transition, and facing 1t on the
threshold motion is made TO amend the Constitution
so forbid reflections to the Presidency we arc
told that the amendment belongs to the reform-that
without the amendment the reform is nothing. The
amendment is designed to do away with an alleged
wrong of the old system Of appointments, and we arc
told that in dsmssing the old system ITSELF ana found
ing new and different system, must also change the
Constitution order to get rid of peril to which the
old system was open, but which the new system is
specially designed to remove.
HOW A "CoMMON MIND" REGARDS THE oNETERM PRIN-
CIPLE.
Under usages and regulations Of the past the Pres-
dent il said might aid his reelection by the bad use OF
patrOnage-ths is the arguments and now. when we are
in the act OF shutting out or fencing in, patronage, 80
that IT cannot used, asked to say that the
President shall be reelected at ALL We are III inc
act Of providing that Presidents shall not be reelected
by bad means and we told that part of the same
act we must provide that Presidents shall not be re-
elected by good We in the act OF roofing out
the great alleged evil OF regbity to second Presiden-
tial terms when told that must not leave re-
eligibility standing In the Constitution, after its
alleged evil has been taken away. We are about
stripping thing OF the standing objection to it, and we
tod that the thing itself must not exist after the oec
ton is gone. This seems very odd. common mind
it all the other To me, the two things seem
not only distinct but opposite. They seem not TO be
other II engaged preserving the present
system Of appointments could the fitness and the
use or removing dangers, real or supposed belonging
| TO that system. But when are bringing in new
system DO the need Of constitutional anathema
aimed at departing evils Abuses banishcd with the old
system, and superseded and prevented by the new,
would require further action certainly not
to require action warning reason in other respects
For these reasons emitting Others the proposed aera-
ton Of the Constitution quite uncaled for
al led at
here.
TIE RESOLUTION AN ELEcTIoSEERIyG DOCUMENT.
Presidential ia upon NJ, and the dominant
party likely support reelection the present Chief
Magistrate Does this fact throw any light upon the
porentous preamble and the solemn resolution before
us He must blind indeed, who does not see in this
proposed amendment Device make-weight, an expe-
dent, to affect the reelection Of President Grant II
tries 80 hide its real self under the words:
This shall effect until after The 9Th Of March
without such saving words might have been cast In
q pit. Spreading like fire prairie Juror for the
amendment might have swept the country aud when
the Convention ready TO nominate and the people
10 eject the candidate might have been found cOns-
tonally dead Thanks to the fOrehought Of Its disu-
gushed mover, the amendment IL ironclad against
such catastrophe So far. all is well but only far.
spite Of the insight Of tie statesman and foresight
s wRs brought before
the The @ of the mot e G MAS the
IN There the rub and there the electioneering
s eyd a 5S IN their IRE ap now
for the one-teTm Dogma how can they stultify them
solves and srightway ranple on the dogma, by elect
loeic when the time comes In Spite therefore, Of the
thoughtful provision that the amendment snail not take
effect before the people turn round it does after all
take fun effect upon the present Indeed IL Is
almost pity that the postponng clause put In at
ait ouiy rouses suspicion that 1t was inserted just TO
throw dust III the peoples eyes, and impose on some
off the time when the amendment shall take effect I'll
amendment to ratified, only sly way to rid the
affair Of the appearance of personality in order to gain
for 1t q more unsuspecttng hearing
THE RESOLUTION INTRODUCED AT AN UNFORTUNATE TIME.
Senator from Massachusetts has been elected
reelected three times succession Senate for six
years each time During his repeated terms there has
been but one OCCASION before this when the proposition
he now brings forward could have been considered
Sh ts al ans baS tine Of being
nomination was approaching such proposition had
that time been selected for it, would no doubt have been
regarded thrust at him. Excepting that one oeca
sion, year could hardly be found during the last SO
WIEN c int ANN mot haze beer
son to Lincoln neither party except IN one case has re-
nominated President or seriously Thought OF doing So
personality during the present Administration al any
time before anagonisms cropped out and before public
term the present Executive But it has been held
papers and called THE big gum Of the Senator it is
Drought into political The fact that IL is
gnedto carry to the country the idea that special obec
Ohs 10 reelection, objections and urgent. exist In
that patronage has been Specially prosued Of late or
y ueeeu nSScessary 10 resort to means so unusual TO
discemmcnt
ENCOURAGEMENT Poa THE PRESIDENTS FRIENDS.
The advocates Of the Candidate at whom this how is
ehded VIII derive encouragement from Desperate
require desperate Remedies and heroic treatment
'er all tho depths and shoals q, ,, 49, ,on
o'unueu' after falsehood and va -, 49,,