New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-06-24

TIE APPOINTING POWER Nv Trouble.
There once lived in q Maine village en- un-
fortunate man who inherited predispOsition
to insanity. Arriving at mature age without
misfortune, he Suddenly felt, one day, that the
malady was coming upon him. He was seized
with an irrcprcssible Edesire to kill, crush,
smash, and break things generally. He be-
sought bis friends, with many tears,
that they manaclo and tic him SO
cffectually that he could do no dam
mage. With much misgving, they bound him
with strong cords. But when the spell Of alb
erration of intellect finally came, as it did, he
arose in his wrath, and, like n new Samson,
snapped the withes which held him. Crashing
through all guards, he broke up the furniture,
smashed the windows, burst out the doors,
assaulted several people and, before he was
seized and strapped securely to his bed
stead again, his house was wreck,
his friends were wounded, and one
child, at least, was crippled for life.
When reason returned, after few weeks. he
was overwhelmed at the sight of the mischief
he had wrought; he bitterly upblaided his
friends for the insecurity with which they had
bound him; declared them morally responsible
for the damage he had done, and even threat
ened to hale them before the courts to answer
for their criminal negligence
Something almost exactly like this is hap
pening in Washington. Somewhere secluded
in the core of that vast impersonality which
we call the Executive, there resides an immor-
tai principle known rs the Appointing Power.
Presidents and parties may come and go, but
the Appointing Power goes on forever. 1t is
dual; for, while tho Clotho of the office giving
power spins out the thread of official life, an
Atropos of a removing function handles the
shears of fate and sewers the tenure of Office
holding at one fell snip. But the Appointing
Power 80 absOrbs all other executive attri-
butes that it looms up as the great interior
principle of the Government. Most people,
certainly all office holders, think the other
powers and duties of the Government were
made for 1t. or course, the Appointing Power
has human weaknesses; sometimes 1T Is for
brothcrs-in-law; then again it Is for cousins ;
anon it is for that class of persons known in
the expressive slang of the day as " dead
"beats.n Just now, its special failing is an
alteration of the intellect. 1t is calling out
Justify that it be tied. The Appointing
Power, like our poor friend in Maine,
ia in bad way. 1t is in mortal
terror lest it shall sally forth and indiscrim-
inately break things This Is not the first
time it has been in such pitiable case.
Only q little more than year ago, our i'm
personal patient tho Appointing Power. felt
this destructive panic coming on. 1t must
have some repressivo agencies applied, or it
would smash all the crockery in the Civil
Service. Congress provided the machinery,
and On admirable series Of reform rules
strapped the anxious patient in every possible
direction. In vanl The Appointing Power
got on very well until after tho Presidential
election; then there was a great ripping and
tearing, aud tho vital principle was loose
again. It had got hold of the official preroga-
tives, and, IKE Hercules with his club, it laid
about itself in every possible direction. The
destruction was dire. The new Civil Service