New-York tribune., 1876-05-19
rrw-voRK pAnY TRIBUNE, FRIDAY, MAY 49, 1876

an ;mnortapt administrative post, OF for one
which would seem to require some knowledge
of pena science as well as executive aDiii'y'
And the records of the thirty years curing
which these offices have been elective are
sufficient to show that incompetent ana us
honest men carried of majority OF the
nrizes. "a might have been expected. Millions
and millions of dollars stolen and waSted-'n,'
,s tho nrice the people have paid for this mode
of choosing these officers With some other
way. in which reflection and Discrimination
might have governed the choice, it IS scarcely
nossible that so many mistakes should nave
been made. -, ,ao
There NAV be those who will oppose these
amendments on the ground that they are un-
democratic deprving the people OF right
onIv IN vest il in the Executive, and that they
nav no taken rs a precedent for further In
crease of executive powers III the same direo-
t;on. Without undertaking to decide whether
there is enough of this tendency aDrOau W
iustify such apprehensOns, it may DC as
well TO say that, even were they fully reaiNe"'
and at some future day all State officers were
oppointcd by the Governor 1t would not pe ai
innovation: it would be merely confession
selves wiser than the wisdom of our fathers
For nearly half a century after the ADOPTION
of the first Constitution of this State all
officers, State or local, were appointed by tho
Governor and a council of four Senators, one
from each of the four Senatorial uls'rlc.S
into which the State was then divided. lhis
continued from 1777 to 1921, when the Con
stltutional Convention, which assembled III
that year, provided for the election OF al
State officers for terms of three years each by
Joint ballot of the Senate and Assembly. ~
was the Constitutional Convention OF lo4o
which made all State officers elective by the
people, including the two which 1t Is now pro-
posed to abolish. Mr.. Starbuck, one OF inc
Secretaries of that Convention, declared Ill the
Senate last Winter that the work OF that Coh-
yeution was now generally conceded 10 nave
been failure Whether this be true or hOt,
the advocate of return to the system OF APP
pointments can fairly challenge the records OF
tl,i. State TO show that better men for the
heads of departments can be obtained by ap-
pointment OF the Executive or the LeSisla-
turc. with whom they must act, than by
election. BY appointment we had such
Secretaries of State as Azarah c. FlagS and
John A. Dix; such Controllers as William l..
Marcy. Silas Wright, jr., and Flagg, and such
Attorncys-Gcneral as Aaron Burr, JOSIAH y.
Hoffman, Ambrose Spencer, Thomas Addis
Emmett, Martin and John Van Buren,.
Nevertheless the precedents OF Il quarter OF
n century are not easily overcome, and IL Is by
no means likely that those who hope or those
who fear n further ccntraizaton of authority
in the Governor of the State III this particular,
will see their expectations realized. lhe
changes to be wrought by these amendments
commend themselves TO every unbiased Judg-
ment, but the people are not yet prepared to
yield up the right Of making their own choIcc
for Offices whose administration has thus far
measurably fulfilled their Just expectations.
The Governor of the future may have cabi-
net of his own appointment, but the change,
if il come at Ill, must come from causes which
we ln lot now discern.