The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1877-08-02

LOW6L VI TIC OcudtC ADOhC bAds VI wv
President-No Revolution in Refusing
to Confirm Appointments.
10 The Editor Of he Tribune:
SIR:-The New York Tribune says:
president Hayes says that he will
give the same weight to the Iecommen
dations of Congressman as to those o.
any other respectable gentleman. That
is the sum and substance OF Civil Service
Reform"
And very small and fimsy wisp oI
wool it is for so much cry, and even that
we hold by an uncertain pinch for that
enthusiastic Reiormer. The Boston Jour
nal, gleelully records that one OF the new
Civil Service Reform rules is going Ia
provide that the recommendations OF
members OF Con gress shall not be regard
ed or considered" The wind is temper.
ed to the shorn lamb, however. by the
/ kind information six lines further on,
\ that this rule does not contemplate the
entire absence of participation Of Con-
gressmen in appointments, as their opin-
/ ions as to the qualifications of different
persons will be asked, that is, their
/ opinions are asked, but not regarded or
| considered. a very Civil Reform that
gives Congressmen a slap in the face, and
| then asks them what they are thinking
/ about?
Congress has always been considered
| by the truly high minded American citi-
zen, patriot, and Reformer, as a group of
lncapables and lrreclaimables. open to
no other reason than kicks and cuffs
that being the class which free, intelli-
gent and incorruptible people would
I fof
and agents But during the opening
months of the present Administration,
the Senate, especially, seems to have
taken on a new officiousness, and often
siveness; seems to have sunk lower il
that were possible, i'm the journalistic es-
timation seems to be properly consid-
cred as a mere incidental evil, an extra
neous burden hanging on the verge Of
the Government a body whose main duty
is to get out of the gang way, that the
Executive may have free course TO run
aud be glorified. The Senate has ad-
journed sine die, and the Hayes Admins
tration is now in uncontrolled possession
Of the Federal Government" cries the
new convert to Reform, with the air of
one who announces at last the liberation
of his country from the yoke of the
usurper. THE Senate having taken il
self out of the way. says the old party
hack curveting and prancing like an un-
broken flly. The religious Reformer de-
clares with awe that nothing like this
Opposition Of the Senate to the new
President, was ever known beforel at
is the autocracy of the Senate in rebel
lion against the Executive"
Yet Congress is as Constitutional a
body as the Executive. IL derives its
4 e. L
ties are prescribed. its limits defined, and
its status declared by the same power
1t is not a self constituted assembly, liv-
ing by sutferance, the gradual growth OF
evil custom, poking impertinent fingers
into matters which do not belong to it
IL is from the beginning part and parcel
of the Government. IL cannot abdicate
its rights, powers, trusts any more than
can the President. In some respects IL
stands nearer the people and higher in
power than the President Congress can
make law without the aid or assent OF
the President; but the President cannot
make law without the concurrence of
Congress. Congress can make and un
make Presidents; but Presidents have
no power whateyer-uo constitutional
power-over the materieL OF Congress
The Constitution gives TO the Senate
Joint power with the President to make
treaties, TO appoint ambassadors, judges
and officers; and his power to appoint in
ferior officers without consultation with
Congress is by the Constitution vested in
Congress itself The Senate is that
branch of the Government which never
dies; which enjoys = complete continuity
of organized existence, beginning with
the birth hour OF the Republic, and last
-. - "A
If death-throb there shall ever be,
which God avert The House of Repre-
sentatives may be in abeyance and lie
unquicksned for three-fourths of every
alternate year. The Presidency comes
regularly to an end, and has had more
than one interregnum since Washington
was first inaugurated; but the Senate
which came into being on that same
bright April day of 1889 has never since
known and never can know break or
pause in the revolving years that mark
the onward progress and, may we not
hope, the endless life OF the Republic. ]
can recall no more eloquent passage OF
Senatorial speech that the words OF the
brilliant Mr.. Ingalls, of Kansas in his su-
perb description of the Senate's immor-
tality.
In the light Of all these facts it is gro
tesque to see that the recommendations
OF Congressman are neither to be regard
ed nor considered Control is one thing:
Consideration quite another.
As to the Cabinet. it has no ConstItu-
tional existence whatever. The Consti-
tuition says
The Senate of the United States shall
be composed......Each Senator shall have
one vote......The times, places and man
ner of holding elections for Senators and
Representatives shall be prescribed.....
The Congress shall assemble......The
President shall nominate, and by aud
with the advice and consent OF the Sen
ate, shall appoint
But the only basis to be found in the
Constitution for the existence Of such
body as the Cabinet, is in the declaration
that:
The President......may require the
opinion, in writing, OF the principal OIL
Ger in each OF the Executive Depart
ments, upon any subject relating to the
duties OF their respective Offices
1t certainly would be rather droll to
see this body, the separate existence OF
whose members depends upon the Sen
ate, whose existence as "a body l. not rec
ognized in the Constitution, aud all
whose appointments require confirmation
by the Senate-hockIng together and
cogitattng among themselves how to
keep Congressmen from having any
voice in the matterl They will have to
flock and hulter great while before
they will get over that lttle item in the
Constitution:
The President shall nominate. and
by AMI with the advice and consent OF
the Senate, shall appOint......COngrrss
may by law vest the appointment OF such
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