Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-06-27
the PRESIDENTS CIRCULAR.

issued a circular to all prominent
officials occupying appointive offices.
We published in our columns the
telegraphic report of the circular on
the 25th inst. 1t is so brief, however,
that we give it below:
No officer shall be required or per-
mitted to take part in the manage.
ment of political organizations, eau
cuses, conventions or election cam
paigns. Their right to vote and ex-
press their views on public questions,
either orally or through the press, is
not denied, provided it does not in
terfere with the discharge of their
official duties. No assessments for
political purposes on officers or SUBJ
ordinates should be allowed. This
rule is applicable to every depart
ment of the civil service. 1t should
be understood by every officer of the
General Government that he is ex-
pected to conform his conduct to its re-
quirements.
We understand this order to be
intended to cut Off federal officehold-
ers from taking charge, as chairmen
of central committees or leading in
the general management of politics
in city, county, state or nation. In
many federal offices the subordinates
are counted by the hundreds, and
much abuse of the right of free ex-
preston at the ballot-box has arisen
by controlling the votes Of such sub
ordinates. Also, these subordinates
have understood that they should re-
spond to assessments. There is. and
long has been, plenty of room for, and
great need. of reform in this regard.
For instance, the present chairman of
the State Central Committee of Ohio,
and who was chairman and general
manager of the last Presidential cam
paign in the Buckeye State, is also a
federal officeholder, and as such, may
WELD considerable influence in cleo
tons. The President regards it out
of place for such officers to hold these
positions. We believe that the Presi-
dent takes the correct view in this
regard.
1t will be noticed that the President
is brief in his note, and could not, of
} course, 60 into particulars. The Ian
guage is, that officers shall not take
part in the management of political
organizations, &C., meaning as COM
mitteemen or other positions requir-
ing continued attention to political
campaigns, or shaping political con-
ventions. To be brief, we understand
that the circular of the President does
not curtail officers from attending
conventions, caucuses, &C., but that
I they should not spend their time in
: the management, as leaders, of the
| politics of such assemblages or OF
. campaigns.
Next, the President qualities briefly
: the injunction or command given, by
j saying: "Their right to vote and ex
g press their views orally and through
t the press 4 4 is not denied" o.
i course this has no reference to the
It right of suffrage at regular elections
/. designated by law, because it is not
j supposable case that the President
e and Cabinet, who duly considered
9 the matter before the order was is
| sued, would commit the unpardon.
e able foolishness of intimating, even
l by this negative assertion, that it was
, in the Presidents power to curtail the
right of suffrage to any citizen of the
q U. S. Any other construction than
that which We put upon the Presi-
ident's use of the expression that the
officerss ''right to vote is not denied
g might suggest the propriety of hav-
p ing a sixteenth amendment as supple
!. mental to the fifteenth, making that
p amendment read:
The right of citizens Of the Z. S.
to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the L. S. or any State oil
l account of race, color or previous
n condition of servitude, nor on &c
;. count Of being a federal cticeholder.
q What then does the President refer
# to in speaking about the matter Of
voting? He must refer to the voting
n in caucus, convention, &C., as no other
4 voting could he presume to regulate
9 1t is apparent, therefore, that the
. President, as we have said, aims to
I prevent federal officers from that act
I i've participation in shaping politics,
y as officers of political organizations.
This view is still more evident since
6 the order does not claim to restrict
I officers in speech-making or writing
for the press touching politics, only SO
a far as it interferes with the proper
D discharge of their duties. In the face
S of this order, too, the President has
t appointed to Office prominent news
Y paper men, as for instance, the editor
c of the organ of the party at the CAPT
tai of Illinois, and therefore it is
. reasonable to conclude that our inter-
. probation of the circular is correct.
We have said what we have in regard
9 to this matter because hasty, incon-
! siderate Interpretation of it by the
: general public might place far diff
/, ferent construction upon it. If we
? have not given the general scope and
f meaning Of the circular, then the
President might as we'll commence at
, once to remove to the extent of his
} power thousands of appointees now
t in Office, as it would be utterly incon-
sistent with the self-respect officials
bear for themselves-equally with the
President for himself--to submit to
an unreasonable curtailment of a cit
liens privileges and duties; nor
would the President think of requir-
ing any such thing.
} THE consolidation of the fifty-eight
pension agencies Of the U. S. into
eighteen, according to Schurz' order,
is most pestiferous worrying thing
to the Secretary Of the Interior. He
finds it very hard to fix the location
of the consolidated agencies, and to
determine upon the agents to pre-
side over them.
Iowa University.
The closing exercises of the State
University, at Iowa City, occurred on
Thursday. A special telegram to the
Chicago Times, says:
"There was great crowd in at
tendance, and each speaker was the
recipient of showers of boqnets. The
master Grafton was delivered by Rev.
Dennis Murphy, of Oskaloosa. When
the degrees and prizes had been con-
ferred, President Thachcr took the
platform, saying he would deliver