Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1878-02-19
DAKorAs GOVERNOR.
A Newspaper Which Isn't EntirelyPleased
With h Late appointment.
Siorr Cifv Vo,~,,l

WIN INC Late appointment.
Sioux City Journal.
Ex-Gov. Howard, Michigan, will be our
close neighbor, when he shall come to make
his temporary home in Yankton as the Gov
ernor of the Territory of Dakota. We are
going to say, however, that We could wish
he were going to remain in Michigan. Not
that we think him unfit for the Office to
which he has been named, or that we are
lacking in respect for him as q man. Upon
these points We have only impressions. The
most We know of him We took away with US
from the Cincinnati convention, and thet
knowledge was gained without the advantage
of even the suspicion that we should ever
hear of him again, much less that 20 soon as
this the old man would be coming out from
the home of his best manhood to be a neigh
Dor and an oficeholder upon this frontier.
He seemed to us at that time to be too old
and too lntirm, as We saw him helped from
his chair and as We saw him standing in
that great hall leaning heavily upon his
crutches vainly striving to muster sufficient
physical power to make his voice heard, to
have been chosen as a delegate to a conven-
ton whose rush and wearying work afforded
liberal tax upon the physical powers Of
young and healthy men. 1t was evident
however, that the ambitions Of earlier years
retained all their vigor, and that he had
friends and admirers in the delegation Of
which he was a member who were anxious
that he should have an opportunity to show
what he could do. Our recollection now ia
that he came as near destroying the patience
of the convention as any man who appeared
before it. The feeling was that he crowded
himself and that he was too weak physically
If not otherwise, to appear to advantage up.
on the same platform with Dick Thompson,
Col. lngersoll, John A. Logan, Geo WIN.
Curtis, and others of like power, and that he
and his friends should have known it.
We dare say that Gov. Howard has been
in his day, and perhaps still is, a very fair
sort OF politician. In his own state of Mich
igan, at least he has for many years occu-
pied q prominent position in politics. and
We dare say he has managed his W case
with the president in this matter of the Da-
kota governorship. We have wondered at
times if of6ce-holding were not calculated
to breed in a man a tort of disease, say as
the use Of intoxicating liquor is. The sal
airy OF a territorial g%overnorship is 50, 900 a
year, if we mistake not. 1t lie possible that
Gov. Howard, because of his age and condi-
ton Of health, is in need of the ealary but,
if this be not 90, we can conceive of nothing
that should tempt him to leave the state in
which he has SO long resided to take the
executive Office of Dakota. 1t is possible
that he may regard the place as a Stepping
stone to greater distinction in politics; but
1t has not proved this to men who have pre-
ceded him, and is not likely to prove so in
his own case. If Dakota in his time, and
that portion of Dakota wherein he will live
and with which he will be identified, shall
become a state, and therefore have the right
to name a representation upon the floor of
the senate OF the United States, the temper
of the people of Dakota will have changed
materially If it be not strongly predisposed
in favor of citizens CT Dakota who stand
identified with its material progress.
1t was our hope that Gov. Pennington
might be re-appointd. Our reasons for this
hope have been given hitherto, and we not
repeat them now. We may say, however,
that it has long been a conviction with us
that, 30 far as the interests of the service
would warrant, the federal officers in our
territories should he chosen from among
their recognized citizens-that those places
should cease to be used as rewards for polit
ical service rendered ambitious politicians
in the states or to the president or to men of
his cabinet. We can see no sound reason
why the people of q territory, in this re-
SaiuS SuOuAN UV NAhSlCASly tTcAt6U tndn the
people Of a state. In the earlier days of
our territories, when fit men for the Offices
were not to be found within their borders,
the officers of necessity had to be chosen
from the states, and it could make little
difference from what state . selection was
made, 80 that good and capable service were
occurred. But things have changed. The
territory Of Dakota contains a large and in
telligent population, a population that will
compare favo,ably with the population Of
any state in the union and which outranks
in capacity for selfgovernment the popula-
ton Of some of the states, and the day for
importing it, territorial. officers should be
regarded - passed. As a matter Of pro-
priety and justice, vs do not zee Why the
federal officers for Iowa or Minnesota might
moi - we'll be chosen from Maine, or Mis-
siasippi, or Michigan, ~ that those Of Dako-
Ia should be. This is one Of the reasons