Litchfield enquirer., 1878-08-15
THE CONTEST IN NEW YORK.


 determine whether the next Senator from the State should be a Republican or Democrat, but because of the contest within the Repub- l licans, the present chance of reform in the civil service, and distinct rejection of it by I the Republican party in an election where as now in New York the issue is clearly raised, would be an important political event in a reform which is believed by many persons not less patriotic and intelligent tAan others to be indispensable to the vindication of the popular republican principle '"The very essence of free government" said Mir. Calhoun, ''cSn- sists in considering offices as public trusts be- slowed for the good of the country, and not for ] the benefit of an individual or party: and 1 that system of political morals which regards offices in different light, as public prizes to be | won by combatants most skilled in all the arts and corruption of political tactics, and to be used and enjoyed as their proper spells, strikes a fatal blow at the very vitals of free institu- 1 tions."
 I This is the view of the ablest political lead 1 CTS and commentators in our history. It is the conviction of President Hayes, and was distinctly declared by him before his election. l For many reasons, which we here leave undis- cussed it has not been the rule, while has been | the hope, of his Administration. But he has attacked the abuses of the evil system very much more generally and effectively than any other Pres. since those abuses were developed. The New York election is peculiarly significant, be- cause while the President stands for the prin- ciple of reform, Senator Conkling, who is un- derstood to desire a reelection, has become by circumstances the especial representative of the spells system of patronage. The issue has been emphasized by the recent changes in I the New York Custom-house. The election is therefore recognized as a contest between the spells system and reform, and MT. Cenkling's reelection would be hailed as the condemna- tion of reform by Republican New York. To many sagacious persons such result would seem for the present to be a fatal blow However that may be, it would be cer- tainly serious disaster, and one which every citizen who is honestly persuaded of the dis grace and danger of the spells system, from the President to the most poWerless voter, should do what he legitimately can, to avert. The reason that Mir. Conkling is held to repre- sent the spells system is evident. It is that under an Administration in which he had vir- tually supreme and exclusive influence over appointments in this State, thorough organ ization of otfice-holders grew mp for the con- trol of State politics, who held office by his favor, and who through their patronage man. aged politics in his interest," while to make sure of his ascendency and of the complete ness of the machine" in the very last days of the Administration in which he was so inhuen- tial, changes were made in important offices which were plainly dictated by political and personal, not by public, reasons. A case of this kind was that of the United States Mar shal of this district, most efficient officer and an honest and intelligent gentleman but not an active politician, whose retention was ear nestly desired by the courts and those who were most concerned with the office, but who was summarily removed little while before the end of General Grants term, and one of the most noted politicians in the State, who had been severely censured by committee of the Senate for lobby transactions, was appoin- ted in his place. It was alleged by some of Senator COnklings friends that he knew noth- , ing about it. But the probability that most important office in New York would be filled by General Grant without the knowledge ol against the will of Senator Conkling is not great while in fact he replied to the protest o1 the gentleman who was removed: ''You got the office easily, and have held it for a long time."
 } The office-holding despotism thus created has ruled the party with an iron hand. It has demanded political services which the reluc- tant subordinates, forced to choose between obedience and the bread of their families, have said that they would rather cut off their hands than perform but they could not starve their families, and they obeyed It has shown it's power so absolutely that young men ambitious of public life and political distinti0n, after a vain struggle, have submitted to it's yoke as the sole condition of opportunity and success. It is system at once humiliating and demor- aliZing. It sub stitutes body of stipendiaries , for public opinion. It makes squad of office holders the arbiters of party, and it does so because they have an immediate, personal, vital interest in maintaining the system to which they belong by sustaining the head, who under vicious practice really holds their live lihood in his hand. '|In the main" says Dan- iel Webster; condemning this abuse, it will be found that power over a mans support is power over his will" It necessarily leads the head of the system to care for keeping the machine in order rather than for the support of sound public opinion; and as the office holding interest controls all the wires of party action, and the office-holders, in the midst oi constant pressure and intrigue, depend for place upon the place upon the favor of the head, they are vitally concerned to keep him in place and power, whatever his opinions or conduct. This is the evil, with all it's obvious and logical consequences, at which the efforts of reform are directed. It is the system which even in anticipation was said by Jefferson tc threaten the freedom of popular election. In the State of New York from the time of Burr and the formal enunciation of the rule by Marcy down to ours, it has been more and more developed until it is now so thoroughly organized that the primary political power has largely passed from the people or from a party to clique or handful of persons within it. The actual result of this system under the ia voring circumstances of the last few years has been, as we said, to make the organization ot the national offices in New York a machine for the political benefit of MT. ConkIing. This is public wrong which it is the duty of the President to correct by all the means in his power, and which Mir. Conkling and his friends mean to maintain at all costs. Should he be reelected, it will be understood that re- form is not to be expected from the Republican party, and that upon the issue distinctly raised the spells system has been sustained as against the President, and this fact will be held to strengthen MT. Conkling's appeal to the cour- tesy of the Senate to restore the late customs officers, by which the defeat of reform will be completed. It is contest in which every ad- vantage is with MT. Conkling. The influence of the offce-holding interest, which through the patronage is enormous, is still mainly up on his side. The official and regular manage ment of the party is in the hands of hisfriends and their confident reliance upon his power to defeat the President in the Senate inspires them to unusual activity.
 The President. AS the representative of the just cause of all citizens against clique, will not, we hope, shrink from the contest. It is | from being used as personal machine. The same reasons that demanded and justified the late changes in the Custom house demand a similar change wherever the same abuses ex- ist. The public service in New York should be de- Conklingized If the restoration of the service to its public and impersonal ends be, as his friends assert, a blow at Mir. Conk- ling, it is legitimate blow, for the public of- fees certainly do not exist, and should not be allowed to be used, for the political benefit of any man. We do not mean that Mir, Conk- ling's opponents should be appointed to office because they are his opponents nor his friends removed because they are his friends The holders of office will have their personal and political preferences like other men. But |; where offices are held by active Conkling peli- ticians, or by politicians active for any other person. a change should be made, to prevent the use of the offices for the benefit of any > person, whatever. The offices are public trll0tS and ha1dnrC cb0i1ld ho c,1fforod