Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1881-03-11
PLACE HUNTERS.

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dent, and he an Ohio man, too, was worried
to death in six weeks after his Inauguration
by this professional and persistent class; but
in Mr.. Harrison's case there existed better
excuse than can be urged now. He was an
old and feeble man who at best could not
expect to live long. His prosecutors were
Wings, who had not enjoyed the pleasures
of office for twelve long years, and who on
this account were naturally very hungry.
With President Garfield the case is decidedly
different; he has still left in him much OF
the vigor of manhood and vast amount OF
political experience which the "patriot OF
North Bend" could not pretend to. The
Republican party has been constantly in
power for twenty years and its hunger should
by this time be appeased.
II is astonishing to the mind of the in
expert observer that so many men of repu-
tation, whose fortunes are made and whose
political aspirations ought have all been re-
allied long ago, should at every Presiden-
tial election be in such indecent haste TO Sc
cure appointments which can add nothing
to their wealth and little to their honors. 1t
had pitiful look in Henry Clay to lower
himself in the estimation of his Western
friends by accepting secretaryship from
John Q. Adams, and it appeared to many Of
his admirers as bordering on the contempt
bic when Webster joined his fortunes 10 the
skirts OF his "accidency," John Tyler, as a
merely tolerated member of his cabinet but
looking little deeper, the cause is easy to
make out. Secretaries are no longer what
Randolph, of Roanoke, insultingly called
them as far back as 1895: "The mere clerks
of the President, sir: mere clerks, sir !''-
They have become an essential and most i'm
portant part of the Presidential Office, and
that Office is now one Of the most powerful
in the world. The greatest personages in
modern Europe are not the kings, queens
and emperors, but prominent subjects like
Bismarck, Metternich, Pitt, Gladstone, Rich.
elieu, Cavour, &c. The President is moi
always the greatest man in the United States
but his Office makes him the most powerful
as long as he fills it, and his cabinet advisers
are next to him in power. Clay was uni.
versally regarded as very great man, Pres
ident Tyler as very ordinary one, but wher
the great man, as Senator, made war or
the little one, as President, the great mar
got the worst of it, because the little one
controlled the whole patronage of the gov
eminent.
Every cabinet minister controls. or strives
to control, the President, at least so far AZ
his own department is concerned. OF tn,
seventy-five thousand persons who holt
Office in the different departments, the Post
master General expects to be master of owe
fifty thousand, the Secretary of War O
twelve thousand, and 80 on, until II has com
to be the rule of practice that the Presiden
himself appoints only the seven men VIII,
form his cabinet, and his private secretaries
True, he substantially controls his cabinet
he shall see fit, and may remove any of then
at will, but such removals are exceptional
The patronage, in money, of this appoint
ing power is nearly thirty-two millions o
dollars per year-over one hundred million
in single term of President. This, an,
not the comparatively moderate salaries o
these seven heads of departments, is tn
thing which tempts ambition and make
place-hunting in high quarters the nuisanc
1t has become. The remedy lies in the direc
ton of civil service reform, but that is i'm
practicable so long as the highest offices con
tinue TO be distributed as rewards for strictl
party services. In this country public opin
ion is great power, but it is subject to tn
same impeachment Of the chancellor's boo
that contracted or expanded to fit the occas
ion. Just now it is one thing in New Yorl
where Senator Conkling directs 1t in tn
interest of himself, and q4te the opposite 8
Washington, where the President pretend
to direct il in the interest of civil service
AS long as the offices are distributed in tn
old fashion, for party services, there can b
nothing gained, and the vexations of tn
Presidential office will continue; tits boun
to lead to confusion and disintegratio
| rather than the solidifyinp of parties