Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1881-08-10
Fitness for Office,

Under the heading of ''The Prob
lem of Patronage" the .NortA -7Heri-
can OF last week says:
Two members of the Cabinet tes-
tify that in nineteen-twentieths of
the whole number of persons for
whom positions are solicited, reasons
other than the fitness of the appli-
cants to discharge the duties of the
offices constitute the considerations
urged in behalf of their appoint
ment.
Now the reasons are personal friend
ship or obligation, and again the mis-
fortunes and personal necessities of
the applicants are set forth In the
strongest terms.
Congressman are expected to pro-
vide places for such of their dis
tressed or impecunious constituents
as have been of service to themselves.
The fitness of the person is seldom
urged
He is out of business, he is useful
to the member, he has lost his prop
erty.
Now this is all wrong, and the mem
Der of Congress who has nothing
better to do had much better return
his commission to the Governor and
settle down in private life.
The government is under no obi
cation to support men who cannot or
will not take care of themselves.
The departments are not hospitals
or training schools, that they should
be weighted with the frauds and utter
failures who so about crying that the
world owes them a living. But it is
not probable that the public has any
definite idea of the sort of obliga-
tions which men who influence pat
ronage sometimes acknowledge at the
general expense.
The public service is cursed with
limited but proportional number of
persons who disgrace it by their dis
sipations, low habits and systematic
petty swindling. Wherever such
person is found in the civil service,
he may be known by his habitual
turbulence, and his boasts of the
privileges he enjoys.
1t is useless to trace the antece-
dents OF such persons, for their con-
sequents include everything that can
be known about them.
1t mey be proper for the curious
to look up their hackers, who, when
found, will turn out to be men who
would very gladly remain unknown as
the patrons of such clients, and the
reason why they keep such small
swindlers in position are generally
such as reflect credit upon nobody.
The practice of fastening upon the
service practice of fastening upon the
service persons who are simply dis
reputable bummers who order lib
orally and pay for nothing; whose
track is pursued by tradesmen of all
sorts, and in whose wake there is
great deal of honest cursing ON the
part of their pursuers--this practice
is cumulative in its distempers.
An overwhelming majority of men
in public service are competent, faith
full and self-respecting, but the adj
mixture of worthless and disreputa-
bic persons reflects upon the entire
body.
All suffer in public esteem because
a vicious system of appointment gives
a proportion of worthless members.
Among SO many some less deserving
must of course be found. But if
when found they are promptly re-
moved. the evil can be reduced to its
lowest terms.
Let it be understood that no man
who uses his position to gain credit
beyond his resources, or who is dis
sipated, or who neglects his business,
or who bears a doubtful reputation,
can be tolerated in public employ,
and much of the distemper con-
planned of will disappear.