Middletown transcript., 1884-02-29
SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE NEXT
PRESIDENT.

Veagh contributes to the March Cen
tury striking paper on - The Next
Presidency % in which he says in part
"There is at this time great and noble
work awaiting a President able and
willing to do it. Itgoes without saying
that he must be absolutely untram-
meled when he takes his solemn oath
to defend the constitution and to exc
cute the laws. He must not nave
sought the nomination, nor must he
have shown after his nomination what
President Woolsey so aptly called a
most uncommon anxiety for his cleo
tion, for he must be without friends to
reward, and without enemies to punish.
In the present state of affairs at Wash
ington, he must not only be an honest
man, but he must be q cause Of honesty
IN others. He must really hate every
form of thievery, and must be able to
dedicate himself to the solemn work of
reforming not only the administrative
service of the National Government,
but the very atmosphere itself of the
national capital.
-Four years of administration of the
National Government by such a man
would transform the public life of
America. He would recognize the
Just limitations of true civil service
reform, and know that all political
officers in the Executive Department,
all such officers representing in any
degree the political action of the Gov
ernment, ought to be in harmony with
it, and that his Cabinet-hi official
household-ought to be composed of
men possessed of his entire political
and personal confidence, and in earnest
sympathy with him in the work he
proposed to accomplish.
ellis Secretary of State would take
care not to vex foreign nations with
requests which he knew ought not to
be granted, and which, if made to us
under precisely Similar circumstances,
would be Indignantly repelled but
while avoiding such requests, he would
keep vigilant watch over the rights OF
every American citizen in the world,
and maintain not only the dignity and
honor. but the interests of the country,
in every quarter of the globe. Our
foreign missions would be regarded as
political offices, but they would be filled
so as to reflect only credit upon the
country while our consuls would be
regarded as commercial officers only, |
and be selected not because of their
friendship with politicians, or with the
President himself, but because of their
knowledge of the people with whom
they were to live, and of their ability
to advance the interests of American
commerce.
His Secretary of the Treasury
would be able to devote all his time to
the great fiscal problems which concern
that department, and would not be
obliged to waste it upon Senators and |
congressman, or deputations of local
political magnates, in listening to their
appeals for the appointment of a pen
sioner upon the Treasury. In giving
to his subordinates the assurance of a |
permanent tenure while they discharged |
their duties effectively, he would in
spire them with new zeal for the public
service, and secure larger measure of
fidelity to the interests committed to
their charge.
"His Secretary of War would be
able to secure punishment for the men
who are now in such numbers tarnish-
ing the fair name of their noble service,
and thus bring the army back to its
earlier and better state, when conduct
becoming an officer and gentleman
was not supposed to include what, in
the language of the capital, is by del
icate euphemism called duplication of
accounts, but elsewhere is called swind-
ling.
Ellis Secretary of the Navy would
cleanse that department of its rotten
ness in contracts and in navy yards as
we'll as in ships, and the country would
gladly accord him whatever moneys
were necessary to place the American
navy upon footing creditable alike to
the gallant and illustrious service it
represents and the great country whose
flag it carries in the waters of the
world.
tHis Secretary of the Interior would
so administer that vast department as
to cleanse it of the agents Of the Indian
ring, the Pension ring, and the Land
ring and it would then be possible |
only for honest contractors to furnish
the Indian supplies, honest agents to
represent claimants for pension, and |
honest settlers to obtain titles to public
lands. Congress would then possibly
no longer hesitate to vote the money
necessary for the proper treatment of
the Indians, as the wards Of rich,
civilized, and Christian nation.
s'His Postmaster-general would place
the entire postal service upon basis of
absolute honesty and economy. De-
faulting postmasters would not only be
but punished and men con-
victed by the country of robbing the
department would not be allowed to
secure new contracts while they were
being prosecuted for fraud in old ones.
His Attorney-genera would be able
to secure the selection of judges, mar
shals, and commissioners upon the
ground Of their fitness by character
and ability to represent the administra-
tion of justice in their several commu-
mites and the country would no longer
be scandalized by the prosecution of