Montgomery County sentinel., 1885-08-28
Rotation in Office Safe and Sound
Democratic Doctrine.


proach OF the Democratic primaries, this
would seem very opportune time for the
voters of the party % consider carefully
whether the ppaaent syshsn and -practkp~9rI
making nominations is all that it should be,
and how far 1t may be considerd the true
expression of the real preferences of the
party at large. II occurs TO me that the
policy of the party at large, as evidenced by
the election OF the present National Execu-
tive, would be O very safe and sound one to
be applied on smaller scale in our county
affairs The Administration at Washington,
It is we'll known, is essentially and emphati-
cally representative of the newer and younger
element of the party-that element which
lives in the present and not in the past !;
which looks forward to new victories, rather
than content itself with those won or lost
over issues which are practically dead. One
reading the announcements OF candidates In
our county journals for the various positions
might well imagine he had inadvertently
picked up some back numbers, say about
fifteen or twenty years ago, 80 familiar do
some OF the names appear; the names of
more than one who have been feeding at
the party crib for score or more of years
and whose insatiate greed still calls for
"more" And all this despite the fact that
dates for the various offices to be filled, q
number of gentlemen who have been earn
est, devoted and unselflsh workers in the
party vineyard for years, and who, while
eminently qualified and still more eminent
ly deserving of party favor, have never be-
lore asked or received any position of honor,
trust or emolument at the hands of the party
they have 80 faithfully served. II, after fif-
teen or twenty years of holding an office,
we are to reinstate the same official, why
not make the term Of Office for life at once
do not believe in the extreme applica-
ton OF what has come TO be known as the
"spoils" system but as there are honors 10
be distributed, and which must be distributed
IL would seem but just that those who have
been most active and potential, in all honor
able ways, in carrying the party banner TO
victory in the political contests from 1865 up
to the present time should receive at least a
fair share Of them. But as matters have
been going for some years past, the younger
and more vigorous workers OF the party
those who are in accord with the spirit oi
the Democracy of to-day--are crowded out
their hopes and chances being entirely de-
pendent not upon their fitness for the posi-
ton and their claims upon the party, but
rather upon the longevity of the present in.
cumbent
Mr.. E. b. Prettyman, the able and efficient
clerk, after serving satisfactorily for twenty.
three years, has declined TO enterthe list, as
candidate for denomination, and yet we
behold the spectacle of others who have
Jared sumptuously at the party feast fol
many years past, making haste TO rush into
print as aspirants for that office. Were i
true that these are the only gentlemen In
the party possessing the requisite capability
or entitled TO the same degree of considera
ton, then | would say handle them ten
derly, keep them on ice until election day
lest the only suitable material We have should
spoil, and then by all means elect them. Blu
happily the party is not reduced to sucf
beggarly condition, possessing as it does
within its ranks an abundance of just a.
good material as ever graced ticket within
the county.
This practice of long continuance of mer
in office is Numerically opposed to on,
of the leading principles of the party which
cmphatically declares in favor OF rotation in
Office But while we condemn and oppose
the holding of office in perpetuity, let us not
go to the other extreme and nominate men
for some Of the most important places in the
gitt Of the party-men whose Identification
with the party dates back but two or three
years, and who have rendered absolutely
nothing to the party from which they now
ask and expect so much. If our careful votel
the farmer and laborer) will exercise the
precaution TO scrutinize and localize the
| element that Is proposed TO carry success .o
one or two candidates on the ticket for the
most important positions to be filled, they
will perceive at once the quintessence ol
that c6nfTdlizdtS0n Of 20soer that existed In
the National Administration ut Washing.
ton, and for the overthrow of which the
Democracy has been battling for twenty
five years past, unsuccessfully, until 1884
when the younger and more vigorous men
of the party came TO the front and swept
strongly ntrenched centralizotion from power
AS body of water, having no inlet oil
outlet, will become putrid and stagnant
disseminating decay and death rather than
refreshing and life-giving breezes, so the
political waters, unless agitated by the iniu.
sion Of new and fresh currents at frequent
intervals, also becomes stagnant and con.
tributes to the decay and dissolution of the
party rather than its unitication, growth and
fuller development.
l trust that every voter, before he casts
his vote on the 29th instant, will consider
thoroughly the question of whether IL is TO
htS VI tuc party luteTest tuat lie SnOulu con
tnue TO vote for the same men he has been
voting for for years the same men proha,
bly, that his father voted for for the same or
other offices years ago, and for whom his
children will have 10 vote for in the years 10
come, provided these echronic office-holders
survive long enough and be able in the
future, as they have in the past, 10 monopo-
llze the business of serving the public in
Montgomery county
II is said that "times change and men
change with them" but these men never
change, unless It is from one good berth to a
better one, congratulating themselves, doubt
less, that
Men may come aud men may go,
But go on forever"
August 18th, 1885. Tom.
1.-THE above communication reached us last
week too late for publication, which is our
apology for its non-appearance last week l.
EDITOR SENTINEL.
"A CARD