Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-04-02
Canfaster 1rltrllisciifer.
LANcAsTER. APRIL ?, 1856.
Concerning Petitions.

"a not improbable story is told of the way |
o6yornor Cleveland came to make proper |
zlno6slnt Of the value and significance of |
& sspStitions /" secured and presented by per-
s0Fla who seek Office. The tale goes that
aftar be was chosen mayor of Buffalo he
MA assconfronted with huge petition of
signArs, for the appointment of some one
whom a few Of his judicious friends deemed
'uft4rly unfit for the place he sought. In
osy,ar to convince Mayor Cleveland that the
potition was not entitled to consideration
comtnsnsurate with its length and the re-
spectability of the names il bore, they went
nearly as big one, signed by many of his
fr1epds, representing to the governor of the
state that he had been guilty of the most
COURAGEOUS malfeasance in his Office Of
mayor.
Be the story true or false, it serves admi-
rAhly to point moral and adorn tale.
Petitions generally are as readily signed
and petitioners about as easily secured as
this story rcprosonts, A sslect few read
what is presented them to sign, understand
the merits of the case and affix their names
deliberately and mean all they are made
to say. A still smaller number refuse to
sign and get the ill-will of those who ask
them or the reputation of being cranks.
Most people put down their names thought
lessly, as a favor to those who ask them
some to get rid of importantly /; others as
return favor for like services, asked
Qnvexpected and great many in
IcrinlinsstelY ,oign everything that
Is presented % them which is not es-
pecially obnoxious to their own personal
interests. And sometimes their careless
ness gets them into tight place; and they
have to privately advise the appointing
power that they are not for the man they
recommended, or even that they themselves
want the place for which they appear to
support another.
There has been great deal of this sort
Of signing to petitions for office since the
election; and the public would be sur
prised to find how many of prominence
and of presumed influence have cheapened
their names by subscribing them to every.
thing that came along. What, for instance
would the appointing power think of a
man whose name was found to two or three
different candidates recommendations fol-
the same office What, as rule, is there
Of worth in the recommendation of a per
son for one of whom he has no knowledge
or regarding an appointment in which ht
has no interest and the effect of which III
} has neither occasion nor opportunity tc
measure?
vnt1G ~ 4l,,x, .;
GUS departments in Washington that fal
under this description. Candidates fol
postmaster have put on file great rolls OF
names and quires Of letters of person.
< who do not themselves know the appli
!. cants, are not patrons Of their offices, anl
68ve no Information as to the wants ant
circumstances of the respective cases. Ap
plicants for appointments of all grades
have secured the services of friends to op
crate for them in distant places, securing
signatures by the wholesale, that do tn,
signers no credit and should do the appli
carts no good.
lave they forgotten that Mr. CLEVELAND
said very pointedly in letter written afte
his election that selections for office no
embraced within the civil service rules vii
b based upon sufficient inquiry as to fit
ness, instituted by those charged with tina
duty, rather than persistent impOrtunit
X or self-solicited recommendations on behal
Of candidates for appointment?
And it is not manifest from the names O
those who have been taken, as well as from
those who have been left, that the polio
here forshadowed is to be rigidly adhere
TO-? I5gst Efa
Is ----~-