National Republican., 1885-05-16

Cabinet Oiiicers-Hlnts 10 Statesmen In
Government ClerkshipS."
To q man up a tree-that is to say, q
man who isn't himself waiting for an
oilico-the dissatisfaction OF certain DEM
ocrats with what they are pleased to
term "tho dilatoriness Of the administra-
tion" is amazing. Mr.. Cleveland has
been President ton weeks. He entered
office from a provincial station, his ex-
pcrionce in public affairs had been wholly
local. his acquaintance with men was re-
stricted, and his knowledge Of the moth
DDS OF national administration was wholly
Democratic President in quarter-con.
tury. lie found government differing
from that left by his last Democratic
predecessor in 1851, so widely and so
vastly in all the business essentials of
administration and execution as to con-
stitute practically new regime, If not
new fundamental system. lie found
himself tho inexperienced and untried
head of vast and complicated executive
machine, dealing with the dostinies Of
G0,000,O00 of highly civilized people,
handling $3O0,0OO,0O0 year in the
transaction of public business, and con-
rolling moro or less directly tho finances
and the commerce Of country more
than 100000 square miles in territorial
extent.
All this enormous problem presented to
any man In an hour might well be ex-
peCted to cause caution IL not hesitancy;
ut least while his foot was on the
threshold. iIe had first to form Cabi-
net. To its stations he called seven men.
four of whom were. like himself, Of al-
together provincial experience aud local
careers unfamiliar with national methods
and unacquainted with national men.
The other three were men of command
ing stature in the national councils, but
not of experience in executive capacity.
At least one Of them, Mr.. Bayard, has
since evinced in some things pronounced
effects of his inexpericnce If not total
absence of executive faculty itself. The
other two, Lamar aud Garland, so far as
n two months career may afford basis for
judgment. are fully equal to their situ-
ations in every respect,
BE this as it may each of these men had
first to get clear and comprehensive
survey of his particular subdivision of
the gigantic machine before described.
Whether this survey had to DO made by
minute and patient inquiry and invcsti-
CATION, or could be accomplished by what
strategists call comp d'Gil, depended on
the genius Of tho man. With one excep-
tion doubt IL any member of Mr.. Cleve-
lands Cabinet is q man capable of the
latter mode Of mastering a situation.
~. n Al 1 n
publican officeholders, and the appoint.
ment of Democrats in their stead, were
TO be contemplated aud dealt with. The
first and greatest desidoratuIn was to
keep the machine going smoothly, effect
lively, and without jar, jolt, or friction,
The identity of tho man at the throttle
valve became subordinate in Importance
to the perfect action of the parts of the
engine. Revenues must be collected, pen
sions paid, the public obligations OBJ
served, the books kept, and tho thousand
and one incidental processes of admins
tration must go on Increasingly. Like
great steamship at sea the relief Of the
iire.room hands and tho engineers must
not stop the revolution of the screw
At this point | may properly say that
it is not my purpose to plead for the re-
tention of Republican otiicehoders. Dur
lUE lut uOLCH NttE6 luht UhNb spCHL III
journalism | doubt if any man has writ
ten more invective against Republican
methods or offered more reasons why the
Republican party and its agents should
he displaced from power than |. And at
tnis moment | know Of no man--not
even the most exiEent otiice-seeker-who
is more anxious to SOC them depart bag
aud baggage.
But oticeholding is like any other bust.
ness, and offices are like any other sta
tions of labor. The methods and duties
OF some are commonplace or easily
grasped,. such may be filled by one man
of average competency as well as by an
other. Tho methods and duties Of others
are complex or technical, or transacted
under conditions of popularity which call
for special training or long experience
whereby the incumbent becomes neces.
sqrily an expert, Such cannot be properly
filled except by persons quite as expert
as the Republican incumbonts. Take for
example. the librarian Of Congress. Mr..
Spofford. What a ridiculous thing it
would be for any person to aspire to sue.
ceed him. Not to speak of the Democratic
party or the United States alone. but
his place could not DO filed
as he fills it by any other man in the
civilized world simply because Mr..
Spofford has grown with our great
library for quarter Of u century until
from the most efficient librarian in
the United States, he has expanded
into the greatest of living bibliolo-
gists. On a humber scale might be
mentioned Mr.. Haswell, in charge of tho
archives of the State Department. This
gentleman is a living cyclopedia Of tho
diplomatic history of the country. Every
fn1 la hln L.,
international lore is at his tongues end
with names, dates, and circumstances for
ready reference. Such men, by long ex-
perience and assiduous application, be.
come faculty of themselves-as Senator
Thurman once said of Amzi Smith, when
some one applied for that gentleman's
place as superintendent of the document
room, "What! dispense with Smith! Why,
sir, that man is the memory OF tho SEN
atew
In the matter of arranging removals
and reappointments the first thing to be
done is to discriminate properly between
the two classes of positions above de-
scribed. That is not tho work of few
days or weeks for head of department
who numbers his subordinates by the
thousands. If IL can be accomplished in
ayear or two years and done intelligently,
CuIGlullyg anu WlbuOut SEIOE ~ Will 10 u
remarkable feat
1t is not difficult to understand the
impatience of an applicant, because in his
case TO tine vexation of delay itself must
be added the agony of uncertainty as to
whether he or rival will get the prize
when at last it comes, But to persons
not spurred by desire or agonized by
suspense, but simply looking on and
viewing the progress Of Clovoland's ad-
ministration as so much current history,
there is no appearance Of dilatorinoss or
incertitude. On the contrary. if there he
au extreme in the premises ! should say
that IL was in the direction OF rApidity II
not precipitanCy, Only ten weeks have
elapsed, and yet changes have been ct.
feeted in a majority Of the civil bureaus.
OF course the bureaus of the War and
Navy Departments are professional, and