St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-03-28
THE SAME OLD sxpENcE.

The beginning of a new admins
| trat1on brings out once more INTO
conspicuIty, and emphasizes, one OF
the great vices and dangers of our
republican institutions, as now con-
ceived of and administered. 1t is the
| fact that office is almost universally
understood to be, not trust and
heavy responsibility, which the gen
eral good requires shall be placed
only in the most competent and con-
scientious hands, without regard to
minor considerations, but spoil OF
political warfare, and a reward OF
political service, which is to be APP
portioned as evenly as possible
among the needy and the hungry all
over the land, with little considera-
ton of any special fitness of the APP
pointee for the duties of the position.
| Thus, when new President looks
| about to select his cabinet OfadviSers
and o-workers-those heads of de-
partments upon whose skill and fldel-
ity the success of his administration,
and the welfare of the nation, must
largely depend-he is now mostly
foreclosed from selecting those whom
he honestly thinks would best, most
intelligently, faithfully and success
fully, do the work, on account of the
necessity of satisfactorily distribute
ing the patronage" of those Offices
among the several waiting states.
All sections have claims" which
must be recognized He cannot
| take two men from a single state
hardly, without complaint, even
| from a single sectiOn-nO matter how
much better two such men might be
able to perform the needful duty than
any other two men from anywhere
else in the land, because that would
be 'favOritiSm," and would not leave
places enough to ''go around" He
may, by this absurd unwritten law,
be as much as compelled to put the
national treasury into the hands of
a man whose aptitudes are in a to-
| tally different direction, and commits
sion a chief of the navy who cannot
tell the difference between a marline
spike and rolling-pin, or secreta-
nv of war who doesn't know a Cat
ling-gun from quaker.
The like infelicity, improperly, and
real loss and danger, runs through
the whole public business of the ma
ton. The perpetual and universal
clamOr is claims" ''claims,' when
the demand ought to be for fitness
and character. A ship commanded,
not by navigator, but by a very
nice and needy house carpenter, and
manned by navvies instead of sailors,
would soon go to the bottom. A
small concern, little country bank,
or cotton mill of a few hundred
spindles, that should be managed on
this plan-steered by directors, and
run by cashier, who are put into
their places, not because they know
anything about the business, but be
cause they are alniable citizens, and
need something to do, or are the
cousins, uncleS, and so forth, of the
stock holders-would soon come to
grief, and collapse into bankruptcy.
This great country does not happen
to be an easy thing to bankrupt, and
so it manages, under all adverse cir
cumstances, somehow to stumble
along, in spite of this reckless, selfish
and inexcusable folly. And yet we
all perpetually feel the effects of it in
our tax bills, as well as in our sor-
row and shame at public blunders,
continual waste, and not infrequent
dishOnesties.
We used to imagine that one of the
two great political parties-whose
early champion originated the doc
trine that ito the victOrs belong the
spoils''-was especially an offender
in this thing But we grieve to think
that no great change appears to
show itself, as to this, in passing
from one administration to another
of an opposite political character.
The nation has within a few days
been told that the new President has
no time even to think of the proper
work of his great position, because
he is perpetually over-run, and every
moment preoccupied, by the greedy
clamor of applicants for office.
1t seems incredible that people
having so much uncommon sense as
we have, should not have common
sense enough to remedy all this. But
we seem to be willing to blunder on,
in practical wisdom of this sort far
behind some of those ''effete monar-
chies of Europe" which we are so
fond of plying, and Dragging over.
Whether as to this, and some other
matters, we shall learn wisdom
enough to assure our conference as a
nation, before we fly to pieces in CEN
trifugal anarchy, or collapse i'll so
cial rOttenness, remains to be deter
mined by the verdict of coming time.
= Congregations