The herald., 1893-05-09
CHANGE FoR A GOOD PRECEDENT.

President Cleveland's letter, in which
he says that he will hereafter decline
personal interviews with applicants for
Office, will bring prominently before the
public eubiect which has been earnest
ly discussed in all intelligent quarters
for some time past. Public patronage
hos so greatly increased that no man,
however patient and enduring, can come
to the presidency and do justice to the
great national duties imposed upon him
if he has to take personal part in the
details of distribution of Office. Either
the president should be relieved of the
power Of appointment to all but the
principal Offices by law, or he should
himeelf devise some means of relieving
himself of the great burthen.
This is no new difficulty. It has con-
fronted every president on his accession
TO Office for a quarter OF century. But
as each succeeding administration
comes into power, the volume of fed
eral appointments increases, until now it
has reached such proportions that it is be-
yond the ability ofany man to intelligent
ly make them in the time he can spare for
such purpose. Mr.. Cleveland can, if he
will, establish q precedent which all
future presidents will follow, that will
relieve the executive of the importantly
OF ofiice-seekers, and at the Same time
enable him to retain his power as the
dispenser of the public patronage. II he
were to appoint commission composed
of men in entire accord with him, and
in whose judgment and integrity he had
implicit confidence, to take charge Of the
routine labor of examining into the
merits of every application, and report
ing to him the names that should be
fsvorably considered, he would at once
solve the difficulty. For the present
there is, OF course, no law to give official
sanction to such commission but if he
were to inaugurate the plan and it
proved satisfactory, congress- would
readily provide for the regular appoint
ment of such commission.
There is no doubt that the scope of
the civil service rule will be extended
very materially; and with the increase
OF the clauses of positions brought under
the rule will follow a decrease OF the
volume of patronage devolving upon the
president. But, as Mr.. Cleveland him
eelf would say, "We are now confronted
with condition, not a theory" and this
condition must be met at once. BY
calling in the assistance of commits.
sion such as we have suggested, the pre-
rogative of the president would be in no
wise infringed. He would still be the
appointing power. He would exercise
his option in accepting or rejecting any
of the names of applicants submitted to
him, and would be relieved from i'm
portunity. In a short time the Office
seekers would come to see that the way
to secure appointments would not be in
pestering the president, but in submit
ting their claims to the commission.
Thus, by an easy method, the president
would have the greatest burthen that
falls on his shoulders lifted off.
Mr.. Cleveland, luckily is in position
to inaugurate this wholesome reform
without the possibility of its causing
any reactionary harm to his interests.
He is in his second term, and has no
further political ambition to satisfy.
He can establish precedent that will
be followed, and solve q problem that
has become acute.