Omaha daily bee., 1896-06-19
PATRONAGE IN POLITICS.
Bnncful Effects of the Spells Systc.
Exposed and Denounced.

BnncfuI Effects of the Spells system
Exposed ana Denounced.
The barter of offices and the arbitrary
distribution Of political spoils, no more than
the barter of convention proxies. found
favor with The Bee: On the contrary some
Of its strongest efforts were early directed
against the misuse of patronage in politics.
The following editorial, headed Patronage
It's Uses and Abuses printed June q, 1872,
gives an idea of the original policy and the
policy to which this paper has constantly
adhered:
ITO the victor belong the spells, is a
maxim which first found its practical solu-
ton with Andrew Jackson and which since
his time has been adhered to by the party
in power with more or less tenacity. The
people of the United States have therefore
been accustomed to look at patronage as
the merited reward of party fealty. What
the ribbon or the medal were to the soldiers
who followed Napoleon and his eagles from
Paris to Moscow, the prospective hope Of
some more or less remunerative position has
been to workers in the political arena.
Time was when persons thus rewarded were
regarded, not like mercenary soldiers hired
to do the fighting at so much per month, but
like the volunteers, who, often leaving
lucrative positions behind them, joined IN
the political fray to battle for what they
thought Just and good. or late TINS de-
sirable state of affairs has given way 10
professional office hunting. Instead of re
warding persons of deserving merit and
capacity for services to the cause, our
senators and representatives buy their way
into Office by pledges to scalawags ana
political scavengers. 1t is not the original
system of patronage that needs reformation,
but the abuses which lately have, snake.
like, crawled into it and threatened to de-
stroy the party. What difference is there
between a senator who buys his seat win
money and the senator who buys 1t with
patronage which rightfully belongs to the
party. Recognizing the justice OF the motto
that the spells Justly belong to the victor, we
have a right to expect that the victor, iof
his own sake as well as for the preservation
of the honor of the party, of which for the
time he becomes a leader, will act wisely
and bestow those rewards upon men WIN
brains, integrity. influence. and above all
some grains of common sense. has this
been the case in Nebraska? ASK the men
who vote the republican ticket. Men OF
experience have given way to beardless boys
and in the majority of cases appointments
were not the reward of mcritorious service.
but of acknowledged rascality. Our ilperal
friends will Immediately eXciaim: VINO DuI
the president is responsible for all TINS?
We answer: The president cannot possibly
have a personal knowledge of the SO,oOo
officials appointed by the federal government
He regards each senator as the commander
of a district and holds him Justly responsible
for all changes within his district, ana TINS
cannot well be shifted from
the shoulders of the senator to those. OF the
president. 1t is about time for this ques,
ton of patronage to be understood in all
it's principal bearings by senators and rep
resentatives, as we'll as by the people. 10
make use of patronage for merely personal
ends is not only reprehensible and eXecrable,
but positively destructive of all party feaity
and discipline. A senator is simply the
guardian of the party's patrimony and a
misrepresentation to his own lndlVluuai use
is as much a breach of trust as would be
the appropriation of the orphans funds by
the directors of an orphan asylum. There
is a limit t. these abuses of privileges and
in our opinion the time has come for true
to engrave on each senatorial
Thus far shalt thou go ana
no farther, even at the peril of your own