The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-01-28
NONE HAS BEEN REJECTED.
PARTY LEADERS ALL IN THE SAME
boat, PAYING POLITICAL
DEBTS.
BY CLEVELAND
Strong Opposition Caused by His
Using His Own Judgment in
Choice of Officials.
WASHINGTON BUREAU PAUL GLOBE. }
C0RC0RAN Bull DING.

Special to the Globe.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27.-It is a re-
| markable fact that the United States
senate has not yet rejected any NOM
nations for office submitted to 1t since
| the 4th Of March. Up to the close of
| the week ending Jan. %, President Nc
| Kinley had sent to the senate 2,340
| messages containing nominations
The names Of consuls, postmasters,
etc., submitted one in each message;
While, of army and navy nominations,
| each message contains usually more
! than one name, and sometimes as high
as fifty. Hence the 2,S40 messages
probably represent about 5000 appoint
ments.
1t would be somewhat remarkable
for any president to succeed in select
| ing 5000 absolutely fit men for as many
| public offices, but unfortunately that is
no longer what the approval Of the SEN
ate means. Confirmation has degen-
Grated into a device by which the party
! bosses in the senate are enabled to
! compel the president to play fair with
| them in dividing up the spoils No
| one supposes that there were five Re-
publican senators who really believed
at heart that Mr.. Saylor was just the
| man to represent the United States
| government as consul at Matanzas, but
his prompt confirmation simply meant
that Mr.. Quay was satisfied with the
way the pIums were dropping; and, by
| a reciprocal arrangement, when other
senators join in voting to confirm the
| nomination of one Of his friends, he
| will do as much for them when their
turns come. 1t is now common say
! ing in Washington that "the senate is
| confirming McKinley's nominations"
| Four years ago it was almost as fire.
quently remarked that President CleVe-
land was having a great deal Of
trouble in getting his nominations
| through" and this, too, did not relate
essentially to the character of the
nominations. Probably Mr.. Hornblow-
err and Mr.. Peckham, who were both
| rejected by the senate for the supreme
court, were fully as we'll fitted for that
| bench as Mr.. McKenna, who has been
| confirmed without division. The two
New York jurists were rejected be-
cause President Cleveland was said to
| be not properly Recognizing" Sena-
| tors Hill and Murphy.
| It should not be inferred that Presi-
| dent McKinley's appointments are all
|
| Of his party. The anti-Platt Repub-
1icans have been in distress ever since
! the 4th of March over the practical
| surrender of the president to the New
| York state boss. The anti-Quay Re-
| publicans from Pennsylvania have been
very unhappy; they have sent delega-
| lions here several times to protest
against notorious appointments. They
| tried last week to head off the con-
| frmation of Mr.. Saylor, for whom Mr..
| Quay asked consulship since he must
! needs be "vindicated" and could not
| again stand before the electors of his
| PENNSYLVANIA district. In appointments
| like this no attempt is made obviously
to give general party satisfaction, for
| this would be impossible, but 1t is evil
! IDENTIFY the presidents plan to secure
the approval of those party leaders who
| are in the United States senate, and
who may in consequence be expected
| to have something to say at the ma
! tfonal Republican convention in 1900.
In this he has been extraordinary sue
| cessful. It is doubtful if any presi-
dent before Mr. Mckinley has been so
| long in office without the rejection OF
any Of his nominations.
! In still another way the senatorial
confirmation seems to have fallen
away from the intention of the trainers
| Of the constitution. It is quite pos
| sible for a president to appoint and
keep a man in office without confrma-
ton by the senate. This would not
| generally be resorted to for the larger
positions, but President Cleveland,
when he found the senate incorrigibIe,
| established a precedent which shows
what might be done. The constitution
says in article H. section II, paragraph
8: '"The president shall have power to
! fill up all vacancies that may happen
| during the recess Of the senate, by
granting commissions which shall ex-
| pire at the end Of their next session"
| Under this rule the practice of recess
appointments has grown up, and a
man may apparently be continued in
office indefinitely as a recess appoint
ment" The most remarkable case in
| the Cleveland administration was
probably that Of Mr.. A. D. Tinsley, who
was postmaster at Sioux Falls, South
| Dakota Not only did the senate twice
| fail to confirm him, but it once abso-
lutely rejected him. and yet Mr.. Tins
| ley held the office and drew his salary
| until he got ready to step out He
was first nominated in April. 1894, when
! the senate was in session, but, on ac-
count of its failure to confirm him. he
! was unable to take possession of his
| office until the end Of the session,
| when he received q commission on
| recess appointment" The senate, at
| the second session, reached q vote and
| rejected him. Sioux Falls was Senator
PettigreW's home town, and he declar-
| ed that Mr.. Tinsley was obnoxious to
! him. Senatorial courtesy was involved
| When the actual vote was taken In
| the chamber it stood thirteen to three
| in favor of Tinsley's confirmation, but
Pettigrew had secured enough proxies
from senators who were absent-a
practice which prevails in executive
sessions-to defeat his foe President
| Cleveland YVES persistent, and gave Mr.
| Tinsley another recess appointment at
| the expira ton of the session, and this
| time the senate failed to act A third
time he was likewise appointed.
This case was unusual because Tins
| ley was once actually rejected; there
were several cases, however. where
| President Cleveland kept men in Office
| upon whose nomination the senate had
failed to act. which is usually regard
ed as amounting to the same thing. Mr.
Marbury, for instance, was retained as
district attorney in Maryland, though
Mr.. German succeeded in preventing
confirmation. The auditing officers of
the treasury paid the salaries in such
cases. which sustaiue the legality of
the proceedings. The only nomination
in this administration which has come
dangerously near rejection by the SEN
ate is that Of Charles Page Bryan, of
Illinois, who was orieiaaliy selected for
mirister to Chra That was perhaps
little too much for even this era OF
reciprocity between president and SEN
ate. and had the president not changed
his plans and sent Mr. B~yan to Brazil,