The Seattle Republican. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1???-1915, 1901-11-29
MADE A GOOD OFFICIAL

| hAOE n SOOO OFFICIAL
The failure of the Metropolitan
Bank of Tacoma is the first financial
failure of any size that has occurred
In the state during the present year.
Ellensburg is making an effort to
get wooden mill established in that
community.
Editor Seattle Republican: Presi-
dent Roosevelt, in his avowed policy
to recognize merit, irrespective of
race, p'rty affiliations Or political pull,
has taken brave and notable stand.
When he said that if he could not
find a capable Republican in the
South to fill Federal office, he would
appoint a capable Democrat instead,
he evoked the Southerners' applause.
| When he invited Booker Washington
to dine at the White House, he
aroused their resentment; but their
resentment and their applause alike
are both to the presidents credit.
If public Office be a public trust"
President Roosevelt can make no
mistake in appointing to public office
the most trustworthy and capable
men, irrespective of the clamor OF
the masses and the whip of the
bosses. Public sentiment should not
be disregarded in making appoint
ments to public office Indeed, in
republican form of government like
ours, public favor must have great
weight and consideration; but when
one is as capable as he is popular,
| and as popular as he is capable, there
exists tWo-fOld reason for his pre-
ferment. l know of no public official
happily combined than in John M.
Hill, register of the United States
land Office at Walla Walla. Washing
ton. Mr.. Hill is the right man in the
right place. He is thoroughly con-
versant with the land system of our
government. He was not appointed,
as most of our officials are, with only
a general idea of the work which they
have in hand, but at the outset, he
had more than the average knowledge
of the details of the office; and to-
day, with his wide experience in land
matters, he is master of the situa-
ton. Mr.. Hill is an applicat for re-
appointment; however, it is not of
him that | am thinking, but of the
masses of people who might suffer
by a change. l am thinking Of the
army of struggling men, seeking to
provide homes for their families, who
would be impeded and delayed in
their purpose, not because of the new
registers dereliction in duty, but be-
cause of his comparative unfamiliar
ity with the work.
The work of land office does not
run in a straight groove, but is laby-
rinthine in character; and when one
is so thoroughly acquainted with it's
intricate mazes as is Register Hill, to
displace him by new and untried re-
cruit is to work great hardship to all
the homesteaders throughout the land
district concerned. When we have
sure thing and a good thing, why
should we set it aside for an I'M
certain and an untried thing?
Register Hill is absolutely compe-
tent to meet any emergency that may
arise, and which another and less
competent register would refer to his
superiors at Washington, D. c., there
by causing to the settlers extra ex-
pense, long and unnecessary delays.
and often, indeed, defeating them in
their plans.
Mr. Hill has had wide experience in
official and public life, and has always
been in sympathetic touch with the
masses. For term Of four years he
was one of the commissioners of
Whitman county, and for two years
chairman of the board. The efficiency
which he showed at the outset, when
he became register of the Walla
Walla land Office, is largely due to the
fact that he was once auditor of
Whitman county. When President
Harrison wanted a competent super
visor of the census for Eastern Wash
ington, he selected John M. Hill. Mr..
Hill was also appointed as the
Worlds Fair commissioner from East
ern Washington for the great Chicago
exposition
Mr.. Hill has always been an ar
dent Republican, and has been fortu-
nate enough to win the esteem of
even his political opponents. He has
always exerted himself to bring about
harmony in Republican ranks, and
calls no Republican his foe. He has
come into intimate contact with all
classes of men and all phases of life. |
He was reared on a farm, and edu-
Gated in McMinville college. He has