The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-03-25
ooNsTsTENUY-AND SUCH.

SUPERINTENDENT SUCH. There is something almost whimsscai1y absurd in some of the presfdsnt'e recest actions and in some of the slAeged sx- plantations of the same. His appointment Treasurer of the United States in New York was, we are told. ct ths instance of Senators Plast and Depew. of that State. The subservient Senate innme- daately confirmed the appointment Then, as we are informed by one contemporary. before the President had ems to sign the commission. Mir. Aldrich ard other Senators learned that the man wouldn't do. Then there was a lively hustling around; the Senate took back It's advice and consent, the man wrote a self -abne- gatory letter, the President withdrew the nomination. and Messrs Platt and Depew were induced to consent to the appoint ment of their old friend Hamilton Fish, ex-speaker of the New York Assembly and by education and experience equal to the job of running the sub-treasury."
 This was humiliafing business all around. or should have been. and we are told that President Roosevelt. or his friends. try to throw all the blame on the two New Yo'k Senator's, but what sort of defence is ttat7 The position is an important one and in the Presidents own State. He ought to have known something of the character and fitness of the applicant before making the appoint ment. We know that a President can not possibly inform himself as to all ap- pointees and must depend on the Senators and Representatives for information In many instances, but this was case where there was no excuse for appointing a man who wouldn't do," as they ex- press 1t. It was his business to Know, in such a case as this, and he has no right to throw off on Piatt and Depew.
 But The Hartford Times seriously in- inmates that the appointment was made and withdrawn for the purpose of putting the New York Senators in hole. The President was willing to see the Senate make an ass of ttself-to speak plainly in order that he might show up Platt and Depew. Is he afraid of them? Does he think they will stand in the way of 8 second term for himself? If he does, and this unfit appointment was made for the purpose of weakening them 1t was not at all creditabie to President He may have put them in 6 hole but he put himself into a deeper one.
 Furthermore, we arc informed that "he promptly withdrew the appointment on the protest of the bankers and business men of the metropolis" Just so. The pro- test of bankers and business men of the great city wielded a potent influence. It would never do to antagonize their wishes, so the great Invincible. the man of iron will, the man who never backs down, lost no time when the money hold CTS of the money center of the country showed their teeth. He knocked under without hesitation.
 The best sentiment of the entire coun- promptly withdrew the appointment on of Byrne in Delaware, but it has had no efrect. Probably there are no potential bankers and business men, among the protesters. It is merely the people of the country who believe in honesty and clean methods. who object to the infamy of Addicksism. and who object to President of the United States allying himself and his ofrce with a man like Ad- dicks. These are the people who protest against Byrne. but the Presidents back bone is too firm to be influenced by them.
 And all the best people of Charleston and the South have protested against the appointment of 6 negro as collector of the port of that city. Perhaps some of those were bankers and business men. but what of it7 They are not going to give Roosevelt any electoral votes, in any event. and will probably not be able to influence any delegates in the convention. Why, then, should, he heed their pro tests? Is he not a man of backbone and consistency, and various other things Can any one expect him to back water unless there is something in it for Roose- velt7 Not on your life. As The Hart ford Times puts 1t, "a hunt for delegates III @ udlOndL convention tS one tnlnB - and that one thing Is never lost sight of. If we admit that the President made a mistake when he appointed Piimley. and that he withdrew the appointment as soon as he was aware of that mistake, then no kind of reasoning or argument | will acQuit him of the charge of having | made a more grievous mistake in the ap- pointments of Byrne and Crum, and of | having obstinately persisted in this mis- take against the earnest protests of these who have a right to be heard If there is any one point more thoroughly brought out than another in ali this business 1t is that Roosevelt will listen to protests only from those who might thwart his ambition.
 IA NEU INDu9TRY