The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-01-09
Ee606lhElt7 oN
AEromotion of the Youthful Mr..
a9sA AS1 Armstrong Doesn't Please
@@&RN the Veterans.
WOMAN LEAVES. OFFICE
indianola, Miss, Postmistress Says She
Will Not Again Take Position
Denies Stories of Violence
Congressman's Comment.

Washington, Jan. SIT is a matter
Of interest among "a persons here
what will be said by some leading sem
ators about the appointment Of Mr..
Armstrong, who is about to be pro-
noted from the position of private sec
rotary to Secretary Shaw to be an as
sistant secretary of the treasury.
The program of Secretary Shaw is to
have Armstrong assigned to the work OF
customs affairs, over which General
Spaulding, the retiring assistant secre-
tary, has for SO many years presided
with signal ability, but who is COM
PEELED by falling health to resign. The
nomination of Armstrong by the presi-
dent will be sent to the committee on
finance presided over by Senator AL
drich. 1t is a matter Of wonder what
this veteran in customs legislation and
all matters related to the tariff and
finance will say about the proposition
to make a man less tina thirty years
old who has never had the slightest eX-
p%erience with customs matters, the
head OF this important branch OF the
treasury. Plat of Connecticut n AL
lison of Iowa are also likely to make a
few remarks on the subject.
The promotion of Mr.. Armstrong
has been received with favor IN ac-
count of the personal popularity of the
young man. The newspapers have
commented in friendly terms, largely
for the reason that it would seem to
be ungracious to suggest that a
paper mar has not all the required
abilities to fill my position under the
shining SUM-. But some of the older
heaca anlong the officials here have
expressed surprise that the policy of
promoting young men should be ar
ried to the extent manifested in the
case of Mr.. A!siWtrong. The reason
for his comment is the fact that the
assistant secretaryship to which Mr..
Armstrong has been called is certain
ly one position in the department., if
not in all of the departments here, to
the successful filling of which it is
assumed that a wide range of business
experience, intimate knowledge of the
Intricate details of the most complex
laws Of the statute books. the tariff
law and other special qualifications of
a legal character are requisite.
Abandons %lndianola Office.
A dispatch from Indianola, Miss.
says the colored postmistress of that
place, on o of whose resignation
the government ordered the office
closed, has left for Birmingham, Ala.
Before she left the woman made a
statement in which she denied that she
had been subjected to any indignities,
and stated that no violence had been
threatened her. She said, however,
that she would not again take the Of
fee of postmaster under any circum-
stances.
The people ofIndianoIa may have dis
Dbeyed the law said Representative
Gaines of Tennessee, but hat does not
empower the president to suspend the
"a w II iS his 1ItU to oyaanta apI mot
suppress, the law. BY ~suspending the
@2E creating the p%ostoffice at Indianola
ne becomes himself a lawbreaker, and
p ents the patrons of the Office from
SERVING letters carrying United States
postage and addressed to them. If he
50 thus stop the mail at Indianola he
at will, treat New York or any
city the same way. If the post
&l4ster at Indianola had been assaulted,
~ her official rights been interrupted
Or interfered with, it is the duty Of the
president to enforce the laws enacted
10 punish the guilty offenders. l know
Of no law which gives the president
the right to punish a whole people, the
innocent and the guilty, by suspend
Ing the postoffice law establishing a
oostoffice at Indianola. This is a gov
of laws and not of men"
Scott on Civil Service.
SSildtbI SCDll OIL west virginia, IS
against civil service as it is admins
tered. The senator said:
The principle on which this government
was founded back in the days of the
Revolutionary war, was that all officers
should hold for a stated period. They
holding, and from the time of King George
down to the present day they still object
tG that principle.
II the principle of civil service is right,
Il q # hnlilno nfina fny. 1tfn ,rh,, --t Lii
the president, representatives and sena-
tors in ongress, first, second. third and
fourth class postmasters, district attor-
neys, assistant district ATTORNEYS. and in
fact, all subordinate officers Of the gov
eminent for life? But no, the American
people have aid that these different off,
GERS shall hold for stated periods. But
the classified service or the civil service
rules. as applied by the commissioners
and now enforced by them, say that a
man appointed to sweep the floors, wash
a cart In any of the various branches of
the government, must be appointed for
ire. How very ridiculous!. The position
of the g~oody-good is so untenable that it
eqClfe no on my part to
prove that the position that 1 have taken
is the right one. The great success of the
plan adontcd in the appointment of clerks
in the census bureau, where non-compet-
itiVe examinations were had, has proven
that a better lot of clerks has never been
brought together in any department of
Fl iiiS SpN u lliileill.
The principle of life holding of office
IS diStasteful to all Americans. 1t was one
or the chief causes of the war with the
mother ccuntry-aS much so as taxa
tl!oa without representation
Pope Appreciates New Conditions,
The text of the papal bull concerning
The Philippines has reached this CITY,
and many passages in the document
ShoW that Pope Leo fully appreciates
the new conditions in those islands. AT
ter reciting the progress the church
made under the Spanish kings and the
advan achieved by the islands dur
ing that period, the bill says:
But the fortune OF wal which changed
the civil government of the country has
involved changes in the spiritual govern.
ment also. For with the cessation OF
Spanish rule the right of patronage of tht
Spanish kings has also ceased, and the
church has come into greater liberty witt
inc just partition of its rights from thost
oil the civil SoveVn'Renr
This language has attracted keen at.
tehtlon among ecclesiasticS, as it is the
keTnote of the apostolic constitution
promulgated for the future government
tof the islands. The supreme pontiff
after a review of present religious con.
ditions. ordainH thai the Philippine.
hierarchy hereafter shall be independ
emf from Spanish patronage and tina
the archbishop of Manila Shall be pri.
" N ~ Tho gcIn 1I~ ---~.-