New-York tribune., 1905-06-02
AN ADMIRABLE APPOINTMENT.

In selecting Mr.. Charles ]. Bonaparte 10 DC
the next Secretary of the Navy President Roose-
yelt has done characteristic thing IN char-
acteristic way. And that amounts to Saying
that he has done q thoroughly admirable th1ng
in n thoroughly admirable way. he may nave
astonished some Maryland politicians VINO
Thought that no Cabinet appointment from tnat
State could be made-or should be made-wltn-
ont their cooperation and consent But In
choosing a successor to Mr.. Morton the Presi-
dent has only acted up to his fixed policy OF
making worth and character-rather than paru-
san influence and Service-the true tests OF USE
fuIness in public office. In Mr.. Bonaparte Ne
secures Secretary Of the Navy eminently quar-
fled to discharge the duties of that post. lie
welcomes into his Cabinet an adviser of hrm
convictions and high political ideals; but, more
than ALL he recognizes and honors puDhc ser
vice of an exceptionally deserving and helpful
sort.
Mr.. Bonaparte has played for years in Mary
land noIitics-and to some extent in national
noltics-a role the value of which the public Is
only lust beginning to appreciate. A man Oh
education refinement and wealth, with no other
stimulus to activity than a sense or puphc duty
he threw himself years ago into the strusgle
then beginning TO elevate and purify political
life. In his own State and city he saw cor
rupt and tyrannical machine lntrenched III
power boasting its ability to maintain ltseH
through its fraudulent control of the election
machinery He spoke, worked and fought
against that machine with all his might and
uss recognized as one of the forces which hnai-
| lv ACCOMPLISHED its downfall in 1895. An ardent
foe of the theory so long tolerated in TINS coun-
try that government exists for the benent OIL
the politicians who govern, he ident1hed hlmSelI
| conspicuously with the Civil Service reform
movement and has long had an active part III
| the agitation which is gradually taking the
classified oficehoders, federal, State and mu-
ncipal, out of partisan politics Every move
ment directed toward the betterment Of political
| conditions has enlisted Mr.. Bonaparte's SYM
| patty He has minced no words and spared no
sensibllities in his crusades against the spoils-
man the CRATER and the cOrrupton1st, and
his outspokenness has brought him the enmity
| of leaders in both political organizations in his
| own State; but his efforts for better govern
ment his uncompromisng rectitude and civic
| courage have won him the respect and conf
dence of his own people, and at the Presidential
election last fall he received the highest vote
cast in Maryland for any Presidential elector
and was the single successful candidate Son the
| Republican ticket.
"The Baltimore Sum-" though a Democratic
newspaper, pays Mr.. Bonaparte this tribute:
l. In MARYLAND he stands for the best that can
| be gotten out of politics, and ne has risen to
power and influence in his party without COM
promising his self-respect or trucking to any
/ boss He is o trained lawyer Of dis
! tinction of ripe scholarship, thoroughly ac-
quainted with and their methods; he has
| never faltered in the effort to beat down
| crookedness in politics, and is like the Presl-
dent, honest and desirous of reverting to the
plain and clean way Of dealing with public
| affairs
At time when the public consciousness Is
| awakening everywhere to the need of higher
| standards in noliticS and when integrity is be
| ginning TO be honored rather than dexterity and
GINNING. public recognition of a career like Mr.
Ronaparte's strikes an immensely pleasing ant
popular note In honorng the Maryland re
former and the things he has stood for, the
President has gratifed his own inmost feelings
He has gratifed equally the great mass o.
Americans who believe that honesty and cour
age should become once more the dominant quail
tiles in political life.