The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-02-11

i Is this the whole truth? Let's ask the President.
 First, he says, such cases are few, They stick up in local knowledge, and nothing Is heard of the good appoin- ments. And in proportion to the great total of (some 25,000) vacancies nlied each year, the bad appoint ments" are very few. The President is withdrawing from politics more and more classes of offices, and the civil service is being steadily improved. He believes sincerely that he Is giving good government.
 Second, the President is not the sole appointive power. The Constitution provides that the Presidents appoint ments shall be made by and with the consent of the Senate. The size of the country, and the number of places to be filled, render it impossible for the President to examine personally, or even carefully, into all candidates. So he relies mainly upon the Senators, as he should; and as the Constitution contemplates. And he advises also with the Representatives, as he should. But the Senators and Repre- sentatives have come to look upon his appointments as their graft. There has grown up in the Senate a custom or ''courtesy' which enables any one Senator at will to hold up a nomina- ton by the President. and this to a large extent, turns over to the Sena- tors from each state the appointive power of the President for that State. The President has to make "dealsH with them to get his appointments confirmed and to get his bills through the Senate, he must appoint enough of their men to keep out of general fight.
 Here is the situation. then. How does 1t work? Take an example:: The people of Chicago set out some ten years ago to clean up their council. They did 1t pretty well. But the city ringsters, beaten In the city, retreated to the state legislature for support. The Chicago retormers followed and fought them there. And they won with Deneen for Governor. But in order to win they had to meet and beat the "Federal bunch" as they call Senators Cullom and Hopkins, Speak CT Cannon and the other federal of fice-holders in their state. Chicago and. In a measure, Illinois have re- stored representatives government and the old rings, city and state, have lit- the more than the federal offices to keep them going. Now, why Us 1t, said Chicago man in Washington the other day, why is it that every time we throw a dead politician out on the scrap heap, the President picks him FN~~~N-~~~ something as good?"
 Why, indeed! How does the Presi- dent see it? He says he can't know all about the various Chicago candt- dates for an office in Chicago. so he takes the advice of the Senators and Congressmen from out there. The Chicago reformer can't understand why the President dosen't consult him. But the President answers that the people of Chicago and Illinois don't send the Chicago reformer to Congress to advise him; they send Messrs Cullom and Hopkins and Cannon and ex-boss Lorimer, and these, the accredited representatives of their state, want Doe" Jamison or Fred Busse appointed
 Another rebuke for us; all of us. For such instances are troubling good citizens all over this country. Every state and nearly every district proba- ply knows of appointments not from the scrap heap. perhaps, because not many communities have heaps of po- litical scrap; but we all have rings and we see the President prefering