The Washington herald., 1908-02-10

Indian service have Been made without
regard 70 politics, In the diplomatic and
consular services, more Democrats than
| Republicans having been appointed, as We
Iare trying to even up the quota OF the
Southern States.
No Politics I'm JudicinFy.
In nominating Judges ! have treated
politics as Il wholly secondary considera-
ton, and instead of relying solely upon
the recommendation of either Senators
| or congressman, have always conducted
independent inquiries myself personally
through members OF the bench or the bar
whom / happen TO know. or through At
/ torney General Bonaparte, Secretary
Taft who was himself a Judge; Secre-
tary Root, because of his great experience
at the bar, or Senator Knox, who was
| formerly my Attorney General.
! In number of the other offices, chiefly
assistant secretaries or heads Of bureaus
/ here at Washington, but also governors
| OF Territories or men holding peculiar
pOsitions-suCh. for instance. as that OF
/ commissioner OF education in Porto Rico
and also in few other cases, notably
]
! ern States. but including various Offices
also here and there throughout the Union,
l have either felt that the position was
/ Of such a character that tho initiative
! in the choice could only with pTOpriety
| come from me or from one OF the Cabinet
officers, or else have happened per
sonally 10 know or to know of a man
/ of such peculiar qualifications that I de-
/ sired 10 appoint him on my own initia-
| tive.
/ Task Big One.
There remain the great bulk Of Offices,
/ Including almost all the post-ofiices, the
! colectorships Of customs, the appraiser
ships. the land Offices. and the like, num-
/ bering some 1880 or thereabouts.
! 1T IS, of course, out Of the question
| for me personally to examine or have
knowledge Of such a multitude OF APP
poutments, and. therefore, as regards
I them. l normally accept the suggestions
I OF Senators and Congressman, the elective
/ representatives Of the people in the locaH-
/ ties concerned, always reserving 10 my
self the right to insist upon the mans
coming up 20 the required standard OF
/ character and capacity; and also reserv-
I 4
choose, II for any reason 7 am satisfied
that l am not receiving from Senator
or Congressman good advice OF II hap
pen personally to know some peculiarly
TT man.
VIII Reward Good Work.
Where the man has done well in office
I prefer to reappoint him. and do so
when 7 can get the consent Of the SEN
ators from his locality; but II they re-
fuse, the reappoinJment cannot be made.
Ordinarily. as a matter Of convenience,
the appointment can be best settled by
consultation beforehand. the advice of
the Senator or Congressman who is
elected and has peculiar means Of know
ing the wishes of his constituents being
taken.
But where a Senator treats this. not
as aRmatter Of consultation or mutual
agreement, not as O matter Of convenience
and eXpediency. but as matter of right
on his part 20 nominate Wh0mever he
chooses, the custom IS necessarily dis
continued.
Democrats i'm south.
In the South Atlantic and Gulf States,
nor Congressman OF my OWN party. I
have been obliged to seek my advice from
various sources. In these States / have
appointed large numbers Of Democrats
in certain States the Democrats appointed
Outnumbering the Republicans
For advice in appointing the Repub-
lioans, I have relied, wherever possible.
3 M r4rfya
men of standing and position VINO would
not take Office and on whose integrity l
could depend.
As instances merely, 1 will refer to
Col. Cecil a. Lyon. of Texas. command
ing one OF the Texas National Guard
regiments and a man Of Independent
means. engaged in active business, and
TO Mr.. Pearl Wight, Of Louisiana. and 20
Mr.. CCombs, Of Florida, also men OF in
dep andent means and Of large business
affairs. all Of them being among the
most respected men in their several
States
These men, and most OF the others
upon whom l rely. could not be persuaded
10 take any Office I'm my gift, and I could
no more cOerce or control their political
actions than I could, for Instance that
OF presidents Of chambers Of commerce
or colonels Of national guard regiments
IN similar States I'm the North
Has Done His Best.
In all Of these States have done my
/ best, when I came 10 appointing Re
publicsns. 10 put the best men in Office
those whom the people Of the locality
accepted as such and regarded as lead
ing citizens: and ! have every reason to
believe that the average Of my appointees
is very high. At present various ef-
forts are being made to get up boiling
delegations from the Southern States.
and the meetings at which these so-caIled
delegates are chosen are usually an
nounced as "nonoffceholders' b" conven-
tons
AS rule this means only so far as It
means anything that they are held un-
der the lead Of persons who wish 10 be
put in Office. but whose character and
capacity are such that they have not
been regarded as fit 10 be appointed un-
der this administration. In these cases
be il remembered that the failure to
secure Office is not the result OF the DO
litiCal action Of the men in question; on
the contrary, their political action is due
10 their failure to secure office.
Terms Ii PartisanshIp.
You quote q newspaper as saying:
We are now getting daily lessons in
civil-service reform from the White
House which ought to attract national
attention. The appointment Of Taft work
ers to post-offices in Ohio, and of the
totally unfit George W. Wanamaker as
appraiser Of this port is now followed
by the Presidents refusal to reappofnt
a good Hughes man as collector of Gus
toms at Plattsburg.
This article is good example of the