The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-10

take office and on whose integrity could depend,
 AS instances merely l will refer to Col: Cecil A Lyon of Texas. commander or the Texas National Guard regiments, and a man of independent means engaged in active business, and to MT. Pearl Wlght of Louisiana and to MT Coombs of Flor ida. also men of independent means anu Of large business affairs, all Of them pe- ing among the most respected men m their several states. These men, anu most of the others upon whom ] rely, could not be persuaded to take any of flee in my gift; and I could no more eoeree or control their political action than I could for instance, that of pres idents of chambers of commerce., or colonels of national guard regiments m similar states in the north. In all or these states l have done my pest when I can to appoint republicans, to put the best men in office, and have every req son to believe that the average of my appointees is very high.
 Boiling Delegations.
 At present various efforts are being made to get up bolting delegations from the southern states and the meetings al which these so-caled delegates are chosen and usually announced as non office holders conventions. As rule this means only. so far as it means any thing that they are held under the lead of persons who wish to be put in office, but whose character and capacity are such that they have not been regarded as fit to be appointed under this admin istration In these cases, be it remem- bered. that the failure to secure offices is not the result of the political action of the men in question, on the other oc- easion. their political action is due to their failure to secure office.
 !" You quote a newspaper as saying:
 We are now getting daily lessons in civil service reform from the White House which ought to attract national attention. This appointment of Taft workers to postoffices in Ohio, and of the totally unfit George w. Wanamaker as appraiser of this port, is now followed by the Presidents refusal ot reappoint a good Hughes man as collector of, GUS toms at Plattsburg."
 This article is a good example of the ac- cusations made by those of our opponents whose partisanship renders them especial ly interruptions and untruthful. MT. Wanamakers appointment was recom- mended by the three congressman from New York county and by the two sena- tors, the appointment being made precise ly as the hundreds of similar appoint ments are made, and in conformance with the custom which has obtained through out my term of service and throughout the terms of service of MT. Mckinley, MT. Cleveland and many other predecessors. In this particular case, as it happens, MT. Wanamaker is peculiarly fit for the posi- tion, being already an assistant appraiser who has rendered good service in that place. he was appointed assistant ap- praiser by President Mckinley 12 years ago; he served as assistant appraiser sev- eral times and has a good record
 Case Peculiarly Comic.
 The refusal to appoint a good Hughes man as collector of customs at Platts- burg, refers to the case of MT. Walter Witherbee. and the accusation in this case is particularly comic because MT. Witherbee was an open and avowed Taft man, the classmate of Secretary Tafts brother at Yale, and both Secretary Taft and his brother requested his reappoint- ment, the only New York officeholder for whom they made such request. The congressman from his district and the senators have not agreed upon his sue cessor, and he is still in office. These facts were either known to the editors of the paper in question, or could have been found out by the slightest inquiry.
 There remains the allegations as to the appointment of Taft workers to postoffices in Ohio. In Ohio I have made 5S post office appointments; 27 of these were re- appointments. 31 were new appointments, the last including the cases where the incumbent had died, had been removed for cause or had resigned.
 Generally the appointment was made exactly as in other states upon the recom- mendation of the congressman from the district. In various cases, however, as at Maumee. Strassburg. Bluffton, Greenville and Leipsic, the nominatonsP were made upon recommendations of both Senators Foraker and Dick, or of one or the other. In four cases the nominations were reject ed by the Senate. In two of these, Den nison and Uhrichsville. the nominations of the new men were made upon the recom- mendation of the then congressman, Mir. Smyser. In each case the previous in- cumbent had not been giving very satis- factory service, in one instance he having failed to give sufficient personal atten- ton to the office, as reported by the inspector, and in the other case the post master being also the publisher and ed itor of a newspaper and>various irregular ities having been noticed, some reaching into violation of law, in the interest of the postmaster's paper.
 WethereII Appointment.
 At Spencerville investigation by the in-
 
 to reappoint the incumbent. and that MT. Wetherell. who had been originally rec commended for the position by Senator Dick, should be appointed. Senator Dick afterward withdrew his recomme ndation, but the inspector stated that Mr. Weth erell had been appointed at that time, and that to withhold his commission would be a great injury to him and would defeat the ends of justice. The nomina- ton was accordingly sent in.
 At Wapakoneta the incumbent did his work well, but the postoffice inspector re- ported that the feeling was almost unan- imous among his fellow townsmen that there should be a change, and a Mr. Moser applied, 1t appearing that the post master was not popular with the people, while the man suggested for the nomina- tion was unauestionably the choice of the patrons of the office.
 I call your attention to the fact that the Senate withdrew it's opposition to one of those four men and confirmed him: that the charges relate to three out of the whole number, 1164 postoffices: that of these three two were nominated in the usual fashion on the recommendation of the outgoing Congressman, and that the third nomination was made on the report of the inspector and would have been made without the slightest regard as to whether there was a Presidential can vass on hand or not.
 Statements Are Untrue.
 The statements in the editorial in ques- tion are, therefore, untrue in every par ticular.
 As for your quotation from another newspaper, running as follows: Federal