Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-03-08
WHO WILL REFEREE
FEDERAL Patronage?
WILSON EXPECTED TO TAKE AP-
PoiNTMENTs IN HIS OWN
HANDS.
WILL FOLLOW ADVICE
OF HIS REAL FRIENDS
or srwi,s He Faces TroubIs-ls Sure
to Alternate Friendship Of Old Guard
Who Desire to Dole Out Jobs to
Observation-Disclosures Attitude May
BE Avoided.
Especial correspondence

WASHINGTON March Swim thous-
ands and thousands, yes. tens of thous-
ands, of hungry democrats insisting on
being appointed to office before the
new president has got fairly warm IN
his seat, the question that is upper :
most in the minds of a large snare OF
the visitors to Washington to the IN
augural this week is whom is MI. wilson
going to consult in the different states
in making his selections for federai
Jobs. In other words, VINO are to De
the referees as to patronage In eacn
state.
The word running round today Is that
the men who will be allowed to referee
patronage are the friends of PRESIDENT
Wilson. that is, his real friends, mol
the men who have been converted TO
warm friendship since the Baltimore
convention and the election on the otn
day of November.
Diseoneert;ns to Old Guard.
This is disconcerting news to large
numbers Of democrats in the house and
senate. Moreover, If it proves to pc
true. as there are plenty of indications
it will be- it spells trouble between
President Wilson and the conservative
faction of democrats in both houses.
Tradition has built up system OF
disposing of federal patronage. 1t is
nor as irrevocable as the laws OF the
Modes and Persians but it Is never
theless something not easy to break
thru. Ordinarily, in making the ap-
pointments of postmasters, marshais.
ATTORNEYS and other federal officers In
a state, the president accepts the rec
concentrations Of the members Of house
and senate from that state who are OF
his own party. In a given COMPRESSION
al district, in appointing postmasters,
the usual course would be to pick the
men the member Of the house favors.
In picking federal officials who may
be said to represent the state at large.
the recommendations Of the senators,
if of the same party az the president,
would ordinarily be followed. In some
states, notably in Iowa, there has grown
up a practice which was fostered by
the late Senator Allison. Of having the
entire delegation in congress OF the
same political faith as the president
caucus and agree on slate.
Ridiculous or Consistent?
But how about President Wilson!
age?
The practice Of accepting the recon-
mendations Of the members of con-
gress and senators of the same politi-
cal faith grew up in a day when there
were no such factional divisions in the
democratic party or other parties as
now. But fol- President Wilson, pro-
gressive, TO make appointments on the
I,t Nf IN,
congress who call themselves demo-
Gratis but who are Of an entirely differ
ent faction from the administration
would be politically unwise and little
short of ridiculous
For instance. what would happen to
Mr.. Wilson II he appointed list of
men in Virginia recommended by Sen
ator Martin and the members of the
Martin machine; or a list Of men in
Maryland recommended by Senator
John Walter Smith; or the recommen-
dations of the Theodore Bell men in
California or those Of the original Clark
men in Iowa?
Under the circumstances, the trouble
some nature of the patronage situation
| that confronts Mr.. Wilson can not be
overempha sized. That is. it will be
| troublesome unless the president takes
| the bull by the horns and makes his
| own selections without regard to the
wishes of democratic politicians who
/ in any event have no use for him. II
| all points to the truth of what is being
/ asserted by leading progressive demo-
Gratis. that President Wilson in making
appointments in the different states
1 VIII be guided by what his progressive
democratic friends want. What the
democrats In congress want will cut
little ice unless it harmonizes with his
own ideas of the way the states should
he fixed I'D.