The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-03-08

In his first nominations-after those
Of his tcabinet-John Hay to be Am
bassador to Great Britain and Gen.
eral Horace Porter to be ambassador
to France.
1t was not until several days later
that the assistant secretaryships be.
gan to be filled, and this work was
practically completed a month and
TWO days after the Inauguration by
the appointment of Theodore Roose-
Velt as assistant secretary of the
navy. In the meantime the other Of
fices We're being filled one by one, and
TINS process kept up for many months
BEFORE the entire change Was effected.
President Wilson will have several
hundred appointments to make in the
service in Washington. In the state
department he will have three assist
ant secretaries n a half dozen or
more other prominent officials. OF
course, he will be guided largely by
the recommendations of the secretary
OF state In making them. A president
very seldom goes over the heads of
ms chief advisers in making such ap-
pointments; unless the reasons are
extremely urgent he defers almost en-
tilely to the selections and recon-
mendations of his cabinet officers.
When there are such urgent consider
ations he will probably say something
like this: Mr.. Secretary, it seems
that we cannot ignore the claims of
Mr.. So and SO, and if you can see
your way clear to appoint him, l shall
be pleased OF course, the secretary,
when it comes down to that, gladly,
unless he has the most urgent reasons,
valves his own choice in the matter.
More usually the president shifts the
burden to the shoulders of his cabinet
officers and refers the c~ontending APP
plicants to the n under whose port
folio the position being sought is
given out.
Next to the nostoffice department
the largest list of presidential APP
pcintments, outside of the army and
navy, is to be found in the treasury
department. Here are three assistant
secretaries. and under them the super
vising architect; the director of the
bureau of engraving n printing: the
chief of the secret service; the gen.
eral superintendent of the life-saving
service; the comptroller of the treas
ury, who passes upon the legality II
all money paid ont by the treasury;
the registrar of the treasury, a job
that nearly always goes to a negro.
the auditors for the several depart
ments; the treasurer of the United
States; the controller of the cur
rency; the commissioner of internal
revenue; the director of the mint;
and the surgeon general of the public
health service.
Such positions as these the presi-
dent fills in all the departments in
Washington. Outside of Washington
he has the 5000 postoffices of the
presidential class, the several hundred
customs and internal revenue Off
Gals, the half a thousand positions in
the diplomatic and consular service,
the several hundred United States
marshals and district attorneys. and
the like.
With the positions in the several
states, including the marshalships, the
district attorneyships. the collector
ships, and the misunderstanding, the
procedure a been somewhat simpli-
fled, and certain positions are filled
upon the recommendations Of senators
and others pon the recommendations
of representatives. 1t is not probable
tlat the policy of the Wilson admin
istration will depart radically from
this, because, although it generally is
be about the most satisfactory one yet
ln1ton1 crp. ft1ltrn tL@r~ la1ar
The president Is always limited in
his choice by the willingness of the
senate to acquiesce in it. A marked
difference of opinion exists az to
whether the senate has n right to
recommend %appointees or not. The
constitution says that the president
may make the appointments with the
advice and consent" of the senate, and
senators frequently have commended
that this gives the enate such a right.
Others AXE the contrary view and say
that the senate has no power over "a
nomination until it is actually made.
In practice the contending views are
somewhat harmonized by the %recogni-
ton the president gives to the recon-
mendations Of individual senator's.
With the largest list of presidential
employees to appoint that ever has
confronted any president, and with
the greatest number Of hungry office
seekers on record, it is easy to imagine
that, long before his battle with them
is over, Mr.. Wilson will wish that ev-
cry position in the government service
outside of the presidential chair itself
Were under the classified service.
TomorroW-"The Crisis in Japan"
1.-The Political Riots"