St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1914-02-11
..The Diplomats of Democracy y

1.-THE Diplomats of Democracy"
President Elliot afixes the blame
to Secretary Bryan, whose henchmen.
with the possible exception of two
neighbors of Assistant-President
House in Austin, Texas, comprise the
galaxy of incompetents. Another
authority upon civil-service reform,
former Vice President of the Lea
que to which DR.. Eliot made his re-
port, disagrees. Writing in The
State, published in 1898, Woodrow
Wilson said:
Zone of the chief points of inter
est and importance touching any sys-
tenn of administration is the relation
which the ministers of state bear to
the Executive. Under our own
system the heads of departments are
brought together into at least nomi-
nal unity by their common subordin-
alton to the President. Although
they are, as we have seen, rather
the colleagues than the servants of
the President, his authority is yet
always in the last resort final and
decisive: the secretaries have had
very few powers conferred upon them
by Congress in the exercise of which
they are not more or less subject to
oversight and control. The President
is in a very real sense head of the
Executive.
Furthermore:
'The unfortunate, the demoraliz-
ing influences which have been al
lowed to determine executive appoint
ments since President Jackson's time
have affected appointments made
subject to the Senate's confirmation,
hardly less than those made without
its cooperation; Senatorial scrutiny
has not proved effectual for securing
the proper constitution of the public
service. Indeed, the courtesy of the
Senate has frequently threatened to
add to the improper motives of the
Executive the equally improper mot
ives of the Senate"
| There is no escape from the clear
and forceful logic of Mr.. Wilson. A
President may authorize or request
Secretary Of State to submit re-
concentrations, but it is the Presi-
dent himself who makes the appoint
ments and signs the commissions
whose authority is always in the
last resort final and decisive" That
Mr.. Bryan, apparently abetted for
personal reasons by Assistant-Presi-
dent House, has availed himself OF
the opportunity to discharge per-
emptorialy members of the diplomatic
service who had won their places
/ by merit and fidelity and had every
moral right to expect that their faith
fulness and honest endeavor no less
than their developed capacity would
be considered, and to put into their
places his own personal followers,
/ NJ Of nh nT. Trif o
any language except his own, is suf-
ficientIy obvious. But who accorded
him the privilege, if not the Presi-
dent? Moreover, is DIR. Eliot quite
fair in impugning the conduct of the
Secretary of State? To the best of
our information, Mr.. Bryan has never
espoused the merit system. While
not going so far as to declare the
right of the victors to the entire
spoils, he did not hesitate in 1908
to pledge at least a half to his adj
herents in the event of success. And
only last month his Associate Editor,
Mr.. Metcalfe, himself a beneficiary,
pronounced it ridiculous to suppose
that President Wilson would not Fuse
the forthcoming canal organization as
means of reciprocating the efforts
of those constituents who helped to
place him where he is Surely no
charge of false pretense or Hypocrisy
can lie against Mr.. Bryan. He is a
true-blue Jacksonian Democrat,
avowedly amendable to ''the unfortu-
nate, the demoralizing influences
which have been allowed to deter
mine executive appointments since
President Jackson's time and has
never pretended to be anything else
1t was not the Secretary of State who
wrote:
my warm advocacy and support
both of the principle and of the bona
fide practice of civil-service reform
is known to the whole country, and
there is no danger that the spoils
system will creep in with my approval
or connivance."
1t was Woodrow Wilson, President
of the United States, who also said:
1.-THE President may accept it's
(the Service Act's) directions or not,
as he pleases. The only force that
can hold him to the observance of
its principle is the force of public
opinion"
Truer words were never spoken;
and we suspect that the force alluded
to will be exercised and that its effect
will be felt. But why does Woodrow
Wilson do such things? How can he?
Can anybody tell?-George Harvey.
in The North American Review.
The rs cent piece was made