The Cordova daily times., 1921-02-25
OINTMENT OF
 VICTORS HAS
 BIG FLY IN T
BY COL WINFIELD JONES

QlSCuSSlng ana plannlnS QlStflDutlOn of federal patronage under the Hard ing administration. After eight years of office hunger under the Wilson ad- ministration the Republican congress- men are, so to speak, as ravenous as starving wolves, for the spells of office.
 It may be stated that in the Hard ing administration the Republican politicians, workers and supporters, will get the bulk of the federal ap- pointments, as matter of course. 1 There Is one fly in the ointment of the prospective office seekers, how ever, and that is the fact that MT. Harding, in all probability, will be obliged to appoint a goodly number of Harding Democrats" to office, in return for the big support some of the Democrats gave him last Novem- Der.
 H A parallel is seen in this situation, for many progressive Republicans" ISuppOlkSu w AAoSAl, pnA bA1A larly when he first ran for the White House, and a large number of these men afterwards received appoint ments at the hands of the president MT. Harding will be forced into a somewhat similar situation, and it is not believe he will be able to resist the pressure of the Democrats who deserted their party and contri- buted very materially in some states to his election. Therefore, some, if not many, Democrats, in all proba- bility, will be handed apples from the patronage tree. This will be done, however, over the protest, even if silent, of the Republican leaders who believe with Andrew Jackson that "to the victors belong the spoils," and who, if they had their way, would not allow a single Democrat to hold or obtain office, not even those Demo crats who supported their standard } bearer in the November elections.
 The vast bulk of the federal patron age, however, will be distributed around to the faithful, and many Democratic office holders, anticipat- ing this, is already cleaning official house and getting ready to move.
 In the distribution of the spells gained by the November victory the big prizes are the cabinet places
 After the cabinet, the next big prizes will be found in the diplomatic corps
 These places usually go to wealthy men who contributed heavily to the campaign chests of the victorious party. It has always been so iu the past and there is no reason to believe that any other procedure will he fol. lowed under the Harding administra,
 tion. All of the present American ambassadors and ministers, with per
 haps a few exceptions, will be re !. placed in the foreign countries by Re, publicans Along with the diplomatic
 appointments governorgeneral of
 the Philippines, a governor of Alas
 ka, and a governor of Porto Rico are
 to be appointed They will of course be Republicans. The Philippine post pays $25OOO salary and is really the
 best political plum that can be hand
 ed out by the new administration
 Next after these appointments will come the U. S. attorneys, marshals and collectors of internal revenue in each district, to say nothing of the
 port officials in a hundred or more
 sea cities of the country. Federal
 judges also, of the Republican faith will succeed Democrats on the bench
 as fast as vacancies occur.
 3 The postmasters make up the
 greatest share of the spells. Despite
 the order of President Wilson, ap parently putting first, second, and
 third class postmasters under the protection of the civil service, it has been discovered that such actior was mere executive order and car 1 be set aside by Mir. Harding with
 another executive order. None here 1 doubt that such an order will be is sued in due course of time, and tht Democratic postmasters in every sec 5 tion of the country will be succeeded l by Republicans. The most persistent | and loudest demand for this vii | come from the Republican members l of congress, who nominate the post | masters in their respective districts ! except in cities where the senators 9 live, and usually the senators nomi 1 nate or agree on the postmasters il
 their home cities. The postmaster ships are the biggest and best pa
 tronage of the house member, and i ] is certain that MT Harding will no