Palatka daily news. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1919-1994, 1921-09-28
THE FRONT PORCH AND
THE ,SPOILS

President Harding has again bee
imposed upon. His easy-going ma
ture has been Capitalized" by de
signing partizans.
During the incubation of the Hard
ing idea in the Front Porch and bacl
rooms, we heard much of ideals a
to the dignity of office and the rewar,
of faithfulness to "our America.
These ideals are now falling one b,
one, shattered or, to put it in tn
vernacular of the returning brave
shot to pieces, by the greedy spoils
men.
We are not going to say, eve toll,
you so;" but we did. We saw an,
said that Harding would prove a.
putty in the hands of the spoilsmel
and shrewd practical politicians O
his party. The temptation to de
ceive such personality, with incli
nations to drift without anchors tt
windward or any anchorage at all
is too alluring for the average poll
teal office-seeker to resist.
Both parties have been accused
and justly, of resorting too much tt
"clean"-really very dirty-"sweeps
of the officer holders of the defeated
faction. The Wilson victory was, &C
eording to Republican critics, follow
ed by too great a demonstration Of
this sort of oplitics; but it was moi
so bad as some other sweeps" OF
the same character. And the Wilson.
ian cleaning of the stables was de.
nounced as if such a thing would be
utterly inconceivable to "the party
of great moral IDEAS"
But what do we see? President
Wilson at least retained some Re-
publicans in Office, and in a certain
case he allowed one to hold the very
place that is now being made a
cause celebre in the Harding sweep
1t appears that out in Utah a
Democrat, T. C. Thoreson, Surveyor
General of the Land Office, has blunt
iy refused to resign at the dictation
of the Department of the Interior.
He contended that his appointment
runs for a specific term, and forced
resignation, without cause, would
cast slur upon his reputation.
The Department of the Interior, or
office-seekers in Utah, thereupon APP
pe2'ed the matter to the President,
invo wing the Chief Executive in
deal that could only result in soiling
his lands and lowering his prestige.
But Mr.. Harding, ill-advised or
unadvised, stopped to take part in the
affa.g. He wrote one of his easy
epistles to the recalitrant Thoreson.
TT remarkable letter, which will
be read upon political records and
o. tie pages of history as an awful
eNaH pie, was as follows:
Ny Dear Sir: Those of us who
are responsible for the activities of
the new Administration never like
to do anything in an inconsiderate
way. We are anxious to have men
In positions of responsibility who
are in full sympathy with the pur-
poses and plans of the Administra-
ton. l need not tell you of the cur
rent demand for the recognition of
aspirants within our party for
consideration in the matter of pa
tro7age. l take you to be prac-
teal man who knows these de-
velopments with a sweeping change
IN national administration. Under
all these circumstances l would
vlry much like to have a new APP
pointment in the office which you
occupy. In all courtesy l would
infinitely prefer to have you recog-
nize the situation and make your
resignation available. l am writ
ing this letter in kindly spirit to
express a request that you recog-
nize the situation and let me deal
with the situation as you would
probably wish to do if our positions
were reversed.
Very truly yours,
Warren G. Harding.
But Mr.. Thoreson replies in effect,
that he wouldn't act in that way,
and that President Wilson didn't act
n that way, when the positions
were reversed" After saying that
he '-can not understand how the
,!ans. and policies of the Admins
ration can in any way change or
Modify the formal duties of Sur
teyor-General," the tenacious office
older continues: II
Il Is well known that the de-