Year: 1877

/ Is strong presumptive reason why II y
/ proper that Senators, in their individual
capacity, should be consulted. IL is,
I therefore, also impossible for the Senate
I to have been in rebellion against the Ex
/ ccutive, because the Constitution invests
/ il with supremacy do not know
whether or not the Senate opposed any
/ OF the Presidents Cabinet appointments,
but it bad a legal and constitutional
/ right to do so. The power to confirm inn
| plies the power to reject. lt was not the
autocracy of the Senate in rebellion
/ against the Executive. IL was the Con
stitutional authority Of the Senate in con
stitutional exercise. The Cabinet has
grown to be Considered as a group of the
Presidents personal advisers; but really
1t is group composed of the heads OF
great departments, each one intrusted
with a distinct share Of the great bust


ness OF this great country. Each mem


ber OF the Cabinet is the responsible re-
pository of enormous business interests.


and II is the duty OF the Senate to look


well to such appointments. and the Sen


ate is derelict in duty il il rejects from


caprice or cohfirms from courtesy. The


interests involved are too vast to be left


to the mercy of revenge on the one side


or OF etiquette on the other. IL the Sen


ate besitated and delayed, it was doing


only what it had a perfect right to do.


In view OF the career of some late Cabi


net officers, and in view Of the career OF


some OF those whose names were propos-


ed for the present Cabinet, it would not
be monstrous to say that il was the duty


Of the Senate to consult carefully before


it confirmed. Was this unprecedented
and discourteous2 Was it any more un-


precedented and discourteous than the


repeated announcement that the Presi


dent would neither regard nor consider


the opinions Of the Senate2 Let me en-
phatically disclaim any belief that the


President has ever been guilty Of such
discourtesy. Nothing in the shape OF
evidence has ever indicated that the
President has borne himself otherwise
than with the dignity, the gentleness
and the courtesy which we have n right
to expect from his character and his po-
sItion Nothing in the shape Of evidence
indicates that the Senate has exercised
other than proper and honorable guar
dianship over the rights, or meditated
aught but faithful performance OF the
duties with which il has been intrusted.
The verdancy, the vulgarity, the inso-
lence. and the ignorance Of the various
remarks which have been put into the
=
narrow, vicious and venomous motives,
the ruffianly methods, ranging from bru-
tai TO cringing, which have been attrib- !
uted to the Senate, | believe TO have !
been chiefly, il not solely, the creation |
of vagrant brains But these vagrant
brains, this "calfs head and pluck" is |
what we the people are treated to when |
we attempt to get at the truth and the |
facts"


This state Of things is recognized by /
the Rsiormers themselves. The Chicago |
Tribune says:


The President alone is almost power /
less in making appointments to office, 1
and cannot exercise that power without /
the cooperation OF Congressmen, and es-
pecially of Senators


The Nation says:


"ln the contest that must arise between \
a reforming President and an ordinary 1
Congress, the latter has immensely the l
advantage Of position. The Senate can l
block the game instantly and IN a strict
ly Constitutional way


The Reiormers at the same time tell US
that the country is determined upon
Civil Service Reform. and will have il
But if the country will have il. there i
one simple direct and Constitutional
way 10 secure il: elect Senators and Rep
who are in favor OF IL. This
the country has not yet done. That j.
il has not elected Representatives who
are in favor OF what the Reiormers call
Civil Service Reform. | wish to mark
the distinction, because a real Civil Ser
vice Reform is one thing, and that fear
ful and wonderful chamrleon which fur
nishes the party cry OF the professional
Reiormer is another. The Reform or
gans admit, but with very little sign Of
seeing any force in the admission. that
the immense numerical majority is
against them. The Chicago Tribune
says:


"The members of Congress, and espe-
cially the Senator'S are almost to a man
opposed to a change Of the present sys-
tenn"


The Nation says:


There presses upon men who desire
reform the immediate duty
of securing the nomination Of trustwor
thy men for Congress.


The COngregationalist says:


The trouble is with the people who
the two great parties. They /
are not anxious for Civil Service di-
vorced from politics = ! do not know
a prominent leader in either party who
L
separated from politics"


Very well. that is ALL This is a purely
Representative Government. II the peo-
pie do not want the Reform Of Reform
ers, they have right not to have it. IL
is idle to say that they want it so long as
they neglect to say so themselves. and
quite the contrary, in the on
ly wav provided for them TO speak. They
may be very weak and very wicked In
not being for Reform; the present sys
TEN may be everything that is bad and
Reformers may shout them
selves black in the face over the cOrrup-
tion of Congressmen but the people
have a right to elect such Congressmen
as they choose; they have a right TO a
costly and cumbTous and political Civil /
Service If they choose it; and so long as
they do elect the present Congressman
who do vote Tor the costly system, il is
beating the air to say that they do not
want il and do want something else. If \
noise were the constitutional mode Of n
representation. the Reformers would win
by a large majority; but since the popu-
lar will Is expressed by suffrage il Is the
Congressmen who are counted in. The .
President Is not elected to execute his
own individual will. or the will OF "A Cab
met officer or OF a Reform Editor, or an
anti Reform Editor or any class or clique
whatever. but the will OF the people; and /
that will he is not left TO his own inner
light to discover or TO any clamor OF the 4
populace, or any whisper behind the 4
throne. IL has one legal, Com n-titutioual 4
and sufficient expression, which he has .
no power to mistake and no right TO dis .
regard.


1t is the right and apparently the duty |
Of Reiormers To Hood the country with /
tracts and missionaries, and TO show the I
people the error Of their ways. But be- /