Year: 1877

AN IMPORTANT APPOIN1MENI'


The future repute of Gov. RObinsOn's admin
istrotion depends in no small degree on the
nomination which he will probably make this
week for Superintendent of Public Works.
The nomination of Mr.. Pilsbury to the CO.
ordinate Office at the head of the prison sys-
tenn was thoroughly acceptable to the people Oh
the State. lie had not even remote cOnnec-
ton with politics he had probably better tech
nical knowledge of what the prison system was
and should be than any other man in the State;
and he was already in the business-he could
noint to a successful administration OF the
Albany Penitentiary as an earnest of what he
could do with Sing Sing, Auburn, and Clinton.
Probably it is not in Gov. Robinson's power TO
make choice for Superintendent OF Pubic
Works which will command such prompt ap-
proval as that of Mr.. Pilsbury, although ne
NAV make one which will prove, In the ehd'
to be equally good. No man has peen
designated by public opinion Tor th's
nlace. and such canal specialists as we
have are acting as defendants in suits
for the recovery of money wrongfully
converted or are thanking their stars that
they have not been placed some time since
within Mr.. Pilsbury's new jurisdiction. Gov.
Robinson is not to be spared in tins instance
therefore. the trouble of making a selection.
II ONLY remains for him to get the very best
man he can find


A very safe rule in making an appointment
of this kind would seem to be to reject every
man who is working to get the place. Aposi-
,ion of this rank ought to seek the right man;
the right man seldom seeks the position.


thara
question would be to reject every man who Is Ill
any way identified with old corrupt canal inter-
ests or to whom those interests are now favorable.
The Superintendent should be clean man. SUI
another safe rule would be to strike from the
list of possible appointees the name OF every
politician. Albany is full of politicians out OF
q ioh. CongresSmen who retired to private life
with the full consent of their constituents, ola
canal officers who think that canal reform has
"blown overall of them intriguing Tor
this place. 1t goes without saying that
tbe Governor cannot afford to appoint
anv of these men. This place was
not created as a refuge for broken-down pol
itcians, nor for any politician at all. Half a
million non-partsan votes called it into being,
and the appointment of a mere partisan wonld





believe Gov. Robinson can be guilty of.
Such an appointment, for instance, as that OF
ex-Concressman c. c. b. Walker would dis
appoint every just expectation OF the people.
Mr. Walker is u very popular man. lie Is dear
TO the heart of every Democratic convention,
where he usually makes one or two excellent
Jokes. But neither popularity nor knack OF
STORYTELLING is qualification for this place, and,
so far as we know, he has few others. lie
certainly has not had the training or the ex-
peIience which it demands, and has shown no
sign of the requisite ability. We only I"en-
ton Mr.. Walker as the representative oI class,
and because he seems to have diilused the
impression throughout Albany that the "un-
common anxiety" with which he had pursued
the Office was possibly to he rewarded. Gov.
Robinson must give us a sOunder name than thus.
OF all those that have been discussed none has
seemed better than that of MIR. Campbell, our
own Commissioner of Public Works. lie has
all the qualities cOnspicuously desirable lie Is
an eminent engineer, an executive officer OF
such ability and honesty that he has reduced
the expenditures of his department Il million
dollars in single year, and so poor Demo-
clat as the head of a department that the red
mouthed Democrats of the City Hall never
lose an opportunity to throw mud at him. We
mention Mr.. Campbell, too, only as the repre-
sentative of class. We have no knowledge
that any one is urging him, or that he would
accept if chosen, and, from the way his name
has been dropped from recent discussion of the
appointment, we shoald deem his nomination
improbable.


This is no place for cripples. The first Su-
perintendent must devise and set in motion all
the machinery of a new system, and he needs to
be Il man of ability. Gov. Robinson should
appoint no one because OF partisan services or
for charity's sake.