Year: 1871

mediation. And here the element of per-
sonal knowledge enters but rarely.
What must the consequences be2 Con-
slider our Senatorial duty to act in a judi
cial capacity on the corf ton or re-
lection of nominations " "a we our
selves, without personal knowledge of
the individual have aided in procuring.
and then look AT q case which haupcned
TO myself All the solicitation of a friend
on this floor I put my name to a recon-
mendation, in good faith, and on the
strength Of that paper, bearing many sig
natures, the President nominated the ap-
plicant; and when his name came before
the Senate, and we had to pass sentence
upon him, I learned things which, had
known them, would never have permit
ted me to join in the recommendation.


But there he was; and possibly my own
signature, together with those of other
Senators, had induced the President to
nominate him. What should we do when
called upon to confirm or reject the nom
nation? Reject nomination we our
selves had induced the President to maker


Or confirm it against the dictates of our


own consciences? q? Do you perceive the


conflict between duty and fairness which


the present way of doing things is so apt


to bring upoRus2 And I venture to say


that no session passes by without the oc-


currence of many similar cases. There,


then are recommendations with and with


out personal knowledge, extorted and


freely given, honest and dishonest; and


these are the things which are to guide


the appointing power in that most i'm


portant and difficult operation, the sud


den and hurried disorganizaticn and re-


organization of the whole of the admins


trative machinery. And. sir, this is not


the worst feature of the business. have


known instances where a regular Office


brokerage was established, and where


member of this Senate, not now here, a


gentleman of the most honored character


was induced by so-called friends to sign a


recommendation for a third Individual,


by which that third individual was to


obtain an appointment in one of the de-


partments. the "friend" having exacted


and obtained fee of 500 to procure the


signature of the Senator. The Senator


would have kicked that friend out Of his


presence had he any suspicion of the dis


honorable traffic. But 1 ask you, can


you tell, or can 1 tell, if we are facile


enough to sign papers at the request of


outside friends, that we have not fallen


into the same snare, and that yours and


my signature have not been sold by an


ofice-broker for money! Now. sir, you,


as an enlightened citizen of the world,


observing these things, find this rather


wild way in which the affairs of this great


republic are carried on at Washington.


You are somewhat bewildered, and you


extend your inquiries further, to ascer-


tain whether the same wild way prevails


everywhere else. You so to New York.


You visit the custom-house; you know


of the magnitude of the interests admin


istered there; you know that the reve-


nues of that Custom-house are now far


larger than were the revenues of the


whole government not great many


years ago; you notice how complicated


that tremendous machinery is, teeming


with weighers and gaHgers and inspectors


and appraisers and examiners and clerks
of all descriptions. A new collector has


just been appointed to direct and control


that mighty engine He is a sort of a
President on small scale. Being new
man you find him perplexed with the
greatness, variety, delicacy, and response
bility of his duties; duties new to him,
duties which, in their complexity, he will
not be able clearly to understand, much
less successfully to perform, without care
ful study and close application. And yet,
what is he doing? The same thing which
you found the President to be doing, and


the members of the Cabinet; he is dis
tributing offices. He Is overwhelmed


with applications. He has received in a


few days about fifteen thousand of them,
and the pressure of applicants and their


friends bids fair TO drive him crap. He,
> too, is obliged to take to pieces the whole


machinery of the Custom-house and to


reconstruct it again in a hurry You ask
him, why all this? He will tell you it is
: political necessity A political necessi-
ty, sirl Is not the first political necessi-
ty the conscientious and efficient collec-


ton of the revenue2 No. sir. He will


tell you that there is a political necessity
far above that, of much higher order
and you discover that the great Custom


house at New York is essentially a po-
litical machine. 1t is to control, as much
as possible, the politics of the City and
State OF New York in the interest of the
ruling party. Now, sir, what are the in
tiuences pressing upon that unfortunate
potentate, the collector? We heard the
, Senator from New York (Mr. Conkling)
, say the other day that he had carefully
abstained from making any reeommenda-
! tions for Office in the Custom house I
Certainly believe this assertion and all
honor to him for it. But 1 am sure that
: here we may behold not the rule, but an
exception: You may think that in New
York, things were in bad condition, but


at other places they would present them


selves differently. Go across the CONT
nent % Sanfrancisco, and you will find
exactly the same system working there,
leading to similar results. You will be
told there that under the prevailing sys-
TEN five collectors went out of Office as
defaulters to the government. You will
be told that under the law, officers are to


be examined before they are appointed
and yet the very heads of those estab-
lishments will at the same time, inform
you that the examination is mere farce


that as soon as the examining board


knows whom the collector wants appoint
ed the favorite candidates will pass the


examination without the least difficulty.
And SO you go from place to place, you