1880.] ODJ [Snowclen. 



7. The need of an elevated and permanent civil service, 

 A. Loudon Snowden, Esq., Superintendent U. S. Mint. 



" Oh, reform it altogether." — Hamlet. 



In response, Mr. Snowden said : 



I am honored, Mr. President, by your call, and doubly so 

 by the cordial manner in which it has been received by the 

 gentlemen of the Society, and heartily wish it were in my 

 power to repay your kind partiality by something worthy of 

 your consideration. 



It must be a pleasure to all the members of the Society 

 to be present upon this interesting occasion, not alone to dis- 

 cuss the good things provided by the thoughtful ness of the 

 Committee of Arrangements, but to partake of the intellec- 

 tual feast which has been so bountifully provided. 



You have been pleased sir, in presenting my name, to as- 

 sociate with it, the names of three of my predecessors in the 

 management of the Mint of the United States in this City, 

 who were also presidents of this ancient Society, which has 

 embraced in its membership, and upon its rolls of honor, 

 some of the most illustrious names in letters and science 

 which the last century has produced. 



The three distinguished gentlemen to whom you were 

 good enough to refer, David Rittenhouse, Robert Patterson 

 and Robert M. Patterson, were, in their day, citizens and 

 public officers who conferred lasting benefits upon the public 

 service, and who were, in all the relations of life, examples 

 worthy of imitation. 



David Rittenhouse, who succeeded Benjamin Franklin, 



and preceded Thomas Jefferson, as President of this Society, 



was wisely selected by "Washington on the passage of the 



Act of 1792, authorizing the establishment of the Mint in 



ruoc. amer. philos. soc. xviii. 10G. 3t. printed may 24, 1880. 



