CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



would he produced if yon brought tlio nomina- 



f all tlu-M- iniiiur rii-toni-lnHi- officers 

 \vln> r.v.-ivo over $1,000 a \i-ar (and there are 



\v nf them now \\-ln> il.i nut iv MiTO that) 

 Hrnt, to be sent by him t<> tin- S,-n- 

 : continuation. It would introduce nt the 

 White House 'confusion worse confounded,' 

 intinitelv beyond any tiling that WO SCO there 

 now. He would not be able to judge of the 

 (nullifications of nil these various persons. It 

 would bring nil these offices into party politics 

 in tin' most objectionnblc manner. Every man 

 holding an office or desiring one would bo be- 

 sotting those supposed to have influence; and 

 if 1 should continue to be a member of Con- 

 gre<s I >liould not want the additional curse 

 (tor it is bad enough now) of having these 

 minor officers all coming to me with their let- 

 ters and petitions and grumbling and growling 

 and swearing if they could not have their own 

 way. I prefer to leave the matter to the officer 

 who is at the head of the proper department 

 and who is properly responsible. 



' Airain, there must be a proper responsibility 

 about this. No man can take a department 

 like tho New York cnstora-house or Boston 

 custom-house, and carry it on if every subordi- 

 nate under him who receives $1,000 a year is 

 at liberty to run to the President with reference 

 to his appointment, and from the President to 

 the Senate. It cannot be done. Then look at 

 your internal revenue officers. There are few 

 of those officers, none but the absolute heads 

 of the various offices, the assessors and collec- 

 tors, whose nominations are submitted to the 

 Senate. The minor officers, assistant assessors, 

 etc., generally receive more than $1,000 a year. 

 If all these officers are to be sent here for 

 confirmation, it will create additional confu- 

 sion. 



" Because we happen to have a President at 

 the present time who is not doing what we 

 think to be right in reference to this matter, is 

 it worth while for us to change this system 

 which has been found so good and beneficial for 

 so many years ? The present President, if tho 

 Senator finds fault with him, cannot live for- 

 ever, cannot be President forever, unless the 

 people choose to reelect him from time to time. 

 A change will come in the natural order of 

 things, and then when we get a President to 

 suit us I suppose the Senator would be for put- 

 ting things- back again and taking away this 

 power. We should look rather small and tri- 

 fling to do any thing of that kind. Therefore I 

 repeat what I said : let us do what is necessary, 

 under tho contingency, to protect the position 

 and the constitutional rights of the Senate itself 

 with reference to appointments, and not 'run 

 the thing into tho ground ' by taking every pos- 

 sible power out of the hands of, not of tho 

 President, for it is not in his hands now, bnt out 

 of the hands of the heads of departments, and 

 taking every thing to ourselves to act upon." 



Mr. Cowan, of Pennsylvania, said : " I rise, 

 sir, merely to correct what seems to be a mis- 



apprehension of honorable Senators as to the 



number of persons removed by tho President 

 during tin- pa-t, year. Now, nir, it appears upon 

 an examination that the whole number of office* 

 within the gift of tin- 1'iv-idi-nt amount* to two 

 thousand four hundred and thirty-four. He has 

 that number of appointments ; and the whole 

 number of removals amount to four hundred 

 and forty-six. I mean civil offices. I suppose 

 it will not bo contended hero that there is any 

 o-pccial virtue in a simple majority which en- 

 titles it to the offices. No man can give any 

 reason why three hundred thousand voters in a 

 State should have all the offices in the State, 

 while two hundred and ninety-five thousand 

 voters in that State have no offices at all. Not 

 even those who assail the President most stern- 

 ly and unrelentingly I think will argue that there 

 is any justice and any propriety in that. If 

 these offices belong to anybody and for any 

 other purpose than the public service itself, 

 and if there is to bo any rule adopted for the 

 guidance of the appointing power, perhaps that 

 practice is just as good as any other ; but the 

 minority would be entitled to its share as welL 

 Now, I suppose it is fair enough to assume that 

 at the commencement of last year these two 

 thousand four hundred and thirty-four officers 

 were all members of the dominant party. 



" As I see my honorable friend from Ohio 

 (Mr. Sherman) in his seat now, I beg to call his 

 attention to another thing. It was stated by 

 him that ' of the two thousand removals made, 

 not one hundred had been sent in to the Senate.' 

 The number that has been sent in is three hun- 

 dred and fifty-seven, and I believe the Senate 

 have acted upon but five. I do not think that 

 my honorable friend desired to exaggerate about 

 Ibis matter, and I have no idea that ho was de- 

 sirous still further to disturb the state of feeling 

 now existing in the country by putting things 

 in a worse light than they really are ; but that 

 is the fact. Four hundred and forty-six re- 

 movals out of twenty-four hundred have been 

 made ; three hundred and. fifty-seven of those 

 have been sent to the Senate, and five of them 

 have been disposed of by the Senate. Now, sir, 

 it is unquestionably unjust to complain of the 

 President, that he has not sent all the names 

 into the Senate, when he is ahead this session 

 three hundred and fifty-two appointments now, 

 and they are not yet acted upon." 



Mr. Williams: '"I ask the Senator if that in- 

 cludes military appointments? " 



Mr. Cowan: "Oh, no, civil appointments; 

 and I will st.'te the number of removals that 

 have been made in tho different departments, 

 as I have taken tho trouble to get the informa- 

 tion on that subject. In the Department of 

 State there are three hundred and forty appoint- 

 ments, and there have been ten new ones made. 

 In the Treasury Department there are nine hun- 

 dred and seventy-three appointments, and there 

 have been one hundred and ninety-nine changes. 

 In the Department of the Interior there n: 

 hundred and ten appointments, and there have 



