Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 2.djvu/148

128 improper person could be selected; but that he himself (the competitor) is just the man whose services the Republic needs.

Now, sir, how are these recommendations made and how are they obtained? Look at the Congressman who is to distribute the offices in his district. Laboring under the pressure coming from those who exercise political influence among his constituents, he is not permitted to follow his own judgment. He is bound to a great many of his “political friends” by what he considers honorable political obligations, and he is forced to take their judgment in a great many cases for his own. Sometimes, indeed, he has a personal knowledge of the individuals he is to recommend; but in a great many cases not. So you see that by no means in all cases the recommendations of the Congressman for office in his district are his own, but forced upon him by other people, to be taken upon trust.

But as to offices not local, you witness the interesting spectacle of Senators and Representatives coöperating. It is the organization of a mutual insurance society; “You sign this recommendation of my friend, I sign that recommendation of yours.” It is a matter of mutual accommodation. And here the element of personal knowledge enters but rarely. What must the consequences be? Consider our senatorial duty to act in a judicial capacity on the confirmation or rejection of nominations which we ourselves, without personal knowledge of the individual, have aided in procuring, and then look at a case which happened to myself. At the solicitation of a friend on this floor I put my name to a recommendation, in good faith; and on the strength of that paper, bearing many signatures, the President nominated the applicant; and when his name came before the Senate, and we had to pass sentence upon him, I learned things which, had I