the prevention of fraud.

I advise appropriations for such internal improvements as the wisdom of
Congress may deem to be of public importance. The necessity of improving
the navigation of the Mississippi River justifies a special allusion to
that subject. I suggest the adoption of some measure for the removal of
obstructions which now impede the navigation of that great channel of
commerce.

In my letter accepting the nomination for the Vice-Presidency I stated
that in my judgment--

No man should be the incumbent of an office the duties of which he is
for any cause unfit to perform; who is lacking in the ability, fidelity,
or integrity which a proper administration of such office demands. This
sentiment would doubtless meet with general acquiescence, but opinion
has been widely divided upon the wisdom and practicability of the
various reformatory schemes which have been suggested and of certain
proposed regulations governing appointments to public office.

The efficiency of such regulations has been distrusted mainly because
they have seemed to exalt mere educational and abstract tests above
general business capacity and even special fitness for the particular
work in hand. It seems to me that the rules which should be applied to
the management of the public service may properly conform in the main
to such as regulate the conduct of successful private business:

Original appointments should be based upon ascertained fitness.

The tenure of office should be stable.

Positions of responsibility should, so far as practicable, be filled by
the promotion of worthy and efficient officers.

The investigation of all complaints and the punishment of all official
misconduct should be prompt and thorough.

The views expressed in the foregoing letter are those which will govern
my administration of the executive office. They are doubtless shared by
all intelligent and patriotic citizens, however divergent in their
opinions as to the best methods of putting them into practical
operation.

For example, the assertion that "original appointments should be based
upon ascertained fitness" is not open to dispute.

But the question how in practice such fitness can be most effectually
ascertained is one which has for years excited interest and discussion.
The measure which, with slight variations in its details, has lately
been urged upon the attention of Congress and the Executive ha