142 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS lector of customs in New York had been rejected by the senate, President Hayes made a second nomination for the same place, as well as for that of naval officer of the same port, and in a special message addressed to the senate on January 31, 1879, he gave the following reasons for the sus pension of the incumbents, Chester A. Arthur and Alonzo B, Cornell, who had failed to conform their conduct to the executive order of June 22, 1877: "For a long period of time it [the New York custom-house] has been used to manage and control political affairs. The officers suspended by me are, and for several years have been, engaged in the active personal management of the party politics of the city and state of New York. The duties of the offices held by them have been regarded as of subordinate importance to their partisan work. Their offices have been conducted as part of the political machinery under their control. They have made the custom-house a center of partisan politi cal management." For like reasons, President Hayes removed an influential party manager in the west, the postmaster of St. Louis. With the aid of Democratic votes in the senate, the new nomina tions were confirmed. President Hayes then ad dressed a letter to the new collector of customs at New York, Gen. Edwin A. Merritt, instructing him to conduct his office "on strictly business prin ciples, and according to the rules which were
