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Another feature which must wholly negative this criticism, is that of the form under which the promise of office is to be made. It should not be verbal, nor dependent upon changing moods or caprices of favor -- mere spasms of sentiment -- in an appointing power, but should be fixed and immutable, an obligation transmitted from year to year, and which none could repudiate.

In the first place, the oldest invalids should have the preference given them in appointments of this kind, as well in justice to them as to their successors; for, were young men to be selected, vacancies would not, in the natural course of events, happen often enough to afford any chance to others as a class. Therefore no men under sixty should be permitted to compete for these places, and the method of appointment might be as follows: On the recommendation of the public authorities of the invalid's place of residence, certifying to his character and competency, the head of the department in which he seeks to obtain an appointment should issue a ticket to him bearing a certain number, and certifying that when the next highest number has held the office, or died, or been disposed of in any other way, the candidate holding the succeeding number should, of right, receive the place, provided, always, his competency and meritoriousness still continue -- facts which must again be certified to as before.

PROPOSITION EIGHTH.

A Soldiers' Industrial Exchange should be established in every large city, the object and purposes of which should be to furnish facilities, for such of them as may be able to work, to become acquainted with those who need their labor.

The promises of employment are always so great in large cities, and the spirit of gregariousness so constant an element in human nature, that places like these will continue to invite, beyond the country, an influx of laborers. The glut in the labor-market, which must at times necessarily ensue, will limit the chances of employment to the best and most competent workmen; in consequence of which, invalids, who may wish to remain in cities, instead of availing themselves of the various outside channels of employment which, it is hoped, will be created for them, will find it extremely difficult to obtain occupation. Under these circumstances their condition will be pitiable in the extreme, for it is certain that their pension alone cannot support them in idleness (nor, indeed, was it intended to), and the result for them will be inevitable destitution, and possibly beggary. To avoid this, the worst feature of social organization, and which soonest demoralizes mankind, and tends to sweep them into the vortex of crime, some means must be adopted for securing employment to invalids. As they do not always know who are seeking for laborers, and cannot afford to advertise their wants, many of them will undoubtedly lose opportunities of employment from the very fact of not knowing where to look for them. They may be very zealous in their search -- willing to accept almost anything, and yet not succeed in obtaining the least chance to earn a livelihood. Such are the daily experiences of life in all large cities, and such, too, the occasion of much of that poverty which, from its too frequent affiliation with crime, becomes a source of unjust reproach to so many. While this is the constitution of things, we cannot hope to radically alter the effects which flow from it. They are the legitimate results of causes lying far below the surface of things, and out of reach, therefore, of all organic reform. The only course left society is to check, as far as possible, an increase of the unemployed, and particularly of unemployed invalids, who, from their inability to change locality, and to transport their families elsewhere, are, in a great measure, tied down to particular places, where, if they cannot earn a living, they must in time draw upon the charities of the public, or ultimately drift into almshouses.

It will not, we presume, be denied that these results are in a great measure preventable by removing their original causes. Where men are starving for want of work, work must, if possible, be found for them; or, if it cannot be found, then it must be created, on the principle that the world owes every being in it a living. But in our country, with its thousand undeveloped resources, new fields of labor are constantly being opened. New railroads and canals, factories and workshops, are being constantly built. Stout arms, it is true, are wanted for most of these purposes, but alongside of the heavy labor are parallel employments requiring intelligence rather than brute force -- thinking heads instead of muscular arms. It is here that invalids may come in and subserve the thousand wants of the hour, and it behooves all to see that they are duly remembered in the call for laborers. With an industrial exchange in each city to keep the record of the wants of the labor-market, and to be in direct communication with all invalids or other soldiers seeking employment, such a system of direct and mutual assistance, both to employers and employees, could be perfected, as would render it a living source of benefaction to the industrious and labor-seeking operative. It would constitute a bureau of itself, and being everywhere under the eye of the Government, would soon acquire a preponderating influence as a reliable recommender of the best and most meritorious workmen.