| OCR Text |
Show roMFHNivi tiii: urn. mumci:. A iiriiimand never tiring defender of the spolla a) ate lu In the civil service, notably thu New Yotk .Vim, aka why should congreaamtu have no voice In Hie appol ntment from their re a ecllve Stati a, aud by way of emphasizing Ita opinion on the sulject cltea the case of Abraham Lincoln applying to (leneral richeuck for olllclil Imlueuce lu procuring pro-curing a position In the land olllre do-liartment. do-liartment. Tile fact that thu aald "lutlueuce" when eiertud by so eminent a eraou aa Mr. Hcheuck was not tutpunrul, tauwatho Sun to In-quire In-quire why "Congressmen llku den. Hi henck should bo forbidden b fieri their Inllueniu lu favor of upplliauU llku Abraham Lincoln," l'rohubly tlm answer which sensible civil service reformers would make to thla query la that wheue e-ry e-ongresa- man beoomea a (loneral Behenek and 1 every applicant au Abraham Llucolu, there will b no need of civil service! rrfoini, and no lurrnse In dlacu sslng such a queatlon pro or con. In Ilia meantime tho question la squally lr relevant, for both Mr. Pchtuik and Mr. Lincoln are dead, and there la not at Ihla date any taihlh) evldencea of their having left any disciples who could becomingly fill their places In thla elvll aervlce controversy. What such reformers aa Mr. George William Curtis are contending for, and we believe lie can speak authoritatively for them all, la rmatieril and euie arrange ar-range mentaby which audi man as Mr. Lincoln may All any oltlca lu the country, aud not be under the necessity of selling themselves out for congressional congres-sional Influence In order lobeaafcly landed In the sltlons sought ly them. It Is observed that, as In the cae quoted by the Suit, in the cvutllct for oftlce under the "Inlluencu" arrangement, arrange-ment, the I.lncolua aa a rule receive only congressional condolences for their liie, while some other luan with neither qualification nor boueaty, whose congressional backer Is In touch with the Administration gains the otllcr. Thla government clerkship and geu-eral geu-eral appointment laislnesa has been greatly enlarged aloee the editor of the iim Dist began to defend hla spoils doctrine. At tbat time the lahorof distributing their Influence waa not so great a tax Uti congressmen, aud they could work It Willi rcstvclable aucceaa along with their rrgularotlldal dutlea. Hut now Ihlnga aro dlfleient. II hat ben publloly demonstrated that congressmen con-gressmen who conscientiously fulfil the expectations of their olllce-reeklng constituency, con-stituency, have not enough lime left to even read the bills which they vote upon. Ilesldcs this the eJuveruineut baa had bi furnish them each a special clerk at Ita exieiise, whose lime la likewise In great lrt devoted lo Incidental dutlea growing grow-ing out of the bo "Influence" .ntltcra. Tho I'reslleut himself la equally burdened with hla Inlluence work. If he alien la to It with respectable punctuality, punc-tuality, llo first two yeara of bla administration ad-ministration Is claimed exclushely by tlieoniceapjllcauts and thtlr several congreasioml advocate. Then b.'ilti the preparatory work for the next four yeara among the politicians, and between be-tween the olllcu acekera and the ofllce-workers, ofllce-workers, about all the ople get from tho Administration, run uiu Mr, Dana' Ian, la hla annual message, which la liable to be wilttcn by hla ! rl vale secretary, and wo might add lo thla aUo aa a thing worth considering, the Interc-fctlug newspner literature Insured by otjccllonable appoint nients. It It to relievo the I'rettdentand congressmen from thla arduous and ex-pensive ex-pensive duly, and tiro thrui an opportunity oppor-tunity to attend to their legitimate bus-' Ineaa, that the civil service reformera are advocating ft dlacontlnuince of the ancient and venerable apolle system. It Is a work of hllanthropy aa wall as national iconomy. |
