Show CIVIL SERVICE REFORM The most Important question that has agitated the public in tho last few years j is that of civil service reform Reform was the campaign cry of 1870 and reform re-form was the plank on which Samuel J Tilden came so near obtaining the Presidency Presi-dency Then it was not so much what is now termed civil service reform as reform re-form from the ways of corruption in office i of-fice of which the carpet baggers in the South were the great lights and leaders About the last of this series of political rings was the St Louis whisky ring of which Babcock was chief It was during the trials of tho leaders of this ring that Grant made his famous remark Let no guilty man escape There were no guilty men there as they all escaped There has been enough corruption in office since then and some to spare but it has greatly lessened and however tame and much of a temperance administration Hayes may have had yet he did not surround himself with men whose chief aim was spoils In this respect re-spect he was superior to Arthur although Arthur was a much abler man But the days of corruption in office for corruptions sake are gone no matter what political party may rule nor what the platform may be The reform of today is in the theory of officeholding and the country I at large at least the greater part has repudiated re-pudiated the theory of Andrew Jackson that to the victors belong the spoils That theory is pernicious in every respect and holds that government is merely a means of livelihood for those who may be so fortunate as to get an office It teaches that men are but knaves and that it is a blessing that the others did not get into office for they are so much worse than those who are in that the little irregularities which they commit are really virtuous acts The theory of civil service reform is that government gov-ernment is a regulation and public administration admin-istration of those affairs in which the whole community is interested and that in those branches where the administration administra-tion of affairs js of a purely business nature and requires the same attention and ability only as are required in the business affairs of banks and commercial houses those who are performing the e duties should remain in their positions during good behavior irrespective of a change of party and policy It was to further and put in practice prac-tice this theory that Pendleton introduced and secured the passage of his civil service ser-vice reform bill It was laughed at scoffed at called Utopian and pure Democracy by its opponents who foretold its failure chiefest among whom were the leaders of the Republican party although there were many Democrats who had no faith in the measure But the failure did not come and the man who carried that banner of reform was placed in tho highest high-est position within the gift of the American Ameri-can people Today there are none who are invoking its cabalistic power so much as those who laughed and scoffed reviled at and revelled in its predicted failure Doubtless the theories of that reform will be carried further than they are now and many offices that are JJONV appointive I will become competitive Buf the very spirit of that reform is that good men are I to be placed in office as well as retaining them in office and where there are those in the service who are not competent or are using their office for other purposes than those of the government business they should be immediately removed It is a dream of which More would never have thought to say that under the irresponsible irre-sponsible rule of twentyfour years with no system of selection but that of favoritism favorit-ism there would be no incompetent men to remove and that reform consisted in never removing them There are many good and competent men in office and they should be retained but there are plenty w ho are not and they should be removed but if men who are no more competent than they are to be put in the removal is merely for spoils Those officials who are representative of a policy rather than administrators of public business busi-ness should be selected for their political politi-cal adherence to the party whose policy they represent and they should be men of the first rank To this class belong ministers to foreign courts heads of departments de-partments governors of Territories and such like This is the rule of the civil service of England and England to a great extent is our model in this respect It is to be hoped that President Cleveland will select as the representatives of the I Democratic policy those who are Democrats Demo-crats and in harmony with that policy they do not belong to the clerical class of employes and should not be selected on the basis of their selection |