The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-12-29
General Grant and Reform i'm the Civil
Service-1be Tenure-0f- Office Law.

General Grant and Reform i'm the Civil
service-1be Tenure-of-0iiice Law.
From the ~. Y. Times.
1t would not be at all surprising that Gene
raj Grant should want the Tenure-of- Office
bill repealed before he takes executive charge
of the civil service. Whether he does or not
as matter of fact, we have no idea; but it
would be strange if he did not. He is about
to enter upon the gravest responsibilities
that ever devolved on a single man in time of
peace, and under circumstances which greatly
enhance the natural difficulties of his posi-
tion.
He finds all the offices Of the country filed
by men appointed by Mr.. Johnson and con-
frmed by radical Senate-whO must OF ne
cessity, therefore, have got their places by
double-dealing and political trickery, by max
ing one set of promises for nomination and
precisely the opposite for a confrmation-an
who naturally end by cheating both parties
and consulting solely their own advantage in
the offices they fill. Partly as a result of this
state of things, the condition Of our civil ser
vice is probably worse than it has ever been.
AS a general rule, the otfce-holders of the
country are more incompetent, more corrupt,
and less efficient than ever before. The taxes
which the laws impose are not collected. The
public revenue is wasted and stolen. Jobs
debase every branch of the service and de-
grade every class of offce-hoders. Places
under Government are no longer sought by
men ambitious of performing their duties and
of making for themselves a reputation for in
tegrity and efficiency, but by men eager for
personal gain, and skilful in using opportuni-
ties for filing their pockets.
General Grants first duty is to reform all
this. The people expect this at his hands
more confidently than they expect anything
else. 1t is the first of his duties, and the most
important and imperative, because it lies at
the basis of them all. Without a thorough,
rigid, relentless reform in the personnel of the
civil service, nothing can be done toward in
creasing our revenues, retrenching expense,
or restoring the country to prosperity. Yet,
in any attempt he may make thus to reform 1T,
General Grant finds himself confronted by q
law which forbids his dismissing single office
holder without consent of the very Senate
which confirmed every one of them. No matter
how fagrant their offenses, or how glaring
their inoompetepcy, the Senate-already COM
mitted by having put them in-must first con-
sent before General Grant can pnt them out.
z This law was made avowedly to fetter Mr..
Johnson in controlling the patronage of the
Government. 1t was passed as an open de-
claration of distrust of him. Whether it was
needed or not-whether it worked we'll or ILL
whether it really compelled the appointment
OF better men, or only made necessary the
selection OF men more adroit in lying and
dto uuo6tiOh5 upou WulCu u0u
may differ. But nobody will pretend that the
same reasons which passed the bill make ne
cessary its continuance. The distrust of Mr..
johnson is not felt Of General Grant. No one
pretends that such a law is needed to prevent
him from making war on Congress- and from
filing all the offices Of the country with its
enemies and the enemies of the party which
controls the Government. Whatever may
have been the case with Mr.. Johnson, nobody
pretends that it is necessary TO fetter General
Grant, or to hamper and weaken him In the
discharge of the legitimate duties Of his de-
partment.
Wendell Phillips, in an article we copied
recently, demands the continuance of the
law, on the ground that 1t is one step towards
depnving Presidents Of power. Next TO abo-
lishing the Office, he thinks that curblng and
checking its incumbent is the one thing need
full. "The tendency Of all free States, +" he
says, sis to depress the Executive, and en-