Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1872-12-26
The ssCiviI Service Reform,
LETTER FROM THURLOW WEED-HE OPPOS-
Es THE PROPOSED sYSTEM-HIS OBJEC-
TIONSsTO IT.

is suggestive of relief for all the evils
connected with the appointments of
office in all the civil departments of the
government. 1t is the great panacea for
existing political abuses. Most Presi-
dental elections have promised import
ant reforms The last invention of poll
ticians was "civil service reform" 1t
originated with Senators in Congress,
who, by their diligent efforts in prOcur-
ing appointments for relatives and
friends, generally in utter disregard OF
fitness, did much to render ''civil ser
vice reform" necessary and popular.
The din raised in Congress, and by the
'ELiberal Republican" and Democratic
journals, bewildered and beguiled the
people so generally shat the Republican
party was constrained to accept it as an
issue in the recent Presidential canvass.
But now that this theory is about to be
tested, however plausible as a theory, it
will be found utterly impracticable.
Or, if it be carried into arbitrary effect
it will occasion abuses far greater than
anv we have hitherto experienced.
This phase of :" civil service was in
augurated by and exists only in despotic
and mOnarchical governments. In Eng
land it enables the aristOcracy to estab-
1ish their dependant relatives in perma-
nent and profitable offices, sineCurcS and
pensions. But it is inconsistent with
and repugnant to republican form of
government, the fundamental principle
of which places all the offices of the
government within the reach of all its
citizens The attempt to close the doors
and avenues which lead TO civil service
appointments against ninety-nine out of
every one hundred electors viii certainly
and signally fail. To give the idea eX
preston in another form, any attempt
| to create a privileged class or to build
up an office-holding aristOcracy will
prove discreditably abortive. During
/ the first thirty or forty years, after the
| inauguration of school at West Point
! for the education of young men who
/ were to become the officers of our rrgu-
/ lar army, that institution excited strong
| popular jealousy in and out of Congress.
/ On several occasions the House Of Repre-
| sentativcs all but refused the annual
| West Point appropriation. Indeed, but
! for the opportune occurrence Of the
! Mexican war. where the value of mill
| tarV education was so triumphantly vim
/ dicated, the school in which Grant and
! Sherman, Thomas. Sheridan, etc, were
educated. might have ceased to exist.
/ But what is indispensable to the army
! and navy is quite unnecessary to the
civil service" of the government. The
programme now attempted to be carried
out is scarcely less absurd than one
which should render all citizens intligi-
BILE for - civil service who had not re-
ceived college education. And yet
nothing is better known than that large
/ percentage of the graduates of colleges are
to he found among the droncs and i'm
beetles of society No stronger illuStra-
ton of the faulty of the ''Ciyil service
reform" is needed than the fact that
neither the hate Dean Richmond nor
Commodore Vanderbilt could pass an
examination for a subordinate office in
the Custom House!
If all the people have not right to
compete for hOnOrs and emOluments of
office. republican institutions are a sham
and a fraud The Senators and jour
nails that have hOwled longest and loud
est in favor of ''cIvil service reform, "
would be the last to adopt it if they had
obtained power. Indeed, no man when
he comes practically to deal with the
question can fail to discover the impos-
sibility of adhering TO it. The great
burden of the cry against President
Grant was that he had filled the "civil
service with incompetent and dis
honest men. And yet the effect of now
aDplving this ''ciyil service doctrine
will be to keep all these unworthy and
incompetent incumbents in office for an
indefinite period. 1t converts the de
partments at Washington. the custom
houses and post offices in our large cities
into close corporations. When va
cancy occurs in an important office the
President, instead of being at liberty to
cast his eye over the Uning to find the
most capable and deserving man. is re-
quired to appoint a subordinate. In ma
nv instances this would work well
enough, for it is not unfrequently the
case that subordinate, by long expert
enCe and well tried integrity, is entitled
to promotion. | have often in such cas-
es urged the promotion of subOrdnates
to all vacancies OcCasiOned by the death
or resignation of heads of departments.
| prevailed upon President Lincoln,
through the late Secretary Seward, to
appoint the late William II. Taylor, post
master in this city, on the grounds that
he had served faithfully and honestly as
chief clerk, and assistant for twenty-five
wears, was capable, and although not an
active politician, had always voted the
Whig and Republican ticket. When the
late Preston King died, urged the ap-
pointment of his deputy, Mr.. Clinch, as
collector, because, having creditablY
discharged most of the duties under half
a dozen administrations, | knew that his
appointment would be acceptable to our
merchants And for kindred rea-
sons, again, when Gen. Dix resigned
the Naval Office, | urged the appoint
ment ~of his capable and meritorious
deputy, Mr.. Franklin. These, however,
are exceptional cases. As a rule, it
cannot and will not work. If the civil
service doctrine had obtained atthe close
of the rebellion what would have been
the fate of several thousand wounded
Union soldiers who, in reward for their
patriotism and galantry, are now useful
ly employed in our custom houses and
post offices.
President Grant was enabled to dis
pose satisfactorily of the first ''civil ser
vice" question arising since his re-elec-
ton, in obedience to the new policy and
against the politicians, merchants, bank
ers. etc, of Philadelphia, simply because
the deputy whom he appointed postmas-
ter was gentleman of acknowledged
ability and integrity, whose personal
claims and fitness were generally recog-
nized; but he wlllvery soon encounter
obstacles that will render obedience to
the ''civil service" regulation quite i'm
possible. For example: 1t is generally
understood that Secretary Fish will re-
tire from the State department on the
4th of March. If the President is to be
bound by ''civil service reform Secre-
tarv Fish's successor will be Mr. Hunter,
the very capable and meritorious chief
clerk Of the department, who has dis
charged these duties for more than forty
wears. Nor does the rule rest here; for
President Grants successor, in framing
Cabinet, will be limited in bis selection
to the subordinates in the different de-
partments of the Federal government.
If the sscivil service reform" should be