Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1872-01-25
WASHINGTON CITY.

'AAANOA NAO W SOt4 SA1J oAO ID VIII
ting some excellent letters to his pa
per. We make the following extract
from his letter of the Sd inst.
THE PRINCIPAL OPPOSITION
to civil service reform is likely to
come from those who deem the public
patronage a sine qua non to party
success. It is said that members of
Congress are in love with patronage,
and that the dispensation of offices,
garden sass" aud Pub. Docs. is indis-
pensable for carrying the country
"deestricEs," and that these things
the offices especially-will not be sur
rendered. Now the truth is the peO-
pie are rapidly outgrowing garden
sass as means of political seduction.
and the decrease in the number of
persons who regularly read the Patent
Office Reports and Congressional
Globe is hailed as a sign ofincreasing
intelligence among the masses. Be
sides there is a class of people who
get mad and try to play the mischief
with nominating conventions if neigh
Dor B. gets a franked document and
they don't. Therefore the sowing of
Congressional garden seeds is not I'M
frequently the sowing of dissension,
and most sure to raise an abundant
crop of political whirlwinds sooner or
later. Congressman see this, and, like
Scott's coon, are more than ready to
''come down. on the garden sass
question.
But what of the official patronage?
Many of the best men in Congress
would be heartily glad to be rid Of it.
An Iowa member said to me to day
he most sincerely wished he was never
obliged to reco mmend or solicit an
appointment. Other members have de-
cidedly expressed in my hearing the
same feeling. About one third of the
time most Congressman would like to
spend in rendering more valuable ser
vice to their constituents is now nee
essarily taken up in mailing worthless
documents or serving as a sort of of
fee broker for aspiring constituents.
And yet, as l have remarked before,
the idea that member Of Congress
derives strength from the dispensation
of such favOrs is a snare and a delu-
sion. No matter how deserving the
appointee, from twenty to fifty per-
sons in the district will consider them
selves shamefully sighted, and no mat
ter how unselfshly the appointment
was made there will always be plenty
of mercenary people to raise a cry
that the person receiving it was
''bought," or that he has in some wav,
as they would have done, driven a po-
litical bargain. The consequence is
that in a political canvass the active
friendship of benefciaries is more dam
aging to the benefactor than open en-
nifty. Somebody will say, 4FOh, of
course he is for so-aEd-so, for he gave
him an office" as though there were
no friendship among men that is dis
interested, no virtue or conviction that
is not purchasable To such a depth
has this miserable scrambling for office
lowered the popular estimate of politi-
cal integrity. And yet there are peo.
pie who cannot see that any moral re-
form can be carried out unless it be
attached to some scheme of office get
ting.
Equally delusive is the idea that a
party cannot be maintained unless it
shall be able to control the distribu-
ton ofthe offices when successful. The
truth is that the
POWER OF PARTY PATRONAGE
has been greatly overestimated, and
that it bears very much the same re
lations to party that it does to an
individual. Heart burnings, Jealous
les, disappointments in seeking nomi-
nations,T or failures to get appoint
ments, have done more to weaken the
Republican party numerically, and to
neutralize or impair the efficiency of
its organization, than any other one
thing Let any one consider any
schism in our party anywhere last fall,
and see whether it is not traceablc to
somebody's removal from, or some
other body's failure to obtain some
coveted position. We quarrel about
offices nine times where we quarrel
about principles once, and envious
fear that some one will get a little in
advance of some one else in political
preferment does moro to develop bit
| terness in party strife than all other
causes combined. In fact the offices
are so many apples of discord thrown
among US, and there are plenty of peo.
pie who would break up the party, and
the country too, if need be, rather
than that some other people should
draw the prizes in the lottery of poll
tics.
No party loses anything by getting
rid cf such men, while those who re
gard party as means anu mot an ond,
and who love it, not for it's own sake,
| but for that of the principles and pub
| lie interests with which it is identified,
will adhere to it Office or no Office
They are like the soldiers going into
the battle of Gettysburg. Some were
one advocating his favOrite. Finally
spoke a stalwart sergeant; Well,
boys, Pm not Hooker's man, nor
Mead's man, or any mans man, but
my flags and the country's." And so
with these brave, true workers in the
Republican cause. They are like the
soldiers who enlisted in the army
early, before hounties were offered,
and fought the war clear through
They work for the party because they
believe its policy is wise, its principles
just and patriotic. They neither ask
reward or expect it, and just so long
as the party continues pure and adj
heres to correct doctrines, it may
count unerringly upon their support.
On the other hand, the bummers,
whose help is really hindrance, and
whose clamor for the "spoils" is often
the loudest, are like the fellows who
enlisted in the war near its close, re-
ceived immense bounties, and then
went over to the other side and played