Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1872-01-30
CIVIL SERVICE.
Speech or senator Carpenter on the Civil Service
Bill In the United states senate,

The following is the Associated
Press report Of Carpenters speech
against civil service reform, in the
Senate on the 18th inst
Mr.. Carpenter then proceeded to
speak upon the unconstitntionality
ofthe civil service scheme. He deep
" regretted the recent message of
the President announcing that be
had adopted the rules recommended
BY the Civil Service Com mission.
He knew, however, that there nad
3 eu a great deal Of clamor lately in
support of this scheme, which had
made it seem that tho public gener-
ally wero in favor Of it, and be sup
posed that tho President had yielded
TO this camor upon the principle
stated in his inaugural address, that
the best way TO secure the repeal of
an obnoxious law was TO execute it
faithfully. Some persons had exr
pressed surprise 1t the Presidents
consenLing 20 give up the patronage.
which bis enemies said, be was using
for his own advantage but the reas-
on probably was that he could afford
TO give his enemies many advantages,
and yet defea, them Nevertheless,
he thought The President had done
wrong ~ yielding to tho clamor of
the hour. The sober second thought
Of the people was always right but
their sudden impulses were often
wrong, and ought 10 be resisted BY
their public servants. He knew that
it sometimef happened that before
the sober second thought came,
faithful public officer would find his
head in thc basket, and 0 the public
ofticer--a Senator, for Instance with
ambition for reelection, there wac a
great temptation to yield to the pres.
sure OF the moment; but as he was
the only Senator who probably could
not be reelected if he wished, there
seems to be special obligations rest
ing on him to act Independently.
A. a part Of this reform scheme,
the Senator from Massachusetts
(Sumner)has proposed a constitution
u! amendment rendering The PRESS
dent who had served one term ineligi.
bic fer re-eleetiOn. This would be
treating General Graut more severe,
lY than Jefferson Davis, because, al
though the latter is disqualified by
the XINth amendment, it is still
within the power Of Congress to re-
move his disabilities, while President
Grant would have no means of relief
from his. { Laughter.) If the doc.
trine were true, that one term OF serv-
Ice was enough TO demoraliZe pub.
lie officer 5heA the Senator from
massachusetts must be himself
thoroughly demoraIized by this time,
and, being q man who sets principle
above all personal considerations, he
would Of course take his hat ard leave
| the Senate forever Immediately upon
the adoption of his anne ndment.
(Laughter.) ia politics, said Car
penter, words are things, and civil
service reform. is a cunning catch
word. The conclusion is that who
ever is not in favor OF the reform
must be ia favor of abuse. But
change is not necessarily reform, and
there is en- intuition which tells US
that in g government Of such delicate
structure as this Of ours, "it is better
TO bear the Ills We have than TO fy to
others that we know not OF"
Mr. Carpenter then discussed at
some length the distribution of pow
ers between the legislative and execu'
tive departments Of the Government,
and came to the conclusion that if
the appointing power were taken
away from the President, as it would
be by this reform, his remaining
powers would be no greater than
those of q constable in Milwaukee.
He said that if this measure, instead
Of being tackled to the appropriation
bill the last night Of the session, bad
depended upon its own merits, it
would not have received twenty
votes.
Mr.. Carpenter here lad the regala-
tons read, aud then criticised them
in detail. His first criticism was
that the most important officers in
| the civil service were 10 be wholly ex-
empt from the operation of them. If
copying clerk in the Interior De-
partment, or candidate for the iani-
torship OF The United States building
must pass examination, be could not
see why the Secretary Of the Interior
or the Secretary OF State should not
be examined also BY these regula>
tons copying clerk must be . oiti-
| zen of the United States, but the
head OF a department need not be.
A lighthouse keeper on the shore of
Lake Michigan must be able to read
and write tie English language, but
the Attorney General or the United
States would not DO required to do
either. Lau ghter.)
lie also argued that there was
conflict between tho ninth rule, which
provides that any person becoming
disqualified after long and faithful
service, 10y bodily or mental infirmi.
/ ty, may be appointed TO place of
less responsibility IN the same depart
meut, and the first rule, which pro.
vides that no person sbe.l be admitr
ted to any position in the civil serv'
ice who shall not have furnished sat-
isfaetory evidence 10 regard TO charac-
ter, health, &c. These, he said, were
minor defects in the civil service re-
form system. The great objection to
it we're First, that it violated the
Constitution bytaking away from the
President the discretion vested in
bin to select his appointees from the
! -. Il. ...,.l, - -I:r,sAoi L.. ., IL