The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-05-16

One OF Lne CUlel ODleCCS VI lue ClnClllldll
platform is Civil Service Reform. By this
term we do not mean the shilly-shally
sham got up by the President, which be-
gins in red tape, ends in competitive ex-
animation, and no more tends to check the
use Of the appointing power as means of
corrupting office-holders than the spray be-
low Niagara checks the fall of the torrent.
We mean by Civil Service Reform such
laws and practices as will etiectually pre-
vent all future Presidents and Congressman
alike from paying out OF the public Urea
sury for campaign services rendered to
themselves personally. Chicago Tribune.
The Chicago Tribune is an earnest advo-
cate Of Civil Service Reform, so-called !;
but precisely what it means by the terms
used, it has puzzled us not little to guess.
1t apparently assumes that this reform
means one thing with the President, and
quite another thing with the edtor-in-chief
Of the Tribune. In the article on '"Cwil
Service Reform" from the initial sentences
of which we clip the above, it adroitly de-
fines what it does not mean, but nowhere
imparts such information as enables us to
determine precisely what it does mean.
1t is very easy matter to find fault with
any system Of civil service which may be
adopted, if not to point out defects that
ought to be remedied. But to devise a
more perfect system than that which has
been the practical result of the workings of
our institution for the last half century or
more, and induce the American people to
adopt such piece of experimental wisdom
as the Tribune suggests as possible, is
quite another matter, as our Civil Service
Reformer of Chicago will undoubtedly
find. rs....sEr ...r.-s ,...g IN. .,
When the Tribune seeks to indicate its
meaning by declaring that Civil Service Re-
form consists in such laws and practices as
shall ''effectually prevent the future Presi-
dents andCongressmen alike from paying out
of the public Treasury for campaign SER
vice rendered to themselves personally" it
virtually begs the whole question in dis
pute between the Civil Service Relormers
and those who deem the present system
compatible with the best interests of the
country. The Tribune knows very
well that neither the President nor any
Congressman can make any such remune-
ration as that named for personal services
rendered to him, or them, in any campaign
that is possible under the Federal constitu-
ton. The Civil Service department must
be filled by appointments made by some
body, and the constitution has wisely
lodged the appointing power in the hands
of the President, and the departments Gre,
ated under him. "a sos 5.a4.ss'- ss.s
In giving to the Senate the power of con7F
tirmation where that was thought requisites
it placed all the check deemed necessary
against improper appointments, such as the
, Tribune desires to be rid of. 10 lodge the
power of making such appointments in the
hands of any other officer or in any nom
executive department, would be to impair,
if not greatly to embarrass the efficiency Of
government, and fortunately nobody insists
upon any such radical change. The power
of the President to make the appointments
is not what is objected to, but the making
Of them IN recognition Of services rendered
the party, or--to spread it less mildly after
the fashion of the Iribune--in recognition
Of services rendered the President or certain
members Of Congress, is what constitutes
the grand Objectionable feature in the whole
system. g.. ss,-..... r..asa.sl ..L.. u.
"The practice" says the Tribune, t'of
making party spoils Of the public offices,
begun by Jackson and yanBuren, ct may
be questioned whether this is historically 4
aceurate) must be reversed" This propo-fI
sition, stript of its more Objectionable ver-s
biage, means simply this, if it means any,
thing; That the President is to make ALI
his appointments without reference to the
services which the appointees may have
rendered the country in unfolding the
principles on which it was founded, against
those which, in his judgement, threaten its
overthrow, and that he is to carry this rule