Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-07-23

NEW YORK, July 5, 1872.
Ay Dear Sir: Yours of the 26th uldmo only
reached me three DAYS ago. / respond as
promptly as may. The problem of civil ser
vice reform is rendered difficult by an alliance
between the executive and the legislative
branches of our federal government. Those
members of congress who favor the adminiStra-
ton, hahtually claim and are accorded Il
virtual monopoly of the federal offices in their
respective states or districts, debating appoint
mentS and removals as interest or caprice may
suggest. The president appoints at their bid
ding; they legiSlate in SubServicnce 10 his Will,
often in opposition to their own convictions.
Unless all history is unmeaning, this confusion
of executive and legislative responsibilities and
functions could not fail to distempcr and corrupt
the body polite Shall the eligibility of our
presidents to reelection be the main source of
this corruption. president should be above
the hope Of future favor, or the fear of alienat-
ing powerful ambitious partisanS He should
be the official chief, not of a party, but of the
repubc he should dread nothing but the ac-
cusing voice of history and the memorable judg-
ment of God; he should fully realize and never
forget that congress, in its own sphere, is para
mount and nowise amenable to his supervision,
and that the heartiest good will 10 his admins
tration is perfectly compatible with the most
pointed dissent from his incucutious in the
very gravest questions in finance or political
economy. 1t is the first step that costs Let it
be settled that Il president is not TO be
reelected while in office, and civil service
reform is no longer difficult He will
need no organs, no subsidized defenders; he will
naturally select his chief counScors from
among the ablest and wiScst of his fellow citi-
zenS, regardless alike of the shrieks of locality
aud the suggestions of a selfish policy; he will
have no interest to Conciate, no chief of a
powerful clan to attach to his personal fortunes;
he will he impclled to appoint, as will none
deny, that he should appoint men Of ripe cXpc-
rience IN business aud eminent mercantile
capacity, to collect, keep and dsburSe the
revenue, instead of dcXterOuS manipulatOrS of
primary meetings and skllliul trallickerS in
delegates to nominating conventions; he will
thus transform the civil service of the country
from a party machine into business
establishment. No longer an asprant to
the place, the president will naturally
aim TO merit and secure the approba-
ton of the entire people, but especially of the
eminently wise and good. As to the machinery
OF boards Of examiners, Sc, whereby the details
of civil service reform are to be maturcd and
perfected, defer to the judgment Of a congress
unpcrverted by the adulterOus commerce in leg
islation and appointments which have already
exposed and reprehcnded. Up to this time our
experience of the doings of boards i'll this diree-
ton has not been encouraging, aud tins am
confident is not the fault OF the gentlemen who
have tried 10 serve the public as commissioners,
In SO far as they may have failed, the causes Of
their i'll success must be extrinsic. Had they
been accorded tairer field, | am sure
A thinker has observed that the spirit in which
we work is the chief matter, and we can never
achieve civil service reform until the interests
which demand it shall lie more potent lin our
public counsels than those which resist, even
while seeming TO favor it. That this cOnSum-
melton is not distant, icrventy trust. Mean
time thanking you for your earnest and effective
labors to this end, remain, yours,
HORACE GREE LEY.
This declaration the senator accepted as a
| practical reform of civil service, and added:
| But the man who knows that he was not my
| iavOrite choice as a candidate, and that nothing
attaches me to his fortunes but my belief in his
| honest desire and his great ability and his Op-
| portunties to do good, may be assumed that in
every effort to carry out the programme here
laid down, !, as well as many ADLER men who
| think as do, will stand faithfully and resolute-
| ly by his side with active CO operation.
| After speaking of the need of embracing every
| opportunity to take any practical step in the di-
reCtiOn of reform, the senator discussed at length
| the need OF reconciliation between the north and
| south, restoration of local selfgOvernment at
| the SOUTH and the development of the highest
| and nOblest aspirations among the southern peo-
| pie.
| Regarding party relations, he said: Republic
| cans ask me, " shall we not be swallowed up by
| the old democratic party r. 80 you recognize
| the old democratic partyP | suspect it docs
| not recognize itself. DO you fear 10 he swal-
| lowed up by that old democratic party' Why,
| the democratic party has been swallowed up
| itself by the new era. Let nobody fear that
would lead him from the republican into the
| democratic camp, for | do not intend to 20 there
myself, and unless l greatly mistake the ten
dency OF the times, the day is not very far off
when there will be but little Of an old republican
| camp to 90 from, and but little Of an Old demo-
cratic camp to 70 to. This period is pregnant
with new formations, which need but the electric
| spark ofopportunity to spring it into shape.
This is the time of independent action, and
| those who think as l do will not, after having
| shaken Off the shackles of one old party take
| upon their limbs the shackles of another. No
party can do what the democratic party has
done without dropping IFS historical identity
honor the patriotic spirit Of the men who
achicyed so tremendous a revolution; and in the
great work before us hail with joy and cordial
| ity their alliance. Bat the party that has done
this cannot return to its old grooves. 1t is i'm
possible. The first attempt would shiyer it into
| atoms.