, 1872-10-31

SIX times as much, and have been ten, times. ~
Other Witnesses testify as to the extortion p1ao-
upon merchants BY Lee5 & Stocking; but this
Will do for Mr Howe, and shows into how great
mistakes he fell in undertaking to correct some
thing I Twas reported to have said. =
DEFENCE OF TEE CIVIL SERVICE.
I find in the Inter Ocean of Oct. 1s what
purports to be a report of q speech made in this
city by Senator Morton; the evening previous;
from which read the following extract:
TRpMnULLs FA1sEHooD.
Now there has been statement made in this city
and all over Indiana and Illinois, that $100, 900,
one-fourth Of the revenue, annually squandered
and lost am told that my distinguished FRIEND Mr..
offered to prove BY reading extract from the
port Of the Civil Service Commission to that effect.
That statement is not true to the extent Of onehalf OF
1per cent The report Of the Civil Service Commits
sion made to Congress did contain statement refer
ring to report made to Congress, in 1865 under the
Administration Of Andrew Johnson, before Grant was
candidate, before his Administration unticipat-
ed, that under our present eystem Of taxa
tion and collections, our present System of appont-
ments and tenure Of office, there was one-fourh Less
rerenue collected than might have been under any
other system, but that didn't refer to Johnsons
Administration; it referred to system that had been
in operation In this Government since l7s9 and
the objection the system WIS just rs applicable
the Administration Of Washington 1t to that Of
General Grrnt, which even then had not come into
stcnce. That was what the Civil Service Commission
said; that was what they mean md they have recent
1y, and in supplementary report, set Mr. Tru.nbuu
Auu OtueIs IlEuL Oh tlaL subject.
And now must state one fact, from recollection,
that is due to myself and to b1r. Tru1nbuu and if
am not right If my memory fails me, am RESPONSE
bic for what cay, and be can correct me from the
Globe. When that report came before Congress dur
ing the last session, myself called attention to that
passage and said that i it received the construction
that some put to it, that it essentially false and
scarcely an element Of truth in it. Mr.. Trumbuu
himself, in answer, believe, to what lsd, at least
noon, declared that the report did not mean that-
bnt that it referred to the system and the whole sys
tsn; [ARPapse z'} think an examination Of he
Tr,,mbull said is entirely correct and when AIr.
Trnmbull gives it different version, think it con-
dcts little with what he said in the SENATE.
A reference to official documents will show
how mistaken Governor Morton is in his facts,
and how, in his zeal to sustain On Administration
proven by it's own friends and official documents
to be ful! Of abuses, he does gross injustice to
brother Senator: He has been guilty, inad.
the Civil Service Commission. That report did
not contain statement referring to report
made to Congress in 1868, under the Aduainistra-
tion Of Andrew Johnson rs basis Of the
statement " that one-fourth Of the revenues Of
lection" I have the report before me, and
there is not one word in it about what was
lost under Johnson's Administration. This
is an afterthought, it being fashiona-.
tbe the noaes ~ih Of sos to charge Anden al
johnson, who, By the way, whatever other faults
ne may have had, was neither nepotist, nor
gltt-taker, nor mercenary In any respect. Not
only did the Civil Service Commission, in their
report, in speaking Of the losses in the collec-
tion Of the revenue, omit to refer to Johnson's
Administration, but circumstances show that
they could not have referred to it in that connec-
ton The law under which the Civil Service
Commission was organized was passed March 8,
had ceased to exist. The object Of the Law was
to promote the efficiency of the Civil Service
It existed when the law passed,
aodet ao as ahnaoa i hoa ezstSa o ssS A sf1s %s
might you undertake to purify, and give eficien-
y to q carcass which had been dead and buried
Two years, as to the civil service of an Admins
hon which had been dead the same length OF
lime. The Civil Service Commission, consisting
Was appointed in 1871, to assist the President in
prescribing rules for reforming the Civil Service
No Presidential election was then pending, and
The Commission doubles wentto work honestly,
their correction. They make q report
IN the 18th Of December, 1871,
exposing the corruptions and abuses Of the then
Civil Service system, not Of one that had existed
Two or three years before, and recommended
certain reforms. This report was communicated
to Congress by the President, with his Endorse
ment, Dec. 19, 1871. and regret that the oppo-
aition OF Senator Morton, who pronounced our
present Civil Service system the best in tha
world, and that Of other friends Of the Admin
lstratlon, prevented any reform from taking
place; and now We have the admirers of our
present ecandalous Civil Service system trying
to get rid Of the damaging facts disclosed By
their own friends, and Endorsed by Grant him
self, By Interpretations and peryersions Of Off
cial documents.
have before NC the official report Of the
Civil Service Commissioners. This is their
language:
sPsss q the nes Of the an
szts which has the1 been spsansd tnts ny mon
are useless Offices created but there is the strongest
temptation to conceal corruption, and every abuse and
every extravaganza resulting from multiplication OF
ofces are constantly increasing It Is not easy to
compute in figures the exact economical difference be-
tween good and bad system Of Civil Service. It is
matter Of inference and comparison be-
ful method. But It is calculated, BY those who hays
made careful study Of all the facts, that onefourth
IN the collection, and for large part Of that loss
system Of the service which is fatally unsound, may
reasonably be held responsible"
But while this Is the necessary influence Of the
present system Of admission both upon the service
itself and upon the character Of those who are en-
Serious"
How any one can read those extracts in con-
aection, rs they occur in the report, and say
hey refer to Andrew Johnson's Administration
passes comprehension; and yet such is partisan
l4AAoAAo60 144O 40ln4EoS1Ea53 IL LILO A44A6t " u
Presidential campaign, that the very men who
made this report in reply. to an inquiry from
ny colleague in the Senate, IS to what they
meant by saying in their report Of Dec. 18, 1871,
hat one-fourth OF the revenues are annually
ost in the collection are willing to stultdy
by saying TINT the calculations
o which they alluded we're made under the ad-
ainistration Of Andrew Johnson,-and hand
ill containing General Logan's letter and that
eply, headed, in large letters, 'sTrumbu1l as
slanderer," has been extensively circulated
trough the country Let an intelligent public
udge who is the s1anderer, who read uerba-
i'm report Of the Civil Service Commission,
made in December, 1871, uuder 3 law passed in
81, stating that one-fourth OF the revenues
ire annually lost in their collection, or they
Who now, in the midst Of q heated canvass for
President, stultify themselves by pretending
hat their language does not mean what it says.
Senator Morton is mistaken in attributing to
ne 8 statement last winter, that the report did
not mean what it said. No such statement Of
nine can be found in the Globe !; so far from it,
called attention to the statement Of the report
hat that one-fourth Of the revenues were an
1ual1y lost, under the present Civil Service sys-
en-, as reason for demanding reform.