Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-10-23
THE CIVIL REFORsr eHAm.

a washington special TO the Cincinnati
Times (aadical) dated the 20th inst, saws:
"a vacancy recently occurred in tia Col
lectorship of Customs at Cedar KEYS. Flor
ida. The Civil Service Board recommend
ed the promotion of Mr.. Wcrford. the Den.
uty Collector, and The Treasury Depart.
ment was disposed TO sccept the recon-
mendatoB, but the Florida delegation pro-
tested against the appointment, on the
ground that Worford was not an active pol.
lteian. The President yielded to the de-
mands Of the delegation, and to-day ap-
pointed Mr.. Blooming that Collector"
Thus tried and competent official, en-
dorsed BY Grants Board of Civil Service
Reform, is passed over for mere politician
the public interests are made secondary
tothose Ofthe earpet-bag gentry--and a man
is appointed Collector of Customs, not for
the purpose of collecting customs at all, but
for he manipulation of negro votes. Such
Incidents are transpiring every day, and the
Boston Advertiser, the old Republican or
gan Of Massachusetts, well remarks in a
recent issue: M
"That the President sincerely desires
that the reform should succeed, We fully
believe. Bus it cannot be expected that
his enemies will credit him with sincerity
so long as the most active opponents of re-
form are to be found among those who en-
joy large share of his confidence"
This want of belief in Grants sincerity,
is not confined to "his epemies.n The
latest number of Harper's Weekly, edited
by Geo. VIM. Curtis, . staunch supporter of
Grant, and till recently member and the
chairman Of bis Civil Service Reform Board.
has an editorial handling this subject with.
out gloves. AS, the Springfield (Mass.)
Republican remarks, Mr.. Curtis knows
what he is talking about, and the people
know that be knows. We clip from Har-
per'S Weekly as follows:
"The President forbids political assess
ments upon subordinates, and issues an
executive order virtually reproving the DO
ljtical oticiousness of officers Of the service,
But, IN total contempt of his orders, then
lecy assessments, desert their posts of dutu.
assume the management of all party assem-
btieS, and continue to use patronage as a
party leUer. If these gentlemen were sure
that their illicit use of official power was
sternly dsapprnved, they would hardly be
so eager TO shout for Gen. Bntler in Massa-
chusetts, or to manage the Convention in
New York, or to take the Legislature up
the river in Louisiana.
sin the presence of such facts, not iSold-
ted, but continually occurring, it is vain
that examinations are announced for GER
tain minor positions. Rules and examina-
tons, are indeed, indispensable for the
proper regulation of civil service SO ex-
tensiVe as ours. But the spiri. is more than
the letter, and every man who is truly in
terested in this most vital question
will look even more closely at the
discretionary action of the Presi-
dent than st the operation ofthe rules. And
this for the reason that the Presidents win
is the spring of the whole movement, and
has real disposition upon the subject can be
seen more plainly IN his discretionary dc-
ton. If be disregards the fitness of a sub
ordinate, and appoints over bis head an
active politician, however good man and
officer he may be, the country justly con-
cludes that other considerations than those
of efficient official service have affected the
decision. Ore such case properly out
weighs in the mind a thousand exsmins-
tons. One such case, indeed, throws sus-
p;cion upon every examination. One such
case, if it be conspicuous, not only destroys
public faith in the reality Of the reform, but
demoralizes the service itself, by showing
the officers that promotion, which is one Of
the three cardinal points OF the reformed
system, will be confined TO the most unim-
poitaDt grades, so that its Vita value as an
incentive is totally lost.
cit is very true that the great and long
accumulating abuses of the old system of
civil service are not to be reformed at once.
But it is equally true that nothing is easier
than to SLot0 at once the spirit and dispO-
SitiOn of reform. II, for instance, the
President had promptly accepted the resig-
nation Of the Collector of New Orleans; If
thekP Postmaster of st. Louis had been re-
moved for the violation of one of the Presi-
dents rules, and he had been informed
that plea of ignorance only increased the
otiense; and if the public officers every
where were busy With their public duties,
and not with party management and an
would be profound ard un;-
versal conviction that great results had
been already achieved, and that thorough
reform was intended. That the things we
and countless others Of the same
kind, have not been done, and are not
doing, is the reason that this reform is the
open gibe of the opposition, and the secret
doubt of its friends in the Republican
party"