The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-03-17

for the place in point is as clear as the day.
But III he were a suitable man, the tact still
remains that his appointment is as a re ward
OF service TO Butler, while, according to the
republican theory of civil service, the deputy
collector of the port should be promoted to
the vacant collectorship. -
All tbis Is very true, but those who entered
the reform movement in 1872, can not
zee why it is more keinous now
than It was then. 1t was no Sc
cTet to the Post, that the SsryIse of The
United States had swarmed win Just such
mon as Simmons since the election of
Grent-indeed since the second election of
Lincoln. The Post was perfectly familiar
with the record of Tom Murphy and the
The Post certainly could not have been ig-
norapt Of thesort ofmaterial General Grants
family appointments were, and ~ occurred
to the men who entered the Cincinnati Con-
ventiOn at the POSTS solicitation that
bad as Mr.. Greeley might be in the
selection of officers, he would have Dund it
morally impossible to degrade tie evil
source below the level of General Grants
appointments. Even John Coshrane,
olatherkite and striker, Fenton, dema-
gogue and trjekster, could not have been
more mischieyoy1s elements in the political
dispensation, than Tom Murphy, General
Butler, Simon Cameron, and our ownsaero-
bate economist, Morton. The Post, cling
ing to the point, continues:
lis the republican party practically in ia
yer Of reforming the civil service? To- con-
firm the candidates for these two offices
would be an emphatic negative answer so
far as the chief managers are concerned.
Can. the president persist in making these
nominations, and still convince the people
that he means reform? Let us have the
main question decided upon its merits
alone. The reform of our civil service is
one of the things that the dominant party,
whatever may be its name, must give the
country.
republican party has been in power if
teen years, and there is not particle of evil
dence that the reformation of the civil SER
vice ever has been more than
shadowy make believe with the managers.
1t is true some of the ADLER and more censci-
eRtious, like Mr.. Curtis, Mr.. Sumner and the
doctrinaire school, have struggled for the
elevation OF the government service, but the
Post must know, as the country certainly
40 "CAA dNdAC, thdS tuo DctttT olSllonb OF the
party has had little influence in its councils,
since Grants election. Is it necessary to
warn the Post that it is as impossible for the
dominant party" to reform the civil SER
vice, as it is for the camel to pass through
the eye of needle? From their very organ
ization, the old parties find themselves pow
erless in dealing with reform of this
kind. From their very condition it is next
to impossible for parties of long duration to
reform themselves They are like mechan-
ism whose parts have all grown old together
into which the introduction of new
machinery, would simply create disjointed-
ness and ruin. To thoroughly reform the
present abuses, there must be a party organ
lied, which shall not be thrown out of gear
by the introduction of the modern inyen-
ton, political reform.