The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1877-09-06
JACKSON c. H., OHIO, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6. 1877.

party leaders to be. and il is simply i'm
possible that it, hobby should b. r,ddei
- well if the Federal office holders T.
whom it is practically intrusted are th'
lolts and rascals that they are described
There is not cohesive attraction enougl
n vice to keep such iniquIty organized
: The country. the Government woul,
have gone to pieces long ago. IL Presi
ients and authorities generally were no
N the whole inclined TO appoint, an'
congressman to recommend pretty gOo'
men. there would not be any Civil Ser
vice to reform. Experience" says Prot
Fiske, has shown, with sad certainty
hat the President cannot depend upon
his friends, or advisers or the party lead
RS. or Cougressmen. Whose expert
-nce2 The good standing of our country
IN the home aud foreign market show
that he can. For integrity and intelli
gence our country stands well abreast o.
any nation in the world and never wa
her credit better than under the party
leaders whom the Relormers most vigor
nusly denounce. Partisanship is not dis
honesty. No great national cause can be
conducted without party and no party
can be successfully carried on without
machinery The outcry against the "po
litical machine" is Just as intellige a.
the insurrection of the English laborers
against cotton machinery. It is perfectly
intelligent for the Democrats to applaud
the President for "disestablishing the
machine" because il all plays into their
hands and gives them an advantage OF
which they would otherwise fail Presi
dent Hayes Is making and can make no
law by which all parties must be bound
L L 81 10
party which elected him is weakened
and the party which opposed him not
affected except to be indirectly strength
ened.
The common sense Of a nation should
not be led captive by a phrase. To
transact business on business princi
plies of your own business and not OF
somebody else's; otherwise, il is non
sense. To say that Government shall or
can be carried on just as an ordinary dry.
| goods firm is carried on is the sheerest
nonsense A. r. Stewart created the
| firm of which be was head. The firm OF
which B. Hayes is head created him.
/ The dry goods firm is absolute monarch.
and what il does is nobody business but
its own. The Government is but an
agent of the people, and what il does is
every ybody's business Intelligence and
in ntegrity are equally indispensable to
both but political skill and political
service not political trickery should have
as much consideration in the Govern.
ment firm as tasting teas and sampling
sugars-not sanding sugar and adulter-
ating tea-has with the Wholesale grocer.
IL j. not everything hut it is one thing.
The business Of the Government j. poll
itical Over that bridge. with what creak-
of timber the echoing heavens know.
went Mr. HAYES into the Presidential
chair, and il is unnatural, not to say SUI
cidal work, TO hew aud hack away now at
the joists and girders whose staunchness
never knew a sterner strain.
To denounce and smash the machine
because il Is sometimes dishonest and
despOtic is as sensible as was the short
cut TO temperance discovered by a wo
man in a religious newspaper the other
day-to have Congress pass law forbid
ding the manufacture Of all intoxicating
drinks in the country
Another point which it would be wise
for Reform TO remember is that the cant
of Reform Is ju-t as loathsome to every
healthy mind a. the cant of r-lig on. We
are perfectly willing to discuss tenure of
office, or modes OF appointment. or ex
cellence of laws, but we look with con-
tempt on the men who claim o higher
standard Of morality because they advo-
cate one mode rather than another The
best soldiers are not the men who talk
most OF courage The best Christians are
not those who talk most about Christ
The most temperate men are not those
who make political capital Of diseased
brain. The true Relormers are not those
who stand on the house tops TO expose"
their countries infirmities. The true
Reforms rs are those who. instead Of hal
looing unceasingly for Reform and for
Rules and for a general upheaval Of all
things, go to work quietly on things as
they are, enforce the tests that already
exist, strengthen the things which re-
main that are ready to die. We may not
have attained ultimate excellence in our
methods but neither are we so utterly
weak and inefficient that the Reformers
must trample on the Constitution in |
order to enforce Reform. While We are
waiting for laws to be lawfully changed /
there is plenty to do. The Reform that |
we want is such Reform as Mr. James |
practiced in the New York Post-office. /
though he was no Reformrr, and WIS sp- |
pointed by the late corrupt Administra-
tion; such Reform as Mr.. Mcpherson is |
practicing, who is no RetormeT, but who /
goes down into a department that bad |
been overloaded during the Administra- |
tion Of a ReiOrmer, and without speaking
great swelling words of moral superioTi- /
ty, or flinging ignorant insult in the face Z
either OF clerks or Congressman, acts on
few simple, sensible principles and the I
work is done Recommendations are To /
be considered in appointments but not
in promotions. Those who receive the /
same salary are to be put at the same
work. By the side OF the sonorous pro
nunciamentos OF high principles of duty
and lofty moral sense, and the abnega
ton of self, which ever and anon roll
forth from the Interior Department.
these commonplace little matter oi-iact |
statements make but poor show. But
the American people believe in them, /
and they have the great advantage of not
requiring rapid back action. There l. no
State Association to which, alter careful /
cons deration, they do not apply. and
after more careful consideration. they do |
apply. There Is no Committee which |
on iull reflection, is exempt from their |
application, aud on iufth-r rejection, l. /
inelud.d Mr. McPhcrron viii never |
have TO be ordered up at midnight To
wonder how they got out! They are out |
and patent, and open TO every mans Ia /
-prction from the beginning They need I
no exceptions, no explanations, no de- /
fence. They are not Rule. they are
principles. They commend themselves I
They recognize, employ aud limit patron
age; they use inhu-ncri they demand |
merit; they are reform.
Says Mr. White, who has made a spe
cial study of these matters: There Is |
one way ~ which any member of the |
'. 40. l..rr, NH .nl..Ianttul .c..ll