The daily gazette., 1877-06-30
THE MACHINE IN POLITICS.

tude OF new othceS and sent hither
swarms of officers to harass our people
and eat out their substance"
This is really no more than the people
of the States of the Union might have
; said of the Republican administration at
Washington at any time during the last
: eight years The last Democratic House
undertook to correct the evil, so far rs
one branch of Congress could correct it,
and, all things considered, it succeeded
very well. The effort kicked up tre-
mendous hubbub among the Republican
office-holding classes, and vehement pre-
dictions were INDUCED in that the eff
cheney of the public service would be in
jured and the welfare of the country put
in peril but the Democratic House, un-
dismayed, pushed resolutely on. Con-
gress directed the Secretary of the Trea-
sury to inquire and report what reduo-
tions could be made in the revenue SER
vice, and Secretary Morrill,, in obedience
to that direction, sent in his statement of
the absolute limit which could be safely
reached. Since the Inauguration of Mr..
Hayes, however, further reduction of
20 per centum has been ordered in the
New York Custom House alone. Inthis
respect it Is but simple justice, therefore,
, to the administration of Hayes to say
that he has sustained the Democratic
| demand for reform, and has repudiated
the Republican policy of bis immediate
predecessor in Office as resolutely as he
did in the matter of withdrawing the
/ troops from Louisiana add South Caro-
lima, with the important difference that
in respect to civil service reform the
pledge on his partto carry it forward can
not be said TO have been the price of
finally counting him in, as was certain
ly the case in the matter of Withdrawing
the army. For executing Democratic
measures in respect to the civil service
President Hayes is therefore fairly enti
tied to commendation.
1t is to be remembered that the crying
evil of our civil service under Grant was
not the abuse which, as Republicans are
so found of saying, was introduced un-
der Jacksan; nor was it the abuse which
Governor Marcy SO crisply emphasized
by this declaration that "to the victers
belong the spoils." The crying evil of
Grantism was an evil which was so rife
in England century ago, and which our
forefathers of the Revolutionary epoch
did not transplant in this county. A
hundred years away in the past few
English noblemen and gentlemen dicta-
ted to the Ministers of the Crown with
whom not only the executive but even
the Parliamentary offices of the kingdom
should be filled; and during the last eight
years clique of Republican Senators and
members of Congress in like IL amer
controlled the civil service of this nation
in the matter of executive removals and
appointments.
This, it will be seen at once, was very
different thing from the mere removal of
subordinate executive officials establish
ed, as Republicans say, by Jefferson and
jackson in order TO secure agents in the
public offices who should be in pohtica
sympathy with themselves upon the
great party questions which divided the
soantry. 1t was system which permit
ted certain party chiefs to WELD the Fed.
eral patronage at will and for their per
sonal benefit, regardless of the general
public good in respect to the purposes for
which those Offices were created For
example: in the early days of Grant the
Senator from New York who ebioyed
most of his confidence and sympathy was
Mr.. Fenton. In the course of time, the
cordlality Of those relations ceased: Mr..
, Conklng became the favorite, and the
latter was then notoriously allowed to
remove and appoint Federal officials in
this State as effectively as if the powers
of President and Senate both were con-
centrated in his hands Officers were re.
moved, not because they did not dis
charge the Government business well
but because they We're hostile or not.suf,
ficienty friendlyto Mr.. Conkling, And so
r 1t was in other States. and notably in
pennsylvania. Through the customs
revenue, the internal revenue and the
Z post office (which latter alone emplovs
not FAR from hundred thousand persons 4
4 tnese hepuDncan elective mobiles IN the
Federal Senate and House retained and
increased their political power at home
and beat down all rivals. In New York
city appointments We're made in all three
OF those departments Of active machine
d. politicians drawn from the interior conn
tes OF the State, with a view to control
the nominations and elections to the AS
a sembly and Senate. The revenue and
post office officials were expected to
manipulate and did manipulate the town,
city, county, and State conventions ip
e the interest of the particular Republican
magnate whose retainer they were. An
instance OF the practical working of this
r system we gave day or two ago in 15C
Federal officials who equip the district
Republican organizations In this city ano
x whose term of Office in the Government
service depended largely on their conduc
Il chine.
President Hayes or Secretary Eyarts O
secretary Schurz, or whoever in the ad
l. mlnstralion is giving especial attention
q TO thls vicious condition of things. ha
evidently seen that the citadel and fort
II ress OF the system is the political activit