The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-04-08
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
Something About the Office-Setker and
Civil Service Rfform.
Oar Foreign Ministry to be Reconstructed
from Top TO Bottom.
A Suggestion to Gen. Grant.

Now that one end Of the everlasting Southern
question has been disposed Of and the other end
put in fair way for immedats adjustment, the
Administration will turn it's attention to the gen.
eral public business. That is to say, the Office
holding brigade is to be reorganized in the inter-
est Of civil service reform and
sTgrcrLY PHHosorHro srArgsmAwsHrr.
Thus far, during this administration, Washing
ton has not been an inviting place for the office
seeker. That importunate individual was here i'm
force during Inauguration week The hotels were
ra ahmed, crammsd and j-rnmed fall OF him. He
obstructed the sidewalks. Hs was nuisance.
But at the beginning Of the second week he began
to thin ont. In most cases he took the earfy
train for home, muttsring about Andrew Johnson
and swearing under his breath al this ID nom
sense about
C1Vm SERVICE REFoaM
That large fraction Il him which hsiled from
Missouri, In particular, was even heard to speak
Of being sold out. This large fractisu was made
up of the distant relatives and early friends of
Mr.. and Mrs. Grant, and they had come here ON
the strength Of rumor that Grant had given
Hayes long list OF personal friends whom he
wanted taken care Of, and that Hayes had prom
ised to provide for the orphans.
ministration learned that his name was second on
this charmed list. Bnt Sam Hayes, who 10 also
| q Missourian, and who has the advantage of Bar
nard In being cousin OF tie present Admfnis~
trstion, assured me thai il Bar ards name did
really stand second the list IL was because the
| list embraced but two namssl did not aseer-
tain who the other was.
| Well, as said before, the ofGee-seeking brig
AL-.-. fsx. N
| in fact left the hotels; those who did not go
home in disgust altogether, seeking private
boarding houses, where they could nurse their
hopes at something less than four dollars day
A few Of ihsse latter have managed to weather
the storm. and now that the Administration is
about to resume consideration of the pubic SER
vice they will be On deck. My seurees Of infor-
nation are, perhaps, as trust sorthy ~ those OF
any correspondent in regard to
| PROP PasRD ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY,
and I think / give tole, ably faiE outline OF
what will be done Ia the way OF recognizing
| Federal patronage in the next six or eight
| months. Much will, of course. depend on the
organization and action Of the n xs Congress-. Ii
| is not altogether certain that the civil service
policy OF Mr.. Hayes will meet with hearty sup-
port at the hands Of Congress. Already the air
| IL full Of curses, which are not only deep, but
loud and long, whereby the Congressman gives
vent TO the fal'pess OF nis soul anent that az
founding proclamation Of Hayes the other day,
that sshs recommendation Of q Senator or Rep
resentatiye would have the same weight as that
of any other reputabl citizen ard no more"
But granting that there will not be sufficient
opposition developed in Congress to dsrange the
| pans of schurz, Hayes b Go. Il place schurz at
the head Of the firm advisedly), ist survey the
work that Ia TO be me :: Thsre Is to bs no gem
eral sweeping system of removal: But the
fellows who are new fsedi9g at the pubic crib
need not imagine that they havs got sure thing,
for at least three-fourths Of the present Office
holding b gade liz a!re .dy told off for muster cut
| and will receive scharge papers between this
time and next January.
| THE POLICY OF TIL ADMINISTRATION
Ia civil service reform policy it is true, bus it
Is not considered necessary to the reform pro-
gramme that the Grant regime should be kept IN
as Hayes fund it. o. the e,afrary, quite this
reverse, as the boys will begin 10 find out in few
Idays-and az they will keep finding ont until thsy
shall have been landed in private life with VERY
few exceptions. The work will be done By de-
grees, however, as the boy cut of his logs tail
40 it won du't hurt-but it Will be done thorough
ly IeveEtheless.
The first object OF attack will be the foreign
service, diploma ie and consular. II is well that
this should be the first step, for there is no de-
partment Of the publ service 30 urgently in
need Of resurrection. Grants ideas Of fitness
for foreign s.rvics were very peculiar. They
were generally based upon the fact OF
wogTHLEsssEss AT HOME.
Grant used TO keep q dung fork at hand. and
whenever the people repudiated Congressman
or Governor, GRAFT always forked the injured
man across the ocean somewhere to represent NJ
at court. Three years ago young Englishmsn
who was and still ID in the dplom site service Of
his country, told me that, SO far ~ he had sn-
loved opportunities Of observation, the foreign
service OF the United statss owed what little re-
spectabil1ty it posse ssed to the industry and ca
p scity Of our Secretaries Of Legation. This
only man on your foreign list fitted for the place
that know of," said be, ''is Bancroft. But" ha
added, ssyour Secretaries OF Legation. taken - :
class, will compare savorably with those of any
nation."
This was unfortunately, the stricssss truth
Our mini ters, of all rates, either bloekheads
whom Grant had fshed up out of private life on
his iunkesng excursions, Or politicians whom the
people had discarded, and who had, In eonse-
auesce, DO visible means OF support; 90 that 4
foreign appointment under Grant fnally became
genseel sort Of po,ce court sentence for political
vagrancy. Wondermentawas natnra ly excited ID
the minds Of the European statesmen whsn theJ
saw schenek, Washbarne, Jewell, Grth, C-amel
and Pierrepont cent to take the places shas haf
been filed in times past by Buchanan. Mason,
Rsvsrdy Johnson, Adams and Motley. Bzs they
coon learned that this state Of thingzE zEas not oe
cause the intelligence OF the Un5ssd States mao
been exhausted, but because the Presidency WA
latoring under