The Portland daily press., 1877-08-01

echoes OF his musical voice had died away in
tne distance, and We recovered ourselves
p.is 9pnUIsn 70 I1ok around, what did we see? Gen.
butier Is tne political Arch-Fiend of the Re-
formers. He is their Ideal Badness their
Dream OF Depravity. Mr.. Schurz lectured in
the district which Gen. Bntler Captured and
held for eight years by force of his conceded
ability and pOsitiVeness-by the still greater
force of his early and pronounced loyalty. /
strongly disapproved of his methods and re-
gretted his ascendencyi but if he ever made
single bad appointment, never heard of it.
One officer did misbehave, and Gen. Butler
instantly had him removed. I believe the
postmasters OF the Essex district are Just as
respectable, just as honest Just as intelligent,
just as buslness-like set of men as the farm.
eLs, 1ne mscnanics, the editors, the clergy Of
the Essex district. have never heard a whis-
per that the Federal officers of this district are
IN any respect inferior to the Municipal officers
TO the selectmen, TO the school committee or to
any body OF men whatever. asked one of
the most honest and cultivated of Reformers IL
there was any marked superiority in the office
holders of Mr.. Hoar's district over those of
Gen. Butler's-Mr. Hoar being at one end OF
hs3moral pole and Gen. Butler at the other.
He said ne had not looked into that. and could
not say. Bat that is the very thing that ought
to be looked into. 1t is not wise, it is not sci
entifc-t is narrow and illiberal-to sit in q
newspaper office and argue that system is
bad because it puts bad men into office, and
men in office are bad because they are chosen
on bad system, and not look at the men
themselves tc see whether they are bad or not,
whether they are worse than other men.
Theory should be based on facts. Facts. IN
deed, in such case as this ought not to need
to be looked into. To support their theory
properly they ought to spring up into our faces
and eyes and smite us. Ii they do not, iithereis
no palpable difference between Mr.. Hoar's
men and Gen. Butler's men, it means some
thing. The Reformers need not attribute it to
any mistaken views of their men as to Gen.
B1tler's character; They may, if they choose,
follow the example of the good old lady who
never slept in church, but used to keep her eyes
closed that she might shut out the sight of the
worlds people; they may close their eyes in
speechless disgust when Gen. Butler passes by
AS he unhappily has way of doing quite
often-but my case is only the stronger for
that. If Gen. Butler, with all his total de-
pravity strong upon him, found his account in
overcoming his natural propensity to evil and
in making good appointments, what may we
not expect from those undergraduates who
have not yet taken their degree in the univer-
sity of popular crime?
But" says the Reformer, and the Reformer
in this case, too, is an honest and sincere Re-
former, because a man happens to be related
to Congressman, is that any reason why he
should be in the Custom House?"
L take my life in my hands and ask, SIS 1t
any reason why he should not be? Does "no
Nepotism under the Hayes administration
mean that the public service shall be closed to
every one whose family, near or remote, shall
contain man who has been chosen by his
friends and neighbors to represent than in the
Natlonal Congr5ss? think this is too absurd
even for professional Reformer to maintain.
Again shall my pen clothe itself with infamy
as with as with garment, by affirming that
influence is absolutely inseparable from pow
er This is nota matter OF corrupt will, but it is
an eternal law of nature. All the rules which
Secretary Schurz can concoct, or which the gen.
tlemen of President Grants Committee can
attach by way of codici can never alter or affect
or detiect by one hairs breadth this law of the
m nh fCna &AuI.N
| get at custom house appointment, but it is
the shortest way home after all. The Old
| Testament drove this into the Jewish mind
| with strong hand and an stretched-out arm.
l Not only was Achan punished for msappro-
| pration of funds, but his sons and daughters
| and all that he had were stoned with stones,
and burned with fire after thsy were stoned
with stones, The sins of the fathers were vis-
ited upon the children, and, by natural corres-
pondence, the virtues of the fathers were also
recognized upon the children unto the third
and fouth generations All this is just as true
| to-day as if the Old Testament had never been
written. If man is good and great and pow
| erful it is a law-and make bold to say ben-
| eicent law-of nature, that his brothers and
sisters, his family and friends, his connection,
near and remote. of blood or brain, get the
benefit OF it,, This Is part of the Divine
| plan to reward and to stimulate virtus B. 1t fur
| nishes one of the strongest motives to a self
denying and honorable life. Great men may
abuse their influence, and small men may be-
| rata it; and Civil Service Reformers may tin
l ker atlpOst-ofice rules till the sun grows cold
/ and the stars are old, and the leaves Of the
/ Judgment-book unfold; but Daniel Webster
will still have more influence in political coun-
ellis than John TAYLOR, and if President Hayes
/ wants man in office it shall go hard but there
will be place somewhere found for him or
| made for him.
| The truth is not affected by affirmation, or de-
nial, or caricature, or Characterization. 1t may
be. called nepotism, or corruption, or PARTISAN
nf oiOht nn6a PrIn
| plunged from bylaws, banished from speech;
/ but 1t is there all the same, always operative,
/ always powerful, always to be taken into the
account. think it is better to have it recog-
nized, regulated, and held responsible, than to
have it outlawed and piratical. think, for ex-
ample, that if there had been Stillwell, who
wanted the Marshalship of Northern Illinois, it
| would have been more honorable, more digni-
l ned, and more in the line of Civil Service Re-
form, for the President to appoint him at once
l on the ground that, from long connection and
l acquaintance, he was sure of his fitness for the
| place, than it would have been for him to thrust
| him out publicly with one hand, and then pri-
vately haul him in with the other. But so long
| as we overpower Nature by force, SO long will
Nature avenge herself by indirections.
OF course this natural law may be abused;
| so may every other. Daniel Webster may
| prostitute his influence by recommending bad
relatives to Office in order to rid himself of their
| support; as one OF our most eminent Reform
ers said the other day when-successfully-
der another eminent Reformer: 'he had sup
| ported him half-a-dozen years, and now the
| government might spell him awhilep' How
| much better is Civil Service Reform which nev-
| er consults Daniel Webster, but chooses men
| by competitive examination! Yes but COM
| petitive examination itself is liable to be
| abused. One of our Retormers went so far
| in his self abasement as to hold up China for
| an example to US, inasmuch as it selected
officers by competitive examination. Mr.. Hol-
| combe missionary at Pekin, China, speedily
ran his little pin into that balloon. GAS to the
| nature or the examinations, suppose President
Grant should require all candidates for the
| office of Postmaster to npeaorize the
| echole of the Old Testament IN THE ORIGINAL.
| HEBREW, without having any such knowledge
of Hebrew as would enable him to get at the
meaning OF the words and books memorized,
/ and then should examine them upon their DOW
or TO recite correctly these books such an examin-
| alton would pertain somewhat more closely to
the practical duties of Postmaster than do the
| competitive examinations in China to the
l practical duties of official life.
To be sure we nave not quite reached the
| high Chinese standard of preparation for the
| Civil Service, but, under the guidance of our
wise men, we are hitchlng along in that dIrec-
| ticn, Prof. Willard Flske has mounted his
/ Custom House clerks on the dynasties of the
| German Emperors, and between the connection
| CT an invoice of tea with the old Hohenstautf-
ems, or Hebrew cosmongony, it would be hard
to choose. The prime object," says Prof
| fciently complete mental training to be able
to adopt himself to any ordinary position" and
| IN pursuance of this laudable object, the
Chinese mandarin goes about coming his
lessons. "the sons of Reuel Esau's son: Duke
Nahatb, Duke Zerah. Duke Shammah, Duke
Mizzah. And these are the sons of Aholi-
bamah: Duke Jeush. Duke Jalam, Duke
Korah, Hemdan, and Eshban, and lthran and
| Cheran.
Judgments differ as we'll as tastes; but L
would as soon trust Daniel Webster's sound
sense and sef-interest to help choose me
| Postmaster who could forward an ill-directed
| letter, as all the practical versatility to be
derived from the knowledge that the children
of Israel departed from O0oth and pitched in
Ije-abarlm, and departed from lin and
| pitched in Dibon-gad, and they removed from
Dibon-gad and encamped in Almon-dblatham.
Moreover, in whom dwells the secret and
test of purity?
Who are the examiners? Why, Mr.. Bates,
| Mr.. Catlin, and Mr.. Tiffany. And who
stands sponsor for their incorruptibility? Why,
Mr.. Carl Schurz-who appointed them, who
can any day turn them out; toward whom they
| occupy no attitude of independence, but, in the
I