The Portland daily press., 1877-07-10

| great salaries? "
But never mind. We can climb over much
higher walls than that in order to walk in the
| green pastures and by the still waters, where
the voice of the Offce-seeker Is heard no more
| at all forever. But hardly have we set our.
| selves seriously to the task than we are rudely
dislodged. On March 90, "a Washington cor.
respondent who appears to have his informa-
Con from renaole sources, and whose state
ments bear the stamp of reliability" fipos the
| iat into the fire again. We have all been mis-.
| taken 1t seems about tenure of Office" and
taithfulness and titness-or rather the Presi-
dent has considered human nature and passed
| upon 1t. Falthfulness has its limits which
| Ohio has shown to be four years. 'eThe Presi
| dent mas cnoelnded generally to reapDoint post
| masters, customs and revenue officers who
have served faithfully four years. But beyond
tDe period OF eight years, the fact of holding
once cannot be regarded as a general argument
In favor of another appointment In short.
ana not TO put too fine point on it, "the con.
cluslon to which the President and his advisers
arrive IN t9ls matter is that, as general thing
served eight years" That is, human nature
improves under four years of office-holding.
put then there is virtue-shed, and the next
four years it is steadily running down hill,
ABUSES are liable to grow up under the best
officers, which new men will root out" WHY.
| that is Gen: Buffers principle, in full length
portrait. The sole difference is one of detail.
GeD Butler shuts down sharp on four years;
ii tne new reform shades off on another four; but
us as like as any fingers to nv fingers .and
there's fat political salmoR in both!
The President holds to the opinion that eight vears
rs the maximum term which man should be re-
famed IN public service, provided equally compe-
tent and meritori0us man Is an applicant for tho
pase.i ~ Wv
SO it is not simply for ''cause' that the man
Is TO be removed. He is admitted to be compe-
tent and meritorious. All we ask of the new
man IS that he be as good as the old. How is
off soo
going to prevent the pressure upon a new Pres
dent? What is the radical change" between
this and the old ways?
This rule is to be specially applied to the appoint
ment OF postmasters whose salaries exceed 81 900
per annum The rule will not be applied with the
same rlgor to postmasters whose salaries are below
$1,000 per annum.
Naturally, the high-salaried men will be most
nkely 10 grow corrupt and inefficient but the
poor men who cannot get a thousand dollars a
year will conduct their business with enter
prise and integrity and may be let alone.
There is no reason why one man should remain all
ms NE Minister to England or France, more than
one man should remain in Congress or the Cabinet
forever. But in all clerical Offices and even the heads
OF Bureaus, changes should be made with great eau
ton, and for cause only.
That is, man who needs only to know the
multiplication table and write a good round
hand must be contemplated with caution be-
cause every third man on the street would
make make as good clerk as he; but a man like
Gharles Francis Adams at the Court of st.
James may be whsked out at peasurei This
does not look like Reform, but perhaps it is It
Is certainly radical change from what is
called common sense outside of the Civil Ser
vice. That 1t is a change for the better is not
apparent.
But" says the Reformer, "the theory il
that these higher diplomatic offices sustain re-
lstions to the President somewhat similar to
those OF Cabinet ministers; that Civil Service
rules do not apply to them, and that they, in
nnbf 20 o6o
with an Administration" 'An Administrg-
tlon must have ministers who are in sympathy
with its foreign policy" "Mr. Evarts assured
Mr.. Boxer that it was not on account of the
ieast dissatisfaction, or any want of confidence
but simply because it had been decided bv the
President and Cabinet to remove all foreign
ministers, and that there would be no excep-
tiOns made.''
as seen in the establishment of Reform, it
would be difficult to say what it is. OF course
Civil Service rules do not apply to such and
such a case is to reiterate a statement, not to
give reason. One of the great ends of Re-
form IS to elevate our civil service abroad One
of the great rules of Reform is NO dismissal
except for cause. And when Mr.. Boxer asks
for the cause, he gets it in this shape: that the
resident aud the Cabinet order him to CO. If
this is what is meant by Cause therei has
never been dismissal without cause since the
establishment of the government
The assertion that Government must be
served abroad by persons who sympathize with
It's IIs, views seems like the hmsiest of pretexts
Why does it crave sympathy abroad any more
than at home? There is not a tenth part so
much divergence in our foreign policy as in our
home policy. Parties which divide sharply on
questions OF domestic policy, unite cordially on
the measures necessary to maintain the integ-
rity and honor of the country abroad We
view the dssensions of France and the aggres-
sions of Russia with languid interest COM
pared to that which we bestow on the silver
dollar and the emancpated slave We are
well content that the accomplished American
citizen should take charge of our Turkish
affairs on his own judgment; but when it
comes to legal tender or the tariff on iron, we
want to know exactly where he stands. 1t is
absurd TO say that mans opinion on these in
tense internal questions is Of no account to the
Administration, but that it cannot send man
to Spain unless it has itself selected him, and
taken strenuous pains to guard against sinis-
ter design to carry off Cuba in his waistcoat
pocket.
That English service which..is held up to our
admlrlng imitation is especially noted for the
continuity OF service which it grants, or re-
quires, from its diplomatic corps. The old man
dies in the same service which the young man
entered. The very point where our Admins
tratiOn dismisses the rules and follows its own
sweet will, is the point where the English Civil
Service eliminates. Its diplomats are kept
steadily in position, and promoted steadily
from one country to another, from the lower to
the higher station, so long as health and
strength remain; and pensioned in the end for
faithful service up to three-score years and two
or amply paid for still longer service if they de-
sire and are desired to remain, Now we are
told that while the dignity and honor of our
country require that the clerk shall be kept
perched at his desk, counting up figures all his
life, the same national honor requires that the
men who I'LL the grave and delicate position of
representative of the whole nation at a far,
foreign court shall be called home, and fresh
batch OF raw recruits sent out every four years.
am not quite sure of my ground though, in
any respect for the next paragraph says.
But this decision will not'prevent the appointment
OF postmaster for third or fourth term who is
mantesty the best man for the position 1t will not
apply 70 elerkshlps IN the departments at Washing
ton or elsewhere (why not?), or to offices which
quire special training!
1 am afaid we shall have to give it up After
exempting from your rules the people who do
not require any special training for their work,
and the people who do, cannot see who is left.
Rules that are to apply all branches of
but are not to apply to clerkshps or special
offices anywhere: postmasters who are to be
kept in permanently and turned out at the end
of eight years, but kept if you want them-all
this is too high for me. l cannot attain unto
it. If it is not blowing hot and cold, if ii Is not
reforming out all that the Administration
wants out, and reforming in all that the Ad-
ministration wants in; If it is not using the Re-
form simply as an excuse for doing what the
leaders please; or, as the reform reporter him
self gingerly puts it, "a plan not defined by
rigid rules, but largely determined by the cir
cumstances, why then, judgment has fled to
british beasts, and men have lost their reason.
This ramping Lion of Reform appeared upon
the scene and made the welkin ring with his
roarings: No appointment except for fitness,
no promotion except for merit, no dismissal ex-
cept for cause; and in two months he had
grown so deadly sick that out of his hanging
jaws came only the feeble wall, ''not defined
by rigid rules but largely determined by the
circumstances" Not word of the statements
have quoted may be true; but every word of
them comes from the only source whence we,
the people, derive informaton-the news
papers; from the very source whence we
derived our intense disgust with the last Ad-
ministraton-the Reform newspapers. If the
fragmentary statements of the Reform papers,
pieced into a perfect whole, are to be believed,
then, under the lions hide of Reform exists
exactly such an organism as was its predeces-
sor, barring the leonine airs which deceive only
the unwary. When our Civil Service Reform
is cut down to "a plan not defined by rigid
rules, but largely determined by the circum-
stances we are exactly where we were before,
and the augurs who are practicing their incan-