New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-06-16

department needed renovating, and Zach admins
tered il with an unsparing band.'
Secretary Chandler" says THE TRIBUNE of April
10, "entered that department with no very exalted
ideas of Civil Service Reform, but with determine
ton to root out all rings and stamp out all dishon-
esty and during the year and more that he remained
there was terrible rattling among the dry bones of
corruption. The Pension Office was turned inside
out, the Indian Office thoroughly shaken up,
and the knife was twice put into the Patent Office.
In each instance prominent officials were TemOrse-
lessy beheaded, and the reputation of the Interior
Department for honesty was q hundred per cent bet
ter at the end of his of service than at the be-
ginning"
In the old time, when Secretary Chandler APP
pointed his friend Assistant Acknowledgement Tor
the Interior Department, the Reform newspaper
announced the fact under the farng title "Cband-
Ter Providing for His Friends" and it then went on
TO say how he did it
Augustus s. Gaylord prominent lawyer OF Michigan
residing Saginaw City, has been designated as Asss
ant Attorney General for the Interior Department lie
is represented man of high character large practice
and great wealth and is warm personal Trend OF sec
rotary Chandler.
This clear-headed Reformcr did not stop 70 tell rs
why man of high character, large practice, and
great wealth needed to be provided for but catch
ing the sound of personal friend" the Reform Bee
in his bonnet began to buzz, and wronged nation
was made acquainted with the shocking news that
Chandler was Providing for His Friends But when
Secretary Sherman dismissed Mr.. Talbot, and APP
pointed Mr. Wells as Solicitor of the Treasury--the
first of long ridge of such"-and an incautiOus cor
respondent momentarily forgetting his role of Re-
former announced that incident ian Efficient
Official Ousted" and affirmed that Mr. Talbot had
"been regarded excellent and efficient Officer,
his Superior sprang to the rescue instantly, ana
stated that it had "been the custom for the Secre
tary to select the Solicitor from among his personal
friends" But why, then, should not the same plea
be urged in Secretary Chambers case i'll mitigation
of damages And when the Reformers further tell
us that this appointment made for the sake of
recognizing Southern Republicans will they tell us
whether that comes under the head of politics or of
Civil Service Reform
1t is only fair to say that of this Reform talk
is attributable to Secretary Sherman, who seems to
have gone about his business in aquiet and business
like way leaving it to the professional RefOrmers to
make what they could of 1t.
April 10 we were told that
GOOD deal of excitement has been caused in the In
terror Department. not only among the clerks who nave
been discharged but among those wlo remain over by
1t generally understood that the principles OF ciy
service reform would he applied in all cases where clerks
were DISCHARGED, and il was supposed than those
least competent would he first selected reducing the
clerical force 1t Is now reported that the Ell
cheney of the CLERKS has apparently been taken very liz
lie into the account In making The selections for Dis
mssal il is said that persons who have strong p0ch
backing or who have influential friends in the bureau
which has employed them have III almost ali cases Deen
retained, and that susceptible OF proof that
many the clerks retained are tar less efficient than
some OF those discharged.
Is not this precisely the kind of thing that made
our Government machinery corrupt in Mr.
Schurz's estimation that his patriotic face burned
with shame for his adopted country throughout our
Centennial Year,
True, the other side is presented next day. The
political influence and the arbitrary dismissas
denied, and we are warned that
1t to be expected that the friends of every clerk who
is discharged Will represent hiH 10 have been one OF
the most competent in the department Reports
injustice has been done IL in this way should
therefore be received with great allowance. IF
anything of tins kind has occurred 1t has been wholly
been for him tontust the duty of reducing
the force wholly TO the officers OF the several bureaus
Pray whyH What in the world could this Reform
Secretary Of the Interior have on hand half i'm
po1tant as securing good officers for his department
and getting rid of poor ones And yet one of the
chief organs of Reform ofliciously anxious to eulo-
gize the Secretary finds one day that i'll this most
important matter the gravest mistakes have
CURED; the next day it partially eorrects its own
statement, and then adds that in any case Mr.
Schurz is not to blame, for the Bureau officers must
he intrused with the whole business. This sounds
very much like the worst and ilimsest of excuses
originally but vanly framed i'll the Garden of Eden
an excuse bad, to say the least, any put for
ward under the old regime. First, very grave mis-
takes were made; second the mistakes were not so
grave after all; third, no matter how grave the
mistakes were, Mr.. Schurz was not to blame. 1t
all the fault of the invisible and intangible, the
Unknown and the Unknowable Bureau officers.
Nothing equal to this in the way of logical defense
can he found outside of the old copper kettle that
was, first, cracked when il was borrowed second,
whole when il was returned, and, third, never Dor
rOwed at all
And then, having explained why Mr.. Schurz is not
carrying out his principles the reporter gives us the
usual Micawbera declaration that he will certainly
carry them out
Secretary SEIZURE is fully determined that his PRINCIPLES
OF civil service reform shall prevail IN ever bureau Of his
department, and that the rules laid down for dppoint-
ih l'Si TO- t.'''O'''"' ''''' ''''' - '''
Is human nature changed since the close of the old
war-hoIse dynasty Are the friends Of discharged
clerks more disposed to misrepresent Mr. SchuIz
than they were TO misrepresent Mr.. Chandler is
Secretary Schurz obliged to give out more work
than was Secretary Chandler Why should reports
of Injustice against the old regime be received with
less allowance than those against the new But
When similar reports were circulated against Mr..
Chandler such Reform papers as The Congregational
ist could only sigh with pious patience How long"
while others took up noiser refrain, till the Old
wa1-horse, hearing the hubbub from afar in the
depths of the department, laid down his pruning
knife, and greatly fear ne, Ike King Cophetua,
swore royal OATH which trust the accusing angel
blu,hed to give IN, and the recording angel blotted
out witha tear-at any rate, he is said to have
reared out that if this thing did not stop he would
give the reason why he dismissed the sO-and-So such
and-suchl
And / observed that thereafter, upon the cases III
question, the Reformcrs never moved the wing nor
1 A. n