, 1877-03-31
OUR wAsn,wcTom LISTER.

Hayes Southern Policy Political re-
forms in the Bureaus Nep0tism the
curse of the gouernment.
: WASHINGTON. D. c., March 8. 1877.
ED1roR OF The D1sPATCH:
We have passed the Rubicon. say
those who rejoice that the end Of the
presidential struggle has besn reached.
AZ we'll as those who lament In the in
argurstion of Mr.. Hayes the supposed
downfall of free institutions; there are
various ways for various people to look
at it. most men will ses it from their
political or class bias. or from the state
of their livers. and history alone will
regard 1t with Retrospective cslmness.
but not for one or two hundred years.
Those Of us who are swollen with nation
al pride, may well stand aghast at
problem which has divided the Supreme
Court sharply on political lines. If the
result. with all its humilisting antece-
dents. will have an effect to prick our
national conceit, to level the mountain
Of our vanity, and to cause us in these
early days of the second century to real
ize that, except in the lavish material
patrimony OF nature. and In fourth of
July braggadocio, we are not the "the
greatest nation in all CREATION" but q
very i'll regulated. extravagant, amor
phous. 5000, 900. of people. with more
offenses and offices at : our youthful
overgrown backs than We have language
to put them init will have had much
needed effect.
There can be 10 doubt that Mr..
Hayes sincerely entertains the good in
tentious expressed in the fair promises
% his inaugural address. There must
always Be doubt abolt the ability of
men and Presidents to carry out their
good intentions. But our forte is to help
and hope. The indications this morn
ing are that the Presidents toreshad-
owed Southern policy of non interfer-
ence will have formidable opposition
IN the Senate.
The chief work of the present admin
istration Gf Your correspondent may
presume to write about such weighty
inatters) will be. not the solution Of
the Southern problem. the South will
will "work out its own salvation" with
with fear and trembling if left to ITSELF
but the great political necessity of to
daT is the reform of the civil service
In Europe where rival nations are in
state of eternal armed ohservation-th
military establishment is the chief con-
Germ: with us the reform of our civil
establishment must long be a subject OF
prominent consideration. 1t should
no. be patched it should not be tink-
cred with 1t should be reformed alto
gether. 1t is the dangerous dry rot of
our governmental system. and it has
spread enormously in the years during
and since the war. There is every indi-
cation that President Hayes intends to
reform it thoroughly. As he said in his
inaugural address both parties are
pledged to reform of the civil service;
and. from the complexion of his cabi-
net, there is reason to believe his efforts
in this direction will be successful.
There is perhaps not an honest intell-
gent clerk, in any Of the government
offices here, who. if allowed free express
sion will not confess that the work in
his office can be we'll aud easily
done with a much smaller clerical
force than is now employed. But the
problem has been how to reduce this
force. or rather how to prevent it's con-
slant increase. A member of Congress
will approach Bureau officer saying:
Il want place for my friend and con-
siituent. he is first rate fellow, place
worth twelve or fifteen hundred dollars
viii do" The chief of the Bureau will
declare despairingly that there is not
Alnge vacancy; but the member will
say: You must find him place some
where" and the unhappy bu l dozed
chief invents some new suIerfuous
work. sets the constituent (who most
probably writes and spells very indffer-
ently) to copying. for their second or
third time. perhaps. some old official
letters. that had better been sold to the
rag man ten years ago. This state OF
things exists through all the Depart
ments, and the evil is all the more iner-
adicable because it lacks the unique
enormity, of the credit mobiler, or the
Relknap scandal. and because its reform
strikes at the patronage of the politi
clans. But it is no exsggerstion to say
that the aggregate expense from this
and other almost unnoted causes. of
which I may write in future letter. is
greater than the enormous frauds and
astounding revelations that mark the
head lines Of the opposition press.
A thorough reform will involve not
only a great reduction of the clerical
force. bnt the appointment of the fittest
m an for tho work Ti.oro 10 M poooov,
why man who has rendered efficient