New-York tribune., 1878-02-05
THE INDEFINITENESS OF REFORM.

There seems to be 4 great variety OF Opln-
ions as to what Civil Service Reform means.
The phrase has become somewhat hackneyed.
it represents in the abstract, we suppose, the
idea of improvement i'll the Government ser
wee. Dissatisfaction with the methods OF ad-
ministratlon, the rule of appointments. th"
character of public officials, the man"ge-
ment of busif@ss--in short, it'll the
entire spoils system--camo to be so gen
eral and so profound during the last
Administration, that there arose popular de-
mand for change and this demand iound
cxl.ression in q sort of camOr for Civil Ser
vice Reform Existing evils and abuses
were so patent, and the des''ablenesN
of reform was so obvious, that both parties
seemed equally interested in its favor, and
only q few cas-. hardened politicians Won
tured to oppose it openly or sneer at
it az a deluslon Of impractlcable theorists. so
we have had it inscribed on banners, and set
nj in platforms, and gushcd over III newspa-
pers and on the stump in loose general way.
till it has come to mean anything he pleases TO
ANYBODY and nothing at all to everybody. If il
ever had meanIng-and it did seem to mean at
one time "a universal aspiration for honest
Government and purcr poltics-it has been
beaten out of it between the politicians and
the parties To-day it is az empty of
significance rs kettle-drum, and is only
banged upon to make noise ard call q
crowd. During all the furious agitation
of the subject. wLIle amateur statesmen
were formulating systems and adopting
rules, establishing competitive examinations,
and LAYING down regulations for promotion, and
in various ways arranging for the millennium
THE TRIBUNE, az earnest as any OF them for
substantial improvement In the serNcc Lnt
taking 30 stock III any of the spelling book and
Geography methods, insisted that the real secret
of the whole business was in having an
amounting power moved by an honest ard
unselfsh purpose, and governed by sound com
mon sense in otner words, that the only prac-
teal way TO reform the Civil Service was TO
berin at the head and elect q President who
could be trusted to make such appointments
as would, without the intervention of rules, or
systems, or boards, or commissions, them
selves insure the reforms demanded.
That kind of reform would not have needed
rroclamatons or pronunoamentos or any great
flourish Of trumpets to herald it. 1t would
have gone quietly on without advertising its
purposes or accomplished results. and we
could have had if not the millennial Civil Ser
vice which the refOrmers undertake to
bring, mt least service greatly purified
and improved. But the Administration has
been carried away with the name rather than
the thing itself. The Presidents purpose to
reform the servicc-beyond question earnest
and siacere-has been SO widely advertised
that he cannot by any possibility meet public
cxpectation and FL the bill. For there are
scarcely any two men to whom the word re
form means the same thing. With some it has
sense so broad that nothing short OF rcvOlu
ton Will answer their expectations with others
1t means simple change of village post
master, which not being made they lose faith
III everything, and set down Civil Service
Reform as the special ana particular humbug
of the century. Ii is useless to undertake to
satisfy these people with prOclamations, or 20
lay out any programme Of reform which will
entirely suit them. When the President says,
or some one says for him, in large and
ELUSIVE way, awe propose TO purify the public
"service; to appoint only men of the highest
character to Office; to remove all incom-
"petent and Enthusiastically Ulcers, and sep
"arate oflce-holdinG from politics." it sounds
unoommonly well. What it means to Sir. Null
lns, of POdunk, is that Pitcher, tle POdunl1
postmaster, Is TO be removed and he CMullins)
appointed in his place. And when that is
done, Mr.. Pitcher says: ~ don't sec lmuch re-.