New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-09-14
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
GAIL HAMILTON's PAPERS.
Wy
FEW STATISTICS OF THE SYSTEM OF COMPETITIVE
DRINKS.

so fully trained in the old methods of appointment
TO Office that it is almost impossible to get rid of
them" But is it certain that We ought to get nd OF
them What are the old methods of appointment
to office Mr. Cox says tho present system
is the system of competition by dema-
gogucs in the matter Of ability to do the
largest amount Of dirty political work-the
ability for instance to offer the greatest number OF
drinks to thirsty voters election day. Does Mr..
Cox mean that this was the system which he APP
pointed officers in the Department of the Interior
when he was ITS able and accomplished chief Was
this the system on which Mr.. Fish appointed his
State and Consular offcers-On which Dir. Robson
filled the Naval ofices-On which Mr.. Boutwell, and
Mr. Bristow and Mr.. Morrill, filed the numerous
Treasury oficesl The eminent astronomer Lockyer.
who had Just run over from England to look at the
sun a moment, as supposed, says that the main
object of his visit was to examine the workings of
the Signal Service which he regards as one of the
wonders of America Are General Myer and his
subordinates in q service civil enough to
select them on account Of their ability
to offer the greatest number of drinks to
thirsty voters on election day Professor Lockyer
further expresses his qualification and pleasure at
learning that our Government recognizes scientific
work, and wished that the English obseryatories
were as we'll organized as thUse of America. While
they have the American regularity and discipline"
he SaiQ the EngllSu SiuiplJ
Perhaps if the English would discard their new
plan of filling vacancies by competitive examina-
ton and adopt the American method of selecting
Professors for the ObservatOres on the system OF
competitive drinks they might secure the results
which excite Professor Lookyers admiration.
Does Mr. Cox mean this : The rigidity of his
classification implies this. If he does not mean this,
1t is hard to sec what ne does mean If he does mean
this NE has an audaoity of assertion which stamps
him as a true reformer. pay him the compliment
TO suppose that he does not itthat his state
ment is simply one of those wild and random re-
form remarks which are the indispensable basis of
the reform but have not the smallest sober business
relation to facts OF the 10000 Ofice-hOders let Mr.
Cox name one hundred whom he knows 20 have
been appointed account of their ability to oher
the greatest number Of drinks to thirsty voters on
election days. and he will give his Civil Service Re-
form more ground-hOOr than any other of his
class has yet done.
In further illustration of the old methods of ap-
pointment and of the rgidity with which they must
be Stunned, Mr.. Cox says the Presidents great
mistake . was in conceiying that the only
thing OF the main thing to be done in order to
achieve this reform was to cut off Congressional dc
tation IN the matter of making appointments he
limited his ambition and his action 10 this not per-
ceiVing that any aud every other form of personal
recommendation aud influence for Office were
equally Objectionable" Look at it Mr.. Cox says
that there is no system and can be none until Con-
gress unites with the President to make one. Mean
while such is the rgidity of Mr.. Cox that he will
not allow the President to have recourse to any
4" form of personal recommendation or influence for
Office" Such also is Mr.. Eaton's rigidlty that he
afrms that if any other theory than his be adopted
call the sixty thousand in the Civil Service must
be removed every four years" SO that the only
thing left for President Hayes to do was to inform
himself, without recourse to any other persons
opinion, by personal inspection and examination. OF
hemerts Ofevery of the sixty thousand Between
the upper milestone of Mr.. COxs rgidity and the
neither milestone of MIR. EatOns absurdity, fear
the poor President would be ground exceeding small!
1t is this rgdity of the reform system makes it
grotesque. absurd, impractcabe. Instead OF study
ing nature and facts. the reformers 90 down into
the cellar and stuff their ears with cottonwood and
bind their eyes with their Observation-Disclosures
evolve their facts from their moral consciousness.
BY some such process alone could Mr. Eaton arrive
ct the startling conclusion that unless we adopt his
theory all the sixty thousand in the Civil Service
must be removed every four years" He does not
attempt to modify the rgidity of his statement by
statistics OF by common sense He does not sock to
make it hexile to generosity or to decency or to
the ordinary customs of men or to the ordinary in
stincts of sef-preserYatiOn. He does not seem to
q
start out to sea with only raw hands for captain
and crew. No Rlgldity and shall be pre-
served If the party in power has power to eject 1t
will eject everybody. If man is not forbidden by
law to cut off his head, of it will instantly 90.
Yet no Reformer has excuse for such wantOn
arguments. He has only to consult the books of
tho Departments to see that they abound in clerks
who have been there twice and thrice and ten times
four years and that they comprise members Of
both tie great parties.
Look into a single Department, the Navy and
look at it during that Of typical corruption. the
dark ages of Grants Administration. Or all its
forty-ive clerks the bulk from the pre-
ceding Administration and not one was ever turned
away for political or partisan reasons. There were
no defalcations, and no vacancies made during
tho whole Administration except by death or resig
nation Many OF the clerks had been in for twenty
years. and a large proportion were Democrats.
Has our Reformer the patience to leave his Z" high
sentiment" little longer, and drudge among few
dreary commonplace facts at the State Depart
mentf
When Mr. Fish became Secretary Of State, during
the early and terrible corruption" of Grants Adj
ADMINISTRATION, he found in the Department tho fol-
lowing officers. clerks, and employees
IN. The second Assistant Secretary of State Mr..
Hunter Mr. Hunter was appointed to clerkship
in the Department on May %, 1929. He rose
through the various grades until he was commits
stoned as Assistant Secretary July "a, 1866 He is
still in service, and if he lives till next May and
thinks" in line he will celebrate his golden wed
ding with the Department.
(2). The Chief Clerk, Mr.. Chew. Mr.. Chew was
appointed clerk in the Department in 1887. He
rose step by step to be Chief Clerk and died IN Office
In 1873.
f3). Eight fourth-olass clerks. OF these. one