Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-12-06

ine.
PolygaIny IN Utah is to be ham
died without gloves.
The late elections show the neces-
sity of a strict guard over the exer-
else Of the election franchise. Mr..
Hayes and his Ohio friends have
good reason for knowing this; but
there is one little omission in his
statement of the obstacles to be
overcome to accomplish this end.
He says that "The power of public
opinion will override all political
prejudices and all sectional and
State attachments 1t occurs to
US that there Is another thing which
public opinion will have to over
ride before this thing is placed on a
right basis, and that is the corrupt
and despotic interposition of Federal
power, patronage and money in be-
half of the party in Office. The
President will thank us for supply
ing the omission.
This brings us to
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
We can only do justice to the
audacity with which he handles
this subject by giving iR ertsnSo the
following paragraphs:
fit is the right of the worthiest
claimant to gain the appointment,
and the interest of the people to
bestow it upon him, it would seem
clear that a wise and Just method of
ascertaining personal fitness for
Office must needs be an important
and permanent function of every
Just and wise Government. II has
long since become impossible in the
great offices for those having the
duty of nomination and appoint
ment to personally examine into
the individual qualifications of
more than a small proportion of
those seeking Office; and with the
enlargement of the civil service
that PROPORTION must continue to
become less. In the earlier years of
the Government the subordinate
offices were so few in number that
ii was quite easy for those making
appointments and promotions to
| personally ascertain the merits of
candidates. Party managers and
methods had not then become pow
erful agencies of coercion, hostile to
: the free and Just exercise of the APP
pointing power. y large and re-
! sponsible part of the duty of restOr-
I ing the civil service to the desired
purity and efficiency rests on the
! President, and it has been my pur-
pose to do what is within my power
/ to advance such prudent and frugal
| measures of reform as VIII most
surely and rapidly bring about that
radical change of systei essential
/ to make our administrative meth
1 DDS satisfactory to a free and intelli-
gent people. BY a proper exercise
of authority it is in the power of the
Executive to do much to promote
such form. But it cannot be too
/ clearly understood that nothing adj
equate can be accomplished without
cooperation on the part of Congress,
and considerable and intelligent
support among the people. x n
The grave evils and perils of a
partisan spoils system of appoint
| ment to office, and of Office tenure,
are now generally recognized. In
the resolutions of the great parties,
/ in the reports of Departments, in
the debates and proceedings of Con-
! gress, in the messages OF Executives,
/ the gravity of the evils has been
/ pointed out, and the need of their
I -
command the necessary support,
every measure Of reform must be
based on common right and justice
and must be compatible with the
healthy existence of great parties,
which are inevitable and essential
in a free State. When the people
have approved at a national cleo
ton, confidence on the part of the
| officers they have selected, and of
the advisers who, in accordance
with our political institutiOns,s should
be consulted in the policy which it
is their duty to carry into effect, is
| indispensable. 1t is eminently
proper that they should explain it
before the people, as well as illus
trate its spirit in the performance of
their official duties. 1t hardly need
be pointed out that very different
considerations apply to the greater
/ number of those who fill the subOr-
dinate places in the civil service.
/ Their responsibility is to their supe-
riors in official position. 1t is their
duty to obey the legal instructions
of those upon whom that authority
is devolved, and their best public
! service consists in the discharge of
/ their functions irrespective of parti-
/ san politics. Their duties are the
same whatever party is in power,
! whatever policy prevails. AS a
consequence, it follows that their
/ tenure of office should not depend
on the prevalence of any policy or
the supremacy of any party, but
should be determined by their ca
pacity to serve the people most use
fully, quite irrespective of partisan
interests, The same consideration
that should govern the tenure should
also prevail in the appointment,
discipline and removal of these sub
ordinates. The authority of ap-
pOintment and removal Is not a
perquisite which may be used to
aid friend or remove partisan,
but is a trust to be exercised in the
public interest under all the sane
lions which attend the obligation tC
apply the public funds only fol
public purposes.
1t is something repulsive to us tc
have to express the lOathing and
contempt excited by these passages
when they are compared with Mr.
Hayes known course of action evel
since he has been at the White
House. He deprecates the giving
office as a reward Of partisan service
and the New Orleans Custom House
is full of the scoundrels who were
placed there for their participation
in the scandalOus fraud which
placed Mr.. II. in Office as President
He protests against high officials
interfering in State elections, and
the whole canvass for the late elec
ton in Ohio was conducted by Fed