Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-03-20
THE BEAUTIES OF CIVIL SER
VICE REFORM.
Speech of Hon. John f. House, of
Tennessee, i'm the House OF Rep
resentativeS, Tuesday,
March 9, 1880.

speech of Hon. John f. House, O
Tennessee, i'm the House OF Rep
resentatives, Tuesday.
March 8, 1880.
The House having under consideratio
the bill Oh. r. No. 2266) to prohibit Federa
officers, claimants, and contractors froI
making contributions for political purposes
reported from the Committee on Reform i
the Civil Service
Mr.. House said:
Mr.. Speaker: The demand of tn,
people for reform in our civil servic,
was fully recognized in the plat
forms of both the great politica
parties of the country prior to tn,
last Presidential election, and eacE
stood fully committed to the inaug
uratiOn of such reform if it shoulC
be lltrusted with the administration
of the Government.
| The. Democratic party fought the
great Presidential battle of 1876 un.
der the banner of retrenchment and
reform. The Republican party had
controlled the Government during
the stormy period of the war and
still held the citadel of power after
the war had ceased, with the Com
mander-in-Chief of the Federal
armies as President of the Republic.
The wild and reckless extravaganza
and corruption more or less incident
| to state of war had invaded the
administration of the Government
in time of peace. With military
hero at their head, an overWhelm-
ing tWo-thirds majority in both
branches of Congress, flushed with
victory, boasting of their conquests,
and claiming to be the preservers of
the Union and the successful de-
Tenders of the nations life, they
revelled in all the license of unbri-
died power and spurned with con-
tempt all suggestions of danger to
their indefinite control of the Gov
ernment. They regarded them
selves as owners in fee simple of the
entire country and the public Off
ces of the land as so many soft
places for loyalty to enter and enjoy
itself. They cast the Democrats into
outer darkness to weep and wall
and gnash their teeth in humilia-
tion and despair. Like the Pharisee
that went up to the temple to pray,
achievements, and like him they
continually thanked God that they
were not so bad as, but a great deal
better than, other men.
They forgot all responsibility to
the people, and their duty to the
country was fully discharged, in
their estimation, by the distribution
of the spOils of conquest among the
truly loyal. Corruption stalked in
all the insOlence of irresponsible
power through the corridors of the
Capitol. 1t seemed a bold, if not a
reckless, undertaking on the part of
the Democratic party to attempt to
dislodge the Republican party from
their intrenched position. But the
day of reckoning was rolling on;
and it was only a question of time
when the people, aroused from their
lethargy and throwing off their
fears, would assert their right to call
their servants to a stern account.
The Credit Mobilier exploded like
a bomb in the midst of the guilty
reYelers, and the floor of the ban
quet hall was covered with the
dead and wounded, The bloated
rings that had been generated in
the hot-beds of executive favor saw
the dawn of the day of wrath and
sought safety in whatever retreat
offered refuge from the gathering
storm. Neither the prestige of the
great hero of the war, with the
shield of the administration inter-
posed to save them, nor the loud
shouts of loyalty, nor bitter denun-
citation of the Democratic party, nor
infuriated howls against Southern
rebels, could blind the people alto
gether to the extravaganza and cor
ruption of their rulers. They de-
termined to make the men who had
betrayed their trust feel that there
was still a tribunal in this country
that dared to take jurisdiction of
their conduct and punish their
crimes. The curtain rose upon the
Forty-fourth Congress. Upon the
floor of the House of Representa-
tives the great Republican majority
that had crowded the stage so long
had retired, and in their places ap-
peared large majority of those
despised and excommunicated DEM
ocrats, whom their loyal adversa-
ries thought had been buried never
to rise again. But the people had
spoken, and there was no miStaking
the stern majesty of that voice that
summoned the great Democratic
party of this country once more to
the front,
The House of Representatives of
the Forty-fourth Congress entered
upon the work of retrenchment and
the task of exposing dishonest Off
cials. They cut down the expenses
of the Government between twenty
five and thirty millions of dollars,
Notwithstanding the stubborn oppo-
sitiOn of the Republican members
op this floor, encountered at every
sep.
Belknap fed before the uplifted
torch of Investigation and exposure
TO the White House, where friend
| ly Executive permitted him to find
refuge in a resignation of his Office,
and he only escaped conviction on
! Impeachment for his crimes by a
| technicality. The Secretary of the
Treasury incurred the undying en-
nifty of his party by placing the
| SIOulA-AiOUIlOo vi JuoOASO uPOh bhO
track of the great whisky rings that
were robbing the Government of
millions. They chased Babcock,
the Presidents private secretary, to
the very doors of the Executive
Mansion, where the hand of his
chief was interposed to save him.
Smarting under the condemnation
of the people, humiliated by the
victory of their haled adversaries
and the disgraceful exposure of cor
ruption in high places, the Republi-
can party reformed their broken
ranks, and took the field for the
great conflict of 1876. They saw
and felt that they had presumed too
far on the forbearance, and had
well-nigh exhausted the patience OF
the people. They came before the
country with professions of reform
which, if carried out, would restore
the administration of the Govern
ment to the better and purer days
of the Republic. In their platform
at Cincinnati they declare that
The invariable rule in appointments
should have reference to the honesty, fidel.
to the party IN power those places where
| harmony and vigor of administration re-
quire its policy to be represented, but per
mitting all others to be filed by persons
selected with sole reference to the efficiency
of the public service and the right of all cit