Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-12-14
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. CONCERNING CIVIL
SERVICE REFORM

speak Of as proposal to put Democrats
into office instead of Republicans, and
they talk wildly about the folly sf winning
political battles and then giving the advan-
tages of the victory to the enemy. 1t
might be inferred from their line of thought
that these journals regarded the spoils of
Office as the main object of all political
contention. In that view we certainly
must dissent from whoever holds it, but it
is necessary to point out that the concep-
| have referred is an erroneous one. There
is in fact no question about putting Demo.
Gratis in the place of Republicans. Who.
ever should do that would betray an entire
| ignorance of what is meant by Civil
Service reform. The principle of that re-
form is that men should be chosen for the
work of the Government with reference
solely TO their fitness and integrity, and
that, other things being equal, no account
whatever Of party politics should be taken
in selecting them. It is sometimes said
that no Democrat should be appointed to
office under Republican administration
until all the capable Republicans have
been provided for This of course is neither
more nor less than a bold assertion of the
spoils principle, for if men are to be ap-
pointed on the ground of their politics they
cannot and will not be appointed because
of their fitness. In filling offices which
require capacity of any kind in those who
hold them, the test to be applied should be
capable of fulfilling the business require
ments of the various offices, there is no
reason why they should not obtain them,
because the competition should be open to
all without distinction of party Repub-
lican politicians may care a great deal
whether the offices are filed by men of
their own way of thinking in politics, but
Republican politicians and all other poll
ticians have to learn that the government
of the United States belongs to the whole
people, and was never meant to be the
per1uisite of any party. The people of
the United States have no interest in see-
ing the offices filled exclusively by men of
one party. Their interest lies solely in
having the public business transacted
well and honestly and economically.
The politicians have been SO long
accustomed to regard the offices as the
spoils of party victory that they talk about
their distribution as if the people had
nothing to say in the premises. Civil Ser
any such lien upon the offices that no
party ought to be allowed to seize and con-
troll the great public patronage; that the
business of the country ought to be con-
Quoted on business like principles, and not
on partisan principles and that the office
holders ought to exercise no more political
power than the bank clerks or the me-
ehanics exercise. They say that both par
ties have abused their power most mis-
chievously in this regard, and that the
only way to put an end to this abuse is to
divorce the Civil Service from politics alto
gether. And they maintain that this can
only be effected by changing the conditions
upon which places are obtained, by dis
carding political claims, and by substitute
ing the test of personal fitness.
Under an enlightened system of civil
service reform all questions of partisan
claims would be eliminated. Nobody could
then promise offices as the rewards of parti-
san services, because every applicant for
office would have to depend upon his own
merits alone. OF course Republicans would
have an equal prospect of Office under such
a system, and if it be true that the Repub-
lican party contains the largest percentage
OF intelligence and capacity. they would
really have more than equal opportunities
with Democrats. Under such system the
one paramount aim would be to get the
public work well performed, and that is
what the country requires, and what it has
a perfect right to insist upon. Whenever
Offices are bestowed for political services
alone, without regard to fitness, the inter-
ests of the people are betrayed. Jealous par
tisans will do well to reflect upon that state
ment. In all such cases the object sought
is the ACKNOWLEDGMENT of party, and
tie public welfare is subordinated to that
end. Civil Service reformers deny the legiti-
macy of this mode of procedure. They say
that the interests of the country should
be first, and those of party second, and
they assert that under the old conditions
We could not have government of the
people, by the people, and for the people,
but all we could have was a government
of party, by party, and for party. 1t is
high time to emphasize the fact that the
Federal offices do not belong to any party.
but to the whole country, and that conse-
quently no party is justified in looking
upon them as its special property. They
ought to be filed as all other business
offices are filed, and that is Civil Service
reform. As to the common talk about de-
priving politics of enthusiasm by eliminat-
ing the spoils principle, it is nonsense. The
great mass of men are interested in politics
because they believein certain governmental
principles, not because they are looking
for Office. The ofhce-seekers are no doubt
very noisy, but they constitute small
minority of the voting population, and if
they were removed tomorrow no decline
of spirit or enthusiasm would be percept-
IDLE in our party contests. The Democrats
have managed to keep up their organiza-
ton and their energy very well without the
Offices, and so can both parties. The re-
moval of the spoils principle from politics
win purify them, and by giving the coun-
try Congress of men of convictions in
stead of political managers, will improve
| the character of the national legislation,
paralyze venal influences, ami do much
towards destroying demagogism. Such
consummation ought to be earnestly de-
sired by every patriot, and we wish to be-
lieve that the journals which now oppose