The Evening critic., 1881-07-26

WE HAVE DERIVED some amusement and
less instruction from reading the reflections
which the late assault upon the President
have called forth from the able American
press on what Is called "the Spills System
Tho prevailing theory of the great Ameri.
can editor seems to be because disappointed
oliice-scekcr has made murderous assault
upon the dispenser of patronage, therefore
oflice-seeking itself is a crime and ought to
be prohibited by law That is the amount OF
III though of course the able editors do not
employ precisely that phraseology. But in
the light of calm reason how absurd all this
is Some years ago debtor killed his cred
itor because of dun. No able editor has
ever suggested that for that reason bill col
lecting ought to be made a penal offense.
As to ofiicc-seeking it is really the main
spring of politics in this country. Men
desire office, because to serve the public in
an official capacity is both honorable and
profitable. The genius of our system is the
theory that every office wfshin the public
gift is open to the aspiration of every con-
stitutionally qualified citizen. When men
are elected to the Presidency or appointed
to the Cabinet, IL is as much u part of their
duty to attcSd to the personnel of the Gov
ernmcnt or of their respective departments
as It is to sign laws or other public docu-
ments. No other scheme could be devised
that would be republican in form or in
fact.
The Government is simply an employer.
Every citizen has an equal right to seek
employment under the Government, and
every officer vested with tho appointing
power stands charged with the duty of pa
tiently hearing aud decently considering
the application of every citizen who may
choose to assert his constitutional right to
apply. The reason why all the Dorman-
bcaton and the Gcorgewilliamcurtis nos
trums of "Civil Service Rules" and that
sort of thing generally, do not meet public
approval and executive adoption, is because
they are in theory and effect alike-alien to
every tenet of our system of Government,
and always will be until our democracy be-
comes aristocracy and our Republic mon
archy.
Men who run for President or ask for
Cabinet place know beforehand that they
will be beset by ofiicc-seekers. Why don't
they decline if the responsibility shocks
them? Simply because they are then Office
seekers themselves, and that makes the
seeking of Office virtue instead of crime.
But no sooner are they once installed than
they begin to cry out against the pressure
nf NJ, ,vhn Irt
oflice-scekers than themselves. Perhaps the
most industrious and offensive of this class
Of preachers who do not practice is Carl
Schurz. There has been no time during
the last twenty years when this grasping
alien was not reading lectures on the vice
Of Office seeking and the bad condition of
our civil service; and yet, during that time
there has been no Office seeker, high or low,
more pestiferOusly importunate than he.
From poor Mr.. Lincoln down to good-na-
tured Hayes, every President we have had
since Carl Schurz was naturalized has been
either listening to his opportunities or in
curing his abuse for refusing to listen.
We refer to Schurz as sample Of the in
sincerity and illOgc of tho whole civil !
service claptrap. If men think they can
not stand the pressure consequent upon the |
right of every American citi-
zen to seek an Office, let them decline to be
themselves elected or appointed to the
places in which the appointing power is
odged, and with it the responsibility and
luty oflistening with patience to the Amer
can citizens application. 1t is the wrong
ime to find out that this pressure of other
'flicc- seekers is uncomfortable after you have
'ot yourself snugly installed in place with
alary attached as a result of your own
'ffice-s seeking.