The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-01-29
Civil Service Reform.

gageu III lnP Ii1llu dSltdtIOh VI "h"e
is called Civil Service Reform now
in progress and gently simmering at
Washington. OF these wothe DEM
ocrats, who are deyeting to it so
much of energy as the November
defeat has left them, have the advan-
tage of knowing definitely what they
want. Their aim, which they scarce
ly pretend to disguise. is a partisan
one. What they desire tosdo is to
disable what they conceive to be one
of the sources of strength to The op
position. They want to reform
the public service, not 80 much from
devotion to the Interests of the ser
vice as from the hope of crippling
their opponents. Their cemplaint Is:
not that the. public officials are i'm
cempetenf. sissfaithfi,l ~ faeii1cirnf.
but that they contribute, eIther vOi-'
untary or under levy of assessments,
to the funds required to keep iSepub
licans in. and Democrats out of office.
Their zeal for reform of the service
is chiefly due to anxiety to spike the
enelny's guns. Hence the bill intro
duced by Senator Pendleton forbid
ing under heavy penalties any con-
tributlon, voluntary or otherwise, 10
any fund for political purposes. IHe
Tribune has heretofore directed at.
tention to the fact that wherever
Democrats have the power they are
in the habit of assessing their office
holders and candidates for Office to
the point of unblushing extortion. In
this city the application OF the rule
of assessments upon candidates and
holders of office is notorious. But
no one ever hears of any proposition
to introduce and apply the principle
of Mr.. PendletOn's bill here or any
where else where the Democrats are
in control and the assessments insure
to the benefit of that party. The
proposed reform may be wise, but
the unwillingnsss of Democrats to
apply it to themselves is liable to
cast a douot upon their sincerity.
Still. they must be credited with
knowing precisely what they are
driving at.
The idealists who are pursuing the
matter, on the other hand, while
they are undoubtedly sincere. labor
under the disadvantage of net knew
ing precisely what they want nor
how to get at 1t if they did. Their
chief anxiety seems to be to establish
system of competitive examina-
tions, retrosS e2t;va in its operation,
to which all subordinate officials in
the service holding their places by
appointment shall be subjected.
Most of these gentlemen are reform
ers by profession, and they are en-
gagged in the present movement in
pursuance of what they believe to
be their mission. They must be re-
forming something. There is always
some public abuse that tney must be
whackng at with the great cure-a all
of the "Be-it-enacted." But are there
any such abuses in the public service,
As At present organized and conduct
ed $ cali for the sweeping overthrow
involved in their scheme? ? Is not
the service at the present time reas
ably free from irregularities and
scandals? Certainly at no time in
the history of the Government has
it been conducted so honestly and
faithfully, with SO small percentage
Of loss and so greatly to the salts
faction of the public. Does any one
suppose that this condition of affairs
would tie improved by vacating all
the places and throw ng them open
to the test of competitive examina-
ton? How would it promote the
efficiency OF Il service against which
no complaint of unfaithfulness is
made? How promote honesty, when
it is confessedly more honestly ad
ministered than ever before: COM
pectitive examinations such as these
gentlemen wish TO establish would
furnish no test of a candidates hon
esty or fidelity. and these are the
most essential requirements. They
are proved only by experience, and
to that test the officials now in place
have been subjected.
That the public service is capable
of Improvement we do not for mo.
ment doubt. No epe claims that it
is perfect. But we are very clearly
of the opinion that any such sweep.
ing measure as that which proposes
retroactive system of competitive
examinations would work infinite
mischief. while the Democratic prop
osition TO forbid political contrihu-
tlons from Government officials
would be, if not impossible of en-
forcement, simply partisan nan.
@uvre to help Democrats to power,
which once secured, they would i'm