Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-05-04

0lilCSIS. AS q AdLuId Ill consequence ~ Iva
into the hands OF men vino were willing to
employ it for the furtherance OF their ra-
pacity, and the star route frauds grew out
of the general system. When the Office
holders in a department are the mere
creatures of Congressman or Senators;
when it is known that the retention OF
place depends not upon the faithful and
efficient discharge of official duties, but
upon submission to political satraps; it fol-
lows necessarily that in time all or nearly
all such positions will be filled by the least
scrupulous and most facile political tools.
When also the men who have the power of
appointment are themselves dishonest, and
bent only upon making their fortunes, it
follows that they viii find no difficulty in
perverting the governmental machinery
to their own ends.
This is what happened in the Postoffice
department. For it is evident that the star
mail swindle could not have been carried
out without the active and constant help
of considerable number of officials.
There are enough checks and balances in
the department to Illustrate any such frauds
as these if the men who are charged with
administering these checks and balances are
faithful II, however, they conspire to
gether to rob the treasury they can do so,
and such conspiracy is one OF the neces'
sary factors in the present case. The nation
has been robbed of apparently more than
million dollars by these expedited
contracts, and perhaps a realization of this
fact may induce many who have hitherto
looked with Indifference upon civil service
reform, to ask themselves whether after all
there may not be, something practical about
the system. The people who still believe
that the right of the citizen TO plumber the
treasury is one of the inalienable privi-
leges of republican government, are we
think fewer than at any former time. The
people who resent the idea of blocking
the avenues of corruption are not so de-
monstrative as heretofore. a belief is
gaining ground that the country will do
well TO insist upon businesslike methods
in the transaction of public work, and that
free stealing is a very expensive as well as
very demoralizing principle.
During the last Administration there
was one Department of the Government
which ran smoothly and efficiently, and
that was the Interior Department. Secre-
tary Schu1z introduced and maintained
reform regulations there He made all
applicants for Office undergo competitive
examinations. He admitted the success
full candidates only upon probation. He
caused it to be understood that the sole
means of rising in the Department We're
ability, zeal, industry and integrity. He
did not appoint outsiders over the heads
of veterans. He established a regular sys-
TEN of promotion by merit. And the re-
suit was that the work Of this Department
was thoroughly well done, and that no
scandals arose in it during the entire term
of Mr. Schurz Thus the two systems
the machine and civil service reform
were fairly tested side by side, and thus
the country was afforded an opportunity
to ascertain their respective merits and
defects. The methods OF Mr. Schurz were
successful. The methods OF the ina
chine" men resulted in the star route
frauds and similar Developments It
would be real calamity if this lesson
were allowed to pass unutilized. Civil
service reform has been tried, and has
triumphantly stood the test. The ma
chine system has also been tried, and it
has broken down precisely as it should
have been expected to break down.
1t will be useless for the press to wall
over the star route frauds so long as it
does not point out that the true and the
only remedy for such abuses is to be found
in the adoption of civil service reform in
all the departments. And If, as seems too
probable, President Garfield has already
abandoned whatever faint intentions he
may have had of following up the lead of
Secretary Schurz, it is all the more neces-
sary for the press to INSIST upon this
change, and to emphasize, i'll all possible
ways, the danger and the evil Of maintain
ing the old methods. So long as these
methods are maintained there will always
be scandals, because there will always
be incompetence and dishonesty in Office
It is mere insanity to expect efficient adj
minstration from the machine" Eli
cheney does NOT constitute one of its aims.
1t seeks only partisan successes, and it
seeks them for 10 higher purpose than to
keep in position the men who have seized
the control of the treasury and the Gov
eminent To put an end to star route
frauds we must put an end to the system
which renders them possible, and that can
not be done by merely getting rid of one