Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-02-10
CIVIL SERVICE.
The Hmmb'eg of Appointing Incompetent
Men to Office.


Men to Office.
To the Editor Of the Globe.
Does not all of this squeal about com
petitive examination to ascertain and
certify fitness for office come from men
of vast and cultured brain who have been
superseded in lucrative or honorable Off
cial positions by ignorance and stupidity.
Well, let them squeal. They will learn
some time, if they survive long enough.
that the idea of certifcation of fitness for
the proper discharge of official uties. on
whatever ground based, is contrary to tbs
first principles of our institutions. This
idea that for the proper discharge of any
official duties greater skill or learning 10
required than the ability to drive stage.
turn grindstone, measure tape, cut
purse, stuff sausage, or set out bottle,
is absurd.
The very first principle-in our politics
is, that whoever can mend pot, make .
pretzel, brush your Dreeches, dead beat
his creditors, steal a horse, or mix drink
successfully is competent to discharge the
duties of any Office within the gift of tbs
people. Look at them, and you will see
that this is not poetry. And this prin-
ciple is fully recognized and acted upon
by both the State and general govern
ment, in the employment and retention
of an army of experts and detectives hr
the federal government to lick the stupid
ignorant boobies into shape who happen
to have bought their way into official po.
sition, land requiring of the rogues ample
official bonds conditioned that the sure
ties will make good to the government
whatever the officials steal. The State
also employs public examiner for like
purposes and has also organized the pub
lie service so far as possible that the
rOgues watch each other. The land de-
partmcnt, the postoffice, the internal
revenue, the customs, the United States
marshals, Indian department, and in fact
all branches of the service are under the
constant surveillance of experts and de-
tectives, and the more stupid and igno-
rant the official BOBBY is, the more and
oftener he is visited and praised. Perhaps
these fellows think they arc doing some
new thing in this country, but let them
take look at old Peter Stuyvesant centu-
RIGS ago in New Y ork, who bulldozed his
way to the speakers stand in a political
meeting when co. ler was making q
stump speech to lot of butchers, bak-
ers, blacksmiths, thinkers, etc, and hand
ing MS great sllVeI Watcn 20 the speaker
asked HIM tosmend it, which the cobbler
declined to do, saying that it was not in
his line of business and that he could not
do it, when Governor Stuyvesant de-
livered the following civil service re-
marks:
''Dost thou pretend to NEEDLE with tbs
movements of government to regulate and
correct and cobble complicated machine, thu
principles CT which are above thy
comprehension, and its simplest
operations too subtle for thy understanding,
when thou canst not correct trifling error
in a common piece of mechanism, the whole
mystery Of which is open to thy Inspection
etc.
The whole OF Peters speech upon that
occasion Is too lengthy for insertion here,
but IS commended to the attention Of
the Dispatch.