Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-11-02
THE REFUGE OF ROGUES.
THE CORRUPTIONS IN THE DE-
PARTMENTS.
WIndOm's Projected Hopeful Ex-
PerIment-ShIftless Strikers Quar-
tered on the PeOpIe-RaseaIIGy and
Debauchery WInked at and Pro-
tected A Day OF Reckoning at
Hand.

WASHINGTON, October 3l.-Secretary Win
dom, whose successor as the head of the Treas
ury Department has been confirmed by the
Senate In the person Of Judge Folger, of New
York, will leave the Treasury Department in q
few days to return to his old stamping ground,
the Senate Mr. Window has done nothing
that is reprehensible beyond the manufacture
Of refunding bill of his own, and the shield
ing of John Sherman in stopping the Treasury
investigation right where it got the most lively
Mr.. Window has, however, done a number of
good things which need not be particularized.
To chronicle mans good deeds is decidedly
unpopular and very uninteresting. Be
fore going out Of the Cabinet, Mr. Window
has promulgated scheme for civil service re-
form which really calls for more than pass
ing consideration. 1t shows that Window
looked upon the question practically, stand
point from which it has never before been
considered by any government official. The
invariable bent OF the official mind upon this
question has heretofore been one Of party
clap-trap and the elevation at once as a big
reformer of the man promulgating his scheme.
In his PRONUNCIATION Window is different. He
says, in substance, that the law providing
pro rata distribution of the Federal appoint
ments should be adhered to even to the letter,
and that under it there should be a committee
of three in each State to examine candidates
for appointments in the several departments
of the government, the vacancies as they occur
in each State to be filled by the men whom the
examination shows to be the best qualified to
I'LL them. 1t is to be noted that this scheme
would be applicable to Federal appointments
in Georgia. But it is sensible. 1t would in
great measure remove that disgrace from the
nation which is contained in the accu-
mutation in Washington Of drunkards and
worse who came here good men but
unable to secure places in any department de-
generate into the veriest scum. Window says
that Garfield approved of his plan before he
shot MT az fO ifc eff
cheney would have been tried in the Treasury
Department except for Guiteau. 1t is truly a
pity that it could not have been tried. On its
face 1t bears q decided chance for success. 1t
was not intended to include within its scope the
Federal offices in the States such as Marshals
Collectors of Customs and Collectors of Inter
nal Revenue. 1t would only be very good
beginning to rid its national capitol of crying
pest and have the way for a more thorough and
enlightened scheme for the reform of the whole
civil service. But Mr.. WINDOWS plan, one would
say. fell with the death of President Garfield and
from the general outlook, with President Ar
thur surrounded by stalwarts and the old
crowd, one would, under general analysis, say
that reform was dead. Not only reform of the
civil service but of any kind. But such a con-
sideration would not be warranted by the
facts. There is spirit abroad in the country
among all parties and creeds that demands
reform in the civil service. The demand is not
for a continuing reform nor for alleged COM
petitive examinations. which do not
compete, but result in the
appointment of the candidate who has the
most political influence This demand has
taken such shape that it warrants the enlist
ment in the cause Of men other than the
blatherskites and hypocrites, who have
heretofore gained place and promi-
nence by having the newspapers
service reformer - The time has come for
action. Mr.. Window. in his enunciation OF
his views, clearly shows, the place for
reform to begin is in Washington. The tear
ing up by the roots of the corrupt rings, which
annually steal thousands from the govern
ment is branch of that reform
which Mr.. Window, owing to his
leniency, displayed towards the
Treasury thieves, does not touch upon. To tear
these thieves from the tody polite and punish
them should be the beginning. Next is what
Mr.. Window proposed to do; namely. to regu-
late the appointments in the several depart
ments here so that good pro Iata of clerks
among the several States could be secured for
the departments of persons capable to perform
their duties intelligently. That there is a
great desideratum in this respect you can
easily judge, when one who has known the
public service in the departments here pretty
thoroughly for the past five years says that
four-fifths of the clerks therein employed are
totally unfit for the places they occupy and
could do no real work were it assigned them
They got their places through political influ-
ence -tbe curse of the United States-and do
nothing but spend their nights in drinking
among the rummeries, and their days in get
ting over its effects No chief Of division assigns
WOTk ObuoE Iudu Vi Luo ulOSb Simple character
to these men, because they know that they
cannot perform 1t. And one-half, nay three
fourths of the time OF every member of the
Cabinet is taken up with hearing appeals for
the retention or appointment to government
positions in the departments of this class of
worthless creatures. This applies only
to the men. There are good and valuable
female employees in the departments, but the
mis- resses of Congressman and of influential
politicians are also there. The deserving fe-
male has to work; the other class does no
work-if any were given her she could not ac-
ccmpl sh it but wears fine clothes and puffs
her hair. l have put all this in the very mild
est form. 1t is in keeping with the public de-
mand for a reform that is growing daily
stronger, and which will make itself felt at no
distant day. 1tmust come, or the whole fabric
of the government will rot of itself.
Potomac