Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1882-12-23
NORTHERN TRIBUNE.
SATURDAY. DECEMBER %. 1882.
AN ENGLIsnMAN,s VIEW.
To the Editor Of tho Lansing Republican,

olh.- liz Impressions Oh I'LL ElgllSn-
man visiting this country for the first
time, may be of interest 70 your readers.
AS have been here only six months,
limited, and the conclusions 1 have
drawn from what l have seen will be
most probably wrong.
Of New York l saw no more than was
to be seen during Sunday evenings
walk along the Bowery. What with a
nearly every other store being a ten cent
museum making night hideous with
never ceasing electric drums, or much
belabored gOngs, peddlers crying their
wares on the sidewalks, street cars by the
dozen jingling their bells In the road,
and the elevated railway rafting over
head l thought had never heard such a
hullabalOO in my life. For the first time
l had realistic idea Of Bunyan's imag-
mary Vanity Fair, and the idea was
strangely heightened by my suddenly OBJ
serving, far away in the sky, cross Of
fire, affixed, as l was told afterwards, to
church steeple. Had l returned to
England by the next steamer 1 could
have written full and unvarnished de-
scriptiOn of the whole of this country
that is, If followed the example of most
descriptive writer's. AS it is,
WENT TO CHICAGO.
But my desire being to speak more of
people than of places, l will say nothing
of the Phoenix of tho west or the other
towns have visited. The first thing in
this country that surprised me was that
all Americans do not talk through their
noses. Englishmen telling tales of
Americans almost Invariably embellish
their stories with nasal twang, which
twang have seldom heard since came
here.
A matter of still greater surprise to
me is the correct way in which children
of all classes here speak. Whence comes
this? "ThOse organisms which survive
must adapt themselves to their surrounds
ipgs," says Darwin; and this is more
true of the organism yclept child than
of any other. Hence the child who speaks
so well must be surrounded with adults
who speak we'll. This, find, is SO, and
your
SYSTEM OF EDUCATION
must be vastly superior to ours in Eng
land. 1t Is very much more rare to meet
an American-bOrn subject who cannot
read, write, and speak well, than it is to
find a totally uEeducated Englishman.
am told this Is not so in the country
districts. / can only say that it is i'm
possible for you to find in any part of
your land more gross Ignorance than we
have among our Northumberland miners
our Lancashire mill hands, and our Som
ersetshire yOkels, or indeed in anyrural
part of Great Britain. On the other hand
as far as my experience goes, highly ed
ucated men are more rare here than in
England. The reason of this is twOfOld,
think. In the first place, you teach
fewer subjects, as rule, than we do, but
what you do teach you
TEACH MORE THOROUGHLY.
There is not that wide gulf between
schools for children of rich parents and
schools for the children of poor parents
that exists in England. Again, in Eng
land more encouragement is given to a
higher education, and here i may call
attention to the advocates of |.Ii
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
Formerly in England appointments to
the civil service were given away, as
they are here, by the party for the time
being in power, and were the spoils of
the victor. Some % years ago we had
our reform. permanent commission,
called the civil service commissioners
was formed, and the whole system of APP
pOintments was altered. The party in
power still had voice in the matter, but
only to the extent of naming three men
for each vacancy. These three men then
went before the commissioners for COM
petitive examination. The subjects for
examination varied according to the
vacant Office, but generally embraced
arithmetic, algebra. and Euclid, history,
geography, composition, Misunderstanding
history, grammar, and cOmpOsitiOn)
Greek, or German at option of candidate,
re mr. N a nn OIL
reform took place, nominations" are
done away with, and competition is open
to all, there being certain restrictions as
to age. To take "a low figure, at least 30
men go up for each vacancy. One man
gets it and the 20 seek living else
where.
THE BENEFICIAL RESULT
of our civil service reform, apart from
its great encouragement to learning, is
seen in marked decrease in expenditure
and a marked decrease in red tape. The
decentralization office" and its great
problem How not to do it, though real
enough when Dickens wrote, is now a
thing of the past. Men who have the
necessary energy to get the office will
have the necessary energy to discharge
the duties thereof. The number of en-
plOyes has been largely curtailed, and
the work is done better and more expe-
ditiOusly. Appointments are for life or
during good behavior. If a man mis- |
behaves himself the ''head of the depart
ment" may report the same to the "heads
of the Office" and the heads Of the Office
may dismiss the offender, but the offend
er has the privilege of appealing to the
treasury and of having his case thorough
ly sifted. When man has been in the |
civil service 10 years he becomes entitled
to approximation or to compensation
on abolition of Office, the amount in each