Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-06-06


man who has been doing the work for
which half a dozen consequential Post.
masters have been paid, and who, if he is
not discharged, will give the public some
guarantee for the effectual performance of |
the work of the Postoffice.
We are not singing out the San Fran
cisco Postoffice because there is anything |
peculiar about its condition. Unhappily |
the same remarks will apply to hundreds |
of other Postofices. We need not go far
from our own doors to find parallel case.
Here in Sacramento the real work Of the |
Postofice has for years been transacted by
Mr.. Lewis. To-day it is understood that
when Mr.. Hopping's term expires there
will be a new Postmaster, and already |
movement is on foot to secure the position
for a politician who does not pos
sess single qualification for it, who
knows nothing OF the duties, and who
could not be elected to it were it an
elective Office Yet there is no cuaran-
tee that under the infamous spoils system
this applicant may not be successful, and
then the man who has made the Sacra.
mento Postoffice the most efficient in the
State, and who, like Doherty, has merited
promotion in the only way by which it can
be earned, will be at the mercy of the in
coming political parasite, and the conven.
fence of the public and the safety of the
mails will be dependent upon the caprice
OF that person. This is what the spoils
system brings US. Here are two specific
instances, familiar to thousands of the
people Of California, in which the most
fragrant injustice has been perpetrated for
years together upon men whose deserts
cannot be questioned, yet who, after these
years of faithful and efficient service, find
themselves not only unrewarded, but ex-
posed to abrupt removal at the will of
individuals who cannot perform their Off |
cial duties themselves, who have no claim
upon the public, yet who are allowed to
revolutionize important public departments
at their pleasure, and to put their friends
and dependents in the places of capable
and faithful officials of no matter how long
standing.
There can be no doubt as to what ought
to have been done in both these cases, and
what would have been done if the public
interest, instead Of partisan and private
greed, were the controlling influence in Fed.
eral appointments. The man who ought
to be Postmaster of San Francisco to day
is Doherty, and not Backus. The man
who ought to succeed Hopping as Post
master of Sacramento is Lewis, and not
any broken-down politician or ward
striker or worker" at primaries and
in conventions. And these cases are but
| illustrative OF evils which literally swarm
all over the country. Whatever efficiency
the United States Postal Service possesses
to-day is due to the subordinates, who,
like Doherty and Lewis, perform the real
work at wretched salaries, while the fund
which ought to be employed in rewarding
their zeal and fidelity and capacity is
squandered in providing " fat positions
for politicians who have neither the ability
nor the inclination to do the work for
which they are paid. All over the coun-
try the spoils system debauches the public |
service, outrages the peoples most loyal
and capable servants, and Injuries the pub
lie interests, in this way, and yet the peo-
pie endure the monstrosity, and even learn
to sue humbly for concessions which it is
their right to demand.
Eighteen hundred dollars a year for the |
real Postmaster four thousand dollars a |
year for the sham one. That is the scale |
upon which the comI ensation is arranged,
and then the real worker must take his |
chances of removal without cause when. |
ever a new sham head is put to his office. |
This is what the corrupt cant of the day
calls practical politics" Civil Service Re.
form, which means making Postmasters of |
the Dohertys and Lewises, and letting the |
Backuses and their kind earn their living
or starve, is repudiated as sentimental
by the people who champion the spoils sys.
tenn. Under this most corrupt and fagi.
tious system there is no man SO worthless
and incompetent and dissolute and dishon.
est that he may not hope to obtain Fed.
eral appointment which will make him the
master of scores of industrious, capable
and trustworthy men, every one of whom
is his superior while no amount of fidel-
isy, ability, integrity or zeal can secure for
the subordinates immunity from arbitrary
removal, or obtain promotion in recognition
of their services. But we shall have writ.
ten to little purpose thus far if we have
failed to convince our readers that the only
hope of reform lies in the total abolition of
the system which produces and maintains
these abuses. 1t is useless to quarrel with or
totrust to the appointees under that system.
1t is useless to supplicate the Backuses not
to remove the Dohertys. 1t is vain to
count upon the prudence, forbearance, patri.
otism, of Presidents or Senators or Repre-.
sentatives. No man has yet appeared in
public life strong enough to resist the
tremendous pressure of the spoils system.
No President can withstand that pressure.
No member of Congress can even dispense
with its assistance. The only means by
which improvement can be had is through
the removalof the appointing power from
the President Altogether. Experience has
proved that it is power which no man
c.n employ without constantly abusing
IL Neither Congress nor the Executive
should have any voice in the appointment
of public officials. Every man who seeks
office should be made to depend upon his
Rn capacity alone. Every mans capacity
should be the sole measure of his fitness for
promotion. When the head of Postoffice
or other departmental office goes out, the
subordinate Immediately below him should
BE- the preferred candidate, other things
being equal. But so long as the spoils sys-
tenn lasts there will be incompetence in
tn, fgure.heads, and ill.rewarded toll,
coupled with cruel uncertainty, will con-
tinue to be the lot of the subordinates, no
fba;r Etpaos fb;n |