Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-10-19
A Model Civil Service Reformer!

! S ". e. Ch-ndl-r. IN ". =. Sum y
A Model Civil Service Reformer!
The Philadelphia Press (Rep., } hav.
ing heard from Maine. is already push.
ing Mr.. Blaine for the nomination in
1884, and indicates both the quantity
and quality of its enthusiasm by repre-
senting him as Civil-service Reformer!
The following are from an elaborate ed
itorial on that interesting and amusing
subject: ,z.e ss-.....4 -. -
"Mr. Blaine's espousal of the cause of Civ
| il-service Reform is valuable in two direc-
tons. In the first place, it is the most signin-
cau.e and the most taneibie proof that It has
passed into the realm of practical politics. In
the second place, it secures the Invaluable
support of a powerful leader who brings
sound sense and great influence to it's advo-
cacy. Mr.. Blaine has never thrived
Of Awags
leader, he was never a boss. He has relied
for his ascendancy, not upon the force of q
leadership of the public thought on vital pub.
lie questions. It need not be pretended that
he would not help his friends Wherever he
could. He is a consummate politician in the
higher sense and not above using the political
ranks of Civi-service Reformers comes, there
fore, not from disappointment, but from q
perception of the growing sentiment and the
of his penetration and sagacity in putting him.
self at the head of great movements of the
public mind. s, = .a
1t is difficult to discuss seriously such
statements and conclusions as these
which are most ridiculous to those most
familiar with Mr.. Blaine political ante
cedents. His alleged conversion to
Civil-service Reform is simply shrewd
~, hn 81
there a possibility of his obtaining the
nomination from the .Stalwarts, not only
would the conversion never have Oc-
Cured, but he would not have hesitated
to indorse and emphasize Butler asser-
ton that ours is the best Civil Service
in the world" and denounce the re-
formers as a set of meddling fools or
crazy fanatics. As, however, his only
hope of success is in the anti-Stalwarts,
and rs they are supposed to be more or
less favorable to reform, he trims his
sails accordingly and is now waiting
anxiously for the breeze to blow. He
will wait long while if the ants really
sympathize with reform and have sense
enough to discriminate between the
genuine and the spurious article. Mr..
Blaine is not a reformer even in the
mildest meaning of the. word In an
unusually long public life he has had
abundant opportunity and provocation
to show himself such, and never has
done so; never so much as limited a de-
sire to do so. On the contrary, all his
principles and practices during the
period when his influence in the Repub-
Hcan party was greatest were opposed
to reform; and he was in close alliance
at all times with its bitterest enemies,
giving them silent, if not outspoken,
aid and comfort. In 1876 he was near
er the object of his ambition than, he Is
likely to be again, Was he the reform
candidate at Cincinnati, and beaten on
that account Is IT, not notorious fact
that he was practically the candidate of
the anti-reformers?-or at any rate re-
garded as more friendly to. them than to
their opponents2az w ould the whisky
ring organs have supported him as they
did, and howled as they did over his de-
feat, if there had been an atom of re-
form in his compos ition? s Efa
Z Mr. Blaine has suddenly become con-
sentative because he failed to make rad
lcalism pay. In 1876 he was the leader
Of the Stalwarts; indeed, the inventor
of the name. His bid for the Presiden-
tial nomination was in the shape of
speeches. fifty characterized as .'bloody
shirt" speeches deliberately designed
% revive and intensity sectiona! animos-
ties and prevent any real union be-
,ween North aud South; speeches
which, delivered as they were long
after the war closed and its excitement
lad died away. stamped. the author as
IN INSCRIPTIONS and dangerous dema-
sogue, who would not hesitate to
: build his greatness on his acountry's
'nin." The bid was rejected. and from
hat day till this Mr.. Blaine. has been
Iowly yet steadily changing front.
first he threw away the ''bloody Shirt
hen he abandoned Stalwartism, then
miled sweetly upon the South, and
iinally comes forward as the eulogist of
he beauties and blessings of Civil
ervice Reform We believe. him to be
t heart precisely the same in 1882 that
e was in 1876: We believe that inter-
st. not principle. is the moving cause
1 his change of front; that he is an
now because he has moth
1g to expect from the Stalwarts; that
e IS reformer now because the anti
eformers are against him; that his re-
'rm professions sre g from the lips
ut, = and to be valued as such. Blaine
as always been "a boss'' when he
ould be; is one by nature as well as
ducation. He has arelied upon the
'rce of the machi1e'' whenever there
as machine at his disposal. and
| "using the political forces" has
opped at nothing that could serve his
urpose. His 81 enlistment in the ranks
Civil-service Reformers comes from
and not from any
perception of anything beyond his
wn political prospects. 1t may be
another illustration of his penetration
I'D sagacity,'' but if honest Republican
formers give the BOW convert front
at in their church, their penetration
Id sagacity'' must be of the poorest
,ssihie sort ST Touis ReY1xblIcnu