The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-12-30
Democratic Frankness Touching Re-
form.
Wheeling Intelligencer.

CIVll Service ReIOrln OIL III Ine OeH'
ate, sixteen SenatOrs-every one OF
them Democrat-voted against Civ
ing the bill consideration. Since then
Democratic Senators have been Civ
ing the country their Individual ideas
on CIVIL Service Reform as practi
cal proposition. We have had Sen
ator Voorhees, idea. Senator Brown
has delivered himsef--"to the victor
belong the spoils," and he wouldn't
consent to have it any other way.
Now Senator Williams, of Kentucky,
lays down his Democratic Civil Ser
vice platform with great distinctness.
Here are some gems ofreform thought
culled from his speech:
The bill does not amount to hill
of beans.
1t does not cover half the sore.
1t is only one little step in the
wrong direction.
1t might bother us little IN COM
ing in, and don't want to put any
UHlnS Ill lle way
How many votes do you think a
Democrat would get if he went back
to his State and said that he had
voted for a measure that would keep
the Democrats out of office and would
keep Republicans in He would not
get a vote, and he would not deserve
to.
The only reform that is proper and
possible is total change of men and
measures-a change from top to bot
tom. Let them all go. They have
been in long enough. There is moth
ing on earth that currupts men like
possession of power.
1t is nOnsense-the whole thing.
The elections were not so much a
Democratic victory as they were a
Republican defeat.
The people are not in love with the
Democrats and they are disguised
with the Republicans.
The Democrats will come into pow
err, if they are prudent, in 1884. We
must not put distractions in the way
of cleaning out this whole thing. |
am for a clean sweep. | am tor house
cleaning from garnet to cellar. lam for
cleaning out the old rats in the Treas
ury who know where the choicest
cheese are and where the best hiding
places are.
The water must be turned on, and
the Democratic President must take
a big broom and clear the whole plat
ter. That is practical sense. That
is necessity. | believe every word
of it.
There is in these declarations the
merit of frankness. Everybody can
understand them ; and whoever is
looking for this kind of a platform
will know where to find it. In JUS
tice to Senator Williams and Senator
Brown and other eminent Democrats
of their way of thinking 1t should be
said that their idea of civil service re-
form is the one that will be hurrahed
tor by every Democratic office-seeker
in the land. In national conyen-
tion made up of such material the
lurid lightning would be playing all
around these crab reformers.
But these Senators do not stand
alone. The mails are burdened with
letters of commentator, in which
they are urged to keep it up and pave
the way for general cleaning out of
Republicans. Democratic newspa-
pers-notably the Cincinnati Enquu.
er-agree with the anti-reform Sena-
tors and exhort them to stand by the
Democratic "spoils" doctrine. Dem
ocratic newspapers which prefer to
keep up a semblance of the late re-
form fervor are now unable to see in
any proposition yet made the prom
Use ofreal reform. They are working
for the same end-a grand Democrat
lc entry into the promised land of
government office.
A week ago Democratic Congress
sional Convention was held in Bel
laire. The chairman and the nomi-
nee took the "spoils" stand decorated
with a little drapery which concealed
nothing of the real design, and the
convention was pleased to confess it.
self tickled with the general scheme
of reforming Republicans out and
Democrats in. The whole Democrat
ic drift is in this direction-"a total
change of men and measures" with
special emphasis on men. The party
would, we suspect, be willing to make
a dicker which would give the Re.
puDlicans the measures and to It's
grand old hypocritical self the men.
Civil Service Reform is one of the
questions of the day. Men and par
ties are making records on it. 1t Is
profitable to keep pace with their
several promises and performances.
------
The most aged COW in Georgia, per-
HANG in hn