St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-07-07


that such payment might lead to legal
trouble. If, indeed, there be any ques-
ton of comparative manliness and
honor in the transaction, it strikes me
that virtually to threaten labOrers in
navy-yards and elsewhere, clerks, er-
rand-bOys and even women and girls
in the public offices, to whom | am in
formed that circulars have been sent,
that they are in danger of dismissal if
they do not surrender part of their
wages, is conduct quite as open to the
charge of want of manliness and honor
as the act of warning such labOrers
that the law probably protects them
against the demand.
You remark that you disdain ''to
seek protection and shelter behind any
cover" You will not, therefore, at
tempt to hide under the pitiful pre-
tense that the assessment of , per cent
or other specific sum levied by the con-
gressiOnal committee is an invitation
to make "a voluntary contribution"
1t is stated that 1000 or more of the
circulars of your committee have been
sent out. | have personal knowledge
of them as addressed to employees of
the government from Kentucky to New
England and they are undoubtedly
daily mailed to every part of the I'm
ion. They are apparently addressed
exclusively to public employees, and
those employees undoubtedly under
stand that the alternative is that of
payment or dismissal. The demand is
issued by Il committee which knows
that such is the general understanding
4I I ,l.,I
superior officer against the injustice of
this assessment upon poor men earning
small wages and reduced to despair by
the demand, and he told me hotly and
plainly that for every one who did not
wish to pay there were fifty persons
ready to take his place with all its en-
cumbrances. 1t is not necessary for
me to point out to You that this is
practically a sale of the public service
to the highest bidder, that it destroys
the self-respect of the public employees
and that it is necessarily fatal to hon
est politics and economical administra-
ton. If the wages of the the public
service are too high, let them be re-
duced.
But by what right does committee
of an irresponsible club of members of
Congress levy party toll upon public
employees under pain of dismissal z
You, sir, are chairman and treasurer
of the republican congressional COM
mittee. What party authority cOnsti-
tuted that committee? In what way
is it responsible to the republican par
ty? If Il levy of money is to be made
upon employees of the government for
hn lnnnfit # n ptI- hIa In
hold to be a perilOus abuse-it should
be authorized by those whom the party
designates for the purpose. 1t is GER
tainly not Il duty to be assumed by any
committee of members of the party
elected for another purpose. If such ii
committee may demand 2 per cent of
wages, it may eXtOrt 30 per cent under
the same terror. Other similar COM
mittees may do the same thing. And,
in fact, the public employees are now
subject to various demands of the kind.
The money thus cOerced by irrespOnsi-
ble committees is expended i'll ways of
which there is no public account. 1t
becomes often a vast corruption fund,
drawn from the public treasury by the
party in power to secure its continued
control of the government. This is Il
dangerous blow to free institutions,
and the general knowledge of the abuse
necessarily destroys popular confidence
in the honesty of elections and brings
us face to face with a catastrophe. I'm
doubtedly there are legitimate political
expenses for every party, and i'll free
country everybody should be at liberty
to aid and to refuse to aid his party.
But the public employees of the govern
ment are usually selected i'll way
which practically deprives them of the
liberty of giving or Withholding such
aid at their pleasure. If a man knows
that he holds his place by personal IA
vor, he will naturally prOpitiate that
favor in order to retain his place. 1t
was the knowledge that the liberty OF
| the of1ice-holder in this matter is thus
! impaired which led Congress to pass
! the act of protection to which our cir
cular refers. That act recognizes, as
universal experience and the reason OF
the case show, that a government en-
ploye whose family depends upon his
wages is not deluded by the phrase
''voIuntary contribution and fear,
that he cannot refuse to pay without
taking the risk of dismissal. His re
fusal, indeed, would not be alleged as
the reason, but it would be the reason
and to say to an employe, as the circu
lar of the congressional cOmmitte,
saws, that his contribution will not b,
objected to in any official quarter" i
merely to tighten the screw. 1t is
hint to him that the demand is know
and approved by those who can dis
miss him. You assert your willingness
to ask the president to ask the opinion
of the attorney general. But your cir
cular has been sent to the employees il
the attorney generals Office and it dis
tinctly assures them by necessary i'm
plication that the head of the Offic
p does not object.
If you read the newspapers careful
: ly, you are aware of the very genera
, public condemnation of the practice q
=, political assessments and they ar
condemned for the precise reason tina
, such assessments are not what the
pretend to ''vOluntary cOntribu
tons" If you ask me to contribute t
!, your treasury, | am private citiZe
. and | can give or refuse without suffer
ing. But if you and your associate
ask my neighbOr, who is employed i
the custom house, for contribution
no feels that he is in danger if he dc
, clines. This is the infringement of tn
, equal liberty of citizens which make
q this practice odious, while its inevita
BILE consequences make it threatenin
: to the public welfare. The associatio
of which | have the honor to be pres
;. dent, will spare no lawful effort to T,
store that equal liberty to every cit
q zen. Respectfully yours,
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,
o President of the New York Civil-Sel
\ vice Reform Association.