Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-12-14

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full competition and to make hurtful discrim-
nations in the adjustment of freight rates.
These inequalities have been corrected in sew
eral States by appropriate legislation the effect
of which is necessarily restricted to the limits
of their own territory. So far as such mis-
chiefs affect commerce between the States or
between any one of the States and foreign
country they are subjects of National concern,
and Congress alone can afford relief.
PoLYGAMY.
The results which have thus far attended
the enforcement OF the recent statutes for the
suppression of polygamy in the Territories are
reported Ivy the secretary of the interior. 1t
is not probable that any additional legislation
in this regard will be deemed desirable until
the effect of existing laws shall he more close
ly observed and studied. | congratulate you
that the commissioners under whose super
vision those laws have heen put in operation
are encouraged to believe that the evil at
which they aimed will be suppressed without
resort to such radical measures as in some
quarters have been thought indispensable for
success.
The close relation of the General Govern
ment to the Territories preparing to he great
States may well engage your special attention.
1t is there that the Indian disturbances main
ly occur and that polygamy has found room
for it's growth 1 cannot doubt that careful
survey of territorial legislation would be OF
the highest utility. Life and property would
be more secure the liability of outbreaks
between the Indians and the whites would be
lesSened, and the public domain would be
more securely guarded and better progress
made in the instruction of the young.
ALASKA
is still without any form of civil government.
If means were provided for the education OF
its people and for the protection of their lives
region would invite permanent settlement
and open new fields for industry and enter
prises.
AGRICULTURE.
The report of the commissioner of agricul
ture presents an account of the labors OF that
department during the past year and includes
information of much interest to the genera!
public. The condition of the forests of the
country and the wasteful manner in which
their destruction is taking place, give cause
tecting the earth's surface, in regulating and
sustaining the flow of springs and streams is
now we'll understood, and their Importance in
relation to the growth and prosperity of the
country cannot be safely disregarded. They
are fast disappearing before destructive fires
and the legitimate requirements of our increas-
ing population, and their total extinction can-
not be long delayed unless better methods than
now prevail shall be adopted for their pr0tec-
tion and cultivation.
THE CIVIL SERVICE.
The communication which l made to Con-
gress at it's first session in December last, con-
tains somewhat full statement of my senti-
ments in relation to the principles and rules
which ought to govern appointments to the
public service. Referring to the various plans
which had Heretofore been the subject of dis
cussion in the National Legislature, (plans
which in the main were modelled upon the sys-
tenn which obtains in Great Britain, but which
lacked certain of the prominent features
whereby the system was distinguished felt
bound to intimate my doubts whether they or
any of them would afford adequate remedy for
the evils which they aimed to correct. 1 de-
cared, nevertheless, that if the proposed
measures should prove acceptable to Congress
they would receive the unhesitatng support of
the Executive. Since these suggestions were
submitted for your consideration, there has
been no legislation upon the subject to which
they relate, but there has, meanwhile, been an
increase in the public interest on the subject,
and the people of the country, apparently with
out distinction of fparty, have, in various ways
and upon frequent occasions, given expression
to their earnest wish for prompt and definite
action. III my judgment such action should no
no I fhof m
sense of it's pressing Importance has been
quickened by observation of a practical phase
of the matter to which attention has more
than once been called by my predecessors.
The civil list now comprises about one hundred
persons, the larger part of whom
must, under the terms of the Constitution,
be selected by the President, either directly
or through his own appointees. In the early
years of the administration Of the Govern
ment the personal direct: If appointments
to the civil service may not have been an irk
some task for the Executive, but now the
burden has increased fully hundred-fold. 1t
has become greater than he ought to bear, and
it necessarily diverts his. time and attention
from the proper discharge of other duties no
less delicate and responsible, and which, in
the very nature of things, cannot be delegated
to other hands. In the judgment of not few
who have given study and reflection to this
matter the Nation has Outgrown the provisions
which the Constitution has established for
filling the minor offices in the public service !;
but whatever may be thought of the wisdom
or expediency of changing the fundamental
law in this regard, it is certain that much re-
lief may be afforded, not only to the President
and to the heads of the departments, but to
the senators and representatives in Congress,
oil |o
tected in great measure by the bill now
pending before the Senate, or by any other
which should embody its important features,
from the pressure of personal immrtunity and
from the labor of examining conflicting claims
and pretensiOns Of candidates. | trust that
before the close of the present session some
decisive action may be taken for the correction
of the evils which inhere in the present meth
DDS of appointments. | assure you of my hear
ty cooperation in any measures which are like
ly to conduce to that end. AS to the most ap-
prOprate terms and tenure of the official life
of the subordinate employees of the Govern
ment it seems to be generally agreed that
whatever their extent or character the one
should be defined and the other stable, and
that neither should be regulated by zeal in the
service of party or fidelity to the fortunes of
an individual. 1t matters little to the people
at large what competent person is at the head
of this department or that bureau, if they feel
assured that the removal of one and accession
of another will not involve the retirement of
honest and faithful subordinates, whose duties
are purely administrative and have no legiti-
mate connection with the triumph of any pO-
litical principle or the success of any political
party or faction. 1t is to the latter class of
officers that the Senate bill, to which l have
already referred, exclusively applies. While
neither that bill nor any other prominent
scheme for improving the civil service con-
Germs the higher grade of officials who are ap-
pointed by the President and confirmed by the