The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1883-01-03
Is it Civil Service Reform or What

mother column Is thought by some ;"
, be a step in the right direction; but Z
srtainly it is very short step. We {
ope the small beginning is the entering c
redgc to genuine Civil Service Reform.
'here are 10000 offce-holders under
he federal government. This bill Will |
each but 10000 and the most obscure
md inconsequential-underlings in
the departments at Washington. And
even them, it does not efIectually reach.
Senator Vest, who voted for the bill
while complaining Of its insufiicency and
Injustice, says: as the complete remedy
to be found in competitive examinations?
Is it to be found in the provisions OF
this bill which keep in Office 10000 train
ed olIice-holders, the scrvile accomplices
and tools Of the party in power? Is the .
Democratic party TO be told to-day that
hereafter Democrat must be examined
in order to obtain Office, but the old bar |
naclcs, the fossilized remnants Of pollt-
ical fight, are to remain in the depart
mcnts, constituting the cogps ds rc'erre OF
the Republican party in every sabse-
qucnt contcst| In plain language, the
bill exempts from the rale Of compete
tive examination the present officials and
secures them life tenure, without being
subjected to the test Of fitness applied
| 10 others where vacancies are to be filled.
| Az these ofIce-h0lders are for the most
Republicans, the bill provides for any
| thing else but a non-partizan civil-ser-
vice, and hence it secured the solid sup
port Of the Republican Senators. If this
had not been the effect of the bill, the
very reasonable and proper amendment
offered by Mr.. Pugh, would not have
been rejected by the Republican major
ity. The Pugh amendment provided
that persons now in the service shall be
subjected, like other citizens, to the rule
requiring evidence Of qualification.
Its rejection shows that the dominant
party are but too willing to create q
privileged class of ofiiceholders. Nc
: objection on the ground of unfairnes'
could have been alleged against the
amendment. II was measure Of strict
Justice to secure to all an even start un
der the new system. Mr.. Jonas, OF Louis
lana, who opposed the bill on its fina
D passage, said if the amendment Offered
: by Mr.. Pugh, applying the examination
to those in office as well as those outside
{ had been adopted, he would have voteC
c for the bill, but as it stood now, it was
t a mere pretense and sham. He believed
= the civil service was in large measur
incompetent if not corrupt, and it neede'
to be reformed. In his own city, New
P Orleans, there was u Custom Hous
4 which was used rs Il vast house of refug
= for political outcasts, and he could no
o vote for bill which proposed to subjec
S new applicants for appointments to eS
!, animation while it left those gentleme
4 untouched. In like manner, it may
said that if the bill becomes law, tn
Caldwells, the Merriman Towards, TIL
Morgans and other rod-handed refugee
o from Mississippi, who have been qua
e tered on the federal treasury ever sine
70 the expulsion of the Ames dynasty, wi
: continue to feed from the public crib II
II matter which party triumphs in tn
y coming election, Fortified by it, the
r. can laugh to scorn Democratic trump
even though it be won on the issue {
civil service reform.
We can well imagine that the genuir
4 Reformors who are for fair play an
>. living chance to all, and are for di
4 missing dead beats and supernumerarie
- who voted for the bill, nevertheless
N swallowed it in the shape in which
j. passed the Senate, with anything b,
. pleasant emotions, because it does n
4. effect that object, and it is a virtual b
90 against members of their own party
90 well as all other outsiders, to the subc
"a dinate offices which seem to have be-
Of pre-cmpted during these twenty-tN
It. years of Republican rule.
ne The bill goes to the House, where '
he trust it viii be put in better shaI
he A before said, it applies to the subort
on nate officials in the departments
he, Washington and in custom-houses a
he postoiices outside where as many
IN fifty persons and over are employed.
is will be left for the Democratic party
err the Presidential election next year,
of reach the men who have abused tn
inc trust in the high places of the COVE
Jay ment, The measure as it passed the )
ing ate, with all its thunder in the ind
lld scarcely touches the underbrush WI
the is needed is a real cyclone put in mot
len by the people, which will strike the
her oaks Of the forest, and reach down to
nm sov,,b H., A;,,,hor of thn eonnn TINA