The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-01-27
AN OPEN LETTER
From Capt. Putnam to the Gin.
=. cinnati Enquirer.
The AnImus and lmpolloy Of Ifs Opposition
to the Civil Service Law-A Few
lhclSlVe Facts.
CHILL1CorHE. O.. Jan 22. 1ss9,

CHILLICoTHE, o., Jan. %, 1888.
! CINCINNATI ENQUIRRR-SOme time
since addressed you a letter in regard
to subject Of universal interest, couch
ed in respectful terms, impugning the
zeal of your opposition to civil service
| reform and advancing some views favor
able to the law. Depending upon your
Vaunted love Of fair play, had reason
able expectation that You would publish
1t. But have been disappointed, and
with all other criticisms of your rabid
and unreasOning warfare against Sem
atOr PendletOn, 1t found Its way to your
capaciOus waste basket.
presume that it is not merely an
open secret, but a matter of universal
knowledge that you entertain most
bitter personal hostility to Senator Pen
dletOn, growing out OF the same reason,
presume, which has impelled you to
make war upon. every pure and able
Democrat now living in OhiO-yOur in
ability to use him for your selfish ends.
The mutterings of your discomfort were
heard for many months before the as
sembling of the late Democratic State
Convention, where it burst forth in all
Its fury; your employees had traVersed
the State, interfering in the selection Of
delegates, broWbeating and promising
until you felt sure of your ability to
draggle the flag of PendletOn through
your mire. Then you came down upon
the Capital like the Assyrian host and
like the Assyrian host you fed, leaving
your MANNED and wounded on the en-
sanguined field. You and your satellites
then sought by obstruction and discOrd
to defeat the ticket at the polls you
were pow erless to defeat In the COnVen-
ton. The people answered you in
thunder tones. Then, having been beat
en- in all other schemes, you seized upon
the Civil Service bill, depending upon
Misrepresentation to rouse the selfish
instinct in the human breast and in
flame Democrats with the pretense that
PendletOn was seeking to shut them out
Of official Eden. Your subtle mind has
never lacked for public reasons to ac-
cOmplish selfish ends. You fought Sen
atOr Thurman through many years, o.
tensibly because he refused to fall down
and worship your rag Baal, while the
initiated we'll knew the primal causes
Of your grief. Now he Is the "Old
Roman" in your pleasant euphOny. He
is; but of a better period Of Rome than
when the rich Pr8tOrs sought to destroy
her purer citizens andaggrandize their
own estates by inflaming the worst pas
siOns of the pOpulaee, aud corrupttng
them with spoil. Thurman, Payne,
HOadly, Morgan, Rice, Neil, Sayler,
AthertOn, Follett, Thompson, Me-
Sweeney, Cunningham and might con-
tinue to enumerate the whole galaxy OF
honest and brilliant men who have given
victory and credit to the Ohio DemOc-
racy, have fallen beneath your ban; your
bOundless ambition to De supreme can
not tolerate other regulations, and woe
to the aspiring Democrat who falls TO
recognize you as the solar sun, and his
duty to reV0lve around you IN an
eclipse, and be forever illumed with
borrowed light.
With your personal feuds have moth
ing to do. admit you are right to fight
these battles to the utter discomfort of
your foes, but l deny your privilege to
saddle your grievance upon the Demo
cratic party, jeOpardize its chances and
sully its honor in an effort to make 1t an
instrument Of your revenge.
The files of the Enquirer are before
you, and your search will have to be
neither prOtracted nor vigorous to en-
able you to discover in Its columns lau-
datiOn of civil service theories similar
to those contained in the PendletOn bill,
and open, iE still greater degree, to
the objections yeu now urge. The con-
clusion Is forced upon unbiased minds
that your objections to the bill bear
but slight comparison to your objection
10 Lu6 duLuOT, huu buhb gOu uhNo SelAbu
upon the eupidity Of that small, but ac-
tive element in political society which
sees nothing in party but the offices,
and knows no grander tradition than
"the spOils," to use it for the destruction
of your foe:
Your opposition to the bill has two OBJ
jectiOns-the unauthenticated legend
that "to the victor belong the spOils,"
and that lit excludes the poor man from
official place." The legend upon which
the government was founded was not
so cOTrupting. 1t is blszOned in letters
as enduring as the stars; that all just
government is created ''by the people
for the people," not for a distinctive
class who deal in political margins and
live on Office brokerage. IL the govern
ment was created for the people, all
classes of people should have equal op-
pOrtunity to tread the marble halls Of
our government palaces in official posi-
ton. There should be no little aristOc.
raey in Office-holding, confined to few
thousand politicians, to the exclusion of
the many millions Of meritoriOus citi-
Zens who have equal rights. Why stop
so short in your sweeping claim and for
get that Rrandly expressed divine as
sumption that "The earth is the Lords
and the fullness thereOf?" Why not
insist that the earth is the heritage of
the politician and the fullness us the
spOilsP"
Under the spoils system, which has
corrupted and dishonOred all parties,
and which has brought the civil service,
during the past few years, to a condi-
tion OF utter rOttenness, the exclusive
test for office has been party service.
No man whose private business, quiet
tastes, and unobtrusive manners have
kept him out of the active service OF the
political bosses, has stood the most re-
mote chance Of obtaining official favor.
Under this system, instead of being
government "for the people," 1t has
been government for the politicians,
who have run 1t for their own selfish
ends. In fact, we are to day govern
ment of political bosses and metropOli-
tan newspapers. The bill does no injus-
tice to the politician, but simply places
all other classes Of society on an equal
ity with him.
The most ridiculous pretense Is that
the law, like the flaming sword Of Cher
ubim at Eden's po5tern, prevents the
ambitious poor man from entering on
the howery walks within. It is the DOOR
mans opportunity. The only test is in
teLigenes, character and capacity, and