The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1883-07-25
A Specimen Of Candor.

A conspicuous quality in the states
manship of Indiana's stalwart Demo
cratic SON, Voorhees,, is its buoyant and
abounding frankness. Whatever else
he may do he never tries the public pa
tience with laborious efforts to make
words conceal his thoughts or give them
q double and doubtful meaning. He is
at times almost feminine in his loose,
fluent way of working off his reflections
and mingling his feelings with the at
mosphere. Where others halt and stam-
mer and split hairs, he blurts right out
In words easy to spell and pronounce.
For instance, the other day, some one
casually introduced to Mr.. Voorhees, the
complex and grisly topic of Civil-service
Reform. If he had been like the gen.
erality of Democratic statesmen he would
have contented himself with merely nib
bling at the bait in a. cautious and
roundabout fashion, and sending his
interlocutor away with an implied
promise. to see him later. But Mr..
Voorhees, is no nibbler, and no dodger.
Accordingly, he brought his eloquent
and courageous lips to bear upon the
subject after such a manner as to sug-
gest that he had probably been waiting
ever since Congress adjourned for q
chance to get whack at it He
mopped the floor with it, so to speak,
and left it limp and threadbare. In all
his long and Withdrawing career he
was never more perspicuously candid
and determined not to be misunder-
stood-and what he said is, therefore,
much better worth considering than all
the evasive and uncertain stuff which
has escaped the mouths of the various
other Democratic leaders in connection
with this and similar questions of cur
rent political importance.
The whole thing is ga cursed hum
bug" Mr.. Voorhees, declared, to begin
with. That is explicit and homespun,
as well as terse and emphatic. ''The
work of the party in power" he went
on to say, fought to be performed by
its friends" In other words, as he ex-
pressed it. all the offices, big and little,
belong to those who fight the battles of
the party that gains control of the Gov
ernment. Conceding the idea of VIC
tory, it follows that there must be more
or less plunder in the captured camps;
and this ought to be distributed, ac-
cording to his notion, among the
tanned, blistered and footsore adherents
of the conquering cause, without any
nonsense about such abstruse and in
imical things as arithmetic, orthography
and penmanship. The foremost bust
ness of party, he pointed out, is to
take care of its friends, and omit no
chance to bounce the other fellows; and
that is what the Democratic party pro-
poses to do when it gets hold of affairs.
In contrast with the hesitating and am
biguous utterances of most Democratic
| statesmen, such candor as this is like a
sudden revelation of grass in a hard
winter. But that's the sort of man Mr..
Voorhees, is; and he doesn't care q cent
| who knows it.
1t goes without saying that this bold,
unfettered son of the Wabash country
does not look with favor, or even mild
degree of liberation, upon the new Civil
| Service law. He scorns, despises, spits
upon IT,. There will be nothing of that
| kind to fatigue and mock anxious patri.
OTIS, he proclaims, when the Democratic
party shall come to deal with the mat.
ter Of patronage. A clean sweep will
be made on general principles, and
without subjecting the Democratic in
telligence to the strain of answering
bothersome questions about business
methods and appliances. The new sys-
tenn of requiring applicants for place to
make a showing of fitness is an inven.
ton of the enemy, he says, shrewd
device for giving Republicans an ad.
vantage and keeping them in Office be.
cause they happen to write better hands
and to know a little more about cipher.
ing than the common run of Democratic
| plunder-seekers. When the Democrats
succeed, they will make short work ol
such underhand and odious contrivanc
es, he gives Us to understand. Indeed
he does not care to conceal the fact thai
perhaps the money may not be forth
coming next winter" to pay the cost oi
prolonging this miserable arrangement
beyond the present season.-SE Loui!
Globe Democrat.