The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-03-31
SENATOR PENDLETON AND HIS AS.
SAILANTS

ject of civil service reform, are not very
happy auguries of Democratic success in
the important municipal elections in
Ohio next week. The Enquirer has
never, so far as we have seen, frankly
| stated the scope of Senator PendletOn's
bill, but has misrepresented it with un-
ceasing and increasing VigOr. A few
days ago, in the course of an elaborate
attack on the Senator the Enquirer
said:
'In succeeding in having the Civil
Service Reform bill made a law Senator
PendletOn has struck the rank and file
of the Democratic party one of the hard
est blows they have ever received,
Should the party be successful in the
next Presidential contest, as now seems
| highly probable, they will be deprived
of great share of the fruits of the vic
| tory, and will be compelled to see nine
tenths of the Federal officers retained
by their opponents whose political faith
| the nation has condemned. For a few
of the great leaders there will be places
| OF honor, of trust, and of profit, but the
mass of the party must be content with
the knowledge that after twenty-fOur
| years of battling for success, when
attained, it will be but damned barren
ideality."
OF course 1t goes for the saying that If
Democrats were convinced their success
WOulu OlllJ lISuIb DldCb anu pay an
Indefinite term to the same old Radical
ring that has been TiOting in the public
Offices for tWenty-three years, it would
be encouragement that would tell
tremendously on the effective power of
the organization in the next great DO.
litical battle. The Enquirer Is endeav-
Oring to create false impression of
this character, as one way of assailing
Senator PendletOn.
hn oil %
the civil service bill, for the Republican
majority in the Senate voted out of it
provisions that should have been re-
tained; but the Enquirer's description
of its probable effects, In retaining
nine-tenths of the Federal officials (Re,
publicans) whose political faith the ma
tiOn has condemned" is gross and in
eXcusable misstatement.
1t was shown in the Senate debate
that out of total Of 900 persons in
the Federal civil service, in all the
length and breadth of the land, from the
messengers in public buildings to the
Department Secretaries, the civil service
bill does not apply To more than ten
thousand. Yet the Enquirer maintains
that it will retain in place nineteen hs
of the present Republican office holders,
Not an Otfice-hOlder in the Union, ap-
pointed by the President or elected by
the people is subject 10 its provisions,
or will be retained in office because of
the PendletOn bill. They will be liable
to removal by the President or the peO-
pie precisely as at present. Senator Pen
dletOn in the debate on the bill tersely
stated its scope:
'The bill simply applies to the Execu-
tive Departments of the Government
here in Washington and to those offices
throughout the country, pOstOffices and
custom houses, which employ more
than fifty persons. l am told that the
number of such offices does not exceed
thirty or perhaps thirty-five, and that
the number of persons who are en-
plOyed in them, together with those in
the departments here, will not exceed
10000.
''The bill does not apply to elective
officers, of course, nor to officers appoint
ed by the President, by and with the ad-
vice and consent of the Senate, nor to
the military, nor to the naval, nor to
the judicial establishment. 1t applies
simply now to those officials who are
employed in the departments here and
in the large offices of the Government
eleSeWhere, first because as an expert
ment it was thought that it gave scope
enough to test its value and labor
enough to employ all those who are en-
gagged in putting it in operation until
its merits shall be fairly tried and it
shall commend itself either to the ap-
prOval or the condemnation of the
American people,"
That is all. 1t is fair experiment to
correct abuse in the public service that
the Ohio Democrats have gone up to
their State Conventions at Columbus
every year for the past decade, and de-
nOunced in the strongest language and
pledged themselves to reform. OF course
every Democrat in Ohio knows that the
Enquirer warfare on. PendletOn, for
holding the party to it's plighted faith,
Is shallow pretence. The real reasons
are personal, and hidden. If PendletOn
had not champiOned the reform bill, as
instructed by the State Conventions of
his party, he would have been denounced
by the Enquirer with great bitterness
and a great deal more effect for his
failure to do it. That paper would have
clamOred he was false to the reform
pledges of his party and therefore un-
worthy of confidence. As PendletOn did
conform to those pledges, the Enquirer
throws itself on the side of boss and
plunder politics to assail him, by appeal |
ing through misrepresentation to the
most sOrdid passions of the low grade
pOliticians-tO men who see nothing in
politics but place and pelf.
OF course the Enquirer puTpOsely ig
nores the fact that the PendletOn bill
uOH Op6ub, lOI lnb uIBb blLub Ill bWbuIy-
three years, to Democratic competition
subordinate places in the public offices
to which it applies. That would not
consist with its foolish misstatement the
bill retained in office, even with
Democratic President, nine-tenths of
the Republican OfficehOlders. With the
same lack of candOT it hides the fact
that the bill it denOunces seeks by strin-
gent provisions to drive from our pOlitf-
cal contests the infamous system of
blackmialing OfficehOl1ers and govern
ment employees. The bill is not perfect,
but that is 40 reason its salutary provi-
siOns should be ignored or misrepre
sented.
The Ohio Democracy, If in sympathy
with these attacks on Senator Pendle-
ton; nay even if they feel he should not
be heartily indOTsed and sustained,
should repudiate their platforms of the
past ten years, and in their coming State
Convention publish to the world that
fidelity by representative Democrats to
the party's pledges to the people is trea-
son to the party. That is the philosophy
of the assault on PendletOn because of
HE civil service bill.