The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-11-10
REFoRM IN CIVIL sERvIoE.

People are apt to lose sight of the real
work that is quietly being done in the
direction of civil service reform, in their
contemplation of the external parapher-
MALTA of commissions and competitive
examinations and other fOrmalities by
which it is sought to magnify reform
and make it honorable. These things
are very we'll in their place, and evil
IDENTIFY Indispensable to the establish
ment of a complete system by which fit
ness shall take the place of political
faVOritism and accommodation for en-
plOyment in the federal service. But
the great and immediate gain which has
accrued to the cause of reform is one
which made itself manifest from the day
that the Civil Service bill became a law,
and that has not ceased to become in
ereasingly powerful with the passage Of
each day since then. And this is the
belief that has found unassailable
Judgement in the minds of all persons,
eXcepta few irreconcilable among the
lowest classes of politicians, to the eff
feet that reformed civil service is, and
Is to be, the rule in this government,
and the old restraints and cOmpulsiOns
have lost their binding force. 1t is true
that all appointments are not yet made
in conformity with the new rule that
OdiOus doctrine of patronage is still Oc-
caslOnally reasserted, and that both
parties still make use of the promise of
reward and the threat of punishment to
their private advantage. But emanci-
patton has come, nevertheless, even
though select few may yet use the ia
miliar phraseOlOgy of the age of SER
Yitude. A few days ago it was announce
ed that the Pennsylvania committee was
engaged in sending the well known cir
culars requesting voluntary cOntribu-
tiOns" to the department clerks at Wash
lngtOn. A murmuT of disapprObation
arose, and the prophets of gloom were
heard to remark that this was an indi-
cation of futility of present civil service
reform regulations. But close upon the
heels of this statement comes the sup
Elementary information that Chairman
Cooper, of the Pennsylvania State Com
mlttee, is mourning over the receipt of
but 5000 against $4,000 credited to the
same source last year, and the freedom
bestowed by the reform enactment
shows itself to be something beside a
barren Ideally. Revolutions are not
wrought in day, but nothing could be
clearer than the fact that diViDity which
once did hedge the demands of a politi-
cal campaign committee had departed
forever. The implied menace which
lurked beneath the courteous request
for voluntary" assistance has lost its
terrOTs. Men in the Government en-
plOy, or out of it, are free to assist the
party Of their choice, as is their un-
doubted right, but they can never again
be subject to forced exactiOns. And in
the freedom Of action in the dependents
lies the inevitable overthrow of corrupt
power on the part of the political bosses.
TO put it in single well-worn phrase,
a public sentiment has been created
against the use of patronage for pOliti-
cal purposes; and no man and no party
dares to venture a return to the old
regime, except in the bOldness of des-
peratiOn, which is willing to take sure
defeat in the future against the success
of the moment. 1t is little straws like
the result of the appeal from PennsylVa-
mia which show how strongly the upper
and purer currents Of American politics
are setting in the direction of an effect
nal and permanent refOrm,-St. Paul
Pioneer Press.