The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-07-28
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
From our Regular Correspondent


sweeps clean is fully demonstrated
by the clearing up there has been
about the departments. One thing
is settled, that for the present we have
civil service. No longer is the
country aspirant for clerkatoriaI hon
ors confronted by a mysterious card
posted in a conspicuous place on
the doors of officials, mo vacancies.
The Secretary will not see applicants.
No clerks wanted" &c. The officials
now put on their blandest smiles,
and everybody can interview these
public servants to their hearts con-
tent. The civil service commission
are henceforward to be custodians of
all applications, recommendations
&C., and there is likely to be an ac-
tive demand for pigeon holes and an
enormous accumulation of waste pa
per. Civil service is an infant now
in its swaddling habiliments and
any candid opinion IS to what kind
of child it will be, to say nothing
of its manhood, would be great folly.
There are pitfalls, snares, and infan-
tile infirmities that will puzzle the
brains of the nurses and call for con-
situations of the wisest civil service
doctors. Nobody is vain enough to
believe that the Democrats who yell
ed themselves hoarse in the hustings
in favor of the birth of such a bant-
ling ever meant anything, or that
now that it has a real existence they
will in any sense feel responsibility
that its future growth and usefulness
may be a blessing to the country.
The perilS that make its future most
uncertain are the dangers that are
likely to await it from the hands of
these democratic progenitors. They
have no affection for their own child,
and it is certain that in the hands of
Democratic Congress composed of
nearly seven score of incipient states
men this poor thing will havea hard
time of it even before gets through
teething.
The examinations required are now
being held all over the country. The
commissioners authorized are doing
all in their power to draw their sala-
ries and to give every anxious antic-
ipant an opportunity to be examined
and from Maine to California every
one that thirsteth for a Government
clerkship has an opportunity to use
pencil and paper to write out what
he knows, without giving any insight
to anybody as to his fitness for the
place to which he aspires. Were he
to get it he might be as much out of
place as a square plug in round
hole. Nevertheless he is there and
he got there under the orthodox
faith. A few months will give the
people an opportunity to get off their
stilted notions as to the wisdom of
this new and untried service. Since
the law went into effect cellar and
garrett has been ransacked to find
any spot where the friends of Con-
gressmen could be securely fixed be-
fore the fifteenth of July, the day
the civil service went into operation.
AS matter of course every place was
full, and there truly are no vacancies.
Still we have had an examination
and a hundred or more have gone
through the form required, yet the
law provides that the quota of each
State must be regarded, and it will
be fifty years before the quota of this
District will be so reduced that any
District applicant will stand a ghost
of chance of securing an appoint
ment. This is true of many of the
States. After the commissioners
have travelled over the whole coun-
try with their pencils and paper
holding examinations, and when in
every locality numbers of expectants
are waiting orders, hope deferred
will give occasion for large amount
of mental profanity, and it will be.
come apparent that civil service is
excellent as a means of keeping an
applicant out of a position but is not
worth rush light if you desire to
get him in. OF course the new sys-
tenn must be tried, and after a few
months there will be places to be
filled, which the commissioners will
see is done in compliance with law.
About fifteen vacancies ofcur each
week in the departments here from
designations. removals and deaths,
besides the yearly increase of clerks
under Congressional provision, incl
dent to the rapid growth and expan-
sion of the country. These places
must all be filled from the list in
waiting, having regard to the law in
relation to quotas. The power of