The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-03-19
Vigorous Voices from the People.
A DEMAND FOR REFORM.

Mr. Editor Il have Just been able to look
through The WATCHMAN for the last month,
and hasten to thank you for the good work it
Is doing in the interest of cleaner political
methods and higher political aims and ends in
this state" The vigorous support you are
getting from able correspondents shows that
popular convictions are likely to find express
sion. The opportunities of the last two years
for conversation with men of ability and of
wide acquaintance with public questions and
affairs have greatly deepened a conviction Of
the last dozen years, which quiet observation
within the state had forced upon my mind.
And that conviction is that no eastern state
stands in greater need of recovery to its pos
sibilities than Vermont, and that one Of the
great obstacles in the way OF this reformation
has been the control of the affairs of the state
by the class OF men whom Mansfield and
another OF your correspondents have fittipgly
and ably described. Neither New York nor
Pennsylvania has had a political machine that
controlled those states more effectually than
the little mutual benefit political concern that
has practically managed Vermont for several
years. 1t has not been the same machine, for
we do not have large federal offices and great
cities; but it has been, like that constructed
from our own material and built into the pecu-
liar political structure Of the state The NOV
ing spirit, moreover, has been the same, and
the substantial element in method is the same
IL the hands are the hands of Esau the voice
is that of Jacob, and the cunning, selfish spirit
right of the people. The essential point in
civl-service reform has been shown to be d.
vorce between the public service and party
politics It asserts that the interests of the
public service itself, and also the interests of
sound politics. demand that the government
offices should be held by those who will attend
to their business and do it on business prin-
ciples. The use of these offices as agencies for
the advancement of political ambition was
robbing the government of good service and
..-f~- I.s...
leaders. The people demanded reform and got
it, Though now confined, in its experimental
stage to class OF offices of which we have few
or none, 1t is well understood that the president
and the civil-service commission will extend its
operations. The principle is accepted and, like
all great principles is working practical results
far beyond its present legal applications The
overthrow Of the machines that have most re-
lied on the old abuses in New York and Penn
sylvania was the logical result of the reform.
So of municipal reform in Brooklyn and Boston,
and of the organizations in Massachusetts that
aim to secure the nomination and election of
the best men to office. These states and cities
could not stand the close alliance between
higher grades of public service and party poll
tics, The 100, 900 majority for Governor Cleve-
land in New York, is significant OF great
emancipation from party bondage. Vermont
has been as pronounced il mistake not, in
favor of civil-service reform rs any state, but
| has done less than others to apply 1t within
| her own borders. Without large government
| offices in which to apply the present rules of
| civil-service, and without large cities COM
polling attention to municipal reform, her chief
| place for reform has been in the executive Of
| fees of the state government. But here the
| spoils system has been rampant. Here the
| alliance between the public service and the
political machine has been OF the closest kind
| The place-men of New York and Philadelphia
did not serve their political machine much bet
ter than the occupants of certain offices in YER
| mont have each other and the men who con-
| troll them. By shrewd manipuations and cum
| ming dicker among themselves a compare
| lively small number of men have practically
| controlled the offices and the public policy Of
| the state to a very great degree. Its educl-
| tional, economic and moral interests have con-
| tinually suffered for the want of that earnest,
| disinterested and continuous attention which
| petty political ambitions have kept them from
having. No better proof OF the power and
| self-complacent assurance of the political ma
| chine need be given than we have in the can
didacy for the office of governor, in this year
OF presidential campaign, OF one who is no.
| toriously its representative. Genial and oblig-
ing enough he mas been in the discharge of the
| duties Of an office mainly clerical. But he has
made rs close an alliance between the service
his office owes to the state and the demands OF
petty party politics as would seem possible. II
| there Is another politician in the state who
more perfectly represents the political machine,
which men Of high standing in the state have
long hoped to see broken. and have, in private,
freely declared would soon be compelled to go
to pieces, than this gentleman, have yet to
hear him named. 1t is the set, and not the
man, at which aim. The coming forward OF
such candidate at this time, when large num-
bers look to Vermont for the best available
representation OF capacity and political In.
| tegrity strikes one as piece OF enrontery Oh
unusual bodness and folly. lfVermont thinks
of offering the country a representation of the
better elements Of the party in Mr. Edmunds,
she should support her offer by fit state
ticket. She cannot lead in political reform
abroad while she pushes her own political
ring forward at home with its most service
able tool II the attempt is made, there will