The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1885-09-11
sEATaE Calls rI2Ts.
Tie informal remarks OF Sci

! toF Sail en- the civil service law,
reported the other day hy TIE New
YER rr.saae si.ou!d dissipate the
hope OF 5noss tjisaffee>ed Demo
crats wfo hage hcea locking for
ward to the formation of IN anti
administration party hy Demo
crafts in Congress. lie az least,
! ,,.lows oi nothing 10 justify such
au expectation. There may -
nc SAYS, "bo dissatisfaction ia the
different States ever the amour.
of patronage distributed, bat the
opposition Is against the principle,
Iot against the President.
1t IS refreshing to find q states
man oppo.ins reform upon prin-
eipte; but Senator Call is not VIII
ling Ia admit :h..t the civil service
lave IS II reality a refsrmatory
ncasure. lie regards that law us
unconstitutional, lmpracticalle
aud senseless-''a piece Of humbus
and Sham" lie says this with as
much consistency aud frankness;
for he spoke and voted against the
iaw IN Congress, and, therefore,
it cannot be SAID of him thai his
opposition Is the result OF personal
disappointment. But when we
come to analyze the Senator's argu-
meat we are hot 50 much impress
ed with his logic as we have been
with his eandor and fairness IN the
discussion of this subject.
Il can see no reason" remarks
Senator Call, "why, if the gov
ernment wants a clerk, his knowl-
edge of the location of town. in
the anterior Of Africa has anything
&c dc with his qualification. lean
see no sense. when the government
wants a fenman to write NJ. a set
of records. .whyth. applicaEtslouil
be examined IN the discovery OF
steam and decimal fractions, ana
square root. 1t is an absurdlty
that man must be examined i'm
arithmetic to fill a position which
Is purely manual, or that ne should
not be taken into office on the
same principle that business men
hire their employees 1t did not
seem tc occur 10 the Senator that
he Vas making IN argument not So
mueE against the prlnelp!e of .tne
ials ;s against one of the ms<hois
employed to carry into practice.
4 man heartily IN favor of the
principle of evil service reform
might very properly object to a
false system OF examination. It
Is not prescribed io the law that a
penmstl employed to write up u
set of records must be familiar
With decimal fractions and square
root. On the other hand, it should !
be admitted that the clerical force |
Of the goAerumcHt ought not to be |
distinguished by It's educational |
deficiencies. Ia many of the gov
arniEent Offices a special training
is required, and when a
vacancy occurs IN one Of these Of
ices IT must often &c filed by the
appointment OF IN inexperienced
person. In such cases the appoint
ing power, in making its selection
from among the applicants, must
be guided by some test of general
information and intellectual IA. IL
.ude.
We quite agree with Senator Call
hat examinations for government
,ositIons may be pushed beyond
heir proper province. Whenever
IN abuse of that sort occurs II
lhould be looked into. But crit
cism of this sort does not touch
ne essential prlnclpie of civil SER
ice reform. 1t is not even an ar
,ument against ciyi! service exam
nations. for 1t does not follow that
'uch examinations are unnecessary
because they may occasionally be
;arrled too far. What the major
ty of the people of this country
lemand, is a system of appoint
ncnts which will keep the civil
=, ,,~~,sa<~ <,..S <.f s.<Tcs., 1sh, Iaho4o