The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-04-29
CIVIL SERVICE REFORMERS.
Complimentary Dinner at Delmonico's
to Hon. George II. Pendleton.
Speeches by George W. Curtis aud the Guest
of the Evening-The Spells System and
Civil Service Cannot Live Together.

| sat at Mr.. Curtis's right, as the guest
| OF the evening, and beyond him. on the same
| side were Senator Evarts, Hon. Wayne Nc
veagh. Judge Noah Davis, Hon. VIM. DORIS
heimer. Sherman S. Rogers and ex-Attorney-
general August Schoonmaker. Or the chair
mans left were Carl Schurz Oswald Ottendoer-
fer, John Jay, Senator Warner Miller, l..
D. Thoman, Rev. Dr. George L. Prentiss,
Theodore Lyman and Hon. Roswell P. Flower.
Among those who occupied seats at the
various tables were, Congressman Hewitt Gen.
Stewart l.. Woodford. Collector Robertson,
S. B, Elkins, Hon. James Putnam, of Buffalo,
III. Richmond, of the State Civil-service Com
mission, Perry Belmont, Congressman o. B.
Potter, Everett P. Wheeler, Mayor Low,
of Brooklyn, Horace L. Deming. SiIas
w. Butt, Judge w. H. Rawl. of
Philadelphia, Major Swain, Arson Phelps
| Stokes, F. B. Burber, F. K Pendleton (soD of
| the new minster), Elliott and Edward Pendle-
| ton (brothers of George Ill., Horace White.
Charles F. White, Charles Mclean, George
Haven Putnam, Charles Collins, John H. Schu-
| man, Joseph W. Sutphen, and about $50 others.
Shortly after o'clock, Mr. Curtis raped for
| order and loosely opened his address
congregation of impracticable visionary,
amiable, sentimentalists harmless theorists,
and political lunatics, who have come to make
public atonement for their supposed follies and
mistakes. by offering sincere tribute of
spect to that American statesman who has iden-
titled his name with the least romantic of all
things commanding the public attention the re-
form of the civi-service We have siezed this
occasion to offer to one of the highest gov
eminent officials honor and
at
gentleman senator OF the United States,
and as distinguished leader of political party
has declared in the Senate that he believed the
spoils system was a great crime. because we
believe with him that here tonight
Republicans and Democrats alike, to bid
| him God speed in his new career, and to
pledge ourselves to him and to each
other that neither our interest nor credit will
allow us to fail to carry the provisions of the
Pendleton bill further and further, until its
spirit penetrateS the whole civil service of our
country and einanepates that service from the
degradation of patronage, even nature in
balmv spring is emancipated from the paralysis
of frost
Mr.. Curtis said all great inventions and reforms
were abused in their inception, and concluded
thus:
"Our object was not to abolish parties, but
the abolition of the abuses which destroy the
functions of parties
When Mr. Pendleton was introduced, the gen
tlemen cheered him for several minutes Mr.
Pendleton responded TO the toast, Our guest
of the evening" He said in substance:
"Mr. President and Gentlemen: l feel so
much honored by your kindness tonight that
cannot well express my gratitude, for words of
fitting acknowledgment fail me- There are
emotions which find no ready utterance Dur
ing my life have had grateful public assur-
ances of cordial approval from friends; /
have had the cordial good will of fellow
| partisans, but the highest honor was
| reserved for this evening, when / receive
this mark OF commentator from my fellow
citizens of New York, who are assembled with
out distinction of political parties professions or
callings in life, whose only bond of union is
their resolute purpose TO abolish the civilservce
evils, and to rescue the country from the perils
which those evils involve. / see many noble
names among those present to night
many of whom l had not known until
an hour ago; but we are assembled
brethren according to the faith. 1t is to
that faith and not to me personally, that you
pay this tribute As stand among you am
painfully conscious how much more / owe to
your considerable partiality than to any claim of
my own. have been faithfully persistent and
| unfinching, and always ready to sacrifice the
present, IN assurance that the people in the end
| would see the right and thus eventu-
ally win in the future. / was gro,ing
in the dark with the Jenckes bill Of the
old time, until Mr.. Dorman B. Eaton explained
the defects of that measure i then successfully
urged the passage of the civil-service reform
bill. If bear scars they are honorable insignia
won IN an honorable achievement. / will not
discuss the wrongs to be corrected, or the meth
DDS of righting them. Show me the spells sys.
tenn and the merits system. and | will
show you a warfare inevitable, and to
the death. Either may live, but the
other must die. The spols system gives the
Offices of the people to those best qualified
but TO those who have rendered the best partisan
service to the successful candidate; it pub
y IN
mense army Of Office holders, who are enlisted
| and paid out of the public treasury by the
party in power, 1t spoils public faith. public
credit To public service, and in the end will
| spoil the public institutions. The system should
| have no resting place in our government
The clvil'servce system, on the other
| hand, has for its dogma, "a public
| office is public trust and the
| man best fitted to discharge the duties of an
Office should be charged with the responsibility
| The one pivotal idea around which cluster the
details of this system is, that every citizen
desiring to enter the public service should
| for the same 1t is fair, open,
| manly way. The system has worked
| 1t has improved the public service and has made
men work well. and not feel like slaves. Its
| scope should be enlarged, and should be extend
! ed to all offices where political opinions are not
necessary TO the discharge OF duty-and it will
! be extended. Tho faith of the admin
| stration is pledged to it. Let us
| press on in this good work, now and always, to
| final eonsummation. l have entire faith in
! President Cleveland. as true friend of civil
| service reform. Cheers. The bold and manly
stand he took in his letter of acceptance, and in
| his early declarations. made his election posi-
/ b!c and his actions since have been deliberate
| and within lines Of the highest duty.
| No more difficult task ever devolved upon man
/, than upon Grover Cleveland on the day of his in
auguration In my judgment on the whole,
| he has done remarkably well. ECheers. This
is the crucial time of his administration.
| He must formulate policies and encounter criti-
cisn from his political opponents; he must ap-
| point Office holders, and many good men
will be disappointed; but it is the
! duty of all his just countrymen,
| however they may feel inclined to criticise
him, to give him now, in the supreme moment of
| his trial, that hearty support that every chosen
ruler of every free people is entitled TO Gentle