The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-12-15
TWO ALL-ADSORBING TOPICS.
Office and 0fice-H Holding. and How They
Monopolize Attention at WashingtorA@
on the Public Seryice-AllOy in Cleyeland's
pOSitiOn-Wh0 Wrote the Message?


cause they have already got in 40 bills left over
from last session, and the House, to give Speaker
Carlisle time to arrange his com mittees, and the
committee on rules to dispose of that trouble
some bugbear; but the vacation is busy with that
everlasting buzz of place. Republican senator's
are occupied with the problem of what attitude
to assume respecting suspensions and appoint
ments, and the Democratic senators and repre-
sentatives are even buster in beseging the White
House and the departments for further patron
age. There are some senators anxious to make
general opposition to Mr.. Clevelands appoint
rnents to all places where tho term of the incum-
bent had not expired, unless official misfeasanc6
can be proved as competent cause for removal
This is upon the basis of Mr.. Cleveand's civil
service letterto George William Curtis, in which
he stated plainly that he should not make re-
movals in such cases except for ''cause." There
is the additional strength to the position that
during the Presidency of Mr.. Cleveland every
term Office would be vacate !, and could be filled
by Democrats, who would be protected in their
tenure by precedent that no President or no
Senate would dare to override. If Mr. Cleveland
had taken this course it would have been prac-
teal and pointed enforcement of the basal
principle of civil-service reform; the due
| and orderly administration of public business
would have been observed, all partisan feeling
would have been avoided, and the Democratic
party been finally in possession of every federal
Office during the full period of four years. at
least But this course was too slow for the
hungry crowd barking at the heels of the admin
istraton, and so there was developed that in
famous fraud and scandaous proceeding known
as offensive partisanship," under which the of
fetal ak has been steadily at WORK, without re-
spect to the rights of private character official
reputation. Without arguing the matter, or
giving reasons for it, the policy of the Republic
an senators will be to demand the charges and
the evidence in cases where the Republican in.
cumbent has been suspended for alleged" cause
and if the cause is found to be unsubstantial, to
oppose the confirmation of the successor.
If the administration would be honest
and candid with itself, with the Senate
and with the public, and remove these men be-
cause they were Republicans, and appoint their
successors because they are Democrats, there
would be little or no opposition further than to
call the attention of the country to the utter
abandonment of the farce Of cvl-service reform,
which is attempted to be kept up by means Of
this Offensive partisanship" dodge In truth.
the dodge only makes the farce the more con-
temptible to those who to look or think be-
low the surface In the case of an ex-Union SOL
der removed before the expiration of his term
of Office, where good cause for his removal is
sustained the confirmation of his civilian suc- =
cessor will be opposed. There will be no objec-
ton to the confirmation of reputable men to all
I.~o.~ IT. ~.
general rules the minds of all Republican sena-
tors are tending and it may be accepted that
upon these their course will be based
l know it is the general and fashionable thing
to say that Mr. Cleveland is devoted and true
friend of civil service reform. and that whatever
mistakes he has made are to be attributed to
the bad advice of party friends To some extent
this may be true. Mr. Cleveland may be more
of cvservice reformer than his party; he may
be better man than the average OF his party
Conceding all that this can possibly imply, it
does not necessarily mean much, and there are
incidents transpiring every now and then tend
ing to show that even in Mr.. Cleveland's politi-
cal composition there is no little alloy. Dr.
johnson said of Oliver Goldsmith that ''he wrote
like an angel but spoke like Poor POLL" So it may
be said of Mr.. Cleveland, that he writes and talks
like an apostle of reform, though it must be said
his public utterauces have been greatly
modified since the Christmas letter to Mr. Cur.
tis vide his interview intended to help Sterling,
and the latter part of his argument in the mes
sage, but his acts very like those of a !,
dyed the wool spokesman. People Judge
by what is nearest them. Let tho federal ap-
pontments in Indiana be examined, and who
will say that the tone and efficiency of the pub
lie service have not been greatly lowered and
impaired And what is true in Indiana is large
iy true in every State. AS q general proposition,
il may be asserted and can be maintained, that
nowhere has the tone of the public service been
elevated or its efficiency improved. The reten.
tons in Office have been merely the retention Of
frith f.1l mt yntlhl Ia xarfc yn.1k
there by the Republican party, while IN the cases
of remova. no one will seriously question that
the average has been lowered. There has been
more apology and explanation put forward for
Mr. Cleveland than for any President who ever
occupied the executive chair. Had 1.-THE Of
the rigor been applied to him that has been
steadily applied to the Republicans for
twenty-five years, he would, by this time.
Every now and then it is telegraphed over
the country that Mr. Cleveland has had a
talk with some Republican senator, to whom
he has said he would be glad for frank
and full information about any bad nominations
that he may have been led into. preferring that
Republicans would make their fight at the
White House rather than in the Senate cham
Der, and that if they did so he would remove the
Objectionable persons and appoint better ones.
1t is reported that he has said this to Senator
Warner Miller and to Senator Cullom, of Hi.
nois, among others The novelty and the
"cheek" of this departure-to put it as mildly as
OSSlOe-nave not prevented the cenSorsWing :
ers before the presidential throne from chanting
little louder and elevating the host little
higher than usual in the presence of the mug
wump devotees. But the plating Of this is very
apparent and the insincerity of it, as we'll SEN
ator Logan, misled by the Presidents reported
talk, called, the other day. to protest against
most scandaous appointment in Illinois-of a
man against whom serious indictment had
once been found if. indeed. 1t was not then
pending in the United States Court The Sena
tor was told that the nomination would be held
up until investigation could be- made;
but within three days, greatly to the SEN :
ator's SURPRISE the commission was forwarded.
Take the case of one of the Baltimore appoint
rnents. Mr.. Thomas, one Of the chief ap.
pointees is well known to be an election
'.fxerr and an election boss Of the worst sort as
is the site of the Washington monument con-