Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-11-26
A REFORM ADMINISTRATION.

President Cleveland Supported from the
First in His Efforts 20 Purify Republican
Relics.
From the first, the patronage Presi-
dent Cleveland has at his disposal,
though far from being unimportant,
has been regarded as Of infinitely less
importance than the assertion, in the
disposal made of it, of the Democratic
principle that the offices belong to the
people and not to the office-holders;
that no process of passing a common
school examination and receiving place
as a reward of success in it can vest in
the placeholder any claim except such
as private employee has on his private
employers.
President Cleveland has made no
record which places him in antagonism
to this principle On the contrary, his
policy as indicated in the changes
made under the Department of State.
where the Senate must confirm or re-
ject, shows that he has aligned himself
with it; even were not the fact clearly
shown by the pursuance OF the same
policy in other departments, and in
cases where the Senate has no jurisdic-
ton, as for instance in the displace-
ment of Republicans in the minor post
offices all over the country.
He has made no .'clean sweep"
nor has he been asked to- do so. He
has adopted no policy of Immediately
displacing the Republican clerks in the
classified service" to which the
Pendleton law applies, nor has he been
expected by reasonable people to do
anything of the kind He has, how
ever. asserted the principle that no
employee of the people in any branch
of the service has any tenure of Office
other than the will of the people de-
clared by existing laws and by the bal
lot, exercised according to the pre-
scribed constitutional forms. The cor
rupt condition in which the service
was left by the Republican party has
made it imperatively necessary that
his policy of reform should be sterner
and more aggressive than that of Mr.
Jefferson, who in 1902 declared it best
to depend for obtaining a just par
ticipation :" in the offices (then wholly
monopolized by the Federalists) on
deaths. designations and delinquent
cies." The changed conditions under
which President Jackson came into
office demanded from him that prompt
and aggressive assertion of the right of
the people to change their servants,
which had always been rec ognized by
the party to which he belonged.
While President Cleveland continues
to assert the principle recognized by
Jefferson and embodied by Jackson in
his inaugural address. he will COM
mand the respect and confidence of
his party, which, giving him a hearty
support, can afford to leave to him on
his responsibility as President the
choice of methods, so long as those
methods do not affect its principles.
In the Pendleton bill the attempt was
made to secure better men for the
Civil Service without mourning the
great danger of centralizing the Gov
ernmant and creating an official class.
Though the power of removal was in
no wise hampered by the bill, its exist
ence and recognition as law have af-
forded the pretext for the strong effort
which has been made to establish pre-
cedents under which possession of
Office should be regarded as implying
a right to hold it during life or good
behavior. Had President Cleveland
been as weak as his pretended friends
among the enemies Of Democracy
hoped to find him, had he allowed the
establishment of such precedents, he
would have destroyed his own useful
ness and impaired the usefulness of his
party. But, instead, he has followed
the established Democratic precedents
and enforced the law as he found it.
So long as the Pendleton law is used
according to its original purpose-to
direct the methods by which the fitness
Of applicants for Government clerk
ships may be ascertained-it may
safely be allowed to stand on its mer-
its and be judged by the success or
failure of these methods in their prac-
teal application. But every step taken
beyond this must meet with the un-
yielding and determined resistance of
the Democratic party, if it is to survive
| except as name.
The party expects of the President
that he will join in this resistance. His
course since his Inauguration shows
that it has reasonable ground on which
to base such an expectation. 1t eX-
poets, too, that he will continue his eff
forts to make every responsible place
in the public service means for the
advancement of Democracy-to act out
his own declaration before he became
President: Il believe in an open and
sturdy partisanship, which secures the
legitimate advantages of party SUI
| premacy."
And no matter what the enemies of
the party may say, no Democratic
President has ever looked for support
from his party and looked in vain.
Differences of opinion as to how slow
or how fast changes should be made
may continue to exist. but SO long as
they exist on the mere ground of party
and public expediency. and not of par
ty principle, they should not be al
lowed to swerve one honest Democrat
from supporting and sympathizing
with the honest Democrat in the White
House, who is honestly trying to do
his duty in the midst of continual har-
assments and in spite of obstacles and
opposition on all sides.
In the New York victory the party
reiterated its principles and Endorsed
its President. 1t has overcome the
danger which threatened it. 1t is
united and harmonious. and it must
continue so. Supporting President
Cleveland heartily and without reserve,
and receiving his support in the same
measure. it will continue successful,
| because of deserving success.-St. Louis
| Republican.