Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1885-10-30
THE PRESIDENTS GOOD FAITH.

THE P~fkESAhbENE GOOD EAAhkts
Those who are disposed to believe the
partisan assertions that the President is
a hypocritical pretender in reform may
proitably ponder the following passage
from a Washington letter to the New
York World "a Democratic journal
which is ar exceedingly mild supporter
of the President. The change here in.
dictated is not less than O revolution.
The correspondent Of the World says:
"For the first time in twenty years the
Administration is a negative influence in
a pending political election. The Presi.
dent and all his Cabinet are paying no
direct attention to the campaign in New
York. They have apparently no
more interest in it than the heads Of any
of the leading business houses Of the
country. In the past the clerks in the
various Departments have always been
stirred up to a fever heat during every
campaign. The chiefs of the Bureaus
from the States where the contest has
been going on have generally had from
four to six weeks vacation for the pur-
pose of making stump speeches. The
more numerous the stump speeches, the
more faithful was the official considered.
Every year the clerks have been assessed
from five to ten per cent of their annual
salaries for campaign funds. This year
they have no assessments to pay in the
way of insurance, while the majority of
the Bureau officers are Republicans, and
are therefore kept very close to their
desks. It should be noted, however,
that the Democratic Bureau officials are
remaining as closely in Washington as
their Republican associates. During all
of the previous campaigns the Depart
ments have also been the headquarters
for the preparation of political pamphlets
and documents. It has been a custom
to employ large numbers Of clerks in pre-
pairing statistics or in writing out ma
terial to be used in campaigns. Now the
clerks are attending to their regular
work, and few Of them even read the re.
ports from New York, because,
whichever way the election goes, they
know they will not be affected by the
result. During the last twenty years
every election season has involved a long
agony of suspense for the clerks. During
the last week prior to the election day
the Departments would be fairly paral.
yzed in their terror of waiting. They
have been told so often that Democratic
success meant the peremptory discharge
of every Republican in the service that
they looked forward to election day as
the average sinner would to the Day OF
Judgment, if he knew just when it was
coming"
This is a Democratic witness to the
actual reform in the Departments. We
cite a Republican witness to the same
fact. a gentleman Of the highest char
acter and strongest Republicanism. the
Rev. DIR. j. E. Rankin, who was re-
Gently a Presbyterian pastor in Washing
ton. In a striking article in the Advo'
cate. DIR. Rankin quotes the Rev. DIR,
Noble, who was settled in Washington
in Jackson's time, and who said that
Jackson destroyed every Protestant
church in the city by forcing the old
public clerks and employees to flee the
city for q livelihood. DR.. Rankin. we
presume. voted for Blaine. But after
saying that under Mr.. Cleveland the
most radical church in Washington has
not by political changes lost half a dozer
members, he adds: There is not a rea'
sonable Republican there who believes
the situation would have been so favor
able had his own party been successful
in the last campaign"
DR.. Rankin in a few plain words de-
scribes the whole system of influence
upon which alone, and not upon char
acter, service, fidelity. or industry, the
place of every clerk depended-a system
which necessarily ruined the self.respect
of the clerks, and which in the case Of
ONE was often most demoralizing and
degrading. He concludes his trenchani
and serviceable article by saying-and
we commend his words also to those who
insist that q man who wa never accused
Of insincerity or cowardice before has
suddenly become q pusillanimous hypo'
critic by becoming President: "As a Re
publican, and u who for fifteen years
in Washington watched the workings Of
the spoils system as administered by the
Republican party. ! want to give my
testimony from what / know of my re.
cent charge, and from what / have
learned by conversation with Washing
ton ministers, that whatever the Demo-
cratic nartv intended, President Cleye.