Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-02-17
TINE "sP0ILs SYSTEM"

A Practice That Was started by the Hank Old
Federalists.
From Chsunccy y. Blacks Letter to tho ritts,
burg Democratic Banquet
Tho dangers which some mentor tho
most part men of Federalist breeding think
they sec before n Democratic administration,
seem to ME very unreal. Democracy means
strict construction and strict construction
means simplicity, economy, no jobbery, no
monopoly, revenue sufficient TO support the
government confined to constitutional object,
and the rigid application oi public monies TO
these objects, and these only Has Mr..
Cleveland shown any Sign that he does not
understand this great fundamental principle
of the party which elected him7 ON the
contrary venture 10 say there has never
been given n moro perfect definition
he put into few pregnant
sentences Il, New York before
tho electon-a definition upon which even a
Jefferson or u Tildcu would have found IL
hard to improve IT, Since the election Mr..
Cleveland has grown steadily In public
esteem, until he has not merely united
party at his back but the mass OF those who
voted against him are in an attitude of
friendly expectation. He cannot fail. 1t In
the easiest thing In the world 10 mako n sue
cessful administration ON Democratic prin-
ciples, and the hardest thing In the world To
do IL on any other. But Mr.. Cleveland comes
into Office prepared to test every question by
the infallible ''touchstone" handed down by
Mr.. Jefferson, and TO those WHO believe In the
virtue and intelligence of the people, the
result IL beyond doubt.
We are unqucstionably going to have re-
form in the civil service. We are to have 1t
there, rs everywhere else. because n Demo-
crat will he president. That reform will he
effected by the new accession ofan honest and
resolute man. who believes in the doctrines
pf jefferson, to the head of the government.
4 will aaI Il IntIn
all departments, and twill neitheHbe checked
nor helped by an expensive commission,
nor gilt-edgcd system of rules and regula-
tions covering the selection OF few party
clerkN Alexander Hamilton was the author
OF the spoil system. II was carried To perfec-
ton under John Adams, when the political
prescription, which passed the alien law and
the sedition law, naturally enough refused
q flee to every man suspected OF being ke-
publican. This system was revived in all
its oilensiyenoss under Grant and Hayes,
ana Garfield and Arthur, and would
have been even more ruthlessly ad-
ministered had Mr.. Blaine been chosen in
stead of Mr.. Cleveland. But now that the
most infamous OF all spoils parties, with It's
spoilsmen III every place OF pront or trust,
from president to tidewaiter, has been noti-
He'd to quit on the 4th Of March, with AL its
belongings, they begin, with one accord, to
howl over the alleged prescription which
they are To suffer in consequence OF the popu-
lar decree. II this were all it might be borne;
cious lies upon Jefferson and Jackson,
and 80 complaccntly warn our new presi-
dent against those ilnstrious exam
pies, that they deceive the very
elect. As a matter Of fact Jackson never
said 'sTo the victors belong the spoils," and
his was not spoilS administration. Fully
one-haf Of the men in office under Jackson
were his political enemies, and under Jetter-
son the proportion was much greater. When
the Federaists went out in 1901 they had
every office stuffed with their own creatures
aud they continued the stufiing process down
to the night before the Inauguration. And
moro than half these We're spared-monu-
nents Of Democratic tolerance--the great
apostle of Democracy insisting only that
the majority of the country should
be given moderate representation
Again the people, under circumstances
nearly similar, declare that the Federalists
shall 90, and Grover Cleveland is appointed
to execute the Judgment. Now when these
Federalist- Republicans, who proudly trace
their political lineage to Hamilton, the first
and greatest of spnilsmen, who have been
intrenchcd III office for "a quarter OF century
and no more thought of admitting Democrats
To a share than If the latter had been public
enemies When they abuse Jefferson and
Jackson are we to understand that they de-
mand larger liberation from President Cleve-
land than their kind received from those o
his predecessors whose names are highest on
the calendar of Democratic saints9 If so they
will probably he disappointed. The mar
who made that Newark speech will come
about ~ near TO the standard of Jefferson
as the alterations Of time and circumstances
will permit