Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1885-03-27
The Higgins Appointment

The appointment OF Mr.. Eugene II <
gias, Of Baltimore ss chief OF the appoint
ment division It the Treasury Dspart mcn,
which was recently made by Secretary
Manning, has called forth rteat deal Of
real or pretended sirtuous indignation
from certain quarter. in this State First
! the 1rrwas taken up ty the Repub lean
p-ess of fillmore city then a half dozen
III ,mbers of the organization IN Baltimore
ca led the Civil Service Reform Associs.
ton in which Republicans seem TO pre-
domiuat0. got themselves together and
reso 'utcd, and. lastly cx Governor Carroll
rises to 4 point of high political virtue
and writes 4 very stiff letter to senator
G ,rmaa. in which he intims'es that tbs
latter gentleman has betrayed he admin.
istration in securin, the appointment OF
Mr.. Higgins.
The outside observer. who looks at thi.
matter from an impartial and disin,erest-
ed point of observation, finds i, difficult
to understand what il 10 that has raised
all this tempest in the teapot. From The
virl'ence of the attacks upon him, one
would naturally suppose that Mr.. Higgins
must be an infamous man but he exam
ines " it'll care all that has been said sgsins,
him in vain to ind any specific charge
be tring )on his character as an honest
man and int ligent public servant. The
whole gravamen of his ohrnse seems to lie
in having been in the past an active Dem
ocratic worker and faithful henchman OF
Germans Now, while it i. easy TO see
why the Republican press, and all Repub-
licAns, in whatever association they may
he found, should be inclined to resent so
far as they are able such active service. il
is somew n at difficult TO see why this should
prejudice the minds OF Democrats or arouse
their Indignation and resentment.
Il was hardy to be expect d, we sup
pose, that Mr.. German. conceding him to
have Influenced the appointment. was 60
ing to put one of Mr. Whyte's henchmen
in office. 1t was natural, as we'll as poll
tic, that he sh 1uld favor his own friend,
and If no graver charge can be brought
against him than that be has been an &C.
tive Democrat, we be'ieve that these Off
cious gentlemen will labor in vain for Mr
Higgins's dismissal These vIrtuous gen
tlemen seem to have seriously misappre-
hended Mr.. Cleveland's past utterances, as
well as the true essence of civil service re-
form. Mr.. Cleveland has never said or in
timated that past activity in promoting
party interests should be an indispensable
barrier to official appointment That
would be a very extravagant utterance-
Neither has he said that other things be-
ing equal, past political service should not
be deciding point in ali applicants IA
vor. But he has said that, once in the
public service, only IAN unobtrusive exer-
else of individual poltical rights" will be
tolerated on the part of the public servant.
IT, therefore, these gentlemen were sin
cere in their detes' alton of Higgins on ac-
count of his past offensive partissnship,
we should suppose they would be glad to
see him put away where he must hsnce-
forth cease to offend in that dircc ion-
The impression prevails, however. that
there is an Interior purpose IN all this vir
tuous indignation and that while stabbing
poor Higgins it is intended to thrust the
dagger also into some one who stands be-
hind him. The following comment Of the
Westminster Ado0c>tte upon the question
seems to be we'll in point:
There is a IN ,nfest effort, in Baltimore, to
blow up the Higgins bubble to large proper
tons, with II view to the next Senatorial con
tsst. The mouth and lungs at the blow pipe
are kept out OF public view, but they are work
ing with might and maia. The whole thing is
Transparent to any on. acquainted with the
wiIes of Baltimore politicians. The virtuous
Indignation Of those Baltimore purists will
come to naught Of its own intensity"