The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1885-04-18
CHARLES APRIL
The South Rnd Civil Service
av.rB a Reform. ta

| gr.n3 045 Reform 1a D.yf
Times-D Democrat.
! Until recently it was a favorite pr
diction of the Republican party leat
ers that in case President Clevelan
should attempt to carry ont lis Al
nounced purpose of supporting tn
principles of Civil Service reform I
connection with removals and appoint
ments, he would find the Solid Sontl
! like a nest Of hungry hornets aroun,
his ears, and eager for his blood. Per
haps Mr. Cleveland understood th
South better than the most of ,thes
prophets; but however that may hav
been, he seems to have acted prett,
closely up to the programme, and i
does not yet appear that in so doing
he has incurred any alarming amoun
of obloquy at the hands of his South
ern fellow-citizens The truth, which
has been recognized on the nethe
side of the Ohio, is, as publicly STATED
by prominent Southerners in and oui
of Washington, that the South ismucl
more concerned about internal i'm
provements, legislation likely to affect
its infant Industries, and the estab
lishment and growth of a larger com.
meree with Latin America, than with
the quadrennial scramble for cross,
roads postofices, and starvation clerk.
ships in the decentralization Office"
All this is an unpleasant and a par,
alyzing revolution to our Republican
friends, because their brightest hope
has been that, in the event Of political
success, the Southern Democracy
would make such an exhibition of
spoils-to7the-victor rapaeity that the
country and civilization would become
Disguised. That fond delnsion is dis
PEELED while yet the first Democratic
administration'for a quarter of cen
tury is in the first weeks of its power.
There are those, of course, who chafe
at the lack of patronage to hand
around to their constituents, but their
trouble is professional rather than 9TH
wise, and the people do not grieve
over the matter. The President has
the hearty backing Of the best element
in the South in his conservative and
deliberate treatment Of the Federal
patronage. What IS called "civil SER
vice reform" is no longer a mere the
,ery. Its principles have a place in
the statute books of the nation, and
Oh that account, though more because
they represent stern demand Of the
honest sentiment of the country, must
be respected. Because this is true it
does not follow that all the venal and
obnoxious placemen who have made
Republican machine politics synono-
nous with a system of administration
at once corrupt and subserviye of the
peoples political liberty are to be re-
tanned in office. The deeapitation of
that class will be none the less certain
because the ak does not fall at once.
President Cleveland and his advisers
the wisdom of deliberation
and of investigation. If onehalf of
the reports in circulation for years at
the North concerning all the depart
ments of the government are true,
every one of them is in need of "civil
service reform" of the most sweeping
and drastic character; yet in each three
may be found tried and faithful pub
lie servants whose services recommend
hem for retention Or promotion. In
cases of that kind the private political
iaith Of the incumbent might well be
eft out of the consideration, ' a'..
1t is seldom that young aud new
eader of a great party could hope to
carry his millions of adherents with |
lim in a direction contraryto the ira
iitions of all political organizations in
he modern history of the nation; but
Grover Cleveland has already demon
trated his ability to do 80, and his
,ourse SO far as has been SO manifestly |
n the interest Of good government, |
and practical reform that he
las compelled the admiration and
espect of all classes to whom honest
administration is a desideratum and
corruption in politics an adherence.
o.. D.