St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-06-26
HENDRICKS IN BOSTON.
Vice President Hendricks Talks Civil
Service Reform to the Bay
State Club,
Telling the Cultured Hubites How he
Worked the Plan Under Presi-
dent Pierce.
A Lack of Harmony in the Cabinet,
Owing to Mr.. Bayard's
Appointments.
Land Blanks to be More Carefully Dis
pensed--Burchard Still Holds
the Fort.
Thomas Talks Civil Service.

Thomas Talks Civil Service.
BOSTON, June 25.-At the Parker house
this afternoon Vice President Hendricks
was rendered reception and dinner by the
Bay State club. Plates were laid for 800,
and about that number gathered to do
honor to the ''war horse" from Indiana.
Prominent among those present were ex-
Gov. CASTOR, Col. Taylor, Congressman
Collins, ex-Mayor Prince, Mayor O'Brien,
John Quincy Adams, Josiah e. Abbott and
numerous state and municipal officials.
At the conclusion of the repast,
Col. Taylor, president OF the
club, presented Mr.. Hendricks, who
was received with three cheers. After
thanking the club for the honor conferred
upon him, referring to his visit and speech
at Yale and Harvard, touching upon the re-
suit in Indiana last fall, and expressing the
opinion that ''since the troubles in Massa-
chusettS had passed" she would take her
place beside Indiana as a Democratic state,
he took up the subject of civil service re-
form. He told how he had received a let
ter from President Pierce, appointing him
commissioner general of the land office, of
his acceptance of the position, of the i'm
portant work in hand, including surveys
HE THEN SAID:
'sWhen took charge of that Office with
$50 clerks found the business four years
behind. The patents that ought to have
gone to the people living upon the lands
were four years behind date. l said at
once, This will not do. The man who
has purchased land of the government has
right, at an early date, to his patent, SO
that he may sell it. so that he obtains his
rights, whatever they may be- l said at
once, There must be reform in
this Office My ambition was con-
nected with the reform. I could not well
afford to take that appointment and go out
of that Office without having brought the,
work up to date. So I did commence the
work of reform seriously and very earn
estly, and very soon l became acquainted
with all the clerks in the Office,
and very soon I knew the clerks that would
be able to help me with the work that had
to be carried through. And very soon
those that limped or were unwilling or in
different were weeded out. Applause.
The hickory broom of Jackson that repre-
sented reform was an emblem of the
REFORM THAT SOUGHT
to bring about, and in the stead Of the men
who had to step out there came in young
and earnest fellows, willing to do the work,
so that by one general order 1 required that
the work done at each desk should be 25
per cent. more than it had been before.
These men came in and took their share
readily and cheerfully and cordially, and
when I left that Office nearly four years
afterwards it was only four months behind
in the delivery of the patents
to the men that had bought
land. Applause. From four years it
came down to. four months, and that was
as close as it was practicable to bring the
work. That, I thought, was reform. l
want yon to know another thing. When
you men that give your votes at the cleo
ton and your money to the tax gatherer,
want to understand the particular
point at which civil service can be brought
about. Twill tell you. 1t is not with tue
president in detail, it is not with the secre-
tarys in detail-it is with the bureau officer
that has to do directly with work and with
the clerks who perform the work. Ap-
plause. am not personally very much
acquainted with
THE BUREAU OFFICERS
employed by the secretaries at Washing
tom know some of them in the interior
department. l know the commissioner of
the land office. know the commissioner
of Indian affairs. 1 know by reputation
+ the excellent gentleman who is in the office
Of patents. L believe they, by their own
Judgment and force, will bring about civil
service reform in their departments Ap-
plause]. think I am safe in saying that l
know they have already taken steps in that
direction, and that the people will not
be sold out by them. Applause.1 That is
my own history about civil service reform.
1t may be of no account, but it is mine,
[applause] and that administration, when
ever and wherever it shall be, that will fill
all the bureaus in Washington city with ca
pable men at the head, and tell, them that
the work devolves upon them, and hold them
responsible, will bring about certain and
prompt reform. l think we are going
through all right. 1t was goofwhile that
the Democrats were kept out. For a
QUARTER OF A CENTURY
the sentiment of the country had been en-
forced with cruel prescription. The Dem
ocrats shall now share in the honorS of the
public offices of the country. 1t was
cruel prescription, such as never advo-
Gated towards the opposite party, for I
know there are honest men among them;
and would not to-day, if I could do it,
take the charge Of this entire government
away from the opposite side. They pay
their taxes, they contribute to the support
of the country, they help to
fight the battles when horrid war
comes upon us, and tits but fair that they
should share in the honOrs. But it is not
fair, and never has been fair, that they
should clutch them all and say to the young
men Of the Democracy ''you are not to be
trusted; you shall not share in them" Ap-
plause.l He closed by saying that after
the next national election, in which he pro-
posed to have no personal interest ferries of
''head of the ticket next time''], he wanted
to come back and meet the Bay State club,
bringing the news from Indiana to Massa-
chusetts.
Cabinet UnpIeasantness.
Special to the Globe.