Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-09-13
SEPTEMBER Is, 1885
The Civil Service.

uie. The second is 10 pension al '"''0
ofice.bolders because they "haye
grown gray in the service of the coun'
try" These officials will thus have
the good fortune. first, to defeat all the
other applicants and get the offices them
selves. and secondly, will be permitted
TO levy a tax upon their unsuccessful
competitors and live at the expense oil
all the people who are not oiice-holders.
We formulated few days ago an ar
gumen. against the constitutionality OF
The ciyil.service act. Since then we
have reproduced General PRYoR's
tefse and strong argument to the same
purport. Whilst the high reputation
ms constitutional lawyers Of number
Of the gentlemen who as members OF
Congress voted for the ciyil-seryice bill
cannot but induce us to conclude that
the Supreme Court of the United States
may possibly find that act to be cons''-
tutional, yet, ON the other hand 1t must
be remembered that gentlemen quite
as distinguished as constitutional law
yers as any who voted for the civil-ser-
vice bill voted years ago for those Sec
tons of the ciyil-rights act which the
same court afterwards found to be UNI
constitutional. so that no one who
holds the civil-service act to be uncOn-
stitutional is called upon to surrender
bis opinion until the questions at issue
have been passed upon by that tribunal.
The letter Of the Third Auditor Of
the Treasury in Washington, which we
reproduced yesterday, shows what
would too often be the result should
Congress create a permanent Office
holding class. The officials get into
ruts. They neglect their duties. They
learn TO consider an hour's work days
work. They become official barnacles.
They are so numerous in some Of the de-
psitments at Washington-numbcred
by thousands-that they would be an
intolerable set Of shirkers if they
were allowed TO become governmental
fixtures. What says the Third
Auditor? When he was installed. the
clerks in his bureau had been in office
so long that all these faults which we
have Just enumerated had become
theirs. The pension division was near.
ly year in arrears, and the excuse was
that there were not clerks enough to
do the work. In the short space Of
four months the new Third Auditor
without increasing the number of clerks
had had examined and settled the ac-
counts Of all the pension agents. lie
says bow that he can do the bushes:
OF the Office with eighteen clerks
less than were employed unde
the Republican Administrations, not
withstanding the claim set up by
the barnscles that it was because Their
were too few clerks to do the worl
that some Of the business Of the ohic
was two years behindhand. The new
Auditor testites that the improvement
in the efficiency Of the clerks has bee
very great. But suppose the forme
Auditor and his clerks had been
Office for life; where would have bee
these reforms! Instead Of reduciu
the number of clerks, the Administr'
ton would have been compelled to il
crease the number. We do not belle,
that any other result would be poss
bic il all of our officc-holders were pc
manent ones.
The appointment Of new officials al
the removal Of old ones are educstil
processes. Frequent elections ha
the same effect. There is no count
in the world, We suppose, whose peop
are SO nearly all well informed as
~ their rights, the nature of their ins;lt
tons, what Governments are establis
N cd for, &C., &c. Each PRESIDENT
election costs this country many m
lions Of dollars, yet We cheerful
submit to this heavy tax. These ele
tons assist greatly in spreading inte
ligence among the masses. Nobot
can oyer-estimste the immense ed
eating influence Of the stump-speakii
Of which so much is done in tn
country.
The Virginia Bill OF Rights, writ,
by GEORGE MASON, declares that OF
GERS should at fixed periods "be r
duced to private station" that tht
"msy be restrained from oppression /
feeling and participating the burthel
Of the people," The same immort
Bill Of Rights demands - frequent, ce
tain, and regular elections" A pc
msnent oiilce-holding class would no
Their feel the burthens of governmer
nor attempt to remove them.
The New York World Of Thursds
last quoted President JEFFERSON
letter Of July ~, 1901, to certain pei
sons In New Haven who objected to hi
removal Of ELizuR GOODRICH, Fed
srslist, from The collectorship. Nj
JEryERsoS said I;