The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-07-30
Washington Letter.

WASHINGTON, d. c., July %, So
The reports that President Cleveland is
broken down physically are without
foundation in fact. He needs the rest
which he will soon take, though he
needs it less as a hygienic want than
from the necessity that every one en-
gagged in d great enterprise has TO step
pack from the momentous task, as an
artist would from his canvas, to see
what has been done, as well as what
remains to be done, But few are aware
of how much has been accomplished
in the less than five months OF the new
administration. The magnitude OF the
work can be appreciated only by those
who were acquainted with the condi-
tion that had prevailed since the war.
Ii the president is not wise and eX-
perienced statesman, it must be con-
ceded that he has been miraculously
happy i'll the selection OF cabinet.
There is not department OF the public
service, military, naval, Judiciary, post
official, diplomatic, financial or that
which relates to the interiOr,that has not
been marked by conspicuous reforms.
Many of those reforms are patent to
every one who keeps the run of public
events, but there are others which are
less palpable, more subtitle and inchoa-
tive IN their character; these can be
discerned only by those who are intI-
mately acquainted with the intricate
machinery OF government, the motors
and motives, in short the life and the
esprit de corps OF our vast civil service.
That sublime fanatic, Ex-senator Nor
! ton, deceased, once said, with the con-
viction of an Ell Mahdi: 1--WE have the
best civil service in the world" There
/ mis- q
solemnly absurd for refutation and this
one of Morton's stands pre-eminent in
| that class. The civil service to which
| Ex-senator Morton referred consisted
TO sad extent, both in system and
| personnel, of mere political workers, and
personal favOrites, has been greatly inn
| proved during the last four months. 1t
is very natural to talk about radical
| changes. The word radical" rises on
the lips of every one justly indignant
/ at the rooted abuses of the past twenty
years. But little reflection will con-
! vince the rash eXtirpator of abuses that,
in an administration under law, or in
any reformation not preceded by revo-
luton and anarchy, the change must
! begin at the cdput and not at the rddir.
The reform must begin at the head and
the vital elixir, worse needed than the
/ W dICI nOStS SlIuCk lIOul IuC IOCh, Is
| infiltrating the morbid system of one
of the worst civil services of the world.
The much that has been done in four
months is big with promise of the for
ty and four to follow, Tue first step in
capital reform was to appoint reform
cabinet. The next step was to appoint
| heads of the various bureaus. 1t is re-
| freshing to go into the different high Of
| fees OF the departments like those of
the cOm missioners of pensions, patents,
Indian affairs, the assistant post master
generals office and the auditors offices
and find real men there. The heads of
these and other important offices have
evidently been selected with great care
| and for the work they are expected to
| perform. The contrast with their re-
| publican predecessors is striking, even
| to a superficial observer, and it must
| be revelation to the average benighted
| Washington republican, to whom the
| first article of his political faith has
| been, that his own party contained all
| the gentlemen, and that all democrats
were low fellows. Republicans are the
real BourbOns in American politics to-
day, and they have much to learn and
much to forget before they can align
themselves with the practical honesty
and business like expedition that has
been established at the national capital
and that is felt alike in the navy yards
and custom houses of the east and the
! Indian agencies of the west.