The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1885-11-06
RESIGNED.


Hon. Leroy ID. Thoman's Resignation as
Civil Service Commissioner Accepted BY
the President = An Interesting Letter
From MIR. Thoman-The Presidents Re.
ply.
WASHINGTON, D. c., October 81
The following is the correspondence be-
tween Hon. Leroy D. Thoman, of the
Civil Service Commission, and President
Cleveland, respecting the formers resig-
nation, which the President has ac-
cepted, to take effect November 1st,
next:
wAsHINGroN, D.. c., October 20, 1885,
SIR-Respectfully referring to a conversa-
lion had with you as early as March 10th, in
which / expressed the wish to be relieved of
my duties as member of the United States
Civil Service Commission, and also to the
apparent fact that 1t was not then your pleas
ure to consider my request, now have the
honor to tender na;l formally nall my reslgsnaton,
sideratlon Of the same and its accept.
ance., While thus asking release from
record ms sro oss the
practlcability and remedial effectiveness
of the reform procedure. Tried veterans
the facile though radical departure from the
familiar msthods of the spoils system OF
distributing patronage. Strenuous and sin
sion, mark the opposition of different
groups of antagonists. And yet 1t must be
concluded that a majority of the political
leaders In either party is in accord with the
Pendleton law, If its original enactment, and
emphatic Endorsement by a subsequ ent
Congress, were honest legislative expires :
sions, and not the coercion of moral cow
ardce by popular sentiment, nor partisan
In the great task of administrative re-
form, which you have undertaken In accord
ance with personal and party pledges. the
people will give aid. 1t has been my pleas
ure within the last two months to visit quite
number of the States and Territories of
this Union, and it was my good fortune to
gratifying to know that the people contide i
It system ins the civil service.
They had condemned the evils Of the former
knowledge accurate. They welcomed the
Inauguration of the new. The distinctive
deatnres OF the present reform anp,ealed to
mands and advances merit. With the pre-
else details of the new procedure their ac-
quintance was not SO intimate. To this they
cordial approval
The inception and maintenance of great
the fundamental idea of civil service reform
Is charact teristic of American thought. Pop-
ular hesitation over the acceptance of stat
utory details, suggests merely safe con-
servatism. In the initial stages Of this re-
form there was a response throughout the
, Nation. Political contests assumed new
tone. Old time methods of: corruption were
discouraged, and bossism was grappled
with fresh yigor. The improvements is yet
marked; # vicious elements still seek OBJ
truslon into elections, the chances of their
success have been lessened.
The reform spirit is militant, and advances
toward complete. success. Corruption by
ofiicia patronage has been removed: With
cles, the power of the private purse to pur :
chase political honorsswill be less danger
GUS Public appreciation of the fact that
this reform does not trench upon stur dy
partizanship came late. 1t was sedulously
maintained that the civil service was
TO be composed of men who should
abJure certain rights of citizenship. With
the gradual, but inevitable, refutation OF
this false view, the outlines OF the reform at
last stood forth in clearness. 1t Is reform
which views the civil service as vast bust
ness agency; Its search is for the best at
tainable merit. In business, which is not
political, 1t enforces no tests of party. With
confident trust in the success of your admin
tstration, am
Your obedient servant,
LEROY D. THoMAN.
10 the President.