The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-07-08

agents of the administration TO whom are COM
mitted the high trust Of shaping and executing
its policy. foreign and domestic. These have
the guardianship OF the principles and aims OF
the party in power. Those ntrusted with this
responsibility should be I'm accord with the adj
ministrstion. and in selecting these political
considerations must be regarded. A free-trade
policy should not be left to the mercy of pro-
tectionists. nor could the enforcement Of the law
foe the reform Of our civil service be confded
with safety 10 officials who denounce IL and seek
To nullifv IL.
The policy of party. when that policy is in
dorsed by free election, becomes the policy of
the people, and it should be- put in the hands Of
its friends No one questions this. In select
ing agents of this class, however, the public
good demands the employment OF the best
available material, and party fealty should not
be regarded TO the exclusion OF moral and men,
tai fitness. No amount of partisan service will
excuse the appointment of an unit person to
office.
But. gentlemen, there is a class Of public SER
wants whose duties wholly ministerial,
whose employment has no relation To the policy
ON which the Government is to be administered.
What have the laborers, watchmen, messengers,
doorkeepers, copyists, accountants. and the
multitude of employees OF this class in the sew
eral departments to do with questions of pub
lie concern? Nothing in the world They in.
fiuence policy only to the extent of their in.
dividual votes. In the workshop of the me-
chanic, in the counting room Of the merchant
on the fields of the farm they as import
ant partisan factors as when in public employ
ment.
Why, then should the partisan test be applied
in selecting these agents? Whatever party may
be in power the Government is still the Govern
ment of the people-the whole people. The
5000 900 voters who withheld their support from
Mr.. Cleveland at the late election are still cit-
zens They pay taxes for the nations support
and bear arms in its defense. The result of the
Presidential election relieved them from no
burden-from no responsibility. Are these peo-
pie. these five million people who bear their
full share Of every burden, TO be declared ineli-
gible to even the smallest Office in the gift Of
the administration? Such n position is mon
strous.
But Mr.. Chairman and gentlemen before pro-
ceeding further desire to notice the charge SO
freely INDUCED in in this debate by the other
side of the House, that the civil service was
fearfully degraded by the Republican party,
that it had brought reproach on the people by
appointing unprincipled men to Office. 1t is an
old saying, sir, that the teaching Of the priest
is not worth much who discourses OF honesty
with stolen goose in his sleeve" 1t i'll be-
comes party that in the first year Of its power
made such significant mistakes as the appoint
ment of Judd, Mere and Dunton, Tyrer and
Conroy, Pollard, Downey and host of others
of like ilk to preach purity and honesty to any
othe party.
think this administration, briof as has been
its reign, has learned
THAT pious ecstasies are easier far
Than virtuous deeds"
After all its promises and yirtuous resolves il
has not been able to keep its own press from
charging its highest officials with most rep
rehersible conduct and already the Credit
Mobilier has found its parallel in the Pan-Elec-
trio scandal.
1t would be WELL think, for the fierce Democ-
racy to cry now
An ounce OF civet, good apothecary-
to sweeten this offensive stencil
deny that the republicans gave the country
debauched civil service. That their conf
dence was ut times betrayed by bad men do
not deny; that some of their chosen servants
proved TO be disreputable men and were guilty
of crime L admit. Every recreant was pros
ecuted as far as IL was possible to do SO.
But, sir, he who claims that honesty belongs
to one party TO the exclusion of others is DEM
| agogue. Dishonest men abide in every church
and every political organization. And who 80
silly as To suppose IL possible TO select army
of officials from the masses without catching
| now and then scoundrel? All experience
proves that when large sums of money pass
through the hands of many agents whether of
private or public employment, there will be
losses and embellishments. Ask your bankers,
| merchants, and corporation officials for their
| experience. These things will happen until
| human nature is wholly reconstructed. What
are the facts as to the administration of the
Government by the Republican party for the
| twenty-four years beginning in 1861?
The history of those years must not be for
! gotten. 1t must be remembered that it had to
contend with the demoralizations incident to
| civil war. The rebellion more than quaurupled
| our expenditures and our public servants. Our
annual revenue rapidly rose from s90,0J0 COO to
| $3.50, 1000. At one time our outlay reached
nearly 500, 100000 in single year. Is il TO be
| expected that no more will be lost in transact
| ing business OF four hundred millions tn an
4 one of ninety millions? Is it to be expected
| that one hundred thousand servants will yield
no larger number Of disreputable men than
twenty thousand? 1 insist that, tested by the
| facts the Republican party gave the people as
wise, as patriotic as pure and as efficient civil
service they ever had at any time in the
| history of the Republic.
| IL is oft-repeated and uncontradicted history
| that of all the vast sums of money Republican
administrations held in trust for the people, the
| loss was but one-fifteenth of one cent each
500. Hundreds of millions of dollars of internal
revenue taxes were collected and disbursed
| without the loss of penny. The most prudent
| and skilliul men have never been able to con-
| duct their private business with smaller mar
| gin Of losses. The Republican party challenges
| the closest scrutiny of its record, and refutes
| defamation by interposing unimpeachabe his
| tory. II has turned the public revenues over u
| its successor to the last mill and for fifteen
months its books and records have been in the
| keeping of its political adversaries, aud nc
crimes or frauds have been unearthed or even
| suggested.
| It is true that the Republican party did not.
| in the earlier years of its supremacy. inaugurate
n method for reforming our civil service. II
had to deal with bloody rebellion which occu-
pied its every thought It accepted the civil
| service system it found it, The system
came TO il from its Democratic predecessor sane
tilted by forty years Of unbroken Democratic
| practice.