The Washington critic., 1886-02-03
TOPICS OF THE DAY.

"The present civil.service scheme of
the Government, said a leading Sen
ator to the correspondent Of the Clcvc-
land Lodder, "has had the effect of a
great plague here at Washington. It is
plague which eats the life out of the
souls of the oiliceholders. 1t has
knocked the manhood out of them, and
has turned them from set Of men
into q body of cringing toadies and
sycophants. A constituent of mine
who holds Office here came to my house
the other night. A year ago he was
the loudest of the loud .mouthed Blaine
supporters. He walked stiff and
straight, and proclaimed his Repub.
llcanism almost from the very house.
tops, When lie called this time he
slipped along quietly, and rang my
bell with II furtive air as though he
thought some one might see him call
ing upon Republican Senator and
report it, lie slipped into the house,
had to be asked to be seated, and com
mcnced with very great trepidation
TO talk about the weather. After
time, noticing that the blinds
were closed he grew more at ease,
and | asked him the question whether
he thought person could retain Office
under the present administration, being
Il Republican, and preserve his man
hood. lie replied that he did not
think so, that he felt as though the
NyhA1n gAn1 had Af lit,, al
that there was not minute of the day
when he did not wish he was out of
office. lie said: j would leave at once
il | could get place anywhere to sup.
port my family. Now, that man.
continued the Senator, got a thousand
dollars year for copying letters in a
book, and, according to the civil
service principle, he ought to have a
lien on the Government for that amount
for life. would like to know why he
has any more right to be continued in
his office than | have to continue in
mine, If there is going TO be
an aristocracy in this country
would like to be Il duke. |
would like to keep my scat in the United
States Senate without any trouble until
j die, and then have It so entailed that
ii would go to my children and my
children's children after me. do not
see why i should have to go out to my
constituents every six years and wrestle
and tug to get the people to send me
back again, any more than the man
who copies letters or adds up columns
of figures. | have to work harder here
than he does. am at my desk about
fifteen hours out of the twenty four,
and have to employ men to help me
do the peoples work. Still, If your
thousand.dollar man wants an office
they point the finger of shame at him
and call him an office seeker. would
like to know what / am but an Office
seeker. ! have been seeking Office for
the last twelve years and have had to
work mighty hard al times to get IT,
] object TO this civil service rot, and |
think IL has done great injury TO the
public service, and that it will never
be as good under our form of govern.
ment as under the old rule of spoils ;"
nv
Colonel Van Horn of the Kansas
City JournaIpays generous tribute to
the memory Of ex-senator Daniel r..
Atchison of Missouri; II first met Gen
eral Atchison more than thirty years
ago, and though not personally init
mate with him, have seen more or
less of him since and learned all that
could be from those who were his life
time associates. He was remarkable
man in many respects, but his own
personality was the controlling fact
about him. Somehow from the time
first met him, | always fancied Jackson
was man like Atchison, or my con.
ceplon Of Jackson found its best Illus.
tration in Atchison. Though there
was nothing in common politically be
tween us, | always admired and re.
spected the man. He had perfect sense
of selfrespect, and never did anything
to compromise il. IL was this fact that
caused his retirement from public life
for so long, lie was an ardent pro-
slavery man, and followed that senti-
ment logically into secession. When
that failed he accepted the logic OF
events, and no sort Of inducement
could prevail upon him TO re.enter
public life, lie acted as did Toombs
and Jeff Davis, but being a man OF
loitier Ideals, he never compromised