The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-12-09
CAN'T BE BELIEVED.

Mr.. BIaine's Late Statement Regarding
Civil-Service Reform Applied to the
Test of His Public Record and Known
Character.
1t was hoped that Mr.. Blaine would
be permitted to retire to the reflective
shades of his Augusta home, after re-
ducing the Republican plurality in
Pennsylvania from $1,000 to 1900,
without being called on to deny any
of the reports of his stump oratory.
Every precaution, he now tells us, was
taken to make these reports conform not
to what he said but what he wished pub
lished that he had said, and yet one re-
portgo abroad that has called for de-
NAL from the champion denier OF the
country. His speeches were accurately
reported, he tells us, for the Philadel-
phia Press by skilled stenographers,
and vet a speech of his at Hunt
ington, Pa, has been SO per
vcrted'' that he has been accused
of ''repudiating the Civil-Service re-
form with a sheer" 1t is unfortunate
for Mr.. Blaine that the public is used
to his denials, and takes them for just
what they are worth-''springes to
catch woodcocks." Since his cele-
brated denial of April a, 1876, of any
interest in certain railway projects, eX-
cept as as an investing purchaser,
was proved false in the face of
Congress and of the world by his own
letters, no person or politician has ever
accepted IS true any denial by Mr..
Blaine in any thing in which he had
an interest People may admire him
and political managers may worship
him. but no one places any dependence
on his word or dlsingenuousness. His
reputation for yeracity has been shat
tered into too many fragments to be
patched into a water-holding vessel
again.
In regard to the matter of his pres
ent denial, he is entitled to the widest
circulation of his declared conversion
to the principle of Civil-Service re-
form. 1t is so adroitly put that we re-
peat his words. 1T is scarcely neces-
sary to saw" he writes, that | have
never repudiated reform in the civil
service, nor abated my interest there
in" When it is recalled that Mr..
Blaine, as Speaker of the House OF
Representatives, appointed the com
mittee on the subject which toma-
hawked the reform and executed the
historical war-dance over its corpse,
the true inwardness of his use of the
word ''repudiate' may be perceived.
He never had any part in the reform
to repudiate. He never took any ia,
voring interest in it to abate. From
the day he appeared in Washington as
lobbyist for the Spencer rifle manu-.
facturers to the present time, the whole
tenor of his utterances and practices
have been inimical to the reform.
His political life and methods have
been one sheer at it, and to-day no.
body would believe him were he
to say, with Henry Cabot Lodge
81 approve the principle that
in the civil service the duties of which
are administrative and not political
should be open on equal terms tC
every citizen without regard to party.
If elected, should favor the speedy
extension of the present reformed sys-
tenn to ell offices and emplOymentS OF
the Government to which it is applica-
bic, and favor the repeal of the laws
which vacate large number of non
political offices every four years, and
the substitution therefor of tenure
during good behavior"
Even if Mr.. Blaine were to make
such a declaration as this the people
would not believe he meant it. and
politicians would exchange winks with
Mr.. Blaine behind the peoples back.
All his prattle about aping English
civil-service methods is demagogy, for
Mr. Blaine is too able man not to
know that the part of wise statesman
ship is to take leaves from the expert
ence of every nation and people now
struggling with the problem of gov
eminent or that ever sank beneath the
weight of false leaders and selfish
statesmen. His idea of American Civ
il-Service reform Is embraced in the
Jacksonian maxim: /" To the victors
belong the spoiIs. - Chicago Nes0s.