The Washington critic., 1886-04-30
w ASHINGTON CRITIC
WASHINGTON. APRIL 80. 1885.
TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Current, on "Civil Service Reform"
which is highly eulogistic of the
present law and deprecatory of the old
spoils system. He says interrogatively:
"Is tho law un-American Does 1t
impart an aristocratic and kingly
scheme in free and representative
Governments 1t is true since 1871 the
British Empire has conducted Its civil
service reform under similar law.
But its final passage was not royal
victory. 1t was the grand triumph of
q popular reform. Does IL tend to
create an aristocracy of office holders
The evils in the British Governmen.
/ tai service w more pernicious and
revolving than they had ever become
here. Offices were not only bartered
by kings, but they were created by
royal decree that the auctioneer might
find means to fill the Golfers Of the
palace Noble blood was a requisite
for entrance into the service, or a
precocity in vicious and servile poll
tics. In England, to- day, the poorest
youth may essay the competition for
office, and through all the vicissi-
tudes of cabinet change, his
merit will maintain him in place. Is
this aristocracy? What folly more.
over in America Is IL to declam of an
aristocracy arising among an agency Of
clerks, drawing at the highest but
moderate salaries, kept at their desks
by routine dutiesl American aris-
tocracy, so far as 1t involves elements
of danger to this nation. resides among
the bonanza parvenus, suddenly ex-
alted into ignorant wealth by vast
monopolies. There was peril in the
great organized partisan armies of the
Government employees, and that in
hercd in the political assessment prac-
tees, which have been suppressed Is
the objection tenable, that this reform
introduces life tenure? 1t does not,
unless the Executive power of re.
moval is abridged. But the
law Is silent upon the sub
\ ject of removal 1t was thus
Intentionally silent. 1t could not and
did not infringe upon the ever present
power of summary removal. resident In
the appointivc power But without
discussing whether life tenure is de.
fensible in the United States, 1t may be
added that the spirit of this reform pre-.
I vents the election of a competent en-
ploye, that an incapable favorite may be
installed in this created vacancy"
Nv
The Sacramento Bee says that Sena-
tor Fair has ordered fine coach to be
made, and will give his son Jimmy a
complete four.in-hand outfit The
young man, who is described as being
very igh.spirited, will run the coach
this summer between San Francisco
and Menlo Park, changing horses at
Dick Cunningham Fourteen Mile
House, which is about half way be-
tween the termini of the route. 1t is q
young Fair will do good business
with the fare at S5.
Nv
Mrs. James Brown Potter Cora
Urquhart Potter), at the request of the
editor of LippincoHs Magazine, con-
tributes to the May number of that ex-
cellent magazine short article upon
her Experiences as an Amateur Elo-
cutionist," of which the following is
an extract: "The success of recita-
tion naturally depends much on the
choice of the piece, and rarely de.
eide upon my selection until the last
moment, when / am on the spot and
have made my estimate of the general
character of the audience. Our judg-
ment on question of this sort is any
thing but infalliblc, and at times, when
trusting to my own instincts, / have
arrived at very unfortunate results.
But If piece touches me and feel Its
pathos, 1t Is very natural to suppose il
will affect others In the same way II
properly interpreted. am only a be.
ginner, however, and my experiences
are almost all experiments. | find il
far easier to interest an audience by q
story with moral than by something
abstract, however superior the versi.
fication of the latter may be, and /
haye generally found country audi.
ences more appreciative of serious pieces
than those in the city. City people want
something gayer and more amusing,
that will not make them think. Nor
am ashamed to confess that my most
enthusiastic and generous critics have
been workingmen and shop. girls and
newsboys. For, If they have had fewer
advantages in education and refining
associations than those in more for.
tunate position, their wits have beer
sharpened by practical trials and ad
vcrsity and the absence of affectatlor
in themselves makes them quick to SET
through false sentiment and appreciate
what is true. An increasing fondness
Tor the art, and the pleasure of con
tributng through 1t to some verT
worthy objects, have stimulated me to
continue performing, notwithstanding
much misconception and much that Is
annoying; more than once my inclina
tion has been strong to give 1t all up
for after failure or an unsatisfactory
performance you have no chance
to retrieve yourself for perhaps
six months or n year. But II
these things our natures are perhaps {
little stronger than we are. However
hard and intelligently an amateur may
study 1t is impossible for him to ac
quire the stage ease that the habit o.
appearing in front of the footlight
gives professional, making him up
pear to better advantage than an anna
tour who has possibly better natura
gifts. If, along with the emotions W.
are attempting to describe, we CONVEY
to the audience half of the nervous ant
rickety feeling we really have, then w
must make our audiences indeed un
comfortable. But | am speaking 70
myself only, as there are other anna
teurs with far more experience, and,
am sure, much greater ability to ex
press it, than |. "
~.
Says the Boston 1raceller's col
respondent; An ingenious scheme ha
: been invented by a Congressman, whic
he is studiously trying to keep to him