The Somerset reporter., 1886-11-24
a Letter from Mr.. Blaine


'''9 AiIilibE on The QrE~
HON OF ei'iL SERVICE REFORM
thank you for calling nv at.ontt...
circular issued Nv the eo.rall,,,l ,,',i'" u
aeni Committee during the recent c,,,,i ia,''
th, ,,,a'a., luseles touching my position q,
sehce from home has prevented ms, -. ~
ing il sooner my see
The circular embodjes a si,.u,o, -
version of what said. and LIN pe'
singular peryefsion of what | onotcd j., :
speech on the 18th Of October nj Un,,im,.
ton, Pa. How the error or misra,'r,.',,,s.,
tation originated is not for me r. sa,
MY speeches in Pennsylvania werr ~,
rately reported for the Philadelnhin Pr.
| by skilled Stenographer and nrrsonall,
saw the report in no other pappr snn'
you herewith the speech If Octobcr ia a..
Il appeared in the Press and resnectfnIl,
ASK You to rcpnblish it in Your colnmn.
SIDE by side with the circular iSsurd n,
inc Massachusetts lnde cndent Commit
tee. ~
think you further for submit,in,,
TO me public letter of oct. 2G. from Mr.
Martin Brimmer of Boston. in. which I
am accused of repudiating the reform or
tte civil service with sheer prrbans
Mr.. Brlmmer inconsiderately based his
Remarks upon the circular Of the Ind
pendent Committee, and has thus been led
hltO publishing Il statement which dons
me great injustice. If my superstition be
correct, Mr.. Brimmer will, as gentle
man, Withdraw his language
1t IS scarcely necessary to say that
nave never repndatcd reform in the civil
service, nor abatcd my interest therein.
Nor have ever regarded the sheer rs n
forcible mode of argum, Were
tempted to resort to it. | should direct il
not against the reform of the civil ser
wee, but against the hypocrisy of those
who wish the conditions Of that service
to be enforced against their political oppo-
nents, but not against their political
friends.
The point which | sought to establish
III my speech at Huntington was entire
ly confused and obScurcd in the inoepcu
dent circular. In effect | said that the
+ glish civil service, which was held up
al model for our own Government nv
those who left the Republican party two
years ago, is now under Investigation and
apparent condemnation by the English
themselves; that the British Minis ry
nave instituted Il commission to examine
INTO the alleged abuses, and that Mr.
George W, Smallcy, apparently agreeing
hitherto with the American admirers of
the English service, now declares the be-
lief in England to be f., the civil service
is worse in all the dep .tments of the
Government than 1t w. Drty years ago.
Mr.. Smaliey gives a soIncWhat detailed
recital of the defects a. abuses alleged
to exist in the English service-d,. fleets
and abuses which were ever attributed
to our own civil service even by its most
merciless censor.
My argument implied, and was intended
TO imply, that the Republican party had
been wise in not adopting the Engl sh
system, with its life tenure and its large
pension list, and all the attendant evils
which have at last demanded investiga-
ton by a Ministerial commission. Nor
would justice and fair courtesy have been
done to my speech, even if my remarks
on civil service, torn from their logical
connection had been correctly quoted by
the Independent Committee Those re-
marks were but part OF an argument in
which | endeayored to illustrate how truly
American in its best sense were the whole
policy and history of the Republican par
ty, and how, under the lead of the So
called Independents, the Democratic par
ty, both in its revenue system and its civ
il service rules, was to he conforms, d to
British policies just at the very time when
the British themselves are fndin. - fatal
weakness in those policies.
in short, though did not say - in
words, meant to convey my belief Ii at
the very worst leaders and guides for
continental republic are those who per-
sist in seeing the perfection OF uman
government in an nsular M narchy,
whose conditions are in all respects rad-
cally different from those of our own
broad land The Massachusetts lmdcpen-
dents should learn that Amcriccn inSp-
ration ends where imitation of England
begins. Very respectfully,
JAMES @. BIAINE.