The Portland daily press., 1888-07-28
A TERM OF CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
Complete Partisan Reconstruction
OF the Executive Branch.
A Carnival OF Thieves, Drunkards and
Gamblers.
Mr.. cIeveIand's Performances OF His
Pledges.
New York tribune

majority Of cases expressly for partisan ser
vices. The appointing power has been used
to reward party workers, from Mr. Manning,
chairman Of the Democratic State committee
In New York, and the chairmen In Ohio,
massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont
ana many other states, down to the very
clerks and doorkeepers who served during
tne campaign which resulted in Mr.. Cleye-
lands election. The names Of 81 notorious
party hacks who have been selected for Of
fee represent great army. The appointing
PvWnoI n las nas Deen used TO support 80 relatives
OF the PRESIDENT, his Cabinet officers. promi-
nent Senators and other officials, and In ia
otner cases specified to pay personal or DO.
litical obligations.
In order to make places, great number Of
tried and faithful public servants have been
dismissed. A few illustrations, such as the
ef0n' infe JeS.11 -Roaor for tho kaanar of .
opinion, as when Benton and Stone were
dismissed for making political speeches; the
Democrat was reinstated and the Republl-
can was refused; or in the case of Postmas-
ter Wallace, dismissed for offensive partisan
ship and successor appointed, Wallace
proved that he was Democrat, and there
upon he was reinstated and the other man
turned out. In notable cases the public SER
vice has been used to control nominations;
thus Collector Bishop Of Cincinnati packed a
convention with officials to nominate his son
for sheriff; Messrs. Benedict and Maynard
appealed 70 postmasters TO make canvass
of voters for the Democratic party In at
| at least three States offices have been openly
| and shamelessly sold for cash, according To
| Democratic testimony.
So sweeping change Of officials, governed
| by such motives, necessarily involves the
| appointment of some unworthy men. Presi-
| dent Cleveland had appointed only seven
| Territorial judges, when he stated In a pub
| lished letter that one Of them was morally
and professionally unfit" Within a week
| five Of the seven were publicly named as
| answering : the description, in the judg-
i ment Of people where they lived, and to
| whom they were best known. Three Of the
| five the President has since retired for mis-
i conduct
| This savory list includes two murderers
and the tools Of two others, five notorious
i duellists and three riOters-One 20 be Judge
of the very court by which he had been i'm
prisoned six weeks. 1t includes five persons
| who had been indicted OF convicted for
| frauds against the revenue, appointed to be
officers OF the revenue service. II includes a
i jury-fxer, dead beat, a lawyer guilty OF de-
frauding clients and an attorney who had
cleared notorious bandits by eontrlving de-
feat Of justice. all appointed to be judges.
Persons were appointed pension agents who
had been indicted for violating pension laws.
/ Persons guilty Of robbing the mails were ap-
1 pointed postmasters or mailagents-one
| when appointed was in Jail for robbing the
II very Oli4Gc W WulJu ut WAS bpDOlukcls
/ Liquor-selleFs, their sons or attorneys were
| appointed Internal revenue officials. An inn
peaehed State Treasurer, 1efraudlng county
/ or town treasurers, seven I2rgers-One OF
whom had served two terms for thai 99ence,
but knew Cleveland. .personally'-and men
guilty OF robbery, embezzlement, theft, rnal-
feasanee, tapping church till, grand lar
| ceny, bribery, obtaining money under false
pretences. Of printing steal, mileage steal
and patent fraud, Of keeping gambling
houses and houses Of resort for the vile Ol
both sexes, Of assault and battery, dst-fght-
ing and insulting women, OF assaulting q
lady temperance lecturer with a club. oil
| wife-beating, Of blackmailing and selling
offices and OF selling Official information
with an editor OF a r0gues paper and Z
Brooklyn police officer who was dismissed
for arresting in her bed at 2 a. m. a sick
woman against whom there was no charge
and compelling her TO walk a mile 10 a sta,
tion-an these are chosen instruments Of re.
| form.
l Scarcely less offensive Is the list Of men
4 who have been notorious for political crimes
Persons like Pillsbury and Chase, who tIied
to steal the State government OF Maine; like
Higgins, Thomas and Ralsin, who have
stuffed ballot boxes and swindled decent elti
zens for years in Maryland; like the assist
| ant Of Mackin in Chicago election frauds
and Of the convicted swindlers in Indianap0'
| lis, Columbus and Chicago, appear among
Mr.. Cleyeland's chosen Instruments OF re-
form. With them are Goode, Of Virginia,
who got office by tissue ballot frauds; Shell
ley, Of Alabama, who bulldozed and swindled
| his way into Congress; Hull, the participant
in Florida frauds; Holmes, who had large
part in robbing the people Of Mississippi Of
| self-government; GrO0me, who publicly adj
vised murder for party's sake, and Meade,
| who justified the assassination Of Print Mat
| thews. All these have been placed In office
| though some are now out because the Senate
| refused to confirm them.
| The list of criminals embraces 137, not In
| cluding % persons guilty Of political crimes
of 80 other persons directly connected will
the criminal classes. But besides these
there are mentioned only 40 persons guilty o.
the crime Of treason, though fully One-thirC
| OF all the appOintees OF Mr.. Cleveland, al
| army OF thirty or forty thousand men, are O
| that class. Still less Is there any attempt &
| enumerate appointments Of copperheads
! whose disloyaltY once made them infamous
| though 16 are named, and the new chief jus
tice heads the list. Among the rebels, thosl
| who were the yilest In character come to thu
| surface; like the person who wears scarf
| pin made Of the skull of q union soldier, Ol
| the one who hoped Union blood would bt
| deep enough for his horse TO swim In. The
| men whose language about Lincoln and
Grant, about Blaine or the wives OF union
veterans was too vile to be printed, have
found appointments from Mr.. Cleveland
| with one who personally insulted Mr.. Blaine
and another who insulted General Logan
and two deserters from the union army
There were living three wears ago, perhaps
dozen rebels who had never sought remova
OF disabilities. and Mr.. Cleveland selected
| three Of these for foreign MISSIONS.
The same spirit selected Rebels, deserter
| and reviers Of Lincoln and Grant for Ofheial
| OF the pension service with several men whit
had robbed the Government by forged ol
fraudulent applications. and one who hat
| robbed the Grand Army by false Dretences
| He who signed the order TO restore capturet
Rebel flags has naturally ousted many UnioI
4 "A "A ktuk y
with difficulty find other employment, u
make room for party tools. III loyal veter
| ans are offended, so decent citizens well ma,
be by the appointment of blaekguards, liki
Meiere and Button, notorious drunkards ane
'howling idiots" When one foreign Minis
ter Is on the point Of being put off train fol
| intoxicatiOn, and another plays poker while
receiving foreign diplomats, and third Il
the boss poker player" OF his state, and
| fourth becomes notorious by the death OF hi.
mistress in vile den when another at hom'
refuses to dine with any Catholic clergyman
| and one who declares Catholicism wOrsl
than paganism" is sent to Spain; when
Minister at Columbia engages in q hst-hgh
England was the attorney for the Emm
mine, by which many Englishmen were plum
dered, and the Minister to the Argentln
| Republic descants In published dispatche
about the corruption Of that government
when men are accredited to government
| which as editors they have most savagely as
sailed, and an old-elothes dealer gets a cor
sulship in settlement Of debt for campaigl
| uniforms, and an unnaturalized Greek Is sen
to represent the United States In Turkey, a
| the time on the point Of war with Greece
when Mr.. Kelley is sent about Europe, ha
in hand, hunting for a government whicl
| will consent TO receive him-this great Ma
tion Is hardly honored by its foreign repre-
| sentatives.
Perhaps the worst feature of the sad rec
ord Is the perslstency with which men nave
been appointed after their bad character o.
| unftness had been exposed. Volumes o
| evidence were placed before the President
and afterward Higgins, Thomas and Raisil
| were appointed. Beecher was put Into thre
different Offices which he disgraced. Ban
croft, rejected for Collector, was made super
intendent OF the railway mail service Ii
several cases records OF indictments 10
crime were sent TO the President, as In tina
OF Warner, and the persons indicted were al
terwards appointed. He keeps the post
master who thought sheet of stamps was
circus poster and stuck IL on the wall, bu
remarked thar "the darned circus-rider
looked all alike" and he retains in office IN
man who drinks whiskey and plays poke
like gentleman" The President PERSONAL
ordered the reinstatement Of the Chief Q
Records who could not spell, after ne ma
been discharged-the "fell0w who spells az
point with one d and Democrat with an /.
He suffers GOode and Upshaw to find luerl
tive places, after their full exposure IN fraud
keeps Garland in his Cabinet, and has prC
NOTED Lamar after the same frand had bee
aided by his official action.
a. ia. ata