Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-12-20
GROWERS MESSAGE.
Cleveland's Silence on the Subject o
CiYil-Seryice Reform.

Cleveland's Silence on the Subject OF
Ciyil-Seryice Reform.
The Presidents message is remark
able for containing nothing on the
subject of Ciyil-Service reform. This
is a singular and conspicuous act of
omission. 1t could not have proceeded
from forgetfulness. 1t is more notice
able for the fact that Mr.. Cleveland
would not have been elected to the
Presidency at all but for the belief
that he would carry into his Admins
tration and enforce the principle of re-
form in the civil service. He then
thought the subject so important
that, just after his election in 1884, he
wrote letter to George William Cur
tbs, in which he pledged himself anew
to enforce the law relating to reforms
in the civil service, and promised to
extend the operations of the rule be-
yond the limits of the statute. In
September, 1885, in letter accepting
the resignation of Dorman B. Eaton
as one of the Civil-Service Commits
sioners, ne reiterated his regard for
the system and pledged himself anew
to follow and practice it; sug-
gested methods by which 1.-The re-
form movement will in the future
be advanced" and declared that his
administration, in spite of the fact
that it represented party imbued
with sentiments of perverted partis-
4
vanced this reform" In March, 1886,
in communicating the report of the
Civil-Service Commission to Congress,
he alleged that the reform ''had
steadily advanced in the esteem of
those charged with public admins
trative duties" and commended the
cause Ito the liberal care and jealous
protection of Congress. He has later
favorable references to the subject on
which he is silent in his last impor-
tant communication to the country.
There is a cause for this silence, and
its discovery is not a difficult task:
President Cleveland at one time may
have been believer to a certain ex-
tent in the principle of Civil-Service
reform; or at least he may have be-
lieved that it could be made a useful
and popular party measure. But the
events of his administration have
disillusioned him. The spoils system
is as much a subject of Democratic
party faith as a tariff for revenue
only. Cleveland's personal unpopu-
larity with his own party came from
his refusal to make "a clean sweep"
of the offices. He learned to his per-
feet satisfaction that his party
is not a reform party in that respect
The figures of his election must have
shown him that he lost more Demo-
cratic votes than he gained mugwump
votes, by not practicing the spoils sys
tenn to its fullest extent. His party
received his earliest professions of
Civil-Service reform as insincere and
a mere campaign device, or made to
smooth the first steps of his pathway
in Office. They were surprised and
maddened when he gave some evil
dences of sincerity and began to fulfill |
in measure his pledges on the SUBJ
ject. Out of this grew a sentiment of
hostility which he felt in all parts of
the country at the polls.
In bidding his party and the country |
an official farewell, his significant
silence on this subject implies that he
considers it all vanity. His expert
ment was fruitless and brought un-
kindness, unpopularity and disaster to
himself in his own party. He at last
dropped the mask and the robe of re-
form as harlequin drops the disguise
at which the spectators laugh in cir
Gus. And it is final abandonment |
No Democratic candidate or public |
officer will ever again posture as be-
lever in the principles and practices
of Civil Service reform. - Chicago |
Journal.