Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1888-10-20

htness would nave TO be the only
test. There is no danger to be ap-
pretended on this score. The more
the public understands that the ma
ton is simply the great corporation
with which all its interests are den-
titled, the more will the most bust
ness-like methods be insisted upon
in its service, and infidelity of any
kind in the public service will be
regarded and treated as an offence
equally as grave rs infdellty to a
private trust. The nice discrimina-
ton implied in the phrase so com
monty heard nowadays, "polltically
a scoundrel but a gentleman in pri-
vate life" will fade away.
With the growth and application
of nationalstlc principles the civil
service will enormously expand. En-
trance therein solely through fitness
to serve embodies true democratic
ideas, while it is in the use of the
service for political patronage there
fingers the methods of feudalstic
days. Here, ms in many other things,
real Americanism lies in the reverse
of what the demagogues would have
us believe. And is not this fitness
best assured by courses of special
training to this end? We have al
ready precedents in other branches
of the national service, in the shape
of the great schools of West Point
and Annapolis, for the army and
navy respectively. In the prefer
ence given to the military arm of the
government is to be seen a survival
of monarchicalism in our republic;
but 1t has been quite fitting that, so
long rs the main motive for the cor
porative existence of nation is the
object of mutual protection, the
chief honor should be given to the
instruments for protection. That,
however, is becoming more and
more a subordinate function, and
bids fair finally to disappear, except
as automatically exercised. In our
army and navy to-day the officers are
best applying in the service of sci
ence the training that they have re-
ceived, and possibly the utilization
of the army and navy in this way, as
to the alternative to idleness while
on police and parade duty, may re-
suit in their conversion into an eff
cient branch of the great industrial
army of the nation. The host of
peace, the civil service, is the army
that to-day deserves the place of
honor, and that is entitled to be re-
cruited from the flower of the ma
ton. There is no nobler conflict,
nothing better deserving fit pre-
paratory discipline, than that, with
the forces of nature for their har-
Messing to the service of the race;
the promotion of mans welfare in
stead of his destruction. AS
matter Of course, special training
for that end would ensure the best
service. In the best postal service
to be found in the world to-day,
that of Germany, young men are
prepared for it by terms of appren-
tceship, with lines of study specially
suited for instruction in postal SCI
ence, being, to all intents and pur-
poses, cadets of the civil service.
1t would seem that it might re-
quire a lapse of many generations
before the realization of the ideal of
the naturalization of all Industries.
But we are in the midst of the bios
som-time of our civilization; as in
the vegetable kingdom, so in the
evolution of mankind, the forces
that have been slowly and silently
shaping the way to fruition, work
with visible and astonishing swift
ness when the moment arrives.
What transformations are beheld by
decade to-day The changes of
the past eighty years witnessed by
many lifetime, are hardly to be
matched by those of the previous
eight centuries. Therefore, with
the mighty enginery now at work in
the world, the elimination may
be nearer at hand than might seem
possible.
The individual belongs to the ma
ton. His country has the final
claim upon him. All that he
and is is subordinate to the natl
interest. In times of emergena