Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-01-16
HYPOCRISY EXPOSED.
hn 011idd Text Of Senator Hale'S Pow
erful Arrd6nment Of the Admins
tration.
How the Public Service has been Pfosti.
tuted to Partisan Ends.
The Total Failure Of the Administration Il
Redeem its Pledges to the People.



Representative. or Delegate elect. any officer or
eupoye Of either Of said Houses, and no executive,
Judicial, military naval officer Of the United
states and no clerk employe Of any department,
branch or bureau Of the executive, judicial mill
tsry or naval service Of the United STATES shall d
rectly Indirectly solicit receive. or be in any
manner concerned In soliciting or receiving any
sessment, subscription, contribution. for any po-
hical purpose whatsyeE from any officer, clerk, OF
employe Of the United state-. or any depsrtment
branch, or bureau thereof, or from anF person re
eeving any salary or compensation from moneys de.
rived from the Treasury o. the United states.
"-Ec. a. That no oihcer, clerk or other person
In the service Of the United states shall directly
indirectly, give or hand over TO any other officer
clerk person in the service OF the United STATES
or 10 any senator or enber OF the House of Rep
resentaiyss or Territorial Delegate. any money OF
other valuable thing account Of 10 be applied
10 the promotion of any political object whatever
And whereas the spirit Of said act has been in
terpreted by the President and the Gommls -iOners
Of the Civil service Commission charged with its
execution as forbidding all officers Of the General
Government from extensively participating in polit
cal conventions and elections the President, In hi-
order addressed to the heads of the Departments in
the servicr OF the General l,overnmenf dated July
u, so6. settling forth his reasons for the SAINT "a
/ follows
"ExEcCTIvE MANSION.
WAsHISGTOS, July IA, les6.
/ '7o the Heads Of the Departments in the serrice o.
/ the Gsnerdi GOUernHent'
II deem this proper time to especially warn all
-ubordnatrs In the several departments and all
Office holders under the Gene Pal tJv rum. Mt against
!
troll political movements in their localities. Other
holier- are the agents Of the people-not their
ters. Not only IL their time and labor due to the
/ Government, but they should serupulousy avoid in
their political action, well as in The discharge Of
their official duty, offending by adispay Of obtrusiye
lartisanship their neighbors who have relations
with them IA public officials. They should also con
.tantly remember that their party friends from
whom they have received preferment have not in.
vested them with the power OF arbitrarily managing
their political affairs. They have no right office
holders to dictate the political action Of their party
a..
party lines by methods and practices which perveri
every useful and justfable purpose Of party organ
izatOu.
The influence Of Federal Office holders should
not b. felt In the manipulation Of political primary
| meetings and nominating conventions. The by
these officials Of their positions compass their
lection rs delegates to political conventions Is indie
cent and unfair and proper regard for the proprie
ties and requirements of official place will also pre-
vent their assuming the active conduct of political
campaigns Individual interest and activity in po
litical affairs are by no means condemned Office
holders are neither DISTINGUISHED nor forbidden the
exercise of political privileges. but their
are not enlarged nor their duty to party increased
To pernicious activity by office holding just dis
elimination In this regard between the things Il cit
public Office should not be used Is easy, In the light
Of correct appreciation Of the relation between the
people and those intrusted with official place and
consideration of the necessity under our form of
government of political action free from official
coercion. You are requested to communicate the
substance of these views to those for whose guild
ance they are intended,
"GROvER CLEVELAND"
And Commissioner obery. In his letter to the Hi
no,s Democratic Association, dated september 20,
lsS7. interpreting the statute as follows,
"Now. does 1t not follow that officers, clerks and
other persons in the ice Of the nited States
organized for political purposes, and who by in
itaton fees, dues and contributions defray the
penscs of this organization, violating sections
II and "A of the Civil Service act? They giving
they are handing Over-to officers. clerks, other
persons in the service of the nited States, and
these persons, acting officers of the association
the representatives Of the associated officers, clerks
and other persons in the service of the nited States
receiving money for political purposes, money to
be applied to the promotion of political objects"
And whereas it IL alleged that, notwithstanding
tn. provisions of said act and notwithstanding the
Interpretation placed upon the same by the author
ties as above quoted, numerous Federal officers. ap
pointed By the present Administration. have unduiy
and Extensively exhibited perncious activity both
in nominating conventions and in the elections fol
lowing Therefore,
Rcsoi,ed That a select committee to consist of
seven senators, be. and the l. hereby. consti
tuicd and appointed whose duty 1t shall be TO
anime fully into the present condition of the Civil
Service in all branches of the Government to n.cer
tain whether the appointments in said service have
been based upon merit and qualifications or have
been distributed a. partisan favors and further to
fully examine and report ~ to the offensive partici
patton of officers and employees of the General Gov
eminent in political conventions and elections.
said committee is hereby authorized to employ "a
clerk and stenographcr, and shall have power ad
minister oaths send for persons and papers, TO sit
in Washington or such other places may be neccs-
sAry and to conduct its Investigations hrusgh sub
committees, the expenses of the same to be paid
from the contingent fund of the senate and n full
report of Its proceedings shall be made to this Sen.
ate at as carly day as is practicable.
This resolutation, Mr.. President. has been
offered with the sincere purpose of securing
such an investigation will disclose to
Congress and to the American people the
present condition of the Civil Service of the
government, and the performances of high
and low officials in that service, as bearing
upon a subject which, of late years. has as
sumed in our polite. position of cons der-
able Importance.
Since the establishment of the Government
of the United States the extent of its Civil
Service has kept pace with the remarkable
growth of the country in territory, wealth.
and population. All the old departments
have become swollen to an extent never
dreamed of by the fathers, and new depart
ments have been created to meet the wants of
the people in doing business with their gov
eminent. A hundred questions are passed
upon every week by the Federal officials
touching the rights of citizens, the subjects
of which had no being when the government
was inaugurated. In the customs. in the
public lands, in patents, in the post office, in
the Territories, and in our foreign relations a
hundred men are needed to-day to do the work
which was formerly done by two or three
clerks. All the great business of the internal
revenue is a new creation, and the Pension
Bureau is little world of affairs in itself.
With all this has come vast increase of
responsibility, resting primarily upon the
head of the government and upon those who
are called by him to preside over the different
departments.
The extent and power of patronage have
increased, to the alarm of many thoughtful
men. As the years have gone by the Ameri-
can people have seen different changes of
administration and generally the rule has
been that each administration during the last
fifty years has filled the offices with his politi
cal friends. When Abraham Lincoln took
the oath of Office on the 4tb day of March.
1861. | venture to say that the proverbial
hunting for a needle in hay-stack would
have been a no more futile effort than would
have been the search for Republican hold
ing an office under the general government.
The Democratic party stood the exponent
of the proposition that ITO the vctors belong
the spoils
During the eventful years that rested with
their solemn responsibilities upon Mr.. Lin
coins shoulders the vast concerns in which
his administration became involved led to an
equally vast increase in nearly every branch
of the service. and to fill these new places. |
as well as the old ones. Mr.. Lincolns admin |
istration looked TO the loyal population |
of the country in making its appointments, |
The test was not so much politics as loyalty. |
and Republicans and war Democrats re-
ceived appointment and promotion both in
the field and in the civil service of the gov
eminent. Not few of these nefciaries |
so selected have within the last three years
been turned out, in many cases to the chari-
ties of a cold world, TO make places for those |
who neither had in the war nor now have any
sympathy with the cause that Mr.. Lincoln
SO faithfully represented.
During the time that has elapsed since the
war the Republican party has held the reins,
with the exception of the few years of An
drew Johnson's troubled and fractions ad-
ministration, and. with the exception of those
years, most appointments in the Civil Service
have been of persons in political sympathy
with the administration.
We have all seen that in late years it be-
came grievance and a scandal in the minds
of many sincere, earnest, and patriotic men
hat lint, eel h.> l.