The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1889-05-16
CIvIL-sERvIcE COMMISSIONERS.

The Presidents appointments to
the civil-service- commission leave
nothing to be desired. If they may
be said to cause any regret, it is that
they were not made sooner, during
the first months of the present adj
ministration, when the wholesome
influence of a well-constituted civil
service commission was. badly need
ed. Had the commissioners been
appointed earlier they might have
been able to keep the President from
the blunder of deferring to May l
the application of civil-service rules
to the railway mail service, and have
prevented the scandals resulting
from the hundreds of removals of
democrats from that service for
avowedly political reasons. Mr..
Hugh S. Thompson, the democratic
appointee, was nominated by Pres
ident Cleveland for the place for
which President Harrison has now
named him, but the Senate, in pur-
suance of its partisan policy of saw
ing up patronage for Mr.. Cleve-
lands successor, omitted to confirm
him. His qualifications for the post
of civil-service commissioner are I'M
questionable, and he has the supreme
qualification of being real friend
of the civil-service law. While As
sistant Secretary of the Treasury dur
ing the Cleveland administration he
had abundant opportunities to give
the law practical test, and was we'll
known as one of its most ardent adj
vocates and defenders. Prior to his
service in the treasury, which began
in 1886, Mr.. Thompson was twice
Governor of South Carolina, in which
State he was born fifty-two years
ago. AS he is typical Southern
democrat, of low tariff views, his APP
pointment by President Harrison in
dicates that the alleged Southern
policy of the latter is not to lead in
variably to the selections of Randall
democrats AS Mr.. Thompson's APP
pointment is a reappointment of Mr..
Cleveland's nominee, it will be per
ceivad also that the President is
open to considerations Of courtesy
not usually recognized by the aver
age politician.
Mr.. Theodore Roosevelt, the other
appoiptee to the civil-service COM
mission, is likewise Il thoroughly
competent man and prominent adj
vOcate of civil-service reform What
is little remarkable about this APP
pointment il the fact that, though a
staunch republican, Mr.. Roosevelt is
something Of a mugwump-a species
of patriot of which the President is
not supposed to be particularly fond.
He has rendered conspicuous service
in the New York Legislature, in
which he served three years. A
number of bills of Importance pres
scented by him attracted wide atten-
ton, and several of the most impor-
tant became laws. In 1885 he was
the republican candidate for mayor
of New York, having Mr.. Abram
Hewitt and Mr.. Henry George for
competitors. His rank in his party
may be said to be of the best, if
characteeFf and actual merit are held
to contribute to the standing of the
modern New York politician. AL
together, these two of the Presidents
appointments are SO good as to give
rise to hope that they will be fol-
lowed by others like them.
With a civil-service commission
composed of Lyman, Thompson and
Roosevelt, all friends of the Pendle-
ton act, the President, if he is dis
posed to carry out the promise Of
his inaugural address-to extend
the scope of the civil-service law
will have at his hand an apt instru-
ment of reform. The public will be
glad to see him use it to the best
possible effect, with the result ulti-
mately of abating the office-seeking
nuisance, from which Washington
has suffered so much of late.
Photographic toys-birds that