The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-05-01
Hard ON Republican omce-Brokers.

Inc IHllauelphla Ledqer, Wnlcn sup
ported HARRISON for president, says:
1t has been discovered since the Inauguration
of President HARRISON that President CLETE-
LAND was a good deal OF a civil service
former. For four years the charge was con-
tinuOusly made that he was daily engaged in
sweeping from their places old, efficient, ex-
perienced and faithful republican Office holders
for no other reason than that their posts we're
wanted as rewards for democratic politicians.
Long before the close of Mr.. CLEvELAND's
administration 1t given out as if
IL were an indisputable truth, that
the sweep had been thorough that
throughout the departments of the national
capital there we're not enough republican Of
teials holding over to make corpOrals guard.
The statement was made so frequently, with
such bold asseYerations of its absolute correct
ness, as 10 be generally accepted as true, and
great was the disappointment which it excited
In the minds OF Mr.. CLEvELAND's cOuntrymen
who had remembered his civil service reform
pledges.
Now, however, when the fabrication can be
of no further use to create resentment and
prejudice against Mr.. CLEVELAND, it is frankly
declared TO have been pure invention of the
enemy-an invention most conspicuously in
exact
The Washington correspondent of the
Philadelphia Press, the principal repub-
lican organ of Pennsylvania, quotes Gen.
BINGHAM, republican congressman from
that state, as saying, in reply to an inquiry
regarding the present unexampled press
ure for office:
This is due TO the fact that il is generally be-
Heved that the last administration made clean
sweep in the departments, and that there are a
great many places TO fill. Now, this is not the
fact. large proportion of those holding
office In the departments were there when
PRESIDENT ARTHUR went out OF Office.
The same correspondent shows that,
in the treasury department. for instance,
of those who receive salaries of 81, 900 or
more. and who do not hold presidential
offices. or are not embraced in the classified
service, there were, on the day of Presi-
dent HARRIsONs Inauguration, sixty-fve
republicans receiving salaries to the aggre-
gate amount of Sl52,S00, and sixty-six
democrats receiving salaries to the aggre-
gate amount of S143,6OO. Further, it APP
pears that in the other classes of offices the
republicans that President CLEVELAND
found in office when he was inaugurated
were treated with like favorable discrimi-
nation, some of them being promoted for
their efficiency and fidelity.
The same correspondent adds: "'The
devil, thereby meaning Mr.. CLEVELAND,
should be given his due, IN the words of
the old proverb, and it is worth while for
Otfice-seekers to look over these changes
in the treasury department. They ,CiH
ind that there are comparatively fe,0 demo
Gratis holding good offices"
Which moves the Ledger to remark:
What the truth at this late day determines is
that President CLEVELAND was much better
civil service reformer than he received credit
for being, and that The more curiously and
carefully his administration is considered in
every respect, the more honorable and useful
ii appears.
The Philadelphia Ereni1g Telegraph,
republican newspaper with a habit of
telling the truth, says:
Ii is evident that good many surprises are
in store for the army of place-seekers under
the new national administration. The public
mind is very forgetful, and most people now
overlook the fact that four years ago one
GROVER CLEVELAND set himself like rock
against the furious tide that threatened to
clean ont every federal Office in the country
within ninety days. Further, the president
resolutely maintained this attitude during the
whole time he occupied the executive chair.
He never once let down the bars and invited
the crowd to come in and help themselves
Many of the leading officers in the service were
not disturbed, the great army OF clerks in
the departments remained at their desks,
while some of the chief appointees, like Post
masters PEARSON of New York. and CORsE of
Boston, persistently refused TO allow their
offices to be turned inside out. And now the
discovery is made that very many of the most
desirable cOnsuates are still filled by appointees
of former republican administrations. All this
81 z he bot
fictitious stories emenating from campaign
bureaus and the facts as told by the official
records. The simple truth is, President HAIR
RISON viii have hard work to eclipse the real
record of his predecessor for fidelity to prac-
teal civil service reform. A flood of partisan
misrepresentation swept over the country six
months ago; the truth is coming out TO
the great discontinue OF very many men who
were the most industrious in circulating pOllti
cal falsehood The victims of the campaign
boomerang will strew the land from Cape Cod
to San Diego.
President CLEVELAND was harshly criti-
cized during his administration by many
democrats because of his fidelity to his civil
service reform pledges. These same demo-
Gratis will doubtless admit now that, re-
CARELESS of the merits or dement's of the
civil service reform theory, the precedents
established by President CLEVELAND make
it impossible for his successor, without
covering his administration with disgrace,
to sweep the democrats out of the depart
ments and other branches of the
public service. The office-seekers and
office-brokers OF the republican party
are beginning to perceive this, and they
find it very embarrassing. Democrats who
felt that it was an outrage, after twenty
four years of virtual ostracism from the
government service, that so many of their
opponents should be kept in place to the
exclusion of democrats, have at least the
satisfaction now of knowing that the re-
publican administration does not dare to
make wholesale removals of democrats in
the departments in order to find places for
republicans. Ii good many republicans
were retained by President CLEVELAND, in
the government service, his successor will
find it necessary to retain good many
democrats or expose himself to popular
contempt, and thus accounts are in a fair
way to be partially balanced, at least.
The Loan Act.
The supreme court, the full bench con-