The Washington critic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1889-1889, 1889-02-06
rHE CrryL SERvICE.
senator Plumb Makes Somr Cuttini:
Remarks Regarding 1t.

Senator Plumb Makes Some Cuttinf.
Ecmarks Regarding 1t.
During the debate in ,hc Senate on
an amendment giving az incr'is, in
clerical force TO the Civil Services Com
mission Mr.. Plumb said;
do not subscribe TO that doctrine Of
civil service reform which has been dcvcl.
optd by morbid desire to DrttcrnAftcr the
hrtish folm and detail of government, AMI
! do not believe IN this precise kind Of civil
service reform aud would not adopt IL II
were to have my choice of the kind OF civil
service reform that | would have pr,lcticcd,
lut am not prepared TO abolish this, nor
do desire to limit its operations to the eX-
tent that believe these operations are car
ritd on usciully. But when ! am asked w
vote additional sums OF public money for
the purpose of enlarging the scope OF
bureau OF this Government, | am bound ~
II quirc whether the management OF thai
bureau ia what IL ought to be; not for th
purpose OF determining whether | want t.
abolish II, but whether want TO have tn
particular bent aud inclination and kind of
operation carried on by that bureau.
/ think, II the Senator from Connecticut
desires to discharge his duty as Senator
on this floor, that he cannot discharge IL by
saying he will vote for q particular appro
rrintion for the sole and only reason that
the Secretary Of the Treasury estimates for
II. He u.s. l think, bound on his oath TO In
quire whether or no the. appropriation Is
proper to be made in any particular case.
But, being challenged on the subject, he
certainly should inquire whether the serv-
ice requires II, whether the service os car
lied on with the existing force produces the
results which ~ ought to produce; and lsay
myself that do not believe IT. does. be-
lievc that IL has been rotten TO the core, one
sided, grnsping, avnrcious IN a CERTAIN way,
which has not tended to bene0, the other
branches Of the civil service OF the Govern
m,utto the extent that they ought to have
leen benefited by reason Of this innovation;
ard shall be glad to see II rcorgauizcl; |
shallibe glad TO sec II come under differ
ent control; ana shall lie glad TO see It
made more useful In the line Of truly non.
partisan civil service reform for the Gov
ernment. That is what ] should like to
zee.
Mr.. President, II has been made the shell
ter for the retention in office not Of Che best
Republicans who were found in office by
this Administration. had hopes when the
Democratic Administration came into
power that IL would remove q large number
Of incompetents whom IL found In Office,
persons who had come down from former
generation, persons whom Republican Ad-
ministrations felt bound to provide for by
sympathy, which ought to be dlsregarded
in the public service; persons who had out
lived their usefulness IN the Departments
and were membranes there.
If the Democratic Administration had
been wholesomely inclined, II 1t could have
got away from the cant and hypocrisy OF
what has been called, and truly called,
"sniyel service reform,n 1t would have re-
moved number Of hundreds, II not a
number Of thousands OF that class OF per-
sons from the public service and replaced
them with members OF its own party, or
with useful people, who might have been
provided through the means of proper
civil service.
The vital power of this whole institution
is the President of the United States. Ho
makes the rules and regulations he gives
them scope and verge, and the system has
not had that direction which it ought 10
have had, and 1t has not done for the civil
service of the United States what 1t might
have done md what II was Intended to do,
and what | hope hereafter, under a wiser
management, It may do.
But, before | consent to go on In this
blind way any longer, | want to see If we
cannot, under new Administration, get
some additional grip upon 1t that will make
II conform more to that which is practical,
and that which is useful, and that which is
really in the best sense non-partisan.
Now, il happens that the recommends
ton Of the Secretary Of the Treasury in this
particular case is discredited because, II
this increase of force is necessary at ALL 1t
is necessary because Of the fact that since
the election, at very suspicious moment,
near the time when this Administration was
about to make its exit from public life,
| there were added to the classified service
and put under the jurisdiction OF the Civil
| Service Commission all the employees Of the
| Postoflice Department. IL that service were
left In the condition in which 1t was found
by the Democratic Administration no CLASH
flcation was necessary.
simply say, for the purpose Of what we
are now considering 1t is sufficient to as
sert, and 1t Is not necessary to argue the
| question, that the Civil Service Commission
has not performed in the matter of this
class Of persons introduced into the public
service OF the United States that which
ought to be performed. | think 1t would
have been great deal better for the serv-
ice, think il would have left the outgoing
Administration IN better condition before
the country, II 1t had left the postal service
under the legal conditions in which IL was
| formerly, so that the new administration
coming in might have tried its hand at bet
tering that service.
| That service touches more people than
any other portion of the public service; II
is Of more consequence. 1t is one in which
they come to realize and see and appreciate
the shortcomings more than they do any
where else; and there is not Senator on
that side Of the chamber who can say thai
the postal service has been what II ought tC
have been during the past four years.
In saying that do not say there were moi
conditions under which the Democratic Ad
ministration assumed control Of the Gov
eminent and the men with whom it had tC
deal that made that failure to carry OF
properly this postal service TO some extern
inevitable. ! am only speaking of facts
That being the fact, do not want the
Senator from Connecticut, | do not wan
anybody to come in now aud on the recon
mendation OF the outgoing Secretary OF the
Treasury give effect to this extraordinary
performance of the Democratic Admins
tration whereby the Republican admnistra
tion is to be hampered in its efforts to i'm
prove the postal service OF the United
States.