Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-10-04

aepublicans and Reform

Republicans and Reform
ne Republican journals and politicians
ase mot pleased with the address of Geo.
WIN. Curtis and the resolutions Of the
civil service reform congress at Phila-
sdslphla assembled and the reason is
that Mr.. Curtis has expressed the cpin-
Inn that President Harrison has shown
himself a less sincere friend Of civil ser
vice reform than President Cleveland
did aud the congress has resolved
that the president appears to 1t to
have largely resigned his consti-
tutionai power Of appointment to
once into the hands Of parti-
san subor,iinates and It cites the whole
sale removal Of post,nastcrs and the
cleauing out Of the railway mail service,
which took place In the first month or
two Of the new administration, MS con-
elusive evidence, that the spirit OF civil
service reform does not abide with it.
II will be noted that the postoitice de-
partment, which is under the charge Of
Waramaker, champion Of reform, is
the place where this defiance Of civil
service reform methods occurs and II is
truly strange. Here we have presi-
dent who tires himself with declara-
tions in favor of civil service reform
and q postmaster general under him,
who tires every one but himself with
his protestations in favor ofevery reform.
The influence of those eminent re-
formers, standing over the ppstoffice de-
partment, was not, however, sufficient to
keep quiet the political gullotine that
has been cutting off heads of country
postmasters and railway mail clerks at
aspeed never before known in the his
tory Of the department. II is notable
that the president and the postmaster
general have not been able to stop the
slaughter; and the civil service re-
formers think IL queer, and blams
Wanamaker for the work of the bad
Clarkson, whom the president put In
charge Of the execution Of the country
poetmasters, and the bad Bell, whom
Wanamaker directed TO do up the rail-
way mail agents.
This Bell violently excited himself
during the few weeks that he had TO
operate In before his department came
under the dominion of the civil service
rules, to put out every Democrat and
the civil service reformers denounce this
sharpness as not being very nice in Bell;
who was one Of the cracked bells in the
Reading railroad that President Corbin
hastened TO get rid Of when he began his
work Of clearing out the worthless lum-
Der Of that corporation.
This work Of clarkson and Bell, so
offensive to the civil service reformers,
aud which they note as being done right
under the nose Of the president and the
postmaster general leads them TO doubt
the sincerity Of these loud apostles of re-
form.
u n sad that suspicion Of hypoc-
risy should fall upon the garments Of
the president and the postmaster gen
erAl, but not startling. Mr.. Harrison
has been very feebly performing his
vlrtuols ante-election promises and
when he put the Republican purse
bearer into his cabinet he did assure us
that his conception of reform WAS very
weak and crooked. And this pure,
bearer has been always an interesting
Kaleidoscope, shining when shaken to
every quarter of the compass of mo,
7AMFJk He has advertised every
virtue for himself and his goods
and has displayed every trick that
would boom him aud them he has
prayed long In the Sunday school and
synagogue, paraded steadily where the
saints sit and Travelled constantly where
the sinners walk /; he has gathered his
fruit with charming impartiality from
the vine Of the church and the tree ol
the roadside.
Neither he nor the president hav,
shown high conception of their great
duties and stout independents,
In performing them nor could this b,
expected Of man of his origin
and education. More could have beer
fairly looked for from Harrison. They
have shown, II is true, capacity fol
kicking In q sporadic way. Wanama
ker fought bravely for Field; Harrison
lights bravely for his own way about tn,
appointments TO some of the larger
offices. The Philadelphia Ledge,
challenges the denunciation, by Georg,
William Curtis and his associates
Of the president, on the ground
that he has failed to comply 5,
far with the demand OF the pol
iticians for speedy change in tn,
Philadelphia offices and ii Is tru,
that in many cases the president has sci
his face against the politicians and in
sisted upon making no change until tn,
completion of the period of the incum
bents commission. But this only makes
more apparent and strange the lbert,
which he gives to his subordinates Il
make wholesale charges to satisfy the
politicians demand. The policy tha,
holds back the removal in the one lin,
Of appointments ought TO control the ad
ministration throughout and il is mo-
seemly that the presidents S subordinate
should be permitted by him TO spit upol
his policy nor would they be IL he wa,
above the fear Of the missiles of the poll
ticians as he would have us think him
The Open Air.
This Is the time to accumulate healtl