Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-02-19
1udCe Fdgerton,s Laek OF pignity.


WASHINGTON, Feb. IS.-Judge A. P ..
Edgerton, who was recently removed
from the Office Of civil service commits
sioner has written an open letter to the
president. He says among other things:
''I was indebted to you for the only ap-
pointive Office / ever held. You
now declare by your action you regret
the appointment. ! with equal right can
say that 1 regret my acceptance. Your
regret was never made known to me by
you in any word or utterance or action
until now at the close of your administra-
ton and on the day before my
removal. Of course, if you believed me
unfit for the position or neglectful of
duty you should have removed me long
ago, but presume there were prudential
political reasons why you did not
make the removal until after
the election. In this regard it
would almost seem as If you
were willing to play false with the mug
wumps to enable you to win with the
Democrats. You found a man on your
hands whom the mugwumps had de-
clared war on as an enemy to their
civil service reform theories,
and your plan of becoming their
representative in the future would have
been weakened or defeated if some assur-
ance of your fidelity to their cause could
not be secured. Accordingly it ap-
pears you decided upon the removal of
the head of the commission and deeming
Mr.. Thompson good enough mugwump
for them you therefore demanded my
resignation that you might appoint him
apparently as an atOnement for your
previous inactiOn. Mr.. President, with
due courtesy to your Office you will
allow me to say you are
very peculiar man, positive man, posi-
lively wrong or positively right, and
therefore an unsafe man to trust, and
that element in your character l believe
led to your defeat. You are cred
ulous enough to believe you were elected
president by the mugwumps and there
fore you permitted them to malign your
real friends and to fiatter you into a
policy which led to your defeat.
You are a man who would not
permit your real friends to admonish
you with freedom and confidence, and as
result you have suffered for want of
friends and your wrecked and wretched
greatness has discovered that there
is not true success in life with
out the power and blessing Of friendship.
You believed your will and the power to
enforce it was above all powers, but the
will of the people, expressed III a con-
stitutional way, has taught you there
was a wiser and better way than
that chosen by you. If you
can find as many reasons for removing me
as the Democratic party through an in
difference, which was simply retaliatOry,
had for removing you, shall be quite
willing to remain with you in the gloom
of defeat.
The judge proceeds to give his under
standing of the civil service law and con-
tinues: "You caused to be placed on
the congressional record this announce
ment of nomination by you to be con-
firmed by the United States senate Hugh
s. Thompson, South Carolina, to be
United States civil service commissioner
III place of Alfred .Edgerton removed.
1 do not ask you to give any
reasons for this act. 1 know, and
so do you, that the only one you could
give would be that it was your will, for
if you atteml ted to give any other your
own previous words would prove it to be
untrue. IL my interview with you before
removal you expressly dsclaimed
having my reasons for it except my re-
fusal to resign TO enable you to make Mr..
Thompson 5 nomination. Removed -
Is Il worn Oh "IuE-I6dCDlIS potency
especially when the record does
not explain. 1 am conscious of this, and
deeply panied by the consciousness.
But l know n case of removal which
must become an important part of the
history of the country. 1 was on the
floor of the house of representatives dur
ing the time the votes of the electoral
college were counted and heard
the announcement of the re-
suit that Benjamin Harrison was
duly elected president of the United
States, but the words that burned deep
through the empty boxes of the admins
tration could not be officially added
though known to be true, sin place of
Grover Cleveland, removed. 80
Judge Edgerton attributes Mr.. Cleve-
land 5 defeat to his disregard OF the
opinion and advice of the most eminent
men Of his party and to his political in
gratitude.