Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-02-19
ReSentS His Removal.
Edgerton Makes Public His Let.
ter to Cleveland.
A DECIDEDLY TART DELIvERANCE

leagues.
WASHINGTON CITY, Feb 19.-Judge Ed
serton, lately removed from the position Of
civil service commissioner, has addressed an
open letter to President Cleveland, in which
he criticises the president severely for this
action, impugns his motives in making the
removal, and accuses the president, by not re-
moving bin before the election, Of playing
false with the Mugwumps to enable you to
win with the Democrats"
Judge Edgerton, In opening his letter, says:
81 was indebted to you for the only appoint
i've office ever held. You now declare by
your action that you regret the appointment.
l, with right, can say that l. regret the accept
ance. Your regret was never made known
to me by you in any word or utterance or
action until now, at the close of your admin
istration, and on the day before my removal
If you had any Just or unjust cause
OF complaint against me you had not
before that time made it known to
me. You have never asked from me
any explanation Of newspaper or other
statements and charges rejecting upon me
which may have come to your knowledge II
any of these were ever made known to you,
such knowledge was withheld from me. No
intimation was ever made to me by you, or
by any one acting for you, that my opinions
or actions were not approved by you. GER
tainly could not be expected to make inquiry
OF you concerning charges, or of your opin-
ions which were never disclosed to me. OF
course, If you believed me unfit for the posi-
ton 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 1t would almost seem as if you
we're willing to play false with the Mug.
wumps to enable you to win with the Demo-
Gratis
And here permit the to define the term
'Mugwump,' as referring to GLASS of politi.
cal retormers who have the spirit of re-
formation without the common sense and
good Judgment TO reform; as reforms are
not effected by unjust personal denunciation,
but by reason. The result Of the election
placed you in dilemma from which few peo
pie would have known how to extricate
themselves You found a man on your
bands whom tue Mugwumps had declared
war upon, as an enemy to their civil service
reform theories, and your plan of becoming
their representative In the future would be
weakened or defeated If some assurance of
your fidelity to their cause could not be Sc
cured. Accordingly it appears that you de-
cided upon the removal OF the head of the
commission; and dseming Mr.. Thompson a
good enough Mugwump for them, you, there
fore, demanded my resignation that YOU
might appoint him, apparently as an atone
ment for your previous inaction."
Judge Edgerton then calls the presidents
attention to the fact that ON the Esd OF july,
1888, be was good enough civil service com
missioner for the president, when the latter
Endorsed the fourth annual report of the COM
sion, and said: The path Of the civil service
reform has not at all times been pleasant or
easy. The scope and purpose of the reform
have been much misapprehsnded; and this
has not only given rise TO strong opposition,
but has led to its invocation by its friends to
compass objects not IN the least related TO il, {"
and the judge asks: Did then hold such a
relation to the commission as TO be included
in your commepdatiun7 Or did l then hold a
relation to 1t which justified my removals If
included In the commendation, what has since
transpired to justify removals
Mr.. President, with due courtesy to the
high Office you hold, allow me to say that
you are a very peculiar man; positive man,
positively wrong or positively right, and,
therefore, an unsafe man to trust; and that
element In your character, l believe, led to
your defeat"
Judge Edgerton then observes that the
president was "credulous enough" to be-
Geve he was elected president by the Mug
wumps and, therefore, permitted them to
mnlign his real friends and fiatter him into
policy which led to defeat; that as result of
not permitting his real friends to admonish
him with freedom and confidence. he suffered
for want of friends; and the presidents
wrecked and wretched greatness, /" be saws,
has discovered that there 1. no true success
10 life without the power and blessing of
friendship. Judge Edgerton then asserts
that having sworn to do so, 1t had been his
constant effort to support the civil service
law; but he did not swear to support Mug
wump Interpretation of It, based on the mon
strous assumption that the commission was
independent Of law Referring to his inter
view with the president, when the latter re-
quested him to resign, the ex-civil service
commissioner says:
When, on the sth day of February, you
requested my resignation, you expressly de-
clared that you had no other reason than that
1t would enable you to nominate Mr.. Thomp-
SUI lOi cOiuLuIsSIOiicI, WIZ, WITHOUT my
resignation, would have no prospect Of con-
frmation by the senate. Among the many
newspaper charges against me, handed to
you The Chicago Tribune of the l4th Of
December, which stated, among other things.
that for several months you had contem.
plated my removal After reading the state
ment carefully, you declared the whole ar
ticle to be "a lie assuring me that you had
been, and was still, my friend; and for that
reason that II was due TO you, as a personal
favor, that should give you my resignation
to enable you, if possible to provide place
for Mr., Thompson.
"As already said, may have been wrong
in many things, but not in fidelity to the civil
service law. This was sworn to execute,
and so were you. Was it a faithful execu-
ton Of the law to appoint a commissioner
and then not TO ask him to any conference or
consultation concerning Its businessi By
whose advice, through whose action, were
you led to believe that this was justs You
must not land presume you do not claim
any immunity from censure; neither can you
be Indifferent to it, even from members OF
your own party, to whom your indifference
is past understanding; neither must you ex-
pect that ruth and Justice viii remain in
active. You will be censured and condemned
because you put no trust in your own party,
but believed yourself to be better than your
own and greater than all parties You have
ascertained that the many were not made for
the one. II you can find ss many reasons for
removing me as the Democratic party
through an Indifference which was simply
retaliatory. had for removing you, shall be
quite willing to remain with you In the
gloom of defeat"
Commenting on the civil service law,
Judge Edgerton says: "In other and older
nations, where similar laws have come into
force, their adoption has only been effected
after great lapse of time, through expert.
ence and patient elaboration. Any attempt
TO expan it per saltuIn in this country, so as