The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-06-08
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
MORALITY OF THIS MOVEMENT
DISCUSSED.

A. Interesting Paper In fhe Nirg'"'"
seminary Magazine nv Mr. L. NJ "'"'"
Objections to the >,s'e" OF -"
tronagc.
Mr. l. NJ. Blackford contributes the toi
lowing paper to the June nunocr " '"o
virginia Seminary Magazine;
Credit for the first systematic effort TO
cnl;s, the moral and religious sense OF the
country in behalf Of civil service reform be-
,ongs 70 MIR. Herbert welsh, of Philadelphia.
rayly Iasi summer a request was sent oui
nv that gentleman. acting with the iui'
countenapce Of MI. George VIM. GURUS
and other eminent rcformers, 10 an i''"'s
tors Of religion in the United N'''Vs ~
nrcach ON Thanksgiving Day, or ~ sun
other suitable time, on that su'9cct, ~.
appeal was accompanied IN cacn ''eV -
select printed documents. ana mus ,"a"'
the occasion Of spreading among i"'S'
and influential class valuable iniorihalioh'
which whether at once utilized OF
mo, was likely to DE carefully considered
The project was warmly approved Nv iCdu'
ING diyincs Of all Protestant bodies, lhciuu
ing tweniy-eight bishops OF the Episcopal
Church. and several hundred sermons "cr'
nreachcd more or less directly III resPohS,
10 the circular. With such precedent ana
suggestion, TO say nothing OF inat alo'u,u
by the address of Bishop IolVsr W,
Washington centennial in New YORK last
.snriny-which has now become hlstorlcai
no analogy seems necessary for Offering 10
the readers Of a Church magazine some rea-
sons why the support of civil service reform
il incumbent upon the m0rallst ana Tue
Christian.
The civil service Of the country may be
roughly defined as comprising all PERSONS
not in army or navy, appointed 10 ordinary
cmplOymcnt under Federal, Stale OF mum
cipal control. In the present paper Inc
Federal service only will he spoken o.
though of course remarks generally appH-
cable 10 this hold good as 10 the Others
While the mower Of removal belonged from
the first 10 the President, appointments,
except % cabinet and diplomatic posiuohs'
ms late as 1920 were made for lie or during
good behavior. Then the tour-year tenure
was introduced, aNOwedly, II not really, 10
compel a more systematic closing of ac-
counts on the part Of disburslng officers;
hut not until the accession OF President
Jackson. in 1929. was the pernicious doc
trine-"ro the Victors belong the spolls
actively promulgated. Previous 10 this
time removals from any but strictly
politicai places had been almost
unknown-lcss than hundred IN
forty years-and always for cause. -
foreign. indeed, % the original intent ana
nurnose of the trainers of the constitution.
was the causecss exercise Of the right OF /
removal, that no less an authority thanJamcs
Madison, shortly before the close OF the last
century, declared i'm his place in the House
OF REPRESENTATIVES that the wanton dlsmls-
sal by the President of a worthy incumbent
of office would constitute ground for I'M
parchment. He. mt least, was OF the same
mind as luclus Il. swift, OF Indiana, when
he said year before last: The President
has the power under the constitution TO turn
every Federal place holder out, but he has
no more right 10 exercise that power than
he has 10 pardon every Federal criminal
out of prison He has no right under the
constitution TO use the places as party
spols."
EMINENT ENCOUNTERS.
Not only does the language OF the consti-
tuition and the opinion of its most emf
nent cXpounders sustain this view. but II
is borne out bv necessary implication.
Hamilton in the Fcderalist says OF the
President: ale will on this account feel
himself under the strongest obligation and
more interested to investigate with care the
qualities requisite TO the stations to be
filled, and N prefer with imparliality the
persons who may have the fairest prctcn-
sions 10 them" This he might have done.
personally. even under the system more re-
Gently in vogue. in the early years OF the
Republic, because the offices were 80 few
Now that they exceed 100000. 10 il "A ply 81
cal impossIblity. and must have been fore
seen 10 be so. BY implication. therefore, II
could never have been intended; and
nothing could have been intended but the
filling Of vacancies arising from cause. A.
IL il, we have for many years seen, as ne
ccssary incident of the spOils system, our
chief executive not only TO a large extent
demitting one Of the most important of the
duties of his exalted pOsition-the appoint
inc power-tO Senators, Representatives
and other bosses. including even defeated
candidates for Congress, but himself deNOt-
ing far the greater part of the time that be-
longs to the whole of great people TO the
wretched business Of auditing claims
from one party 10 offices which in many
cases are already satisfactorily filled, and
under reform principles would not be va
cant and so not applied for.
Since 1879 the spols system has grown
and spread to proportions hitherto unknown
in any country. 1T has been adopted 10y
both political parties, and until the passage
of the Pendleton law in 1888 had been Nir-
tualiy unchecked. Scarce one voter in a
hundred to-day knows of any other way of
filling offices, or at all realizes the essen
tlHllN NltlpuN tfluIdflfI vi Nut iuDut u
which he has been accustomed, and yet no
intelligent and rejecting man fails to re-
cognize in it one Of the greatest perls to
our free institutions, if not TO the actual eX-
istence Of the government.
THE sPOILsMAN's THEORY.
The theory Of the spokesman is unforttl-
nateiy too familiar TO every reader to need
careful exposition here. 1t is, simply, that
q OIL. MIN hot HOY
belong 10 the party whose candidate gets
the majority of the electoral vote for Presi-
dent, exactly a. the property OF an enemy
yanquished in war belongs 10 the conquerOr;
and that, while fitness should not be wholly
ignored, they are to be parceled out 10
those who have deserved best of the victorl-
GUS side. ats spirit is reflected in a speech
Of Senator Payne, Of Ohio, on the eve of
Cleveland's inauguration, when he pro
posed a radical oyerhauling and purgng OF
the existing service, turning on the
hose. 10 use his savory language, plying the
hickory and scrub-brush, and allowing only
Democrats to enter. 1t is reflected IN the
bombast Of Senator ingalls,, of Kansas, who
declares there are thousands of men in his
State. whom he never saw, who make his
cause their own, who defend his acts and
his words, who would fight for him, who
would sacrifice rest and spend money for him
would get up at midnight and ride horse
forty miles 10 set at work influence in his
behalf. And for what is all this sublime
usefulness: The Senator tells us when he
says that he wants 10 give those men some
II the things the Republican party has
won."
THE REFORMER'S THEORY.
The theory OF the reforner, i. c., of those
who support the merit system, on the other
hand. is that the offices, so far from being
the spoils Of the party in power, are public
trusts which should he filled solely with
view 20 the interests OF the whole people:
that they exist solely for the facilitation of
public business, and, if they can be said TO
be the property Of anybody, they belong to
the whole people by whom and for whom
they were created, and by whose taxes they
are sustained. While cOnceding the proprie-
" OF change with every administration in
Cabinet officers, foreign ministers and "a few
others in confidential relations, or who dis
tinctly reflect its policy, he repudiates the
necessity, or desirableDess, OF changes be-
You'd that point. lie denies, for instance,
that the revenue can be collected, or the
mails handled, in conformity with the DOl- !