Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-04-23
THE CIVIL SERVICE LAW.
MIR. Lodge Defends 1t from the Charge
That 1t Is Un-American.

After The STARS report of the House pro-
seedlings closed yesterday Mr. Lodge made a
1efense OF the civil service principle in reply
to attacks by Mr.. Spinola, Mr.. Grosvenor and
others who attack the reform humbug and
un-American- what is really un-American
and unrepublican,'' he said, ''are the favor
itsm and the nepotism of the patronage sys-
tenn, which must be destroyed by some such
means as this law if by no other way. l think il
Is un-American to see misrepresentation of the
American people hunting up and down the
corridors of the departments to obtain an Office
for some friend. But they are obliged to do it.
We are Obliged to do it one and all without ex-
ception. Gentlemen under the patronage sys-
tenn are compelled 10 take care of the interests
of their constituents and to see that they have
at least fair chance. They cannot avoid il If
they would 1t is this which is not American,
nor anything else that is respectable decent
or manly, this practice which compes the
great officers OF the government to give hours
and days when a new administration comes in
to personal appeals and political appeals and
everything OF that sort. and which makes Sem
ators and Representatives wait hour after hour
In the hope of picking up a clerkship or mes
sengershlp for somebody.
NOTHING AMERICAN ABOUT IT.
''Mr Chairman. the patronage and spoils
system Is an un-American system. II is a sys-
TEN that was practIced by Sir Robert Walpole
$50 years ago and carried by him to the high
est point of perfection. 1t was the system by
which the French monarchy sucked the life
blood of the people of France. There is moth
ing American about it. There is nothing
American or republican IN a thing which is all
favOrltism and personal influence. What is
American IS fair play and an open field L do
not mean to say that the system that we have
substituted is perfect / have no doubt it has
many lmperfections-mostt things have But it
Is infinitely better. in my opinion, than the sys-
tenn which 1T has replaced. We hear in private
on every side complaints from gentlemen who
belong to the party in power of the way in
which their time Is taken up and of the quar-
rels with which their districts are filed on &C
count of the distribution of Offices Patronage
never benefited any man or any party. AS l
said IN the last Congress-. your side of the
House had the patronage in the last election
and there is no evidence that it helped you
very much. We had 1t in the election before.
There Is no evidence that it helped us then.
We have had il since the last election How
much has it helped Us since that time? Laugh
ter We have been distributing the patronage
OF office with a free hand. How much good has
1t done US?
WHERE THE HUMBCG COMES IN.
talk about humbug and fraud will tell you.
Mr.. Chairman, where the humbug and fraud
come in. They come in in the party conven-
tons which meet and resolve one thing mean
ing another. Gentlemen go there and never
lift their voices against those fair-seeming reso-
buttons; they do not strike them down in the
party conventions or protest against them then
and there like honest men, They take them
to the people of the United States to build
upon and to ask votes upon. because thew
know that down at the bottom the masses of
the people, without going into any great detail
as TO now 1t Is done, approve civil service
form and dislike these revolutions in Office
They know that the people dislike to have the
offices made the spoil of party victory.
The people are not greedy for changes in
ONCE, and the clamor IN your ears Is that of
the Few and not OF the many. So go out of
our party conventions and we make promises
all of Us do, upon both sides. on the stump
and We compare each others party records as
has been done here today and say to each
other, You are not good reformer.' Gen.
temen do all that for effect in public, and then
go around IN private and say that civil service
reform Is a humbug and sham. Laughter
think, MIR. Chairman. that the humbug and
the sham lie back in the party conventions
which pass these resolutions unless they mean
them and intend to stand by them. 1 accepted
nv party Platform in good faith. accented
that pledge about the civil service law as did
Others. l do not think it is a sham or a fraud
for party to undertake to uphold that which
1t has sOlemnly pledged itself to uphold lap
plause
BOTH CLEVELAND AND HARRISON.
''Mr. Chairman, the President of the United
States in his message asked increased appro-
priations for the purpose of carrying out the
civil service law. The gentleman who has
stood twice at the head of the democratic
ticket their candidate for the presidency
said in speech in Boston not three months
ago that in his Judgment the civil service law
was all that stood between the civil service of
the government and political degradation
Those are the opinions of the two leaders OF
the two great parties. The platforms OF those
parties are before you. The fair and honest
thing to do is not to stand here and bicker AS
TO who has lived nearest TO the law. but to try
and make that law better If possible to try
ami put these Offices ON some better footing
upon something more American than a system
OF back -stalrs influence and political intrigue.
'One other point. The argument is made
over and over again with reference to what is
done with the Offices which are not under the
law but which are filed by patronage as if
that had anything to do with civil service re-
form 1t has nothing in the world to do with
II. As to the offices that are filled by political
patronage, whether their occupants are turned
out and men of different political faith take
their places III one year or in three years makes
no difference 1t Is going to be done on a
change OF parties. We all know it is going to
be done. You did il. We have done It. You
cannot help II nor can We. for we are bound
hand and foot by vicious system. The only
Way Is TO take offices and by law put them out
OF the reach OF patronage. When you talk
about the people who are excluded from Office
three OF the list of eligIbles reaches appoint
ment. Now compare that with the old method
Before the railway mail service went under
the civil service law i had sixty applicants
from my district for clerkships. Neither nor
any other Congressman could have got over five
OF those places. That is one ia twelve The
number OF people who get office does not depend
on the method by which they are selected Ii
depends on the proportion between the num-
Der of places and the number of applicants.
With the law you reduce some hat the number
of applicants. With patronage you multiply
them. Under the law you cause less of the
waiting than maketh the heart sick. You are
fairer at least to the people who come here
seeking offices, and You have a system which
whatever may be its defects is, in my judg-
ment, more manly, more honest, more respect
able and more American than hanging about
and begging for offices personal favor from
those who for the moment are supposed to hold
them IN their gift" lApplause.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD.