St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-05-31
A PROGRESSING REFORM.

not gully, Tor the theory deserted him;
he was not the deSerter.
A PROGRESSING REFORM.
Were any one. wishing to learn of the
workings of our government by parties.
to confine his reading to the papers just
now in opposition to the administration
and reject his own observations, he
would be led to think that the only
party that favors a policy which makes
the civil servants of the government
liable to discharge for partisan reasons
solely is the party now in power, and
that the only one fayoring the merit
system is the party which. to borrow
the expression of one of its organs,
recently retired from power"
If ne were to neglect the papers and
trust to his own observations he would
find that the n party is no better nor
worse than the other, and that each has
Its warm adherents of the spoils system
and the earnest supporters of the merit
system in about equal quantities. He
would find about the same number of
hypocriteS in each who are very eager
advocates of the merit system when the
other party is in control and very lndif.
ferent to it when it is out of power. He
would find that among the practical
politicians of both parties the system is
held in supreme contempt; and, as this
class usually dominates conventions
and nominations, and generally runs the
governmental machine, he would come
from a comparison of the conditions of
the service now with those of twenty
years ago with surprise that a cause So
unpopular among the politicians should
have made such progress and achieved
so solid a foundation.
AS he compared the growth of the
reform under the alternating admins
trations of each party, he would read
with establishment the audacious state
ments of the press of the party now in
opposition and wonder at their reckless
denial of patent facts and their equally
reckless assertion Of palpable u%ntruths,
and he might wonder if the readers of
those papers were really the gullibIe
innocents their editors appear to assume
they are. When, as all instance, these
editors point with scornful finger to the
action of a majority of the Democratic
representatives i'll committee OF the
whole, striking out of the appropriation
bill the money Tor the support of the
civil service commissioner action re-
versed the next day when the bill was re-
ported to the hOuse-when this is pointed
to as proof positive that the Democrats
are the bitter enemies of the reform,
this observer might wonder that they
make no mention that a Republican
house in the early days Of the movement
exhibited its zeal for the reform by not
only striking the appropriation from the
bill in committee of the whole. where
no record is made of the vote, but re-
peated the action when the bill was
reported back to the house.
But this impartial observer will make
note of one step in advance taken by
this administration, which is the more
commendable because it is not in obedi-
ence to any law, but is the voluntary
act of the administration. In the post
Office department, prior to the first ad-
ministration of President Cleveland,
even the four years for which postmas-
tiers above the third grade were com.
missIoned did not secure them in the
enjoyment Of their office for the term,
but they were removed at pleasure. In
that administration the precedent of
| permitting a full term tenure was so
firmly established that it was quite gen.
orally recognized and followed by Pres
ident Harrison. Under both admins
trations the postmasters of the fourth
class were swept from office ruthlessly,
and the assistant postmaster general
under each administration earned the
plaudits of his fellow partisans and the
maledictions of his opponents by the
rapid and deXterous manner in which
he welded his headsman'S ak.
Under the present administration the
rule of a four-year term has been ex-
tended to the fourth-class postmasters
by the voluntary action of the postmas-
ter general, and the smaller officer is
now just as secure in his Office for that
period as If he were formally commits
stoned for the term. Even in those
cases where after the election of 1892
a fourth-class Office had been raised TO
the presidential grade and the incum-
benz commissioned for four years, thus
giving Hiui Iho oIiiCo ioI lIoIu SIX TO
eight years, the postmaster general de-
cides that no change shall be made un-
til the new commission expires.
And this candid observer of condi-
tons as they are, and not as they are
represented by a partisan press to be,
will note that, aside from the one per.
son who is Xlo to serve his fellows
as their postmaster, and, quite incident
ally, enjoy the honors and emoluments
attached thereto. who. with a few SYM
pathizing friends. is very sure that the
party will so to pieces if he is not ap-
pointed. there is on the part of the
] community a general acQuiescsnce in