Evening star., 1896-12-23
AGAINST CIVIL SERVICE
Yesterdays Debate IN the House Developed
Hostile Arguments.
4 Little Scene Between Mr.. walker
and Mr.. willinms Over the "Poor
White Tra.h',''of the south.

passed the bill. Mt Bakers proposed
amendment, which was published in The
Star yesterday, was defeated.
In the course of the debate, Mr. Walker
(Mass.) said:
Now with reference to all the evidence
that has been presented to this House Of
the viola ton of the civil service rules by
the preceding administration TO the pres
ent, and by the administration which pre-
ceded that, 1 have to say tina. such evi-
dence simply justifies the policy of our ad-
herring to the civil service rules.
"And / wish to call the attention of the
House and the country to this further
fact, that when you depart from sys-
TEN that is confessedly wrong in order to
adopt a system that Is confessedly right
you will rave conclusive evidence to JUS
tffy the departure from the wrong system
and the adoption of the right system in the
continuance of the spirit of the old, de-
bauched and condemned SYSTEM exhibited
in the violation of the spirit of the new
and reformed system, while conforming
to it's letter. Is there man on this floor
at this moment who will not say that 1
have accurately delineated what always
happens in passing from bad practices to
the good in the weakness of human ma
ture?
An Illustration.
II want to say, secondly, that this spoils
system, this turning of men out of their
employment because of their political he
lief, is more contemplate and barbarous
and wicked almost than actual war. We
have had little illustration of that down
in Pensacola, where the government pro-
posed to establish. and did establish, a
navy yard; and for that purpose a few
hundred mechanics We're taken down there.
But less and less appropriations were
| made, until finally the yard was disc ontin-
ued And the descendants of those peo-
pie, with the lethargy and inertia of human
nature in pulling up and breaking off old
| relations and establishing new, have been
SO far unable to adjust themselves to their
surroundings, until the children and grand
children of those first-claSS mechanics have
gone back nearly to the ignorance of what
were called poor white trash of the south
before the war.
Il want to say Mr.. Chairman, to this
House and the country that the principle
of civil service the merit rule enters into
and is the controlling principle in every
we'll reg ulated factory in the United States.
There is no employer in this country within
| my knowledge who allows man to be dis
missed from his employment unless for
cause-even though he may have become
disabled by old age in many cases.
81 think there is nothing that ! know of
more pernicious in the government of this
country than the influence of congressman
upon appointments of every name and ma
ture Why. sir, when man Is dismissed
litical opinions, man with wife and chill
dren about him. and perhaps an aged
mother dependent upon him-hiS depend
entS, perhaps, in ill health-it is a heart
| rending spectacle, whether the man be
democrat or republican. 1t is damnable.
You cannot use any language that is strong
enough to characterize such conduct.
"Poor White TRASH
Mr. Walkers reference to the poor white
trash of the south brought Mr.. Williams
of Mississippi to his feet. who said:
Il want to note single observation
which fell, accidentally, 1 hope, from the
| lips of the gentleman from Massachusetts,
who has just taken his seat. He mentioned
| in very pathetic manner an instance of
the exodus of some worthy mechanics from
New England, who went somewhere down
| to Florida. think, and in the lapse of time
poor white trash,'' among whom they
| found themselves l had hoped, sir. that,
whether consciously or unconsciously,
these thoughts, of which the remark of the
conscious reflection, had passed entirely
out of the public mind in this country. and
| that these little sectional filings and in
nuendoes had for all time ceased to be
| bantered about between U.S.
Il might say in response to the gentle
man from Massachusetts that the phrase
| he uses, poor white trash is never used
in the south except by the negroes or novel
II
| has said. that If the mechanics Of New
| England whom he mentioned fell to the
! level of the people among whom they had
| come, 1t violated my observation of the fact
| that they are already at or below that level
| before they leave New England.
Clay. jackson and Lincoln.
| Il rose. Mr. Chairman. principally be-
cause it struck me that that remark of the
| gentleman ought to be noticed, and also to
remind the gentleman from Massachusetts
| of the fact, which know to be fact that
| this class Of poor people in the south to
| whom he refers as poor white trash are
| the most magnificent raw material Gut OF
which to make superb manhood and wo-
| manhood that exists today anywhere on
| the face of the globe.
| Il would remind the gentleman and the
| committee that the only Americanism to.
day in tho United States. pure and un-
| mixed. is to be found in the south. 1 would
remind him that from the poor white
| trash, If he will SO designate 'them and
| from among the poorest and 'trashiest' OF
| them. sprang such men as Henry Clay and
| Andrew Jackson, and also that there has
sprung from that very type Abraham Lin
| coin himself. 1 would remind him that
! from the very class of these poor white
| trash OF the south Lincoln got his magnifi-
| cent courage, his magnificent sense of hu-
NOR and sympathy with humanity, and all
| that made him an American, and not mere
| ~ western man, or an eastern man, or
| d southern man. Inc very bone OF his
| bone and the sinew Of his sinew, the blood
| that was in him. was of the south; and II
| was to the poor white trash Of the south
that he owed character as well as his or
| igin."
| Mr.. Walker of Observation-Disclosures
could be more unjust to me than the re-
| marks of the gentleman from Mississippi
! Mr.. Williams-"I do not want to be un-
| just to the gentleman from Massachusetts,
l said In the beginning that the expression
| dropped. perhaps. unconsciously from his
| lips"
| Mr.. Wafker-"Not at all"
| School Book Question.
Mr.. Williams-"But whatever may be the
feelings fthe people Of New England.
whether they speak them openly or indulge
| them unconsciously, the language CT the
gentleman from Massachusetts was doubt
less an expression of habitual thought
Now. my friends, upon the question which
| is before the House I have only this to
| say: Is there man in my presence who.
| put In charge Of great commercial or
| manufacturing business, would for one mo-
| ment. as man of common sense. under
! take to conduct 1t upon a system Of cCm-
| petitive book examinations?
| There Is system of civil service which
| Is right and which ought to be put in oper-
alton. The emDlOyeS of the government