Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1897-12-29
ABOUT CIVIL SERVICE.

ABOUT CIVIL SERVICE.
 The opponents of the civil service law are designated as "spoilsmen" by the advocates of that relic of monarchical government, which has been engrafted on our system of government. The abrogation of civil service does not necessarily mean the introduction of any system otspoils, but it means the introduc- ton of a system whereby merit may be rewarded.
 It means the doing away of sys- tenn whereby tenure of office is provided to employees when once they secure positions, regardless of whether the duties are well performed ornot.
 It means that when a political party is successful at the polls that the party shall have absolute con trel of the administration of gov ernmental affairs, and that its ef- forts to give good government shall not be undermined and weakened by horde of employees who are not in political accord with it.
 It means that a man must merit bis retention in office by good and efficient service.
 It means, in a word, to return to good, common sense and practical business principles, in the admins tration of public affairs.
 Greater evils have crept into the affairs of the government under the so called civil service system than eyer prevailed under the former system, and one of the greatest of all evils was the attempt of Grover Cleveland to throw a cloak of pro lection around about 10000 of the appointees under his administration. This remarkable edict of the ex- president, however, was knocked out completely recently by judicial decision in the United States court at Fort Smith, Arkansas.
 The case was entitled J. W. Elem ing vs. s. F. Stahl, and the decision wis rendered by Judge John H. Rogers.
 Fleming was an office deputy under ex-Marshal J. c. Crump. Stshl was appointed by President Mckinley to succeed Crump and undertook to remove Fleming, when the latter brought suit against Stahl to restrain him from making the removal, alleging that the posi- ton was placed upon the qualified service by order of President Cleve- land, and that by virtue of such order all office deputy marshals were exempt from removal for poll tical and religious convictions. and that his removal was about to be made because he was a Democrat.
 A temporary restraining order was granted by the court at the time of the filing of the bill, and up to this time Fleming and Stotts, the man appointed by Stahl to succeed him, have both been at the desk in the office.
 In the decision, the court held that it had no jurisdiction to restrain a removal upon the facts stated in the bill. In regard to the effect of the order of the president the court said:
 ''The civil service law never con- tamPlated that the president or the commission or both could make any rule or regulation that could have the force and effect of law. The president may make rules and regu- lations administrative in their na- ture, which would govern the policy of the administration, and he could enforce the same by removal of any person from office who refused to abide thereby. but they could not have the force and effect of law, nor would the courts enforce them. Such rules and regulations are purely administrative, and may be altered, amended or approved by the president at any time or by his successor in office" The injunction uas dissolved and the bill dismissed.