The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-20
HOW CONGRESS
WOULD CONTROL
Under the Best of Considerations the Spoils
System Would flake Itself Felt as 1t
Does Now in the Census
Library of Congress a Not
able Example of the Work
ings of the System.

Special to the Globe.
| WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.-Whatever
may be the merits of the national
university project, in behalf of which
a convention has just completed a
| three days session in this city, it must
be acknowledged that at this time in
particular certain forces in the political
world would naturally tend to discour-
| age it's promoters. If the government
is to undertake more things, it is espe
cially important to know that 1t will
do them right. Between the sDoilS
system and the merit system the differ
ence in economy and morals is so ele-
mental as to need no comment And
yet so much as we have of the merit
system in letter and in spirit is in
this session of congress encountering
| almost life and death struggle. One
of the, great political parties, which
polled slightly less than so per cent
of the popular vote at the last cleo
ton, had an attack upon the merit
system as one of the prominent planks
of its platform. Nearly seventy-five
of the Republican members of the
house attended a caucus a few even
|
modifying" the existing civil service
system so that there would be more
pie" to go around. 1t is very likely
that a disagreement between these
two sets of enemies of civil service re-
form-the silver Democrats processing
to be unwilling to vote for anything
short of the repeal, and the Republican
spoilsmen daring to go only to the
extent of modification of the present
laws-will result in saving the law as
it is for the present congress and ad-
ministration. But so long as the spoils
system comes so near to clutching the
offices Of the government as it's own, it
is hardly encouraging to think of put
ting at its disposal the staff of a great
university, all the way from professors
in philosophy down to coal shoveIers in
the furnace room.
Another problem now before congress
which discredits the ability of the gov
ernment to run a university is that of
the census. This is great intellectual
and scientific undertaking. not entirely
different in scope from the manage
ment of a university. A federal census
costs every ten years sum as great
as the entire permanent investment
properties of Harvard university are
worth. The United States has appar-
emily reached that stage of progress in
government when it can conduct this
work intelligently. 1t is generally
agreed that the bill for the census
which is likely finally to prevail will be
one putting $25,000 worth of patronage
into the hands of every influential con-
gresham of the party in power who
desires to make use of it. AT the same
time the best statisticians in the coun-
try are united in saying that no intel
ligent census, worthy the name, can be
taken on this basis. There Is perfect
agreement that the taxpayers will have
| to pay several million dollars more to
get from it worthless or semi-worth-
| less results. Many conservative per-
sons are asking what guarantee there
| is that the national university would
be run more intelligently than the CEN
| sus or other similar undertakings :?
OF course, a multitude of answers to
this question will at once appear A
| national university would have no such
| amount of patronage as census bu-
reau; it would be managed by board
of trustees or regents, on life tenure,
who would be appointed with as much
! care as justices of the supreme court.
But it has not yet been proved that an
| increase in machinery eliminates the
troublesome characteristics of human
nature There have been unpleasant
| stories III cOIHGCllOu Will oppOlilI-
ments, even to the bench. Somebody
! will have to make all these appoint
ments, and can it be taken for granted
! that William ]. Bryan, for instance,
would appoint for regents of the uni
versity an entirely safe class of men?
If objection is made to comparing the
university to the census, how about
the library of congress? That is an
| institution which in it's magnificent
new home would seem to rise above the
| dust and smoke of politics, and yet this
| has not been wholly the case. Mr..
Young. the new head of the library, is
an accomplished gentleman, but he is
not a librarian, and was not appoint
ed because of any special training for
that work. Some of the applicants for
positions in the library who have pre-
sented the best evidence of special fit
ness have been frankly told that they
could not be considered because they
did not have enough political influence;
| and this at time when the library Is
| known to be crippled in it's force be-
cause so very few of its clerical staff
have had the necessary preparation for
their work If the United States gov
ernment would only conduct this great
library in such way as to be model,
the argument for national university
would be much strengthened.
Manv people believe that the advo-
Gates of the university have not yet
satisfactorily explained how they are
going to keep politics out of such an
institution. Suppose, for instance. that
its department of political economy
should take the same view Of the
money question as the great privately
endowed universities of the land, and
that congress should fall into the hands
Of the free silverites. The senate is
today in that condition, and the next
house may be. Would not free silver
congress at once order an 'fnvestiga-
tom of the teachings of the university
and make it very unpleasant for self
respecting professors to remain there?
The state universities in Kansas and
other Western states have suffered
tremendously from the inroads of poll
tics, and, unless we are sure that the
United States government is to remain
in the hands of the conservative and
intelligent classes of the country, it is
not safe to predict that national uni
versity would not presently suffer from
the same evil. The United States SEN