The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-04-13
ATTACKS ON THE CIVIL SERVICE

In adopting a resolution favor1ng the
annulment of the civil service regula-
tons adopted by President Cleveland,
it is safe to say that the Shawnee Coun-
ty Republican club does not voice the
sentiment of the people of Topeka, Of
Shawnee county, of the state of Kan
sas, or of the country al large. The
very suspicion of an intention to med
die with the civil service as established.
which appeared in the Chicago plat
form doubtless cost Mr.. Bryan many
thousands of votes.
It is yet fresh in the memory of the
citizens of Topeka that a sweeping dis
charge of the postofhce employees in
this city and the filing of their places
with others for partisan reasons raised
such storm as to cause the author of
such action to lose his place.
The whole people regardless of party
affiliations are taxed to pay the expen-
ses of the public service and they do
not regard that service as being for
the especial benefit of any political
party. 1t is noticeable that any outcry
against the civil service proceeds either
from those who are seeking office or
from those who have friends who are
seeking office. The great mass of the
people is satisfied with things the way
l4lGy al < anu W ant no Change uIllGSS II
be a further extension of the scope of
the regulations. They want the best
service that can be obtained for the
money and realize the Importance of
experience and training.
There is almost unanimous opposition
to making positions in the public ser
vice rewards for party service. If the
public business is to be carried on by
and through one political party eXclu-
sively, then that party should pay for
it. So Ions as the whole people pay
for it they will not tolerate the sub
lection of it to the chances of political
revolution.
The Washington correspondent of a
Chicago newspaper is authority for the
statement that the Cleveland civil ser
vice order of last year Will be revoked
and that the new administration will
start in with the service in the precise
condition in which President Harrison
left it.
Mr.. Mckinley. the correspondent says,
lis as good a civil service reformer as
Mr.. Cleveland was. There are plenty
of indications that he has the courage
to winnow the wheat from the chaf
and put the civil system upon a more
business-lilIe basis"
This move for the destruction of
President Cleveland's work will take
the form of a bill from congress re
storing" the service to its condition in
1892. such a measure, 1.-THE writer tells
us, president Mckinley would doubt
less approve
The friends and admirers of the pres
ident will be slow to believe that he
will do anything of the kind. 1t would
be distinctively a step backward; a re-
turn to the darkest days of the spOils
system. Mr.. Cleveland encountered the
same hungry clamor for place that now
surrounds Mr.. Mckinley, and he not
only upheld the law as it was but ex-
tended its scope greatly.
Any weakness in this matter on the
part of the president will not only prove
disastrous to his own future but to
that of his party also. The people of
the United States never progress back
wards, even though asked to do SO by
political clubs or the most persistent
office seekers