The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-01-02

recognition OF Cuba, white men have
been to The front. So far as l have OBJ
served, not a negro has tried to go there
to secure the recognition of Cuba by this
government I mentioned this to a gentle
man yesterday and he said ''That is one
reason why 1 am opposed to recognizing
Cuba. The negro has no race pride and
no willingness to die for liberty. He'd
rather live in slavery" There is food
for reflection in the indifference Of the
American negro to the struggles of his
brethren in Cuba.
There is regret all around that Senator
Hill viii shortly retire from the Senate.
This does not arise so much from admira-
tion of him as from feeling that his
spirit of tearing down obsolete customs
was helpful to the Senate and respect
for his ability He had the courage Of
his wrong doing. He has seldom been
right in his fights in the Senate, but he
has been interesting and original. He is
a strong man, capable of immense labor
and high achievements. If he had not
succumbed to the Establishments Of the
opponents of the income tax and like
enemies Of true Democracy, he would
have made strong leader. AS Governor,
the common people knew him rs their
friend. AS Senator, the great corpora
TONS and banks, and tax-dodgers, and
bond spectators nave had in him ready
champion. These two statements tell
the story of his loss Of prestige. He will
retire from the Senate, and will get big
fees from rich corporations, but his
power has gone and he will never again
be able ''to kill and make alive" as when
he controlled the Empire State. The
sceptre has passed to another and worse
man, lacking Hills intellect and vigor,
but having Hills ideas and plans Of
all those who will regret to see Hin re
tire, the pages win sorrow most of all.
He is very good to them He treats
them better than any Senator, though
he makes them work hard. Last night
he was at THE Gay Parisians" and he
took as his companion a young page Il
bright chap, in whom Hin takes much
interest. Among men, he has no init
mates. He has no wife He loves boys,
and gets close to them. Last summer ne
took one Of the brightest pages to Wool
ferris Roost with him, and got more pleas
ure out of that young chap than he would
find in the company Of the most beautiful
woman at Newport or the brightest man
Of the bright men who thronged Cham
berlin's in the life of that prince of hosts.
He loves to help a young fellow who has
bottom, and he has helped more than one
during his term in the Senate He does
not forget that he was once a struggling,
unknown youth. That is a recollection
that all big men ought to cultivate. 1t
will keep them from having the big-head,
and will broaden their sympathies.
-
There is some uneasiness among those
officers who were appointed to places not
in the Civil Service regulations, but who
were put in the protected places by Mr..
Cleyeland's order of last May. But there
seems little ground for their uneasiness.
had a talk with Mr. Doyle, the able
secretary of the Civil Service Commission.
and ne says that there is not a shadow
Of doubt that the reform will go forward
and not backward. He points out that
in its progress up to date there has been
some recession, and whenever one Presi-
dent has put position in the Civil Service
they have remained there. OF course it is
possible, under the law, for Mr.. McKfn-
ley to remove from Office all those Demo
Gratis who were put in the Civil Service
by Mr.. Cleveland, but he could not APP
point their successors. Whenever you
take away the right to appoint a mans
successor you take away the incentive
to make it necessary for him to have a
successor. In no administration have
many competent Civil Service men been
discharged. Most officials prefer to keep
a competent man of opposite politics
rather than run the gauntlet of the UNI
known and unknowable names on a
Civil Service register. Besides, the Off
cial who turns out clerk violates the
law if the clerk is efficient, and few men
are willing to do this. And so it may be
said that the efficient men, covered by
the Civil Service, are safe from removal.
The inefficient ones ought to be made to
walk the plank, but when removed their
successors must be chosen from the
Civil Service register. This makes no
places for expectant Republican party
workers, and will prove source of grief
to the G. 0. p. strikers whose only hope
of wave OF prosperity was on the billow
Of an official job. The Republicans who
are thus doomed to be disappointed next
March, win liken the Democrats to the
little fellow, who, when asked by his