The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-12-18
The Civil Service.

"A NlbOllN year lOl DblltlS'
=
The Civil Service.
Major Carson. the wcll-inturmed
Washington correspondent of the fhlI-
aGolphia Ledger t"lcgraphs to his
paper:
The demand for modification of the
regulations by which the civil s"rvic"
was extended by President Cleveland is
80 earnest and persistent on the part ol
Republican senators and representatives,
that II is expected President Mckinney
will be- forced to revoke the orders IS
auod during the last year of Mr.. CleNc-
lands term by which the civil service
was extended over nearly every Office
that was not included prior to IN" Is
suanCc of the orders i'm question. lhor'
! is "A well founded report to tn" erect tlaI
| ave Republican senators informed 'h'
president today that unless thes" orders
were speedily revoked the Republican
| party would he thrown into state "l
| general decentralization, and that it's iu-
/ urr would bc seriously irOpardiZcd.
Among the five senators who are report
| ed to have made this communication To
/ tho president are MCSSrS. Hanna, ElklhS
| ana PritChard. Senator Hanna Is Salu 10
! hav, been very plain i'm his statement 10
! the president informing him that tn" re-
! vocation of the orders under which chiefs
/ of bureaus chief clerks priNat" Sccr"-
! tarioS. the employees of the government
! printing office. bureau of engraving ana
/ printing. skilled lHbOreis, etc, was hp-
/ ,olutoly demanded in the interest OF tn
! Republican party. and that unless IN"
| revocation was made it would be folly
to expect that the Republicans could
maintain their domination i'm congress
| or u" successful i'm the next prCSidrntlaI
! election. This course rs urged upon IN"
| president to save the Republicans from
being confronted with a moasur" IN con-
! ercss to repeal or radically modify Inc
law What inhuonc, this demand OF the
| Republican leaders will have upon tn"
president remains to he seen, but in tn"
! secret councils of the Republicans the
belief prevails that he will yield to the
clamur. and strike from TN" clasSlhei
service the several classes of officials and
employees referred TO.
How true this is We do not know,
hui il will take at least the roNoca-
tion of the Cleveland blanket extension
orders to rccOnciI" tn" Republican ma
toIity in congress to the present ciNil
sci vice law. and maybe more Those
orders. il will lc remembered. were
issued by Nj. Cleveland just before
ne retired from utliC", and Ner" for the
express purpose of fastening in rat ol-
fees a lot of 'rsonal or party pets
who haC recently climbed IN over the
prustrate bodies of decapitat"l Rcpuh-
Icans, many of them Union Veterans
against whose efficiency no syllable
was whispered. Among the bcnchciar.
les of tn" Cleveland extension orders
were dozens. yes, hundreds of cN-Con'
rcdrlatrs; and while if these men ha,
won over Union veterans in free anC
fair competition on the basis of meri
solely there would hC no cause for com
plant the fact that the tnion veteran.
we're fired out bodily to make room fo
Hnlie smiths contingent of rebel brig
adicrs and other upheaVed relics of th'
Lost Cause constitutes an lnlocrab bl'
outrage. William Mckinley may b'
able to stand it. but the Republican
party cannot; and i, can he set down
as a settled fact that these hog" or
drrs will have to go.
that matter out of the way, Their
may he an inclination among the con
sCrNatiVc element ia the party to lc
the civil service issue drop for the pres
: cnt. For some reasons This advice ap
pears wise. 1t is an unfortunate trut
that the Republican party stands $
t committed in its platform to civil ser
t lCe reform that the popular interpreta
- tiun placed unon this plank would re
ceivc g shGcli if tn" work Of refOrmin
: the so-Cdll4d reform" ware prosecute
p too vigorously. \ better plan WOul
| he a. enhGhtar public opinion as - III
/ evil FEATURES of tn" civil service la'
r. as at present understood and enforce
- in IN" government service, and rel
- uuun the puhlic's sense of fair play t
e apply in due time the necessary rem
coy. In the meantime, there need |
:, ho hesitancy whatever i'm demaudin
70 of the president that h. undo tn" Nj
Il work of his predecessor, That is Il dt
70 mand So clearly and conspicuously jus
t that ro fair-minded man will care
@ upuOsp il.