The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-12-27
Enensss Of Reform.

Enemies Of Reform.
The Interest end most unreasonable
partisan " the man who. having de-
tsFmined that he will occupy an inds-
pendsrt position. bsconhss thereafter
the aervile creature Of his personal
and whims. Real inde-
which means tina courage to
choose ne hight under strong convic-
tScn, against the pressure Of friends or
associates, IL . high and admirable
trait Il = the vindicatlon OF con-
science. It - q security against the
careiessness or blind obedience to tradi-
tion ana command that leads to abuse.
But Independence Of this sort is indi-
viduaI ana occasional. It needs to Be.
because It Is I protest against sorne-
thing In particular: . bad man. . bad
measure. q particular form Of policy.
whom It goes farther. rejects commun.
ity Of action ana sets up the standard
Of any man, however wise or we'll
meaning. as superior to the collective
opinion Of the people. In the mass ana
in the long run. It loses its fine quality
and detsrioeates rapidly into mars
queruicusness and pride Of personal
opinion.
The process Of degeneration has been
noticed II some OF those newspapers
that. once ably conducted and power
full to influence public opinion. are nor
little better than the mouthnleces
snsrling captiousness. They departed
from party associations in the first
place, at least most Of them did. on
issuet that involved The conscience and
conviction OF the men behind them.
While the particular issue on which
this occurred was before the people.
they remained strong and reasonably
fair. Since that time, being without
the wholesome corrective of associa-
tion with others and the give-and-take
Of party elaboration. they have be-
come little more than personal organs.
Their views are the views Of an indi-
vidual: and they sustain those views
with the violence. the heat and the I'M
fairness that ara sure to mark q purely
personal argument.
This has been, to too great an extent.
the history also of the organization
known as the National Civil Service
Reform League. It had great pur-
pose and It did an excellent work. 1t
is not today without reason for exis-
tence. But It has largely lost sight OF
Its original purpose In the determine
ton Of the men at the head of 1t to
punish and to abuse those who do not
happen to agree with them exactly In
all details Of method. At it's recent
meeting, Tor example, it's session and
the address OF Mr.. Carl Schurg were
devoted mostly to scoring the president
for his clyil service order short time
ago. Mr.. schurz happened to disagree
violently with the policy of the admin
istration during and since the war with
Spain. 1t has been his motto since
then that Mr.. Mckinley could not do
anything that was worthy of even
modest commentator. He declares,
and papers like the New York Times
and the Springfield Republican follow
him In asserting that the presidents
order was a disastrous step backward
in the reform movement
The president suffers nc. particular
injury from these people. who have lost
sight of their original purpose in their
desire to oppose the administration.
They have sunk the reformer in the
partisan. But the cause OF civil SER
vice reform has been injured by them
more than It could have suffered from
the assaults OF any enemy. 1t SO hap
pens that the presidents order has beer,
in force long enough FOR us to know
how it has worked out in practice. It
IS approved heartily BY those who are
as old in the advocacy OF reform as Mr..
schurz himself The civil service COM
mission defends IT, The st. Paul
Pioneer Press. an open critic where