The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-05-05


 been opened. Personally, l have no
 doubt of the final outcome.
 The evil to which this law is directed is a very old one, with it's roots struck
 deep in some of the most enduring traits
 of human nature. Office seeking, with
 the envy, jealousy, ambition, greed, that it is apt to arouse in the average breast, | is not a new thing in American history. A very large part of the places in the
 Federal service are now filled with the
 best men and women that competition
 can bring out and without any need for
 political influence from any source. The
 president of to-day is relieved of great deal of the pressure which tormented
 MT. Lincoln, and can at any moment if
 he have the unselfish devotion to pub
 lie duty and the indifference to party ] favor required, relieve himself still fur , ther. Along with the release of the en-
 ergies and time of the appointing offi-
 cers for more important and more
 worthy work, there have been other
 gains of much value. For one thing,
 the sectional feeling in the southern
 states has been decidedly appeased and 1 dissipated During the last republican
 administration, that of MT. Harrison, | when Mr Roosevelt was chairman Of the civil service commission, the plan
 was adopted of holding examinations for
 entrance on the Federal service at con- | venient points in all the southern states,
 and the .congressnen from those states
 were urged to secure tlae attendance of i as many intelligent applicants as possi-
 ble. They were a little suspicious at arc of ba o1o of NIr term they were delighted a well as sur prised to find hundreds of their constit-
 uents holding securely well-paid places
 under a hostile" administration. To
 my mind that one fact has done more to strengthen the national feeling in the south, to make it's people feel that they
 are citizens of the nation equally with us all, with the same rights cordially and respectfully recognized than any
 one thing in the civil action of the gov
 ernment since the war Another gain
 has been made through the state laws
 establishing the merit system in the
 place of the spoils system, especially in
 the states of New York and Massachu-
 setts. What we call for lack of a bet
 ter name, the working class, the wage
 earners have been taught that public
 employment for them is a matter of
 equal right and not of political pull.
 That is to say, they have seen in large
 part of the city service places secured by men of their own class on the sim pie ground of their fitness to do the
 work of those places, with no need to cringe before the ward leader or to bar gain away their votes. The process is pp1U in fire ct ta hi1t tc in is already considerable and we find leaders of the trades unions heartily sustaining the merit system. It is not easy to exaggerate the good to the coun- try if the working men can be freed from the slavery to politicians which is involved in giving public employment in return for party service.
 I have said that I have faith in the final outcome of the evolution of the merit system in the civil service of the Nation. of the States and of the larger cities. I have faith also in the final evolution of sound and rational meth- ods of party action.
 Unquestionably very grave and try ing problems are to be faced in the future. and the events of the past two years have tremendously increased the burden of responsibility for the Re public and for each of its citizens in the discharge of the duties he owes to the Republic. For the first time In our history we are asked to govern others who have no direct and ade- quate voice as to their destiny What ever we think as to the wisdom Of the Iightfuiness of the acts that have brought about this state of things we must deal with 1t. Nor, I think, can 1t be denied that in dealing with it we are bound to try faithfully to do two | things: First, to govern those depend 1 ent on us unselfishly and solely in their | own interest and second, to secure to ! them at the earliest possible moment | the full possession of the right and the l means to govern themselves. This task will be harder even than the de- of self-government within our borders. It can be borne only by | the steady maintenance of that jus tlce firm and permanent" on which Jonathan Trumbull relied. If We have | the strength given US for that, we need not fear.
 I have said that l have faith in the fnan outcome of the evolution of the merit system in the civil service of the Nation, of the States, and of the larger cities. 1 have faith also in the final | evolution of sound and rational meth )ds of party action. In part this faith Is based on my study of our history and in part on my strong conviction hat in the long run and in the wide md deap currents of affairs honesty is he best policy, and that the tendency if our free self-goVeruing society is to- ward the adoption of the best Both n our party action and in the dlree-
 ion of our subordinate service, our people may say with the candid and ,anny Scot, who was asked his view If the maxim l have cited. T ken it yeel. I ken it weel I hae tried them ,aith." We have indeed tried both the honest and the dishonest ways. We lave not yet fully made our choice, md it is hardly within the range of practical reasoning to say that we hall reach perfection on the better inc. But we have moved in the right Direction: We are apt to think that he days of our fathers and still more he days of our grandfathers, were 1 much purer and more virtuous than TIT own and far more so than the days f our children are likelytobe There } something in the mist of years that inns the eye to the facts about us and ,