The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-06-05
The R~former Come. High.

Mayor Low took the psins TO issue a
written statement. Yesterday.
inGt that he was : glad 10 learn that Mr..
WILLIS l. OGDEN i. willing to give
his time To the work Of the CIVil Service
Commission and n accept tho salary
OF 81 OOo appertaininG to the Office.
The inference from this announce
meut and the extraordinary prominence
the Mavor gives TO Il Is tina, Mr. O DEN
has = Welded To persuasion IN taking
this wcil-paid municipal Office. That he
would yield had been made evident,
however. for some time past. News
per- which make a hobby Of civil
service reform and treat il a. a pana-
cca for all political and social Ills had
been telling us daily that tho : persua-
SION was az work; that Mr. OGDEN
was bomharded with urgent appeals
from reformers that he should rise on
the wings Of noble impulse and sacrifice
himself TO public duty at the rate Of
5000 q = We felt sure they would
prevail, for such hesitation IN the pro-
.c~slonal reforrner. we have observed.
usually yields IN the md
But 1. il good policy 10 take for the
public service a man who IL only will
ing 5 to enter into IL. who Condescends
Ia il, according to the tons and language
Of the Mayors announcement regarding
MIR OGDEN Private people. in hiring
servants, usually want those who want
the place. and are not merely = willing :
10 take them.
Mr.. OGDEN, We believe, l. q merchant,
and, very likely. a municipal salary.
though II /. among the highest in that
service, may seem TO him insignificant
paw for his time. as compared with the
money he might make by giving his
undivided attention 20 his private bust
ness. But Il that is 40 he IS not the man
for the place. and A. he is not the only
man in town who is competent for It's
relatively EASY routine. there seems TO be
no necessity for combining TO hun the
selection for ~.
Would not a man who really wants
the Office, and not merely IL wiling
10 take il, serve the public better. under
the Inspiration Of desire 10 keep the place
hv showing his desert of IL Out of
the four million IL people in the great
civ of Now York arc there no such
citizens 10 be found, men fully equal 10
Mr. OGpEN In ability, in integrity and
in intelligent public 1ral' Even out
~ the two million odd in the Manhattan
borough alone is Mr. OGDEN the only
man. the ore indispensable man Of all
Others. who u worth $1,000 a year 10
New York A. President of its Civil Ser
wee Commission
NJ. OGn,N's reputation IL known to
us only very dnrklv, bu'. II our memory
serves us right. he belong. 10 IN" little
class Of professional rcformers : who
are convinced that public virtue il a
monopoly with them, and we infer, &C.
c~urdIngiy, that II IL they who have wrung
from HIN his consent To sacrifice him.
self by serving the cty AZ 5000 a yea
These reformcrs. II must be remembered.
have expensive notions, and the munich
pal salary list - adjusted on a very
low scale, IN their estimation. vet Mr..
OGpES'S paw 10 more bv "a thousand dol
lars a year than that Of the heads If tho
Police and the Parks departments and.
surely, the ability and the integrity re-
quircd 81 these other officers cannot be
called less.
Mayor Low, as we understand, was
compelled TO usc no persuasion to make
thcae other Commissioners willing .
10 serve the city, but was rather put TO
much vexation to pick out men for the
places from among the many who wanted
them. Why j. it. then, that he is i'm
PEELED to publish formally his erulta-
ton over having induced Mr.. OGDEN