The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-22

and who do not come into contact WitH government clerks of whom there are have no adequate idea of the degree of trepidation created among them by the Presidents civil service order sub jecting every one of them to dismissal without a hearing or defense. At first the order. coming so swiftly as the re- suit of a mere incident of personal an- noyance to the President on the part of a menial in one of the departments. took the breath away from the intelli- gent employees of the departments.
 They had nothing to say for many hours. They didn't know that the cause of this great executive order which flung the iron harpoon into the vitals of the law that protected them from tyranny and injustice of the pos sibiIity of the one-man power in the government was all because the driver of an automobile happened to get into the way of the Presidents carriage when he was out for an airing.
 But they were affected all the same. When they read and reread and dis cussed the order after trying to sleep over 1t, they came to the inevitable conclusion that they were one and all at the mercy of possible blackmaii. The astounding spectacle of the very man of all others who had done most for their protection under civil service. sweeping away that protection In one sentence, has caused most unhappy amazement in departmental circles.
 Hard Blow to Civil Service.
 Although none of them dares to give his name as uttering such sentiments. there is not a clerk in Washington who has opened his mouth on the sub- feet who does not say that the Presi- dent has delivered the hardest blow the civil service hAs ever suffered. And the clerks are all talking who are not deaf mutes, and that class IS unknown. They are talking great deal now that they realize that they have the unstfnted sympathy of the public which had been taught to be- lieve that Mir. Roosevelt revered noth- ing more than he did the civil service system the reformation of which as citizen and as a member of the Clvii Service Commission had enlisted Dis extremest strenuosity.
 It is recalled with vivid interest By | the old clerks in the departments that MT. Roosevelt was for a long time so jealous a champion of civil service re- | form that he had little patience with | those who differed from him and, cn l occasions. he even impugned the mo- l lives and sometimes the honesty or those who disagreed with him. In his
 work on American Ideals" writing or | CIVIL SeTNlCG ItIOTHft hb Bdius OSSa- | sionally there have been members who are hostile to reform, but these aie not carrying weight in the House. The men of intelligence and ability who once familiarize themselves with the | workings of the system are sure to
 become its supporters" Again he said | in the same article: 'The opposition | to the reform is generally led by skill 1 ed parliamentarians, and they nght | with a vindictiveness natural 10 men | who see a chance of striking at the institution which has bafied their fe- | rocious greed. These men have gift
 at office mongering just as other men | have a peculiar knack of picking peck | cts"
 But Times Have Changed.
 | To MT. Roosevelt the adversaries Of civil service reform appeared no better | than criminals; its advocates were to | him invariable men of intelligence, | ability and blameless characters
 | Although his American Ideals" was l written at a time when some of the new friends he has since won looked upon him as then an impulsive broncho buster with impetuous notions about men and things, still they concede that 1t is notorious that he remained longer consistent with his stand for civil ser | vice reform than with any attitude he ever took on a question of public in- terest. It is conceded and contended that Mir. Roosevelt has a larger char | ity and a ksndlier grace than when he indulged in these and other condign
 and summary judgments of his fellow citizens
 It is believed that he would, If he
 could expunge from historic lore the contributions in which he has written that Jefferson Davis was an arch traitor" that he would never again I hn Annn which named Thomas Jefferson as "The most incapable executive that ever filled the executive chair" that he has learned to estimate the Southern peo- pie far differently from the way in which he looked upon them as they were before the emancipation, when he
 said of them on page 161 of his Life of Bention:" Slavery was chiefly re-
 sponsible for the streak of coarse and
 brutal barbarian which ran through the Southern character" It would be hard to find any one indeed who be- lieves that Mir. Roosevelt would now endorse his bitter and merciless de-
 fractions of some of the most Illus
 trious and beloved of American states
 men which mark his contributions to 1 American literature.
 One Thing Is Remembered.
 The government clerks from the South and from the North may have forgotten the remarkable nature of MT. Roosevelt's contributions to the liter ature of American biography, but they have by no means forgotten his contri-
 buttons and extraordinary zeal in be- half of civil service reform, which he has just given over to be crucified.
 After all, the people most transfixed by astonishment at the civil service order are those who have been hoping and praying all things best for the President.
 In short. it is generally realized that there has not been in this country, up to the time a rash chauffeur drove his automobile in the way of President Roosevclt's carriage. a bolder champion
 of civil service reform than he. The chauffeur was Government clerk pro tected by the civil service u3til the of tended President took away that pro- tection The clerk says he did not
 know he was getting into the Presi- dents way. He has been discharged
 witho.t recourse after a few months in the service as a messenger. He was | not we'll informed as most clerks; 1 but he is much wiser now. although
 with wife and child and without em- ployment.
 1 Cabinet Officers AdmOnIshed.
 l Second as a sensation only to his civil service order was the remem-
 brarcer and reminder of his power
 which President Roosevelt before he
 went South left for nis cabinet officers and the newspaper man. It was his letter to members of the cabinet. in-
 structing them to give out no news of cabinet deliberations to any newspaper