Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1911-12-22
riiE spoIls SYSTEM.

Tucked away In the very tail of
things. and crowded 60 an obscare
corner Of tho daily papers. n one Of
the most important portions OF Pres
idcnt Tafis message transmitted "a
congress Yesterday. n 10 the recon-
mendaiion that all local officers
throughout the country. including
collectors of internal revenue. coll
iociora of customs. postmastors OF all
four CLASSES, immigration commits
toner's and marahaie. should be by
law covered into tho classified
service. the necessity for confirma-
ton by the senate be- removed. and
the president and others whose time
is now taken up IN distributing this
patronage. should be relieved OF
this burden"
Rolled down. tho recommendation
b. that the entire spells system be
abolished.
To that arch-Dsmeorat, Andrew
Jackson. the adorcd Of William Jcn-
nings nryan. We are Indebted for
fasienlns upon the coun,ry "a systcm
which al nonest men depIorc. but
which no man has yet been found
brave enough TO combat successfully.
No good reason can be given why an
efficient postmaster. collector or
marshal should be removed from Of
flee morcly because Of a change %
administration IN the office Of prcsi-
dent 90 the United States A thou
sand good reasons can be given why
such changcs should not be made. But
with the Inspiring slogan 'to the VIC
tors nelons tHc spoils, an echo Of
which y heard today In the cry
'brlns thr government closer 10 the
people" Jackson proceeded with the
utmost delibetatlon TO discharge
from office every man. regardless OF
any question OF fitness. who dis
agreed with him politically or who
had voted agalnf, him.
Thuu bcgan the spolls system. Like
the cigarette habit Il was admittedly
pernioious but very inFidloug aud diff
flcult 20 shake off. There were
many 10 dcplore It's existence. but
none strong enoush 90 wage effect
I've war against a. Grover cleve-
land was the first to waps opcn war
upon Il. whom in his ilrst ad,eJnis-
tratIon he proclaimed himself Ter
civil service reform and Grover
Cleveland was defeated for re-ciection
for hIs pains. Bat even Afr. cleve-
land ala not dare 10 go to che lungih
that Mr. TAFT has done. Tho civil
service reform Tor which Cleveland
fought affected only tho minor offi.'
cials Of The so,efnmeut no have.
advocated extcnding iis operation so
fraslags pesimaaleta ana coiiecioraI
Of informal revenue would In that day
have been considered ncshing less
than political madness.
OF course. Mr.. Taft's recommended
ton win come 10 nothing AZ the pres
ont time. lie has a Democratic con-
gross ON his hands--a congress which
owes uEdying allegiance 10 the prin-
ciples OF Andrew Jackson and which.
furthermore. II more Intent on "put-
ting Tai, In hole" than Il II upon
performing any real service 10 the
country. Possibly tho reallza-
lion of that fact accounts for
the fac, that the subject was mem
toned only at tho end OF the mos
sage and almost in parenthetlcai
manner But as surely an night fol-
lows day. that little tail-end recon-
nendailon viii sooner or later be-
come the recognised policy OF the
United states government. and Wa
Win All Wonder how we could have
been fools enough not 10 have fol-
lowed ID all the while