The state-line herald. (North Lemmon, Adams County, N.D.) 1907-1912, 1912-01-05
Tdps "ProgressiVeness." !"

| AS" AoTn Evening EOSl. Inc mes
sage which President Taft sent to con.
gress today Thursday covers many
routine government matters but con-
tains few striking proposals Of new
legislation. Mr.. Taft comes out strong
ly, for instance, in favor of the estab-
iishment of parcels post, and urges
congress to make Immediately at least
a beginning of the system. The presi.
dent also recommends the enacting of
IA bill defining a new and more humane.
iy the liability of employers for ac-
| cidents to their workmen, together with
the passage of pending measures to
do away with some of the mischiefs OF
| delayed justice in the courts. His
most advanced and significant position
| however, is taken in connection with
the civil service. Mr.. Taft goes further
i tnan any of his predecessors in urging
toat all local federal offices through
out the country-c collectors of interna,
| revenue and OF customs, commission
crs and marshals, together with post
masters of all fourclasses--should be
by law placed in the classified service,
and that the whole mass OF patronage
involved should be destroyed.
This proposal is SO quietly made by
President Taft that its radical and
far-reaching nature may easily be
| overlooked. In nreality, it lays the ak
10 the root OF a hoary abuse. Mr..
| Taft frankly points out the exact
| nature of the existing method under
| which the president is supposed to ap-
point these federal officials. They
| are, in fact, dictated to him by sena-
| tors and representatives. The motives
| for their appointment are political;
| they are simply rewarded for past
| party services; and their main al.
| iegiance is not to the public service
out to their patrons. All this is set
| forth by the president explicitly, who
! also speaks with emphasis of the i'm
neuse and needless burden" placed
upon the execntiveby this distribution
| Of patronage. His time, with the time
| Of congressman, is eaten into by the
| lncessant demand for appointment to
| office with all the wearisome canvass
ing of credentials. and weighing OF
| influence. What the president CALI 5
for is the casting out of the whole
| system bag and baggage, so that there
| may be, on the one hand, an assured
career in the public service, for those
who enter it by examination and are
promoted for merit, and on the other
more freedom and opportunity for tn,
| high officers of the government tc
spend their strength on really impor-
| tant tasks. If the recommendations
| which President Taft now makes were
| 90 be carried out, we should have an
| extension ofcivil service reform going
| beyond the fondest dreams of the
| earliest advocates of that cause in
this country.
There has been in congress much
grumbling about Mr.. Taft's use o.
the square challenge: Join me in do
ing away entirely with the great bull
OF the patronage,
For the response the country will
watch with much interest. Meanwhile,
we may see in the presidents propos
ais the sort of progress which appeals
to him. He sets his heart on legisla
tion. To get definite pills enacted is
with him the main thing. Ways ant
| means and machinery he cares less
about. And it must be confessed tina
he derives at his practical results with
great deal of directness and force.
n he were TO succeed in getting his
legislative program carried out, j,
would do good deal to break the
charge that he is not progressive.
All the reforms which the progressives
advocate-direct primaries, the initi-
ative and referendum, even the recall
are designedtO improve our political
machinery SO that we may have better
laws and better administration. But
the means must not be exalted above
the ends. For some of those ends
particularly the rescue of the public
service from the clutches of the po-
liticians-P President Taft has now
shown that he go as far and work as
hard as the next man That is his
idea of progress, and nothing can
be said against it'll only the progress
be actually secured.