The Washington herald., 1913-07-20

In the spring of 1883 ! was appointed
by President Harrison Civil Service
Commissioner For nearly five years !
had not been very active IN political life.
although I had done some routine work
in the organization ana had made cam
paign speeches, and in lSS6 had run for
Mayor of New York against Abram 8.
Hewitt. Democrat, anc Henry George.
Independent. and had been defeated.
1 served six years as Civil Service
Commissiouer-four years under Presi-
dent Harrison and then two years under
President Cleveland. I was treated by
both Presidents with the utmost consid-
Grafton. Among my feliow-commission-
ers there was at one time ex-Gov. Hugh
Thompson. OF South Carolina. and at
another time John r. Proctor. Of Ken
tucky. They were Democrats and eS-
Confederate soldiers. ! became deeply
attached to both. and we stood shoulder
to shoulder in every contest in which
the commission was forced to take part.
when Amateur Meets Professional.
During my six years service as COM
missioner the field of the merit system
was extended at tine expense OF the
spoils system so as to include several
times the number of offices that had
originally been included. Generally this
was done by the INTRODUCTION OF competi-
tive entrance examinations: some times.
as in the navy yards. by a system Of
registration. This of itself was good
work.
Even better work has been making the
law efficient and genuine where 1t ap-
piled As was inevitable in the introduc-
ton Of such q system, there was at first
only partial success in its application.
For instance. it applied to the ordinary
employees in the big custom-houses and
postoffices- A number of the heads Of
the Offices were slippery politicians of
low moral grade. themselves appointed
under the spoils system, and anxious.
directly or indirectly, to break down the
merit system and to pay their own po-
litical debts by appointing their hench-
men and supporters to the positions un-
der them Occasionally these men acted
with open and naked brutality. Ordi-
narily they sought by cunning to evade
the law The civil service reformers, on
the other hand. were in most cases not
much used to practical politics. and were
often well-nigh helpless when pitted
against veteran professional politicians.
In consequence. found at the beginning
of my experiences that there were many
Offices in which the execution of the law
was a sham. This was very damaging,
because it encouraged the politicians to
assault the law everywhere. and, on the
other hand, made good people feel that
the law was not worth while defending.
Fight for Enforcement of the Law.
The first effort of myself and my col
LEAGUES wa. u secure the genuine en-
for.enent Of the law. In this We sue
ceeJed after Z number Of lively fghts.
Put. of course, IN these nights We were
ch!iged tc sIike large number Of In
fuential politicians, some OF them m
Congress, some of them the supporters
and hackers of men who; were in Con-
gress Accordingly, We soon found our
selves engaged in series OF contests
with prominent Senators and Congress-
men There were a number of Senators
and Congressmen-men like Congressman
(afterward Senator) H. c. Lodge of Mas
So chusetts, Senator Cushman X. Davis
OF Minnesota, Senator Orville H. Platt
Of Connecticut, Senator Cockrell Of Mis-
souri,, Congressman (afterward Pr-si-
dent) Mckinley of Ohio. and Congress
man Dargan of South Carolina-who abb
horred the business of the spokesman.
who eficiently and resolutely cham
pioned the reform at every turn, and
without whom the whole reform would
certainly have failed. But there were
plenty of other Senators and Congress
men who hated the whole reform and
everything concerned with 1t and every
body who championed it; and sometimes.