Omaha daily bee., 1916-08-09
Hughes in His Opening Campaign
Speech Arraigns Administration

establishing the classified civil serv-
ice period.
1T has been a raid upon the civil
service of the United States, and the
American people :ght to understand
it. And we have had positions, ex-
pert positions, requiring expert knowl-
edge, which have been subordinated
to the demands Of wha regard as
an ignoble partisan expediency.
An Example Cited.
"Take, for example, the bureau OF
the census. There was Mr.. Durand,
an expert statistician, a very conf
petent man, well understood to be
such. We have him retired aud in
his place we have democratic poll
tician from southern state. And he
is hardly warm in his place before
he is transferred to the Trade COM
mission. The Trade commission itself
was fairly emasculatsd by the men,
for the most part, who were appointed
to places upon it.
"My friends, that sort of thing has
got to stop in this country If we are
going ahead to meet the demands that
are Immediately Upon us,
"We had in the coast and geodetic
survey an eminent scientist, a man
who had won distinction in connection
with his scientific work, man of very
eminent rank. He was displaced to
make room for an excellent stock
breeder and veterinary surgeon.
In the coast and geodetic survey
we have had very extraordinary con-
dition with regard to appointment to
places. l mean places that were
taken out of the civil service laws.
| shall not go into the exact figures.
In the year ending about April, 1916,
there were taken out l04+that is ap-
pointments by executive action, re-
moved from the operation of the civil
service laws to the number, l believe,
of about l04. believe that some
twenty of those were made without
seeking the advice of the Civil Service
commission. / believe that about
twenty-five were made after seeking
the advice and with the approval of
the Civil Service commission, and |
believe that sixty-two were made in
opposition to the advice of the Civil
Service commission.
Proudest Thing to Be Said.
Il used to think that if there was
one thing which the American public
was less interested in than anything
else, it was the actual administration
OF their government. But | am be-
ginning to believe that with the OBJ
ject lessons we have had abroad, and
with the very definite appreciation OF
the crisis we are in, there is a diff
ferent notion in this country about
those things. | hold it is the most
unworthy thing an administrator can
do to take public business and pay po-
litical debts with it.
when say | am an American
citizen, ought to say the proudest
thing that any man can say in this
world.
You cannot have that pride, you
cannot have that love, if American
citizenship is cheap thing; if it is
a dishonorable thing; if it is some
thing which is not worthy of protec-
ton this wide world over.
There is no one who could sue
cessfully present to an American
community the platform that an
American citizens rights stopped with
the coast line, and that the moment
he left his shores he was prey to
any person that saw fit to murder
or destroy him. If man is an
American citizen he goes with his
rights and the right to the proper pro-
lection of his country under inter-
national law wherever he journeys
throughout the world. Now that is
what the democratic platform told US
in so many words in 1912. They did
not stop with Americans. They did
not stop with American citizens.
They said American citizens and their
property
Deep Sense OF Shame.
1--WE have had an exhibition in the
last three years which | confess fills
me with deep sense of shame.
I would not counsel any action that
was contrary to the dictates of those
usages and customs and recognized
rights and Obligations which we COM
prise under the name of international
law. 1t was our business to stand for
all the rights of American citizens
under international law--to vindicate
international law.
Take for example the case Of
Mexico. We had certain things that
we had a right to demand of Mexico
and there was proper way of de-
handing them. We should have said
that we insisted upon the protection
of the lives and property of Ameri-