Evening star., 1936-10-28
By the Associated Press.

last night follows:
This great gathering Of Ameri-
cans Is a stirring sight. It Is proof
Of your deep concern In the prob
lens that face ug. One Of these
want to discuss with you tonight
the problem of the mismanage-
ment of our Government by the
present administration. ! am 60
ing to talk about the most open,
the most crude and the most brutal
use of the spoils system this coun-
try has ever seen.
It is fitting that should discuss
this subject in Pennsylvania on
the birthday of Theodore Roose-
welt. You in Pennsylvania were
devoted to him. You, in common
with all Americans, recognize the
great lift he gave to. the ideals OF
American Government.
And I may recall to you that
Theodore Roosevelt began his ma
tional career in Washington as a
member Of the Civil Service Com.
mission and he put this commits
sion on the map.
Government Is a public service
enterprise. Every official is trus-
tee for the people. Men and wom-
en- who work for the Government
should devote themselves without
conflicting loyalties to the public
service. They should be selected
on the basis of their ability and
irrespective of their politics.
Instances Cited of Outspoken
Support by President.
We had every reason to expect
that these principles would be OBJ
served by President Roosevelt when
he came into Office. He had fire.
quently. in the course of his public
life, heartily indorsed the merit
system of classified civil service.
After his election he continued to
indorse the merit system.
For instance, in letter to the
Civil Service Reform League in Au-
gust, 1888, the President wrote:
"The merit system in civil service
Is in no danger at my hands"
Two years later In a letter to the
Civil Service Reform League, dated
September II, 1885, he again wrote:
1.-THE merit system has been and
will continue to be extended dur
ing my administration"
And in letter to the League OF
Women Voters, read on the radio
January 80, 1886, he said: There
can be no question of greater
moment or broader effect than the
maintenance, strengthening and
extension of the merit system 80
I am glad to assure your great Or
ganization of my support in this
effort"
These are words that could not
help but meet the approval Of all
those interested in the cause of
good government. Now let us look
at the record of the past four
years.
Farley Article on Patronage
in American Magazine Cited.
In July, 1888, In a signed article
In the American Magazine, called
Passing Out the Patronage" the
Postmaster General of the United
States said: THE Democrats have
the right to supplant one
fifth, or 15o, 900, of the Federal office
holders - The final decision on
all these questions naturally rests
with the President himself. I am
simply his helper"
Then the Postmaster General
continued: THE patronage is q
reward to those who have worked
for party victory. 1t is also an as
sistance in building party ma
chinery for the next election =
I am a trustee of something that
does not belong to me. The patron
age belongs to the Democratic
party"
Those were frank words. 1t is
not even necessary to read between
the lines to understand them. They
mean that every job that could be
made available to party workers
was to be made available. They
meant that every dollar of the
public money that could be used
to help the party was to be used.
They meant that the Postmaster
General-who was also chairman
Of the Democratic National Com
mittee, and who was also chair
man of the New York State Demo-
cratic Committee-was authorized
to create vast army Of political
mercenaries in order to entrench
the present administration in power.
There you have the sordid, oper-
ating plan of a President who
claims to believe in the ideals of
civil service-a President who only
a month later wrote: "The merit
system in civil service is in no
danger In my hands,"
Number of Patronage Jobs
Grew by Leaps and Bounds.
Now let us see how this plan
was put into effect. Here are the
figures.
On March 4, 1888, there were
100000 jobs available for patron
age; 100000 jobs that could be
given to loyal party workers. But
apparently this was not enough.
So the personnel of the innumer-
able new alphabetical agencies
created was exempted from civil
service requirements.
BY June 80, 1884, the patronage
list had more than doubled-it was
222, 1000.
A year later 1t was $4,000.
And by June 80. 1886, it was
s25,000.
In other words, the patronage
has tripled under the President
and his Postmaster General. This
Is direct violation of the Presi-
dents promises. This is not good
government.
Now I know there has been
patronage under all administers
tions. No party has a monopoly
Of virtue in this respect. But
never before has distribution Of
patronage been organized into a
gigantic business conducted in
Government buildings by a cabinet