Year: 1878

10


can Chief Magistrates none have
excelled Mr.. Hayes in satisfac-
ton with himself. Assuredly the


Washington correspondents who
describe Mr.. Hayes supreme
self-complacency over the fenci-
ed success of his civil service
order do not intend to caricatnre
him, but their serious accounts
are really the most amusing OF
caricatu.es. Assuming that they
correctly represent Mr.. Hayes
own view of his achievements
his thirst for reputation would
seem to be of pretty much the
same order as that of the prize
fighter and the walking gentle
men who aspire to to what is
called the championship. Mr..
Hayes regards himself as the
champion civil service reformer.


What could more belittle a Pre-
sident of the United States than
to represent him as pluming him.
self iE his small coterie of per-
sonal admirers upon having done
something noteworthy and praise


worthy in promulgating the civil
service order last year? Jeffer-
son won reputation by his pur-
chase of Louisiana Jackson by


his bank veto and anti-nullifca-
|tion manifesto; Lincoln by his


emancipation proclamation; and


We are sorry to have it told us


with much solemnity, as if SC
trivial q thing were worth au-
|shentication, that Mr.. Hayes il
shallow enough to think his civil
service order important. Ii this


trumpsry order is the measure
|of his mind his mind must be oi
a remarkably small pattern. He
processes to have made the i'm
portant discovery that, while il
is perfectly legitimate for federal
office-holders to contribute mon
ey, write articles and make
speeches in favor of Republican
candidates after they are nomin-
ated, il is improper for them to
exert any open influence in con-
trolling the nomination. That is
to say. the postmaster in a rural
district may not preside in per-
son at q caucus, although there
is nothing in the civil service
der to prevent a local postmaster
from standing behind the scenes
and pulling the wires and virtu-
ally appointing a tool of his to
pack, preside over and ran the
The sham distinction
between the activity of Office
holders before nominations and
after nominations is 'steo
thin" Those Jealous and super
serviceable friends of the Presi-
dent who think to do him honor
by representing him as a noodle
who does not know that it is as
easy for federal ofice-holders to
act through tools as to act di-
rectly in packing and controlling
caucuses and conventions must
have unlimited confidence in the
stupidity of the people whom
they expect to bamboozle. If
their representations are really
inspired by Mr.. Hayes he is the
silliest and pettiest man that
ever held 80 high an Office. Mr..
Hayes fetch aboubcontfibutions
to election funds is equally paltry
and ridiculous. The President
is represented as saying that all
federal Office holders may con-
tribute, but that he will not turn
them ont OF Office if they refuse.
This is the feat of tbe ostrich
which laid its head in the sand
without knowing that its body
was exposed. lin the New York
Custom House or a Washington
department the employees are
asked to tax themselves for cleo
tion expenses everybody knows
that the social pressure will suf-
fee for extorting contributions
without any threat of a loss OF


ofS;ca There is nothing In Mr..