Year: 1872

Carpenter said he deeply regretted the recent


message of the President announcing that he


had adopted the rules recommended by the


civil service commission. He knew, how


ever that there had been q great deal of


clamor lately in support of this scheme which


had made 1t seem that the people generally


were In favor of 1t, and he supposed that the


President had yielded to this clamor upon the


principle stated in his inaugural address. .sthat


the best way to secure the repeal OF an obnox-
tious law was to execute 1t faithfully" Some


persons had expressed surprise at the Presi-


dents consenting to give up the patronage


own advantage; but the reason probably was


that he knew he could afford to give his


enemies many advantages and yet defeat


them. Nevertheless, he thought the Presi-


dent had done wrong in yielding to the clamor


of the hour. The sober second thought Of
the people was always right; their sudden
impulses were often wrong, and ought to be
resisted by their public servants. As part


of this reform scheme, the Senator from Mas
tional amendment rendering President who


has served one term, Ineligible for election.


This would be treating President Grant more


severely than Jefferson Davis, because, al
though the latter is disqualified by the 18th
amendment, IL is still within the power OF
Congress to remove his disabilities, while


President Grant would have no means of re-
lief from his. Naughter.) IL the doctrine
was true that one term Of service was enough
to demoralize public officer, then the Sena-


tor from Massachusetts, must certainly beveryf


being q man man who pets principles above all


personal considerations, would, Of course,
take his hat and leave the Senate forever I'M
mediately upon the adoption of his amend
ment. daughter In politics, said CaTpeR-


ter, words are things, and civil service reform.


a cunning catch word. The cohclusion Il,
that whoever Is not In favor Of reform, must


be in favor of abuses. But o. change 10 mot


necessarily reform, and there is o sure intu-


iton which tells US that In o government Of


such delicate structure as this of ours, 1t 10


better TO bear the ills we have than 70 fly to-
Others that We know not of. Carpenter then
discussed at length the distributes powers


between the Legislative and executive depart
ments of the government, and came to the
conclusion that If the appointing power was
taken away from the President, as ID would
be by this reform, his remaining powers
would be no greater than those of Q constable
in Milwaukee. He declared that if the mea-
sure had not been tackled to the appropriation
bill on the last night of the session It would


not have received twenty votes. He then had


the regulations read, and proceeded to


criticise them in detail He objected to any


discrimination In the application of rules be-


tween officers of high or low degree.s He


could not see why the Secretary of State


should not be examined as well as q janitor
of United States building. He also pointed


out the conflict of some of the rules with
others, but these he said were minor defects
in the civil service reform system. The great
objection to it were, first, that it violated the
if,Iffo falx tha


dent the discretion vested In him to select his
appointees from the whole people, and linn
tied him to names of persons referred to him
by an examining board; second, that il set
up for public servants a standard of educa-
tion of schools to the exclusion from office of
all who have not enjoyed the benefits of


liberal education, thus setting up an aristo-
cratic governmental class composed of sons
of the rich. He contended that under these
rules the candidates presenting themselves for
examination after due public notice, would
always be adventuEers, or, at best men, of no
rank or ability. Suppose a. vacancy In the
Collectorship of New York, and an adver-
tisement for candidates published by the ex-
amining board, did anybody suppose that
such men as A. T.. Stewart, or H. G., Steb-
bins, or Geo. Opdyke, would present them.
selves for examination, and IL they should
would they not probably be beaten, by candi
dates who had just left schoolfl This may be
reform, said Carpenter, but Il win defeat any
political party that adopts 1t, for it viii excite
the indignation and contempt and division
of the people of this country. 1t may be re.
form, or whatever else its friends may choose
to call it. but it certainly is not Constitutional
or q wise mode, Of appointing public officers
of the United States. He then proceeded to
criticise the report of the commission, and
said 1t was based upon the vicious, leading
idea of permanency of tenure for public SER
wants. This idea had been advocated at the
formation of the government by those who
favored strong government, but il had
been rejected, because it was seen to be anti
republican. In regard to Judges, and officers
of the army and navy the case was different,
and there was no parallel between them and
civil service officers. Another fallacious idea
underlying the report, was that party Is the
bane of this government, and to labor for the
for public Office. In all free countries there
which has achieved such wonders in the last
ten years, found the public offices filed with
its enemies when it came into power Ac-
cording to the civil service reform doctrine Il
ought to have left those offices in the posses
sion of the old occupants But if it had done
so, how different would have been the his
tory of those years. Carpenter read an ex-
tract from the commission charging that
under the present system the appointing power
Is often subjected to threats and the blandish-
ments of personal solicitation, and said it was
a base and malignant libel on the leading
members of the Republican party in Con-
gress. He had been told By. high authority
that oniy two ners0na had defSlat Ssied an,po;nf