.f V
"Che Conservative.
departments in the city , we cau obtain
the same service for $720 and $ (560. ( "
Americans are proverbially generous
and civil servants should be well paid
but they should not be over paid nor un
necessarily numerous. If they are their
coworkers , the taxpayers , whom they
serve , are subjected to unjust burdens.
One would not expect that persons
chosen for public positions with regard
principally to the effect their selection
would have in advancing partisan ends
would , by some public good fortune ,
prove to be those best adapted to per
forming the duties for which they were
nominally appointed. Before adding to
the evidence already adduced upon this
subject it is only fair to the many able ,
honest and faithful employees who have
borne the humiliations and hardships of
the spoils system to observe that the
good qualities of intelligence and worth
are so bountifully distributed among the
people of the United States that no mat
ter how little account may be taken of
their possession in making selections for
office , those who share them in large
measure , cannot by any system be en
tirely excluded. So highly must we
honor the noble men and women who
have toiled and struggled under the hu
miliating consciousness of owing their
places to personal favor that we believe
that they should not be compelled to
submit longer to such conditions or to
associate in their work with persons of
less integrity , inferior capacity , or lower
dignity.
A member of the house of representa
tives indicated the way spoilsmen re
gard the public service in these words ,
spoken on the floor of the house Feb
ruary 10,1897 :
"If , then , the victors in that strife
which results in bloodshed are the only
ones entitled to pHnsions then in every
civil contest , in every war of opinion ,
only the victors should participate in
what some gentlemen are pleased to
denominate spoils. Tammany is invinci
ble in the face of all the influences that
its enemies can bring to bear. It is be
cause Tammany respects her friends.
Tammany pensions her friends and nether
her enemies. "
We have occasionally heard from the
enemies of reform of a civil pension list
that they allege may some time and in
some manner never fully explained re
sult from the operation of the merit sys
tem. It is no part of the reform system ,
for merit tenure is efficiency tenure and
ceases whenever efficiency no longer
continues , but here is a proposition to
require the taxpayer to pension those
who have succeeded in carrying an elec
tion by paying them salaries for which
they cannot give an equivalent.
Pension Bureau and Census Bureau.
The present commissioner of pensions
has recently pointed out how the bane
ful consequences of the spoils system
f
still continue to demoralize his office and
to interfere with the interests of the
people. He testified that if allowed to
make his selections ho could dispense
with 100 clerks without detriment to
the public service. But he added :
"You know that cannot bo done.
When I assume to select , or attempt to
select , clerics for discharge , then the po
litical pressure for retention will begin
to come. People who have the least
merit for doing work have the most in
fluence , and they spend their time in
getting influence. "
Honorable Carrel D. Wrigh6 , the
greatest living statistician , who was for
several years in charge of the Eleventh
Census , though deprived of nearly all
control over the personnel of the force
in his charge , estimated that the wastes
in that office , directly attributable to
the impairment of efficiency caused by
the spoils system , amounted , during the
period of his administration to one-third
of the total expenditure.
Further , the spoils system wastes the
time of congressmen and appoiutiug-
officers , destroys the organization of the
departments , encourages derelictions of
duty , and subordinates the interests of
the service to the personal interests of
politicians. All this at the direct ex
pense of and in absolute robbery of tax
payers.
However unpalatable the truth may
be to some , no one who carefully exam
ines the social tendencies of the present
can doubt that the functions delegated
to various governmental agencies , par
ticularly those of a local character , are
about to increase in number and impor
tance. Industrial experiments on the
part of cities ore multiplying with great
rapidity and appear to be the expression
of a public sentiment that is steadily
growing. Whether this is desirable is
not material to our present discussion.
The fact is one of the conditions of the
civil service problem. With increasing
duties governments will require the ser
vices of an increasing number of civil
servants , and efficiency and ability in
the civil service will become more and
more indispensible ; more and more a
matter of vital importance to each mem
ber of the social organization. Civil
service reform is therefore no longer a
matter which can be postponed to some
more convenient season. It must be
maintained and perfected , every point
so far gained must be held with courage
and determination , and unceasing effort
must be made to extend the system
wherever practicable. Otherwise a
large portion of the people will be rob
bed continuously of opportunities which
all require , of independence and self-
respect and of political authority ; and
the money of the taxpayers will be in
increasing quantities unjustly diverted
to the pockets of political parasites.
"Let not him that girdeth on his har
ness boost himself as he that putteth it
off , " is a text to bo borne in inind b'jy
every reformer , and every honest cittt-
zeu who has not yet cast his influence )
into the scale in behalf of good govern--
meut should consider earnestly the urgencies -
goncies of the present situation. Good' .
government must bo paid for by the unceasing -
ceasing vigilance and energy of good
citizens.
THE CONSEKVA-
PENAL COLONIES.
TIVE has novoi ?
been counted an advocate of jiugoianu
nor regarded as friendly to the establish
ment of colonial dependencies for the" "
government and people of the United !
States to support and defend. Nevertheless - -
theless there may arise conditions which'
*
may create a cause for the instituting of
penal colonies on some of our newly acquired -
quired islands.
The associated press despatches of May
30 , from Havana contain the following :
' 'La Discussion attacks the 'system of
giving Americans preference in the cus
tom houses. ' It publishes a list of posi
tions , incumbents and salaries , and saya
that the best jobs are given to Yankees ,
especially Nebraskans. 'The natives off
Mr. Meiklojohn's state , ' says La Discus
sion , 'are protected by an administration1
which is a sad reminder of Spain's gov
ernment. ' "
The fertility of agricultural Nebraska
seems only a parallel for the fecundity
of political Nebraska. And while corn
crops are enormous and cattle and hogs
abundant the yield , per acre , of male
persons , who are willing and zealous to
hold office , is unprecedented elsewhere.
Hence "the natives of Mr. Meiklejolm's
state" must necessarily bo in demand
for exportation. The republican surplus
of statesmen who are ready upon impor
tunity to leave Nebraska to take paying
positions in the Philippines or in Cuba
is more than gigantic ; it is incomputable.
This tremendous crop of executive abil
ity has been developed , logically , by
teaching that governments are organ
ized to support the few in protected in
dustries , and in office holding , by taxing
the multitude. The obsolete idea that
each citizen is , in patriotic duty , bound
to support the government has become
only a pathetic reminiscence. And the
idea that the government is in duty
bound to support every partisan of the
administration in power is in full vigor.
La Discussion is , however , unnecessar
ily severe upon the Spaniards when it
cruelly and with evident malice , fiend
ishly remarks that "the natives of Mr.
Meiklejohn's state are protected by an
administration , which is a sad reminder
of Spain's government. " Nothing
worse has over been written in deroga
tion and reprobation of Spanish misrule
in Cuba. And the question , shall we es
tablish penal colonies either in the West f
Indies or the Philippines , presents itself
for solution !