Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][merged small]
[graphic]

ench sailor and gentleman. After having been cramped up coasting yachts, doomed to our own society, and yearning ice, it was pleasant to be able to sweep along the broad cks of an ocean steamer, to be again a part of the world, to ter into the gossip of the ship, to unravel the mysteries of r fellow-passengers, to find out people, to discover that this s a bride and the other a duke, to meet the singing person, d the young lady with an album, and the young gentleman o had never been to sea before, and believes everything that told him, and the idle, wicked young men who tell him erything-about whales obstructing the ship's course, about ers springing on the deck from the Saigon Hills, and the rors of Asia. Mr. Borie's satisfaction became enthusiasm en he learned there was ice on board, and ice enough to ke an iceberg. So we settled down into a condition of mfort, for the sea was smooth and we were rapidly leaving e tropics for the north, and through northern latitudes for

me.

I take the occasion of this trip to recall again some memoda of my conversations with General Grant. I trust the der will pardon any intrusion in my narrative of mere mats of talk, because most of our talk was in the idle hours of -travel. I note especially one conversation on home poli, particularly on the point so much discussed at home, as to honesty of men in our public life. "Men in public life," d the General, "are like men in other spheres of life. It uld be very hard for me to say that I knew six men in pubposition that I know to be dishonest of absolute moral certy. Men will do things who are senators or members that ormers call corrupt. corrupt. They will ask for patronage, and govthemselves in their dealings with the administration by ir success in the matter of patronage. This is a custom, and he reformer's theory is correct, it is corruption. And yet men who were reformers, who turned their eyes at the sins others, I generally found as anxious for patronage as others. Sumner, for instance, who is the idol of the reformers, among the first senators to ask offices for his friends. He

[graphic]

expected offices as a right. Of course he spoke as a senator.
If he had been
He had no consideration except as a senator.
a private man in Boston he would never have named a minis-
As our public men go, as our forms of gov-
ter to London.
ernment go, Mr. Sumner and other senators were perfectly
honest. There was no corruption in his asking me to appoint
this man and the other. They regarded executive appoint-
ments for their friends as the rewards of public life. Mr. Ed-
munds asked me to keep Marsh in Italy. The whole Vermont
delegation joined in the request. Yet no senator was more
independent than Edmunds, more ready to oppose the admin-

[graphic]

istration if he disagreed with it -and so down the whole list. It was a rule. In

a government where there are senators and members, where

[graphic]

senators and

A BUFFALO CART.

members depend upon politics for success, there will be applica

You cannot call it corruption-it is a tions for patronage. condition of our representative form of government-and yet if you read the read the newspapers, and hear the stories of the reformers, you will be told that any asking for place is corruption. My experience of men makes me very charitable in my criticism of public officers. I think our government is honestly and economically managed, that our civil service is as good as any in the world that I have seen, and the men in office are men who, as a rule, do their best for the country and the gov There is no man in the country," continued the ernment. General, "so anxious for civil service reform as the President of the United States for the time being. He is the one per

[blocks in formation]

son most interested. Patronage is the bane of the Presidential office. A large share of the vexations and cares of the Executive come from patronage. He is necessarily a civil service reformer, because he wants peace of mind. Even apart from this, I was anxious when I became President to have a civil service reform broad enough to include all that its most earnest friends desired. I gave it an honest and fair trial, although George William Curtis thinks I did not. One reason, perhaps, for Mr. Curtis's opinion may be that he does not know as much about the facts as I do. There is a good deal of cant about civil service reform, which throws doubt upon the sincerity of the movement. The impression is given by the advocates of civil service reform that most of the executive appointments are made out of the penitentiary. Writers who have reached years of discretion, like John Jay, gravely assert that one-fourth of the revenue collected at the New York Custom House is lost in process of collection. Of course, no reform can be sound when it is sustained by such wild and astounding declarations. Then many of those who talk civil service reform in public are the most persistent in seeking offices for their friends. Civil service reform rests entirely with Congress. If members and senators will give up claiming patronage, that will be a step gained. But there is an immense amount of human nature in members of Congress, and it is in human nature to seek power and use it and to help friends. An Executive must consider Congress. A government machine must run, and an Executive depends on Congress. The members have their rights as well as himself. If he wants to get along with Congress, have the government go smoothly, and secure wholesome legislation, he must be in sympathy with Congress. It has become the habit of Congressmen to share with the Executive in the responsibility of appointments. It is unjust to say that this habit is necessarily corrupt. It is simply a custom that has grown up, a fact that cannot be ignored. The President very rarely appoints, he merely registers the appointments of members of Congress. In a country as vast as ours the advice of Con

[graphic]

gressmen as to persons to be appointed is useful, and generally for the best interests of the country. The long continuance of the Republican party in power really assures us a civil service reform. Mr. Hayes's administration will close the twentieth year of Republican rule. These twenty years have built up a large body of experienced servants in all departments of the government. The only break was when Mr. Johnson was at enmity with his party, and filled many offices with incompetent Most of my early removals and men. I suffered from that. appointments were to weed out the bad men appointed by I made some Johnson. Mr. Hayes has had no such trouble. removals in the beginning that I should not have done, by the mere exercise of the executive power, without adequate reason. I But as soon as I came to know the politicians this ceased. was always resisting this pressure from Congressmen, and I could recall many cases where nothing but resistance, my own Take, for instance, determined resistance, saved good men. General Andrews, former Minister to Sweden. General Andrews made an admirable minister, with a brilliant record. When I was in Sweden the king told me that he had been the His record confirmed best minister we had ever sent there.

this. Pressure came to remove him, even from men who had asked his original appointment. He had been away, he was out of politics, a new man would help the party in Minnesota, and so on. I did not think the Republican party in Minnesota required much help, and I said that I did not see how, in the face of his record, I could fail to recommission General Andrews. If it had been my first term I could not have stood These two incidents occur to me as showing the pressure. how Congressional influence gave us so good a man as Marsh, and took away so good a man as Andrews. They illustrate my meaning when I say that the Executive does not appoint, but register appointments. Moreover, the Republican party has never been proscriptive. Mr. Lincoln had to make many removals and appointments, but this came from the Secession Mr. Lincoln was always glad to recognize loyal Democrats, and in all the departments in Washington a loyal

movement.

« PreviousContinue »