Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, Volume 26 December, 1880. by Various None (smart ebook reader .txt) 📕

Inclination,  Or Possibly Even In Opposition To It,  He May Well Stand

Hesitant As To His Likelihood Of Success. The Question May Confront Him

At Once: Is The Organization Of A Permanent Official Class In The

Administration Of The General Government Likely To Accord With The

Desires Of The People? And We May Add,  Is It Consistent With The General

Character Of Our Form Of Government? Is It Not Attended By Conclusive

Objections?

It Is Not The Purpose Of This Article To Attempt Answering These

Questions Fully. We Do Not Propose To Throw Ourselves Across The Path

Of Those Undoubtedly Sincere,  And Probably Wise,  Students Of This

Subject Who Have Arrived At The Positive Conclusion That To Establish A

Permanent Tenure For The Great Body Of The National Office-Holders,  And

To Appoint To Vacancies Among Them Upon The Tests Of A Competitive Or

Other Examination,  Is The Panacea For All Our Public Disorders,  The

Regenerative Process Which Will Lift Our Whole System Into A Higher And

Purer Atmosphere. We Do Not Say That These Gentlemen May Not Be Right,

But We Are Willing To Examine The Subject.

Upon Viewing,  Then,  The Tremendous Popular Activity In Local And State

Affairs--And We Must Reflect That There Is "More Politics To The Square

Foot" In Some Of The Newer States Than There Is In Pennsylvania--The

Inquiry Is Natural Whether This Stops Short Of All National Politics.

Certainly It Does Not. The Offices In The General Government,  Though

Their Importance And Their Influence Are Usually Overestimated,  Are A

Great Object Of Attention With The Whole Country. The Vehement

Democratic Movement Toward Them That Marked The Time Of Jackson Is Still

Apparent,  Though It Proceeds With Diminished Force And Is Regulated And

Tempered By The Strong Protest Which Has Been Made Against The Scandals

Of The "Spoils System," And Against The Theory That Government By

Parties Must Be A Continual Struggle For Plunder. It Is Noticeable That

No Administration Has Ever Really Attempted The Formation Of An

Irremovable Body Of Officials. No Party Has Ever Yet Explicitly Declared

Itself In Favor Of Such A Policy. No Actual Leader Of Any Party,  Bearing

The Responsibility Of Its Success Or Failure In The Elections,  Has Ever

Yet Sincerely And Persistently Advocated The Measure. None Wish To

Undertake So Tremendous A Task. He Would Indeed Be A Powerful Orator Who

Could Carry A Popular Gathering With Him In Favor Of The Proposition

That Hereafter The Holding Of Office Was To Be Made More Exclusive--That

The People Were To Put Away From Themselves,  By A Renunciation Of Their

Own Powers,  The Expectancy Of Occupying A Great Part Of The Public

Places. Rare As May Be The Persuasive Ability Of The True Stump-Orator,

And Serene As His Confidence May Be In His Powers,  There Would Be But

Few Volunteers To Enter A Campaign Upon Such A Platform As That. It

Would Be A Forlorn Hope Indeed.

The View Of The People Undoubtedly Is (1) That The Public Places Are

Common Property; (2) That Any One May Aspire To Fill Them; And (3) That

The Elevation To Them Is Properly The Direct Or Nearly Direct Result Of

Election. The Elective Principle Is Democratic. It Has Been,  Since The

Beginning Of The Government,  Steadily Consuming All Other Methods Of

Making Public Officers. In Most States The Appointing Power Of The

Governor,  Which Years Ago Was Usually Large,  Has Been Stripped To The

Uttermost. It Is Thirty Years In Pennsylvania Since Even The Judiciary

Became Elective By The People. And In Those States--Of Which Delaware

Furnishes An Example--Where Most Of The County Officers Are Still The

Appointees Of The Governor,  The Tendency To Control His Action By A

Display Of The Popular Wish--Such An Array Of Petitions,  Etc. As Amounts

To A Polling Of Votes--Is Unmistakable. The Governor Is Moved,

Obviously,  By The People. And If To Some This General Tendency Toward

The Elective Idea Seems Dangerous,  It Must Be Answered That It Is Not

Really So If The People Are In Fact Capable Of Self-Government.

Conceding This As The Foundation Of Our System,  We Cannot,  At This Point

And That,  Expect To Interpose A Guardianship Over Their Expression.

To The Permanency Of Tenure It Is That We Have Given,  And Expect Will

Generally Be Given,  Most Attention. This Is The Essence Of The Proposed

"Reform." The Manner Of Selecting New Appointees Is Of No Great

Consequence If The Vacancies Are To Occur So Seldom As Must Be The Case

Where Incumbents Hold For Life. Whether The New Recruits Come In Upon

The Certificates Of A Board Of Examiners,  Such As The British

Civil-Service Commission,  Or Upon The Scrutiny Of The Executive And His

Advisers,  As Now,  Is A Consideration Of Minor Importance. It Is The Idea

Of An Official Class,  An Order Of Office-Holders,  Which Appears To Throw

Itself Across The Path Of The Democratic Activity Which We Have

Attempted To Describe. This Is The Point Of Conflict--If Any. We Might,

It Is True,  Take Many Measures To Ensure The Colorless And Harmless

Character Of The System. Up To A Recent Time The Government Clerks In

England Were Deprived Of The Suffrage,  In Order That They Might Be

Perfectly Indifferent To Politics. It Is Probable That In Time Our Own

Officials Would Lose The Ordinary Instincts Of A Democratic Citizenship,

And Would Regard With Coldness,  If Not Contempt,  The Activities That

Lead To A Renewal Of The Government. But However Smoothly They Might

Move In The Pursuance Of Their Clerical Routine,  However Faultless They

Might Become In Their Round Of Prescribed Duties,  Would They Not Still

Obstruct The Public Purpose? Would Not Even This Emasculate Order Of

Placemen,  Standing Apart A Sacrificed Though Favored Class,  Still

Present Themselves As Unpardonable Offenders? When It Should Be

Discovered That They Claimed The Possession In Perpetuity Of The Offices

In The National Government,  And Had Organized Themselves As A Standing

Army Of Placemen,  Can It Be Believed That They Would Not Be Swept Aside

By The Same Iconoclastic Onset Which Ended The Adams Administration?

We Do Not Pause Here To Represent The Apparent Inconsistency Of Desiring

To De-Citizenize A Large Number Of Intelligent Members Of The Community,

Or The Risk Of Creating A Class In The Republic Forbidden To Take Any

Active Interest In The Renewals Of Its Organization,  Or The Impolicy Of

Diminishing The Force And Courage Of The Popular Will In Its Grapple

With The Problem Of Self-Government; But All These Comments May Suggest

Themselves.

Popular Expectancy,  It May Fairly Be Declared,  Follows All The Stations

Of Public Life With A Jealous If Not An Eager Eye. There Is Abundant

Evidence Of This In The County And Township Systems. Taking,  For

Example,  The Administration Of County Affairs In any Of The States,  It

Will Be Found That The Officers,  By A Rule That Seems Generally

Satisfactory,  Hold During Short Terms,  And Are Seldom Re-Elected

Immediately To The Same Place. The Rule Is Rotation--Giving A Large

Number Of Persons Their "Turn"--And Changes Are Regularly Made. A Man

Disappointed This Year For A Particular Place Waits Until The Time Comes

To Fill It Again,  And In Many Counties,  Other Things Being About Equal,

The Fact That He Has Waited Patiently And Now Presents The Oldest Claim

Governs The Selection. The Antipathy To One Who Seeks To Hold On To His

Place Beyond The Ordinary Term--The Dislike For A Grabber Who Desires

More Than Is Usually Assigned--Is A Perfectly Well-Known Feature In

Politics. The County System Of Pennsylvania Will Afford Abundant Proof

Of The Statements Here Made: The Terms Of The Officers,  Who Are All

Elective,  Do Not Average More Than Four Years,  Even Including Such

Court-Officials As The Clerks And Prothonotaries,  Whose Duties Are In

Some Particulars Technical And Difficult,  Requiring An Acquaintance With

The Forms Of Legal Procedure. But It Is Further True That In The States

Where County Officers Are Appointed By The Governor No Protracted Tenure

Results. On The Contrary,  The Pressure Upon Him Of The Public

Expectation Seldom Permits The Reappointment Of An Officer Whose

Commission Is Expiring.

With This Rule Of Change,  Primary As Its Application Is,  And Within The

Direct Comprehension And Control Of The People,  There Does Not Appear To

Be Any General Discontent. It Is Accepted,  So Far As We Can Discover,  As

A Just And Proper System By Which An Equality Of Claims Upon The Common

Favor Is Maintained. It Is Reasonable To Presume,  Therefore,  That

Amongst A People Fairly Acquainted With Their Own Business,  And

Possessing A Fair Education Both Of The Schools And Of Experience In

Life,  Many Persons In every Community Are Competent To Serve As Its

Officials. At Any Rate,  In The Midst Of These Usages We Discover No

Demand That The Terms Of Office Be Made Permanent,  And That The

Place-Holders Be Put Beyond The Reach Of A Removal. There Is No Apparent

Realization That Such A "Reform" Is Demanded; And If It Be Difficult,  As

Has Been Stated,  To Awaken Popular Enthusiasm In behalf Of A Permanent

Tenure In The National Civil Service,  There Seems To Be Nothing In The

Rules Of Primary Politics To Help Smooth The Way.

It May Be Asked Now Whether It Is Not Almost Certainly True That Some

Sound Principle Lies In The Methods Which An Intelligent Community,

Unrestrained By Ancient Conventional Ideas Or Repressive Systems Of Law,

Applies To Its Own Political Organization. Is Not This Instinctive

Democratic Plan An Essential Principle Of A Government Founded Upon

Equal Rights? _Is It Not A Law Of Change Which Characterizes The Civil

Service Of A Democracy,  And Not A Law Of Permanence?_

We Can Hardly Doubt That The Facts Which Have Been Stated Concerning The

Disposition Of The People Toward The Offices In Their Government Are

Capable Of A Philosophical Explanation; And As They Proceed With Evident

Freedom And Naturalness From The Very Bosom Of Communities Accustomed To

Independent Thought And Action,  The Conclusion Is Irresistible That This

Is The Temper And The Tendency Of A Free Government. Startling As It May

Be To Propose Change Rather Than Permanency In The Civil Service,  That

May Prove To Be Best Adapted To Our Wants. Consciously Or Not,  Such A

Rule Has Been Established By The People Themselves; And While It Has

Scarcely Found A Formal Presentation,  Much Less Had Careful Examination

And Argument,  There Can Be Little Doubt That