92

JEFFERSON, MADISON, MONROE, J. Q. ADAMS.

*

will justify, are not proper subjects of removal." Referring to removals from office, Jefferson says (iv, 409) : "I had foreseen, years ago, that the first Republican President * * would have a dreadful operation to perform." The Marshals removed by him were charged with packing juries. When urged by a representative of the Tammany Society of Baltimore to remove Federalists from office, the philosopher said (Parton's "Life of Jefferson," p. 611): "What is the difference between denying the right of suffrage and punishing a man for exercising it by turning him out of office ?"

* *

* *

* *

President Madison, writing to Edward Coles, August 29, 1834, said (iv, 356): You call my attention, with much emphasis, to the principle * that offices were the spoils of victory. * I fully agree in all the odium you attach to such a rule. *The principle could not fail to degrade any administration." President Monroe says (Gilman's "Monroe," p. 202): "No person at the head of the government has, in my opinion, any claim to the active partisan exertions of those in office under him."

President John Quincy Adams, not only refused to remove political opponents, but he even refused to remove a naval officer who had been concerned in an unexecuted project to insult one of his (Adams's) political friends. He says (Morse's "Adams," p. 180): "[ have been urged to sweep away my opponents and pro vide for my friends. I can justify the refusal to adopt this policy only by the steadiness and consistency of my adherence to my own. If I depart from this in one instance, I shall be called upon to do the same in many. An invidious and inquisitorial scrutiny into the personal dispositions of public officers will creep through the whole Union, and the most selfish and sordid passions will be kindled into activity to distort the conduct and

TYLER, POLK, BUCHANAN, JOHNSON..

333

93

misrepresent the feelings of men whose places may become the prize of slander upon them."*

President Tyler was opposed to making removals on account of political opinions. In his first annual message he said he had used the power only in cases of unfaithfulness, incompetency, and partisanship that led to undue influence over elections. He further said (Benton's Debates, xiv, 375): "I shall cordially concur in any constitutional measures for regulating and restraining the power of removal."

President Polk says (James Schouler in Atlantic Monthly, Aug. '95. p. 237): "March 4, 1846: A year gone, and the pressure for office has not abated. Will this pressure never cease? I most sincerely wish that I had no offices to bestow. If I had not, it would add much to the happiness and comfort of my position. As it is, I have no office to bestow without turning out better men than a large majority of those who seek their places." In September following he speaks of this "constant stream of persons seeking office and begging money." May, 1847: Almost the whole of my embarrassment in administering the government grows out of the public patronage. *** The herd of officeseekers are the most unprincipled persons in the country. *** Patronage is injurious to a President." *** James Buchanan, in discussing in the Senate, in 1839, a bill to prevent the interference of Federal officers with elections, said (Curtis's Buchanan," i, 395): "Now, sir, if any freak of destiny should ever place me in one of these executive departments * * * I shall tell you the course I would pursue. I should not become an inquisitor of the political opinions of the subordinate officeholders. * * * For the higher and more responsible offices, however, I would select able, faithful, and well tried political friends. * * With General Washington, I believe that any other course 'would be a sort of political suicide.'"†

*

President Johnson says (Appendix to Cong. Globe, 1867, p. 4): "The unrestricted power of removal from office is a very great one to be trusted even to a Magistrate chosen by the general suffrage of the whole people, and accountable directly to them for his acts. It is undoubtedly liable to abuse, and at some period of our history perhaps has been abused."

*Washington, says James Parton, made 9 removals, J. Adams 9, Jefferson 39, Madison 5, Monroe 9, J. Q. Adams 2-total, 73. J. C. Calhoun (ii, 438) says J. Adams made 10 removals and Jefferson 42. Jackson's removals, in eight years, aggregated nearly 1,000.

Writings, xi, 75. On page 78 he speaks of " governmental suicide."

94

GRANT, HAYES, TILDEN.

* * *

President Grant was not long in perceiving the need of reform in the civil service. In his 2nd annual message he says (Cong. Globe, 1870, p. 9): "I would respectfully call your attention to a reform in the civil service of the country. I would have it go beyond the mere fixing of the tenure of office of clerks * * I would have it govern * * and employés, * the manner of making all appointments. There is no duty which so much embarrasses the Executive and heads of Departments as that of appointments. The present system does not secure the best men, and often not even fit men for public place.”

*

* * *

President Hayes denounced the patronage system and advocated a return to the principles and practices of the founders of the government " in both his letter of acceptance and his inaugural address. He also denounced the farming out of appointments among Con

*The following "plank" from the national Democratic "platform of 1876 favors the requirement of proved competency" in filling public offices, which is precisely what the competitive examination system has accomplished. It is statesman-like and is in harmony with the present civil service law:

"Reform is necessary in the civil service. Experience proves that efficient, economical conduct of the governmental business is not possible if its civil service be subject to change at every election; be a prize fought for at the ballot-box; be a brief reward of party zeal, instead of posts of honor, assigned for proved competency, and held for fidelity in the public employ; that the dispensing of patronage should neither be a tax upon the time of all our public men nor the instrument of their ambition."

Mr. Tilden, in his letter of acceptance, favors the " organization of a better civil service system, under the tests, wherever practicable, of proved competency and fidelity." It is noteworthy that he repeats the words "proved competency." It is clear therefore what his course would have probably been had the Electoral Commission declared him elected President instead of Hayes.

GARFIELD AND ARTHUR.

95

gressmen, saying: "The offices in these cases have become not merely rewards for party services, but rewards for services to party leaders."

*

President Garfield says (Cong. Record, 1881, p. 3): "The civil service can never be placed on a satisfactory basis until it is regulated by law. For the good of the service itself, for the protection of those who are intrusted with the appointing power against the waste of time and obstruction to the public business, caused by the inordinate pressure for place, and for the protec tion of incumbents against intrigue and wrong, † I shall, at the proper time, ask Congress to fix the tenure of the minor offices of the several Executive Departments, and to prescribe the grounds upon which removals shall be made during the terms for which incumbents have been appointed."

President Arthur favored civil service reform in his letter of acceptance of the nomination for Vice President as well as in two annual messages. He found the

*We press such appointments upon the Departments; we crowd the doors; we fill the corridors; Senators and Representatives throng the offices and bureaus until the public business is obstructed; the patience' of officers is worn out, and sometinies, for fear of losing their places by our influence, they at last give way, and appoint men, not because they are fit for the position, but because we ask it.-GARFIELD'S SPEECH IN CONGRESS, 1870.

Let it once be fully understood that continuance in office depends solely upon the faithful and efficient discharge of duties, and that no man will be removed to make place for another, and the reform will be half accomplished.-GARFIELD AT ATHENS, OHIO, 1879.

To reform this service is one of the highest and most imperative duties of statesmanship.-GARFIELD IN ATLANTIC MONTHLY," JULY, 1877, p. 61.

The italics are mine. The civil service law does not make sufficient provision " for the protection of incumbents against intrigue and wrong;" neither does it "prescribe the grounds upon which removals shall be made." (See introduction to Chapter VIII.)

96

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND'S DECIDED VIEWS.

"inordinate pressure for place" too great to bear, and further that it diverts the President's "time and attention from the proper discharge of other duties no less delicate and responsible, and which, in the very nature of things, cannot be delegated to other hands." Among other things he said: "Original appointments should be based upon ascertained fitness. The tenure of office should be stable. Positions of responsibility should, as far as practicable, be filled by the promotion of worthy and efficient officers."

President Cleveland has proved himself a civil service reformer in deed as well as in word, not only as President, but as Governor of New York. In his inaugural address he says (Cong. Record, 1885, p. 3):

"The people demand reform in the administration of the government and the application of business principles to public affairs. As a means to this end civil service reform should be in good faith enforced. Our citizens have the right to protection from the incompetency of public employés who hold their places solely as the reward of partisan service, and from the corrupting influence of those who promise and the vicious methods of those who expect such rewards. And those who worthily seek public employment, have the right to insist that merit and competency shall be recognized instead of party subserviency, or the surrender of honest political belief."

Again, in his second annual message, President Cleveland says (Cong. Record, Dec. 7, 1886, p. 11):

"The continued operation of the law relating to our civil service has added the most convincing proofs of its necessity and usefulness. It is a fact worthy of note that every public officer who has a just idea of his duty to the people, testifies to the value of this reform. Its stanchest friends are found among those who understand it best, and its warmest supporters are those who are restrained and protected by its requirements.

The meaning of such restraint and protection is not appreciated by those who want places under the government, regardless of merit and efficiency, nor by those who insist that the selection for such places should rest upon a proper credential showing active partisan work. They mean to public officers, if not their lives, the only opportunity afforded them to attend to public business, and they mean