144 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



publican majority these gentlemen are reenforced 

 by the State officials, and the " machine " is so 

 much the stronger. Every one of them has a 

 pecuniary motive for keeping the power in the 

 hands of his own party. In every district of the 

 country the Republican officials are the perma- 

 nent Republican committee. It is their business 

 to keep the party together; to look after the 

 register ; to arrange for " primary meetings ; " 

 to select candidates ; to work the elections. They 

 have received their appointments from the party ; 

 they will keep their appointments only so long as 

 the party retains its supremacy ; it is taken for 

 granted that they n ill look after party interests. 

 The Democrats who would like to hold the offices 

 now held by Republicans constitute, as a matter 

 of course, the standing Democratic committee. 

 When the Democrats win, they will have their re- 

 ward, la those States in which the Democrats 

 command a majority, these expectants of Federal 

 office are, of course, associated with those who 

 already hold office under the State governments. 



The results of this system of party organiza- 

 tion are most disastrous. Men who have no de- 

 sire to hold any public employment feel that they 

 are released from political responsibility. If a 

 man is disposed to discharge his political duties, 

 he is regarded with suspicion and jealousy. Let 

 him show a disposition to promote the interests 

 of his party, let him attend "primary meetings," 

 let him appear frequently on the party platform, 

 and his allies as well as his opponents will ask, 

 " What does he want ? " If be is on the same side 

 as the men who are in office already, they begin 

 to think that, to secure a berth for himself, he 

 will intrigue in order to get one or another of 

 them dismissed ; if he is on the other side, the 

 men who are hoping for office will feel that their 

 own chances of winning an appointment when 

 their party becomes triumphant are dimiiiished 

 by the appearance of a new candidate. 



Of course, general statements of this kind are 

 not to be taken without qualification. Men who 

 have done little for their party arc often appointed 

 to office on their merits, and there are others who 

 do a great deal for their party without any hope 

 or desire of receiving official reward. But, 

 broadly speaking, men who are too wealthy to 

 care for public employment, and men whose time 

 is fully occupied with a remunerative profession, 

 are thrown out of politics. The complete sepa- 

 ration of the civil service from party interests 

 would remove from the political life of America 

 its most corrupt and most pernicious element. 



Mr. Hayes is making a gallant attempt at re- 



form, but he is fighting a desperate battle. To a 

 stranger the manner in which he opened the 

 campaign seemed audacious. On the eve of a 

 great contest in Ohio he issued a circular direct- 

 ing the civil service to take no part in the strug- 

 gle. By doing this he simply broke up and shat- 

 tered the Republican organization in the State, 

 and the result was that Ohio was lost to the 

 party. This catastrophe did not recommend the 

 President's policy to Republican politicians. The 

 Democrats are still less likely to regard it with 

 favor. If he is to succeed, he must awaken the 

 conscience and kindle the enthusiasm of the great 

 masses of the people who commonly abstain from 

 political agitation. 



The great material prosperity of the American 

 people has contributed to make them indifferent 

 to their political and municipal responsibilities. 

 Sometimes I was told in a tone of complaint that 

 rogues went into municipal office with no other 

 object than to make money. " Why don't you 

 keep them out ? " I asked ; " there are more hon- 

 est men in the country than rogues." " We can't 

 afford it," was the reply ; " we are making money, 

 and on the whole it is cheaper to be swindled 

 than to give our time to public work to prevent 

 ourselves from being swiudled." I ventured to 

 answer : " The rogues, according to this account, 

 do public work in order to make money, and the 

 honest men neglect public work in order to save 

 money. Judged by the laws of public morality, 

 there is not much to choose between them." 



On one point of public duty most Americans 

 seem to have a conscience— they go to the poll. 

 To vote seems to be recognized as a duty. In- 

 deed, in the old colonial times, every voter in 

 Virginia was compelled to vote, under a penalty 

 of a hundred pounds of tobacco. But there are 

 considerable classes — or rather there are consid- 

 erable numbers of men in all classes — who have 

 not yet learned that it is the duty of the citizen 

 of a free country to give time and labor and 

 money to promote the diffusion of the political 

 principles in which he believes, and the triumph 

 of the politicians whose integrity and ability com- 

 mand his confidence. There are many Americans, 

 as there are many Englishmen, who have not yet 

 learned that in claiming the right to govern them- 

 selves they have accepted the responsibility of 

 doing their part toward maintaining a just and 

 wise and vigorous government. In politics, as in 

 every other region of morals, rights and duties 

 are inseparable. Free institutions are worthless 

 unless they are sustained by the zeal of an intel- 

 ligent and virtuous people. 



