90 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 



their fearful work, we have just cause, on the othgr, to con- 

 gratulate the country and the friends of republican institu- 

 tions everywhere, that the patriotism and morality of the 

 country, acting through the thoughtful, earnest and pure men 

 of all sections and all political parties, have already begun the 

 great work of purification. 



A further ground of encouragement is found in the fact that 

 this reform did not have to wait for its inauguration until uni- 

 versally demanded by an indignant people, but originated in 

 an appeal from the chief magistrate of the nation, clothed in 

 these words : 



"Always favoring practical reforms, I respectfully call your attention to 

 one abuse of long standing, which I would like to see remedied by this 

 Congress. It is 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 and 

 employees who do not require the advice and consent of the Senate to 

 make their appointments complete. I would have it govern, not the ten- 

 ure, but the manner of making all appointments. * * * * The pres- 

 ent system does not secure the best men, and often not fit men, for public 

 places. The elevation and purification of the civil service of the govern- 

 ment will be hailed M'ith approval by the whole people of the United 

 States." [Message of 1870.] 



The promptness with which congress seconded these views 

 of the president and gave him authority to appoint a 

 commission charged with the duty of devising a plan under 

 which the needed reform should be inaugurated, and the 

 readiness with which he adopted the recommendations of 

 that commission and sought to give them efficiency, — these 

 circumstances have so enlisted the sympathy and support of 

 good me)i throughout the country as to have warranted the 

 hope that the reformation will steadily go on to its completion. 



It matters not so much that many friends of the object 

 sought to be accomplished criticise and condemn some of the 

 details of the plan adopted by the commission ; much less that 

 selfish demagogues, who see in it a curtailment of their prerog- 

 atives, hold up its weak points to public ridicule. The plan 



