Reqidsites to a Reform of the Civil Service. 95 



fore to be urged upon the country with great force and persis- 

 tency. We are already a nation of politicians — politicians, too, 

 in the most objectionable sense ; by which is meant a great 

 body, a mighty host, of place-hunters, hungering, panting, 

 scrambling, fighting, each for his share of the spoils of office. 

 With an alarmingly large and increasing proportion of the 

 people, an ordinary legitimate businees, yielding a comfortable 

 living, is unsatisfying, and to be escaped if possible; and as 

 for downright labor, that is contemptible ! 



Of those who are politicians in the better sense, the great 

 majority are almost totally ignorant of political science, while 

 the number is by no means small of those who openly scout 

 the idea of there being any such science. As to statesmanship, 

 that is a thing of which we hear much talk but see few illus- 

 trations. What wonder that so much of our legislation is 

 botcb work, requiring to be torn to pieces and done over 

 again and again, in the vain attempt to accomplish the desired 

 object. How can it be otherwise, when each successive legis- 

 lature or congress is composed, for the greater part, of men 

 who have neither knowledge of the principles of political 

 science, nor the advantage of legislative experience — composed, 

 in a word, of raw recruits, whisked off, with short warning and 

 no preparation, from the field, the workshop, the factory, the 

 counting-room, or the professional office, and required to de- 

 vote themselves, for the space of a few months at the most, 

 to the settlemnt of a thousand and one questions, a majority 

 of them entirely new, and some of them gravely important, re- 

 quiring years of the most careful research for their solution? 



The same is true of offices other than legislative. The term, 

 as a rule, is too short, and changes are too frequent. In most 

 of the states the governor and other state officers are chosen 

 once in two years ; and although re-eligible, it is quite as often 

 as otherwise that they remain in office bat one term. Not 

 because of neglect of duty or malfeasance of any sort, but be- 

 cause some one not in office is bent on having his turn ! And 



