842 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



we can not help it. Our ground of sat- 

 isfaction is, that a formidable obstacle 

 to the study of science has been got out 

 of the way in an influential university, 

 and that now it will be a good deal 

 easier for other collegiate institutions 

 to do the same thing. 



TEE SCTLLA AND CnARYBDIS OF 

 ADMINISTRA TION. 



Mn. Feedeeic Haeeison was perhaps 

 not very far wrong when he spoke the 

 other day of the position of compara- 

 tive isolation which Mr. Spencer occu- 

 pies, so far as his views on the proper 

 sphere of government are concerned. 

 There is probably no living philoso- 

 pher, not the mere mouth-piece of a sect 

 or school, whose general philosophical 

 views command as wide assent as those 

 of Mr. Spencer, but multitudes, who 

 are willing to follow him when he dis- 

 courses of evolution and of the rela- 

 tivity of knowledge, hold back when 

 they are asked to accept the applica- 

 tion which he makes of his general 

 principles to practical questions of gov- 

 ernment. If, however, Mr. Spencer's 

 philosophy rests on a sound foundation, 

 as so many are prepared to admit, and 

 if his views on the conditions of po- 

 litical and social well-being are legi- 

 timately deduced from the cardinal 

 principles of that philosophy, then 

 sooner or later the world must accept 

 them or — suffer the consequences of 

 rebellion against the teachings of right 

 reason. Mr. Spencer can afford to wait 

 for his vindication better, perhaps, than 

 the world can afford to wait to adopt 

 the plan of political salvation which he 

 points out. 



It may help to clear up the subject 

 a little if we endeavor to show what 

 the actual condition of things is, and 

 what are the "difficulties with which 

 government, in the present unduly- 

 comprehensive sense of the term, has 

 to contend. We speak in the heading 

 of this article of "the Scylla and 



Charybdis of administration." By 

 Scylla we wish to signify the "spoils 

 system," that under which the public 

 offices are bartered for party services ; 

 by "Charybdis" we understand bu- 

 reaucracy. Mr. Spencer says, "Steer 

 away from both of these devouring 

 monsters, by reducing the functions of 

 government to a mere fraction of what 

 they now are " ; but the advice is not 

 heeded. Our modern statesmen make 

 straight for one or another of these 

 sources of danger, or else try to steer 

 between them — an experiment which 

 generally results in damage from both 

 sides. 



The "spoils system" is too well 

 known in this country to need much 

 description. It consists essentially in 

 making the hope of office, or of con- 

 trol in connection with the disposal of 

 office, the mainspring of all political 

 effort. "What kind of political class 

 this system tends to breed we know 

 only too well. The type is the same, 

 from the bar-room rowdy who trusts 

 to his usefulness at election-times to 

 secure him immunity from punishment 

 when arraigned for assault or murder, 

 up to the millionaire who buys himself 

 a seat in the Senate. "We see repre- 

 sentatives of the system hanging round 

 our city halls, waiting for their share 

 of plunder, and meanwhile defiling 

 rooms which ought to represent the de- 

 cency and order of a great community 

 with their rude and unsavory habits. 

 "We see them in the lobbyists and the 

 pension agents, the men who advertise 

 to procure situations for money, and all 

 the other harpies that congregate at 

 our national and State capitals. "We 

 see them in those members of Congress, 

 not a few, whose whole idea of states- 

 manship is to watch, in the interest of 

 their several localities, the progress of 

 appropriation bills. We see them in 

 influential Journalists who make no ef- 

 fort to conceal the rage and scorn with 

 which they are inspired by the very 

 idea that office should be bestowed 



