1 82 Civil Service Reform 



each has been obliged to conform more or less closely 

 to the wishes of his party associates and fellow party 

 leaders ; and, of course, these party leaders, and the 

 party politicians generally, wished the offices to be 

 distributed as they had been ever since Andrew 

 Jackson became President. In consequence the of- 

 fices outside the protection of the law have still been 

 treated, under every Administration, as patronage, to 

 be disposed of in the interest of the dominant party. 

 An occasional exception was made here and there. 

 The Postmaster at New York, a Republican, was re- 

 tained by President Cleveland in his first Adminis- 

 tration, and the Postmaster of Charleston, a Demo- 

 crat, was retained by President Harrison ; but, with 

 altogether insignificant exceptions the great bulk 

 of the non-classified places have been changed for 

 political reasons by each Administration, the office- 

 holders politically opposed to the Administration 

 being supplanted or succeeded by political adher- 

 ents of the Administration. 



Where the change has been complete it does not 

 matter much whether it was made rapidly or slowly. 

 Thus, the fourth-class postmasterships were looted 

 more rapidly under the Administration of President 

 Harrison than under that of President Cleveland, 

 and the consular service more rapidly under Presi- 

 dent Cleveland than under President Harrison; but 

 the final result was the same in both cases. Indeed, I 

 think that the brutality which accompanied the great- 

 er speed was in some ways of service to the country, 

 for it directed attention to the iniquity and folly 



