1 86 Civil Service Reform 



only necessary that a man shall be good and possess 

 the desire to do decent things, but it is also neces- 

 sary that he shall be courageous, practical, and effi- 

 cient, if his work is to amount to anything. There 

 is a good deal of rough-and-tumble fighting in Con- 

 gress as there is in all our political life, and a man 

 is entirely out of place in it if he 'does not possess the 

 virile qualities, and if he fails to show himself ready 

 and able to hit back when assailed. Moreover, he 

 must be alert, vigorous, and intelligent, if he is going 

 to make his work count. The friends of the Civil 

 Service Law, like the friends of all other laws, would 

 be in a bad way if they had to rely solely upon the 

 backing of the timid good. During the last six years 

 there have been, as there always are, a number of 

 men in the House who believe in the Civil Service 

 Law, and who vote for it if they understand the 

 question and are present when it comes up, but who 

 practically count for very little one way or the other, 

 because they are timid or flighty, or are lacking in 

 capacity for leadership or ability to see a point and 

 to put it strongly before their associates. 



There is need of further legislation to perfect and 

 extend the law and the system; but Congress has 

 never been willing seriously to consider a proposition 

 looking to this extension. Bills to provide for the 

 appointment of fourth-class postmasters have been 

 introduced by Senator Lodge and others, but have 

 never come to anything. Indeed, but once has a 

 measure of this kind been reported from committee 

 and fought for in either House. This was in the last 



