CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (CiviL-SEEVioE REFOBM.) 



165 



tration there were 390 appointments and 89 removals, 

 or 22 '7 per cent. Precisely th e same number of remov- 

 als (89) has taken place in the fourteen months which 

 have since elapsed, but they constitute only 7 '8 per 

 cent, of the whole number of appointments (1,118) 

 within that period, and less than 2-6 of the entire list 

 .of officials (3,459), exclusive of the army and. navy, 

 which is filled by presidential appointment. 



I declare my approval of such legislation as may be 

 found necessary for supplementing the existing pro- 

 visions of law in relation to political assessments. 



In July last I authorized a public announcement 

 that employes of the Government should regard them- 

 selves as at liberty to exercise their pleasure in making 

 or refusing to make political contributions, and that 

 their action in that regard would in no manner affect 

 their official status. 



In this announcement I acted upon the view which 

 I had always maintained and still maintain, that a 

 public officer should be as absolutely free as any other 

 citizen to give or to withhold, a contribution for the 

 aid of the political party of his choice. It has, how- 

 ever, been urged, and doubtless not without founda- 

 tion in fact, that by solicitation of official superiors 

 and by other modes such contributions have at times 

 been obtained from persons whose only motive for 

 giving has been the tear of what might befall them if 

 they refused. It goes without saying that such con- 

 tributions are not voluntary, and in my judgment 

 their collection should be prohibited by law. A bill 

 which will effectually suppress them will receive my 

 cordial approval. 



I hope that however numerous and urgent may be 

 the demands upon your attention, the interests of this 

 District will not be forgotten. 



The denial to its residents of the great right of suf- 

 frage in all its relation to national, State, and muni- 

 cipal action, imposes upon Congress the duty of afford- 

 ing them the best administration which its wisdom 

 can devise. 



The report of the District commissioners indicates 

 certain measures whose adoption would seem to be 

 very desirable. I instance in particular those which 

 relate to arrears of taxes, to steam railroads, and to 

 assessments of real property. 



Among the questions which have been the topic of 

 recent debate in the halls of Congress none are of 

 greater gravity than those relating to the ascertain- 

 ment of the vote for presidential electors and the 

 intendment of the Constitution in its provisions for 

 devolving executive functions upon the Vice-Presi- 

 dent when the President suffers from inability to dis- 

 charge the powers and duties of his office. 



I trust that no embarrassments may result from a 

 failure to determine these questions before another 

 national election. 



The closing year has been replete with blessings for 

 which we owe to the Give- of all good our reverent 

 acknowledgment. For the uninterrupted harmony of 

 our foreign relations, for the decay of sectional ani- 

 mosities, for the exuberance of our harvests and the 

 triumphs of our mining and manufacturing indus- 

 tries, for the prevalence of health, the spread of in- 

 telligence and the conservation of the public credit, 

 for the growth of the country in all the elements 

 of national greatness for these and countless other 

 blessings we should rejoice aad be glad. I trust 

 that under the inspiration of this great prosperity our 

 counsels may be harmonious, and that the dictates of 

 prudence, patriotism, justice, and economy may lead' 

 to the adoption of measures in which the Congress 

 aad the Executive may heartily unite. 



CHESTER A. ARTHUE. 



WASHINGTON, December 4, 1882. 



Civil-Service Reform. One of the most impor- 

 tant subjects brought up for consideration dur- 

 ing the session was the bill for the reform of 

 the civil service, which had fallen by the way 

 in the previous session. It was reported in 



the Senate Dec. 12th fr.im the Committee on 

 Civil Service and Retrenchment, with various 

 amendments, which were agreed to without de- 

 bate. Mr. Pendleton, of Ohio, who originally 

 introduced the bill and had charge of it, opened 

 the discussion of the measure as amended. He 

 said: 



"The necessity of a change in the civil ad- 

 ministration of this Government has been so 

 fully discussed in the periodicals and pam- 

 phlets and newspapers, and before the people, 

 that I feel indisposed to make any further ar- 

 gument. This subject, in all its ramifications, 

 was submitted to the people of the United 

 States at the fall elections, and they have spok- 

 en in no low or uncertain tone. 



u I do not doubt that local questions exerted 

 great influence in many States upon the result; 

 but it is my conviction, founded on the ob- 

 servation of an active participation in the 

 canvass in Ohio, that dissatisfaction with the 

 methods of administration adopted by the Re- 

 publican party in the past few years was the 

 most important single factor in reaching the 

 conclusion that was attained. I do not say 

 that the civil service of the Government is 

 wholly bad. I can not honestly do so. I do 

 not say that the men who are employed in it 

 are all corrupt or inefficient or unworthy. 

 That would do very great injustice to a great 

 number of faithful, honest, and intelligent pub- 

 lic servants. But I do say that the civil ser- 

 vice is inefficient ; that it is expensive ; that it 

 is extravagant ; that it is in many cases and 

 in some senses corrupt ; that it has welded the 

 whole body of its employes into a great politi- 

 cal machine ; that it has converted them into 

 an army of officers and men, veterans in political 

 warfare, disciplined and trained, whose sala- 

 ries, whose time, whose exertions at least 

 twice within a very short period in the history 

 of our country have robbed the people of the 

 fair results of presidential elections. 



" I repeat, Mr. President, that the civil ser- 

 vice is inefficient, expensive, and extravagant, 

 and that it is in many instances corrupt. Is it 

 necessary for me to prove facts which are so 

 patent that even the blind must see and the 

 deaf must hear ? 



"At the last session of Congress, in open 

 Senate, it was stated and proved that in the 

 Treasury Department at Washington there are 

 3,400 employes, and that of this number the 

 employment of less than 1,600 is authorized by 

 law and appropriations made for their pay- 

 ment, and that more than 1,700 are put on or 

 off the rolls of the department at the will and 

 pleasure of the Secretary of the Treasury, and 

 are paid not out of appropriations made for 

 that purpose but out of various funds and bal- 

 ances of appropriations lapsed in the Treasury 

 in one shape or another, which are not by law 

 appropriated to the payment of these employes. 

 I was amazed. I had never before heard that 

 such a state of affairs existed. I did not be- 

 lieve it was possible until my honorable col- 



