Carl Schurz

“ And, if the politicians accuse us of dictating, it is simply because the opinions we have and express do not always chime with their desires and their interests. If there is any dictating to the administration done, then I apprehend it is more done by the spoils politicians, who want things, than by the Mugwumps, who do not. ”

“ On the contrary, I consider it the bounden duty of every friend of good government to inform those in power of whatever may go wrong. He should do so firmly, frankly, without malice, and without mincing matters. For, let me tell you, the atmosphere of Washington is sometimes so thick with flattery and with selfish advice that the sound waves of public opinion can scarcely penetrate it, unless they are propelled with a certain vigor. ”

“ But, in any event, we gentlemen have reason to congratulate ourselves upon the tremendous progress made by the reform movement against what some time ago appeared almost overwhelming odds. Our successes have been fairly astonishing. Now, at last, the people begin to wake up to it, to understand its principles and to appreciate its aims and its benefits. We have only to go on in the way in which we have begun, and we shall accomplish it all. One thing is certain, and that is that the reform movement has come to stay and grow. ”

“ At the same time, I do not think that anybody who knows the man or anybody who has the cause of good government at heart will be hasty in ascribing to him any design of turning his back upon his high purposes of conducting the government. What we may say in truth is that he has been imposed upon by very bad counsel. President Cleveland has to learn a good many things which other Presidents had to learn before him. ”

“ The country does stand afflicted with a Democratic President who has shown himself capable of reappointing a Republican postmaster, for the simple contemptible reason that it was in the public interest! ”

“ It is one which is inherent in weak human nature. It is that in recommending appointments for their district in many cases,—let me say there are very honorable exceptions among them,—in most cases they have at heart much more the building up of the local machine than the welfare of the people of the United States or the honor of the administration. Gentlemen, you will all agree with me, when I say that it would be unreasonable to expect even the best man in power not to make any mistakes. ”

“ The fact is not only that there was no bargain between President Cleveland and the Independents, either before or after the election, and no idea of recognition, but that even when the idea of recognition was suggested, as far as I know,—and I may be supposed to know something about it,—the idea was distinctly repudiated. The understanding between President Cleveland and the Independents was perfectly simple. It was that the service they had done in the campaign was free of charge; if they venture upon giving him a piece of advice occasionally now, it is free of charge again ”

“ And, when I hear the politicians continue to prate about rebels, I ask myself the question, Where in this country is the man that is in rebellion against his government today? The only shadow of an organized resistance to the Union appears down in Virginia among the readjusters, who are allied with the Republican party. ”

“ If President Cleveland permits every Republican office-holder to serve out his term, but upon the expiration of every Republican commission puts in a Democrat, then at the end of his Presidential term the whole civil service—with the exception of the comparatively few subordinate places covered by the civil service law, and a very few more exceptions—will be essentially a Democratic partisan service. If, then, the Republicans win, they need only follow the example set by President Cleveland to make it an essentially Republican partisan service again, and so on by terms. ”

“ Gentlemen of the Club, when men interested in the cause of reform meet nowadays, they do so with the satisfactory feeling that they can report progress, and a good deal of it, too. I say a good deal of it, too, but not enough to permit you to rest upon your oars. ”

“ If that branch of our service which is purely administrative and essentially non-political is to be taken out of partisan politics, then some President brought in by a change of party in power must make a beginning. ”

“ The first consequence will be that every officer in the service of the government will be taught that, if he preserves his integrity intact, if he gives his full mind and energy to his official duties so as to raise himself the standard of eminent efficiency, then he will have an excellent chance of remaining in office, even if the party in power changes. ”

“ Every Republican spoils politician you will see raising his voice encouraging the Democratic administration to remove as many Republicans as possible to put Democrats in their places. Why does he do this? Not because ho prefers to see Democrats in the public offices, but because at the time when the Republican partisans may return to power they do not want to be fettered by a precedent set by President Cleveland. ”

“ We enjoy to-day a great advantage over former times, Years ago, every effort to improve the methods of government was overshadowed by a dark cloud of supposed danger looming up in the South, having been left behind by the Rebellion. ”

“ They see very clearly that this involves essentially a “new deal” every time tho party in power changes; and they see also that the prospect of a new deal will always keep our political contests, what in a large measure they have long been, scrambles for public plunder, and it will always preserve in our public service an almost irresistible tendency to develop into party machine business, with all its abuses. That is the reason why the Republican spoilsmen encourage it now. ”

“ Cleveland appointed that postmaster, not in recognition of a debt he owed to the Independents, but in recognition of a duty he owed to the country. Possibly, it may even be discovered that President Cleveland himself thought of that reappointment before anybody suggested it to him.
The old-fashioned partisan spirit must, after all, accept things as they are. The great calamity has actually happened. ”

“ He will have to learn among other things—and here I speak as one who has gone through the mill himself—that, of those who make recommendations or requests for appointments, the members of Congress, in nine cases out of ten, are the least to be trusted. ”