Harper's Weekly

“ And now, although ten years are not passed, a radical reform of the practice is demanded by every political organization in the country; and the sharpest shaft that can be flown at an opponent is that he is indifferent to this question. If, as we have suggested, the working politicians of all parties are of opinion that the government can not be carried on except upon the spoils system, their sagacity is as profound as usual, and they will live to learn better. ”

“ No serious question of executive administration was ever treated in Congress with so little intelligence or reason. The debates upon the subject are laughable; they are humiliating to read. They all turn on two points. One is that a man is not necessarily a good inspector of snuff because he knows Greek, and the other that Senators and Representatives probably know quite as well as a squad of college professors who ought to have the post-offices. ”

“ It is a mere joke to ask what reform of the kind the Democratic party, the great bulwark of the spoils system, wishes. It is notorious also that Republicans like Senator Carpenter and Generals Butler and Logan are wholly hostile to any change. The only people who sincerely desire it are a small number in each party. ”