THE CORRUPTING POWER OF PUBLIC PATRONAGE.

FROM the commencement of our government, the question of the appointment and removal of civil employees has harassed and annoyed those charged by the people with the administration of public affairs, and at times has greatly embarrassed and seriously menaced the successful determination and execution of great governmental policies and public undertakings. The makers of the Constitution realized the danger that must threaten a republican government, should the subordinate offices become the spoils of partisan victory; and after many days' debate as to whether the power of appointment should be vested in the two Houses of Congress, or solely with the Executive, or with the Executive and the Senate jointly, they finally determined on the latter course. They provided certain other limitations on the power of appointments to office, such as:

"No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was elected. be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased, during such time; and no person holding any office under the United States shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office."

These limitations were wise, but not far-reaching enough to guard against the dangerous abuse of the power of patronage.

In spite of occasional charges of such abuse, the small number of removals made during the first six administrations is evidence that no serious abuses were permitted during the first forty years of the government's existence. Early in the eighteenth century Aaron Burr, who then dominated the politics of the State of New York, introduced the spoils system in that State; and when his pupil and follower, Mr. Van Buren, became Secretary of State, in the Jackson Administration, he inaugurated for the first time the policy that to the victors belong the spoils of office. This system, in spite of various efforts at reform, dominated our civil service. until the Trumbull resolutions were passed on March 3, 1871; but it was not until the Pendleton Bill became a law, in January, 1883, that the abuses inaugurated fifty years before were seriously checked and partially reformed.

I do not expect to drift into a statement of the serious influence of the

spoils system on the government, but a few instances may not be out of place. In 1825, before the inauguration of the spoils system, the civil expenditures amounted to $11,490,000; in 1833, after its inauguration, they reached a total of $22,713,000, with a corresponding increase of the number of officers dependent on the government. In the succeeding years three collectors of the port of New York defaulted in amounts aggregating over $2,000,000, and down to the appointment of Mr. Arthur, in 1871, the New York Custom House was a seething mass of corruption and abuse of power.

Although the abuses that once existed have been checked by the present Civil Service Commission, there are still many flagrant violations of the law taking place every day. So long as it is left optional with the several heads of departments to select from three names certified to them from the Civil Service Commission, or to reject the entire list without giving a trial to the men thus certified, there is bound to be more or less partisan politics shown in the selections. The result is that a new Administration succeeding one of the opposite party will surely find the great majority of the civil service positions in the hands of its political opponents; and a cry will be raised by its own partisans for an equal distribution of the places, which of necessity will destroy any civil service system ever created.

I did not, however, commence this article with the intention of discussing the evils or shortcomings of our present system, but rather to call attention to the dangerous influence exerted by the spoils system on the legislation of the country. You sometimes hear some blatant reviler of the characters of other men, who has never had an opportunity of gaining correct information, denounce senators and representatives in Congress as guilty of corruption and other high crimes and misdemeanors. I do not contend that corrupt men do not sometimes enter Congress, just as occasionally you find corrupt men in the churches, or in the professions, or among business men; but I do say, after six years' service in the House of Representatives, that I have never heard of any member of Congress being corrupted by the use of money. Taking the 357 representatives as a whole, I am sure that their moral character will not suffer in a comparison with that of the same number of citizens chosen as you come to them from any religious denomination in the land. This of necessity is so. The American people are an honest, God-fearing constituency; and, as a rule, the men they send to represent them reflect their moral character as well as their views on great political questions.

Wherein, then, is the complaint? It is that the pressure brought by the people at home on their representatives to secure offices for them gives the executive branch of the government a dangerous power in influencing legislation.

A new Administration is returned to power. Mr. Blank belongs to the same party as the President-elect. He probably comes to Washington with campaign pledges to honor; or, if he has been wise and made no ante-election promises, he has many true and tried friends and political followers who are justly entitled to his support, and for whom he desires to obtain some of the appointive offices. The new Administration has a policy it desires to carry out, which requires legislation, and bills are, therefore, introduced by the party leader. Mr. Blank finds that some of these measures are not to the interest of his constituency; or, as a man of independent thought, he conscientiously believes they will not be beneficial to the country. He calls on the Cabinet officers to secure his friend's appointment. He is met with pleasant words, and is told that his friend seems to be well endorsed, but that the matter cannot be determined at present.

Mr. Blank is then asked what he thinks in regard to the Administration measures. The member of the Cabinet is greatly astonished that he cannot support the Administration, and asks him to read somebody's report, and consider it from the standpoint of a party man, etc. After he has made his fourth or fifth call, with the same result, he will begin to hear from his friend, who tells him that congressmen from adjacent districts have received appointments, and that the people at home cannot understand why he cannot do something for his district. The question that he has now to decide is whether he shall submit to become a tool in the hands of the Administration, secure the offices, and drift with the party tides, or whether he shall be a representative of the people, determining for himself what best conserves their interest and meets the demands of justice and right. To do this he must return to face angry friends, and must meet the opposition of an unfriendly Administration. Within the last four years I have seen at least two men of great ability retire from public life rather than surrender their own individuality; being unwilling to remain and contend against a hostile Administration. When the Porto Rican bill was first reported to the House, over thirty members of the Administration party declared themselves against it; but as the debate progressed it was understood by all that the Administration whip was being brought into use to bring the recalcitrants into line. One of the original opponents had the courage to announce

him to do so.

openly that he had changed his views because the President had requested And, on the final vote, only eight had the courage to support their original conviction.

I do not wish to be understood, from what I have said above, as contending that the present Administration alone is responsible for this state of affairs. It has existed with all parties and all administrations almost since the beginning of the government. All that I contend is that from decade to decade it has grown worse instead of better.

If the Democratic party has stood for one thing more than another, it has been for a policy of opposition to a permanent increase of the standing army; yet I have seen the solid phalanx of the opposition in the House of Representatives broken, in the passage of an army bill, by the distribution of patronage. When the cry for place is heard from the editor's son, the banker's son, the lawyer's son, the farmer's son-in truth, everybody's son- the guardian of the liberties of the people, the keeper of the public treasury, must, indeed, be a bold man. The bill providing for the holding of an International Exposition at St. Louis and that creating a Spanish War Claims Commission were passed, after being at first defeated, by making the Commission non-partisan, so that the advocates of the bills secured a number of candidates for the places from almost every State, to work on their home delegations. The fact that a member of Congress is regarded as the means through which patronage is distributed has so affected legislation as to cause the unnecessary expenditure of millions of dollars and the passage of bills that otherwise would never have become law.

The framers of the Constitution contemplated that the legislative branch of the government should be separate and distinct from the executive, in order that one might be a check upon the other. This was a wise provision; and, if our government is to last, it must be guarded with the utmost care. It can only be done by prohibiting by law the representative of the people from having any voice in the appointment of the governmental offices, either directly or indirectly, and making him ineligible for an appointive office under the government for at least two years after the term for which he has been elected has expired. Make his sole business that of legislation, let all fear of punishment or hope of reward come only from his constituency, and the majesty of the people as the rulers of this country will be maintained.

OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD.

HIGHER TECHNICAL TRAINING.

THOSE who compare the industrial development of Europe and America and the educational advances made to influence this development cannot fail to discover our shortcomings in the one as well as in the other. There can be no doubt as to the readiness of our manufacturers to introduce improved methods and the willingness of our working people to adapt themselves to them. On the other hand, European countries possess the advantage of inherent skill in their working classes, transmitted by inheritance, so to speak, in industries rooted for generations in the same locality. What seems of greatest importance, however, is the endeavor of European governments to augment by educational establishments the effectiveness of this adaptability. Technical and industrial art schools are considered the best means of furthering this end; and they have been introduced to the great advantage of the industries of European countries. Our own shortcomings in regard to manufactures are so apparent that efforts toward higher technical training may be looked upon as a national necessity.

This, in brief, was the substance of my findings as embodied in a report made to Mr. Bayard, then Secretary of State, after a visit to Germany for the purpose of investigating the differences in technical and industrial fields as between America and European countries. In the spring following, a special commission was extended to me for the study of the condition and progress of technical education and the status of the economy of production, in Europe.

A report on "Industrial Education in France," published by the State Department in 1888, gave a description of the educational system of France. That country was selected for a basis, because a system of public instruction, applying new principles, had been created there, with the express aim of equipping the workers with all the facilities which the experience of ages had contributed to the arts and manufactures. The kindergarten, the primary and secondary schools, the high schools, and the colleges all aim at making the eye the instrument by which the 'See Consular Reports, No. 72, December, 1886.