Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 October 1885 — EXIT EATON. [ARTICLE]

EXIT EATON.

The Resignation of the Civil .Service i Commissioner Accepted tiy .. 4 , the President. ■* . t. • The Executive, in Reply, Says the Civil Service Law Must be Observed. ? [Washington telegram.] The letter of Dorman B. Eaton to tfip President, resigning his position as a member of the Civil Service Commission, and the reply of President Cleveland accepting the same, were made public to-day. Mr. Eaton's letter, which is dated July 25, says the writer had, several weeks before that time, determined to tender his resignation, but that he would not urge its acceptance until such time as the President might find convenient to make a new appointment to the place. Mr.JSaton points out that, Grior to the passage ot the civil service iw, Jan. 16. 1883, ,he had held under three earlier Presidents, and was then holding, under President Arthur, a position closely analogous to his present one. During all that time he had served without compensation, and when the time arrived for executing the provisions of the law he did not feel called upon to make any further sacrifice ot his private interest for the cause of civil-service reform. President Arthur, without any intimation to him, then appointed him a Ccmmissioner. He wbuld have declined the office, but was urged not to do so by many friends of reform. Certain persons charged that he had promoted the act from selfish motives, and these same parties now stood ready to charge that his refusal to accept the position of Commissioner was a cowardly shrinking from the failure which was sure to follow any attempt to execute the civil-service law. Under these circumstances he accepted the office with the declared purpose of remaining hardly more than a year, within which time it was expected the most difficult part of the work would have been accomplished. At the, end of that time the new law had secured the Commendation of the President, united the party In power, and secured from a committee of the House ot Representatives a report commending the commission as "intelligent, non-partisan, and conscientious. ” A few months later he was about to insist upon being relieved, when friends dissuaded him, urging that, as a new party was coming into power, his resignation would be looked upon as fleeing from the peril of a crisis. No declaration of his confidence in the reform policy of the new administration would have freed him from the damaging plausibility of such a charge, and he determined to remain in office until the reform policy of that administration had been Clearly developed. That timfl had now arrived, as must be admitted by all candid men. The few changes made in the rules had but added to their justice and efficiency, and there had appeared no reason to suppose that the merit system had not been welcomed by the President and by all members of the Cabinet as a great benefit to the public service, a great influence for honesty in politics, and a great relief to the head of the office. Mr. Eaton says he wishes to leave no doubt of his absolute faith in the continuing triumph of a reform policy. President Cleveland's letter of reply is as follows:

“Washington, Sept, n, I§Bs. “Hon. Dorman B. Eaton: “Mv Dear Sir—l am in receipt of your letter tendering your resignation as a member of the Board of Civil Service Commissioners. I cannot refrain from expressing my sincere regret that you have determined to withdraw from a position in the public service where your intelligent performance of duty has been of inestimable value to the country. The friends of civil service reform and all those who aesire good government fully appreciate your devotion to the cau-e in which you early enlisted, and they have seen with satisfaction that your zeal and faith have not led you to suppose that the reform in which you were engaged is unsuited to the rules which ordinarily govern progress in human affairs, or that it should at once i each perfection and universal acceptance. You have been willing patiently to accept good results as they step by step could be gained, holding every advance with unyielding steadfastness. The success which thus far attended the work of civil service reform is largely due to the fact that its practical friends have proceeded upon the theory that real and healthy progress can only be made if the people who cherish pernicious political ideas, long fostered and encouraged by vicious partisanship, are persuaded that the change contemplated by the reform offers substantial improvements and benefits. A reasonable tol -ration for old prejudices, a graceful recognition ot every aid, a sensible utilization of every instrumentality that promises assistance, and a constant effort to demonstrate the advantages of the new order of things, are the means by which this reform movement will in the future be further advanced, the opposition oElncorrlgible spoilsmen rendered ineffectual, and the cause placed upon- a sure foundation. Of course, there should be no surrender of principle nor backward steps, and all laws for the enforcement of the reform should be rigidly executed; but the benefits which its principles promise will not be fully realized unless the acquiescence of the people is added to the stern assertion of a doctrine and the vigorous execution of the laws. “It is a source of congratulation that there are so many friends of civil service i eform marshaled on the practical side of the question, and that the number is not greater of those who profess friendliness for the cause and yet mischievously and with supercilious self-righteousness discredit every effort not in exact accord with their attenuated ideas, decry with carping criticism the labor of those actually in the field of reform, and, ignoring the conditions which qualify every struggle for a radical improvement in the affairs of the Government, demand complete and immediate perfection. The reference in your letter to the attitude of the members of my Cabinet to the merit system established by the civil service law, besides being entirely correct, exhibits an appreciation of the honest endeavor in the direction of reform and a disposition to do justice to proved sincerity which is most gratifying. If such treatment ot those upon whom the duty rests of administering the Government according to reform methods were the universal rule, and if the embarrassments and perplexities attending such an administration were fairly regarded by all those professing to be friendly to such methods, the avowed enemies of the cause would be afforded less encouragement. “I believe in civil service reform and its application in the most practicable form attainable, among other reasons, because it opens the door for the rich and the poor alike to a participation in public place holding. And I hope the time is at hand when all our people will see the advantage of a reliance for such an opportunity upon merit and fitness, instead of a dependence upon the caprice or selfish Interest of those who impudently stand between the people and the machinery of their government. In the one case a reasonable intelligence and the education which is freely fqnnished or forced upon the youth of our land are the credentials to office; in the other the way is found in favor secured by a participation in partisan work often unfitting a person morally, it not mentally and physically, for the responsibilities and duties of rnbllc employment. You will agree with me, think, that the support which has been given to the pi esent administration in its efforts to preserve and advance this reform by a party restored to power after an exclusion for many years from participation in the places attached to the public service—confronted with a new system precluding the redistribution of such places in its interest—called .upon to surrender advantages which a perverted partisanship had taught? the American people belonged to success, and perturbed with the suspicion, always raised in such an emergency, that their rights in the conduct of this reform had not been scrupulously regarded—should receive due acknowledgment, and should confirm our -belief that there is a sentiment among the people better than a desire to hold office, and a patriotic Impulse upon which may safely rest the integrity of our institutions and the strength and perpetuity of our Government. “I have determined to reauest you to retain your present position until the Ist day of November next, at which time your resignation may become operative. I desire to express my entire confidence in your attachment to the cause of civil service reform and your ability to render it efficient aid, and 1 indulge the hope and expectation that, notwithstanding the acceptance of your resignation, your interest in the object lor which you have labored so assiduously will continue bevond the official term which you surrender. Yours very truly, “Grover Cleveland.