Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, Volume 26 December, 1880. - Various None (e book reader android txt) 📗
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Official Body Which, Having A Permanent Tenure, Would Be Altogether
Indifferent To Their Varying Desires. Such A Scheme Of Government Was
Therefore No More Than An Attempt To Stand The Pyramid On Its Apex: Mr.
Adams'S Administration, Supported Chiefly By Those Whose Aspirations
Were For An Honest And Capable Bureaucracy, And Who Could Not Or Would
Not Face The Rude Questionings Of Democracy, Ended With His First Four
Years, And Went Out In Such A Whirlwind Of Partisan Opposition As
Brought In, By Reaction, The Infamous "Spoils System" That At The End Of
Half A Century We Are But Partially Recovered From.
To Designate More Particularly The Great Fact Which Had Been Disregarded
In This Notable Experiment Of Fifty Years Ago, And Which Is Apparently
Not Sufficiently Considered In The Measures Of Reform That Have Been
More Recently Pressed Upon Us, We May Declare That The Government Of The
United States Is, As Yet, The Direct Outcome Of What May Be Called _The
Political Activity Of The People_. Whether Or Not, Having Read History,
We Must Anticipate A Time Here When The Many, Weary Of Preserving Their
Own Liberties, Will Resign Their Power To A Few, It Is Certain That No
Such Inclination Yet Appears. The Government Is The Product Of The
Public Mind And Will When These Are Moved With Reference To The Subject.
It Is Created Freshly At Short Intervals, And The Manner Of The Creation
Is Seldom Languid Or Careless, But Usually Earnest, Intense And Heated.
Upon This Point There Has No Doubt Been Much Misapprehension. As It Has
Happened--Perhaps Rather Oddly--That Those Of Our Thoughtful Patriots
Whose Warnings And Appeals Have Reached Public Notice Have Had Their
Experiences Mostly In city Life, Surrounded By The Peculiar Conditions
Volume 26 Title 1 (Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science) Pg 44Which Exist There, The Conclusions They Have Drawn In Some Respects Are
Applicable Only To Their Own Surroundings. They Have Discovered Persons
Who Had Forgotten Or Did Not Believe That Liberty Could Be Bought Only
With The One Currency Of Eternal Vigilance, And Coupled With These
Others Who Were Too Busy To Attend To The Active Processes By Which The
Government Is From Time To Time Renewed; And They Have Concluded, With
Fatal Inaccuracy Of Judgment, That This Exceptional Disposition Of A
Small Number Of Persons Was A Type Of The Whole Population. Nothing
Could Be More Absurdly Untrue. Outside Of A Very Limited Circle No Such
Political Fatigue Exists. The People Generally Are Deeply Interested In
Public Affairs And Willing To Attend To Their Own Public Duties. Their
Concern In Regard To Measures, Methods And Candidates Is Seldom Laid
Aside. The _Political Activity_ To Which We Have Called Attention Thus
At Some Length Is Earnest, Persistent And Exacting.
It Will Be Useful For The Reformer Of The Civil Service To Give Some
Study To The Manifestations Of This Activity. He Will Find It One Of The
Most Marked And Characteristic Features In The Life Of The American
People. If He Will Take The Pains To Examine The Civil Organization Of
The Country, He Will Find That Its Roots Run To Every Stratum Of
Society. The Number Of Persons Interested In Politics, Not As A
Speculative Subject, But As A Practical And Personal One, Is Wonderfully
Great. Thus, In Most Of The States There Exists That Modification Of The
Ancient Saxon System Of Local Action By "Hundreds"--The Township
Organization. This Alone Carries A Healthy Political Movement Into The
Farthest Nook And Corner Of The Body Politic: Every Citizen Of Common
Sense May Well Be Consulted In This Primary Activity, And Every
Household May Be Interested In The Question Whether Its Results Are Good
Or Bad. But Besides This, Simple And Slightly Compensated As Are The
Positions Belonging To The Township, There Are In every Community Many
Willing To Fill Them. To Be A Supervisor Of The Roads,[1] To Be Township
Constable And Collector Of The Taxes, To Audit The Township Accounts, To
Be A Member Of The School Board, To Be A Justice Of The Peace, Is An
Inclination--It May Be A Desire--Entertained By Many Citizens; And If
The Ambition May Seem To Be A Narrow One, Its Modesty Does Not Make It
Unworthy Or Discreditable. But These Men Alone, Active In The Politics
Of Townships, Form A Surprising Array. If We Consider That In
Pennsylvania There Are Sixty-Seven Counties, With An Average Of Say
Forty Townships In each, Here Are Twenty-Six Hundred And Eighty
Townships, Having Each Not Less Than Ten Officials, And Making Nearly
Twenty-Seven Thousand Persons Actually On Duty At One Time In a Single
State In This Fundamental Branch Of The Service. And If We Estimate That
Besides Those Who Are In Office At Least Two Persons Are Inclined And
Willing, If Not Actually Desirous, To Occupy The Place Now Filled By
Each One--A Very Moderate Calculation--We Multiply Twenty-Six Thousand
Eight Hundred By Three, And Have Over Eighty Thousand Persons Whose Minds
Are Quick And Active In Local Politics On This One Account. But We May
Proceed Further. There Are The Cities And Boroughs, Their Official
Business More Complex And Laborious, And In Most Cases Receiving Much
Higher Compensation. The Competition For These Is In Many Instances Very
Great: In The Case Of Large Cities We Need Not Waste Words In
Elaborating The Fact. It Is Difficult To Estimate The Number Of Persons
To Whom The Municipal Corporations Give Place And Pay Compensation In
The State Of Pennsylvania, But Five Thousand Is Not An Extravagant
Surmise, While It Would Be Equally Reasonable To Presume That For Each
Volume 26 Title 1 (Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science) Pg 45Place Occupied At Least Three Others Would Be Willing To Fill It, So
That On This Account We May Make A Total Of Twenty Thousand. But There
Are Also The County Offices. Besides The Judicial Positions, Altogether
Honorable, Held By Long Terms Of Election And Receiving Liberal
Compensation, There Are In each County An Average Of Fifteen Other
Officials, Making In The State, In Round Numbers, One Thousand. These,
Again, May Be Multiplied By Four: There Are Certainly Three Waiting
Aspirants For Each Place. But Ascend Now To The State System, With Its
Several Executive Departments, The Legislature, The Charitable And Penal
Institutions And The Appointments In The Gift Of The Governor. Great And
Small, These May Reach One Thousand (The Legislature Alone, With Its
Officers And Employes, Accounts For Over Three Hundred), And Certainly
There Are At Least Five Persons Looking Toward Each Of The Several
Places.
Upon Such An Estimate, Then, Of The Political Activities Of One State We
Have Such A Showing As This:
Citizens Politically Active As To Townships, 80,000
Citizens Politically Active As To Cities And Boroughs, 20,000
Citizens Politically Active As To Counties, 4,000
Citizens Politically Active As To The State, 5,000
Making A Total Of 109,000
Some Allowance Should Be Made, No Doubt, For Persons Whose Inclinations
For Position Cover All The Different Fields--Who May Be Said To Be
Watching Several Holes. But We Have Not Considered How Many Citizens Of
Pennsylvania Are Inclined To National Positions--The Presidency, Seats
In Congress Or Some Of The Numerous Places In The General Service Of The
Federal Government. These Two Classes, It Is Probable, Would Offset Each
Other.
Subtracting, However, The Odd Thousands From The Total Stated, We May
Fix At One Hundred Thousand The Number Of Citizens In The One State Who,
By Reason Of Occupying Some Position Of Public Duty Or Of Being Inclined
To Fill One, Are Actively Interested In The Subject Of Politics. This Is
Almost Exactly One-Seventh Of The Whole Number Of Voters In The State:
It Presents The Fact That In every Group Of Seven Citizens There Is One,
Presumably Of More Than The Average In capacity And Intelligence, Whose
Mind Is Quick And Sensitive To Every Question Affecting Political
Organization. We Are Brought Thus To The Same Point Which We Reached By
An Observation Of The Township System--The Fact That Every Part Of
Society Is Permeated By The General Political Circulation. It Is Like
The Human Organism: Nerves And Blood-Vessels Extend, With Size And
Capacity Proportioned For Their Work, To The Most Remote Extremity, And
The Whole Is Alive.
Let Us, However, Guard Strictly, At This Point, Against A Possible
Misconception. It Is Not To Be Understood That These One Hundred
Thousand Citizens Are Simply "Office-Seekers," Using The Ordinary And
Offensive Sense Of The Term. The Activity In affairs Which We Describe
Is Distinct From A Sordid Desire To Grab The Emoluments Of Office. The
Vast Majority Of The Places, Including All Those In The
Townships--Which, With The Aspirants To Them, Make Four-Fifths Of The
Whole--Are Either Without Any Pay At All Or Have An Amount So Small As
Volume 26 Title 1 (Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science) Pg 46To Be Beneath Our Consideration. But A Small Part Of The Offices Which
We Have Enumerated Carry Emoluments Sufficient To Furnish A Living For
The Most Economical Incumbent. The Inspiration Of The Political
Interest Evidenced By This One-Seventh Part Of The Citizenship Is Not An
Unworthy One At All: On The Contrary, It Is That Essential Democratic
Inclination Without Which Our Form Of Government Must Quickly Stagnate.
It Would Be Foolish To Say That No Selfish Motive Enters Into This
Tremendous Manifestation Of Energy And Effort (Until Humanity Assumes A
Higher Form The Moving Power Of The Mercenary Principle Must Be Very
Great), But It Is Fair And It Is Accurate To Ascribe To The Men In
Affairs A Much Loftier And More Honorable Impulse--The Aspiration To
Share In The Conduct Of Their Own Government, The Unwillingness To Be
Ignored Or Excluded In The Administration Of What Is Universally
Denominated A Common Trust. That They Enjoy, If They Do Not Covet, Such
Pecuniary Advantage As Their Places Bring Is Reasonable, But It Is True,
To Their Credit, That They Do Appreciate More Than This The Honor That
Attaches To The Public Station And The Pleasure Which May Be Experienced
In The Discharge Of Its Conspicuous Duties.
Let Us Presume That Even This Imperfect Study Of The Political
Activities Of A Single State May Present Some Conception Of The
Tremendous Force And Energy That Go To The Making, Year By Year, Of The
Various Branches Of Our Government. Certainly, Any Student Of This Field
May Accept With Respect The Admonition That There Is No Languor, No
Fatigue, No Feeling Of Genteel Disgust With Politics, In What Has Thus
Been Presented Him. If, Then, His Plan Of Reorganization For The Civil
Service Is
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