Group 5 -- Speech of Senator Brown, December 14, 1882

What good does it do as a measure of reform if the power of removal is unlimited and without cause at the mere will or whim of the appointing power? The civil service reformers who are most clamorous for action, and who are in earnest about the matter, would consider such a measure, if that is all it means, as a trick, a sham, a delusion.

But it requires a competitive examination, say the Senators on the other side, before you put a man into office. Then again the bill is a cheat and a mockery. It does no such thing in spirit and substance. For fear there might come a day when a Democratic Executive would administer the affairs of this Government, and that day might not be very distant, there is a careful provision in this bill that it shall apply only to the lowest class who are to hold office. There shall be a competitive examination for the lowest grade only; that is free to all: and the Senator from Massachusetts who took his seat a few minutes ago very earnestly stated that that was one of the strong features in it.

Now, I believe that there is a very large number of employés in the Departments at present, occupying different positions in them, some of them high positions, who are not fit for those places, morally, intellectually, or in any other manner; but the charmed circle is not to be disturbed. If there chances to be one of the lower clerkships vacant, then the doors are thrown wide open by this bill and every American citizen may come up and compete for it. It will not do to go higher than that, for too many Democrats might get in. You Democrats can come up and compete for the lowest clerkships that are to be filled; but if a vacancy occurs above that, then the Republican employés and officers already in office, and they alone, can apply for the advancement or promotion. That is the civil-service reform that this bill gives to the country; that is the share that the Democratic party gets in it. I repeat it, under the provisions of this bill the competition is only general for the lowest office that can become vacant. There a Democrat stands a chance to get in this lowest position, but if fifty vacancies occur above it only the present incumbents, the Republican office-holders, can compete for the promotion. That is what it holds out to the Democratic, party. That is our share in its benefits.

From The Congressional Record. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1882. 277.