,^' E 681 .M75 Ccpy 1 Present Wants of the Nation. PACIFICATION-RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMESTS- JHE SILVER DOLLAR-REFORM OF THE CIVIL SERVICE-EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE-EXEMPTION FROM LAND GRANTS. ADDRESS OV HON.'JAMES MONROE, June '21 and 27, 1877, PflFORE THE LITERARY SOCIETIES OF Hiram and Western Reserve Colleges^ "news," OBERI.IX, OHIO. IS77. S!!E^ IKj IED O IK HON. JAMES MONROE Mij. i'ltiisiDENT AND Gentlemkx: My [ subject is, "Present Wants of the Xa- tlon."' I shall not attempt to speak of all our national wants, but only of sudi as are now most obvious, gravest and most imperative. Evcli of these might well occupy the hour. To group several of them in rapid review, while it will afl'ord no opportimit}- for exhaustive treatment, will give some idea of onr political issues as a whole, and will, per- haps, at the same time, be sufficiently suggestive to enable each mind to fill out lor itself the details of fact and argu- ment which must be left unspoken here. I welcome, and you will welcome, such an occasion. In my judgment, it is a good time for every citizen, and especial- ly every citizen in public life, to utter his opinions with entire frankness, and, if possible, with entire freedom from party bias. There is a present demand for speech which, while it is courteous and considerate, shall be frank and im- partial. "He serves his party best who serves his country best,' is a maxim al- ready much praised. Let us hope that it will soon be generally practiced. 1. The first great want of the Nation IS final and permanent peace — quiet, rest, from the agitation of those irritat- ing questions which led to, or grew out of the war. The Nation wants this as the very ba- sis of all future growth and prosperity. Business waits for it, that its multiplied industries may revive in all the land. Education needs it, that it may push its conquests into new provinces. Civiliza- tion requires it, that its varied blessings of culture, progress, enlightenment, may visit every neighborhood. Christianity wants it, tliat its me.ssage of love may be carried to every house. The great heart of the whole people longs for it. All human interests demand that the land should have this great rest. We want always and everywhere peace, good-will, patriotism, national feeling, friendly recognition, perfect freedom of inter- communication, brotherly competition in all useful activitie?, and deliverance from all narrow jealousies. But this great end can be secured only on a basis of justice — of security in the en- joyment of rights. Nothing short of this can give the country lasting peace. After all, the greatest attribute of nations is justice. If not the most brilliant and showy, it is the most necessary and use- ful, and in it is the hiding of the Na- tion's power. Certain great doctrines, which were established by the war and the will of the people, have been em- bodied in the new amendments to tVie Constitution. These doctrines are a common liberty, a common citizenship, and a common suflVage for all the peo- ple. These are the shield which the Nation holds out over the heads of those otherwise unprotected. Any policy which would abrogate or cripple or limit the full and fair application of these doctrines, cannot give rest to the Nation. Were it supposable that such a policy would conciliate the South, it would not conciliate the North ; and it must not be forgotten that there is a North, and that it, too, must be concili- ated. For this purpose nothing is want- ing but the maintenance of the Consti- tution and the execution of the law;^. irKiCH OF HON. JAMES MoNROK. But let any portion of the people be de- prived of these, through the remissness of existing political organizations, and then tlierc will be nothing left to the freemen of the Nortii but to beufin again tiie di>eussion ot eU'inentary principles, «nd to build up, persistently and per- il. ip? laboriouslj', a constitutional party of liberty, wJiich shall, at length, take possession of the government, and, by establishing justice, insure domestic tranquility. Among a free people, nothing is settled until it is settled right. There must be protection for life, liber- ty, homo, and all legal rights; the hum- l)lest cabin must be as sacred from in- trusion as the palace; every American —even the poorest and the blackest — must feel that every part of the land is his for every lawful and honorable pur- pose — that he is free to follow an}' hon- est calling anysvhere between the lakes and the gulf; there must be an absolute sense ol security lor tlie industrious and law-abiding man, and tiie sense of dan- ger and fear of punishment must be re- served for the law-breaker; — all these mighty evidences of righteous adminis- tration and well-ordered freedom must exist from ocean to ocean, before Justice can lead in her white-robed daughter, Peace, to possess the land. The desired end, therefore, is the gen- eral pacification ot the country, tii rough the faithful and impartial execution of the laws. As to the best method of se- curing this end, great differences of opinion, of course, exist. Just now the policy of the President is the subject of general discussion. Whatever any of us may have thought of his policy at the outset, it is plain to me that the right course for us now to pursue is to aid him in making it a success. For the sake of entire frankness, I will state that it was not, in all its parts, a polic3' which I could have recommended. To me it would have seemed the more obvious and natural course that the President, upon his inauguration, sliould have paid *onie attention to the question who had been elected Governors of Louisiana and South Carolina under tlie laws thereof. Our Chief Executive, in the discharge of his constitutional duties, must often corresponil witli the Governors of States, and he was particularly liable to be call- ed upon to do this in the case of these States. Under such circumstances a thorough and earnest effort, with the aid of his Attorney-General and other constitutional advisers, to ascertain who were the legal Governors of those States, would seem to have been proper and commendable. Indeed, so natural was this course, and so likely to be pursued by any commission of inquiry, that our excellent Secretary of State thought it necessar}'' to instruct the Commission selected to visit New Orleans against any examination into tlie facts of tlie election recently held in Louisiana. Having ascertained who wei*e lawful Governors of the disputed States, the Presiiient might with safety have an- nounced his conclusions, whether they were in favor of Packard or Xichols — Chamberlain or Hampton. There is great satisfaction in such oases in arriv- ing at the truth, and the people are much di'posec' to sustain a government which strives, without fear or favor, to accom- plish that result. Ttie President might have continued to recognize, to corres- pond with, as occasion should require, and to lend his powerful moral support to those whom he had adjudged to be the rightful claimants, so long as they could maintain themselves in the office of Governor, or so long as they might be, in fact. Governors. Certainlj- all this would have been strictly within the lira- its of his legitimate authority; and the doing of these constitutional acts would not have placed him under the necessity of doing other acts which, in his honest judgment, might be unconstitutional. He would not be compelled, because he believed a certain man to be Governor, and had recognized him as such, to re- sort to the unconstitutional use of force to sustain him in his place. It would be SPEKCH OI HON. JAMES MOXKOE. Still quite in his power to stop at the line drawn bj^ official duty— the ^oblij^ations of his official oath. If, then, the man recognized by the President as rightful Governor had been able to sustain him- self with the people of his State, there would have been a very strong presump- tion that the right thing had been done. There would hardly have been found a man to question his title. But had the recognized official fallen from his phice, it would then have been evident that his fall was due solely to his want of sirengtli at home. He could not have claimed that he had failed because he had been compelled to encounter the moral weiarht of the administration in addition to the power of his political opponents. In that case, our honored President would not have left it in the power of any one to say that his intluence, or that of his Commissioners, liad been directly or in- directly exerted against the cause which, in his heart, he believed to be the just one. But this question is no longer in issue. It is now too late to aid the President in forming a policy upon this subject. No one has ever proposed to make an at- tempt to restore Packard or Chamber- lain. Whatever v/e may think of the President's policy, it has been iionestly, deliberately and courageously chosen, and it wii! be persisted in to the end. That notch in the ratchet wlieel is pass- ed. We heard the click of its move- ment. We can help make future history, but we cannot unmake past historj'. The question is not what tlis policy of the President should be, but what is oar duty in connection v/ith it. now that it has been adopted. To me the answer is plain. ^V'e must do that whicii, under existing circumstances, is most condu- cive to the general welfare. We must cheerfully sacrifice personal preference — the pride of opinion — upon the altar of the common good. We must do our best to make the newfpolicy a success. To this end patriotic men of all parties must unite. Had we anv reason to be- lieve that President Hayes was guided by unhallowed ambition, or by any sel- fish motive, we might well think it dan- gerous to sustain him, and think it our duty to rebuke the spirit by which he vvas governed. But we know that such is not his character. Having faith in his honesty of purpose, we must en- courage him, strengthen his hands, and co-operate with him. We are not obliged to saj^ to him, that these are the measures which we would have prefer- red, but we can say to him, that, as these measures have been inaugurated, and we have confidence in the patriotism, integ- rity and firmness of the man who did it, we will exert ourselves to make them a blessing to the country. I se«j no poss- ible advantage in any course that would weaken or embarra-shim or embroil the North in angry discussion. We can not recover the past, and we might sacrifice the future. I can not think that many of our citizens will allow themselves to be so repelled by regrets for the past as to neglect the noble opportunities that re- main. For one, in spite of some recent unhappy events in the South, and of some acts which cannot be too severely characterized, I' am still hopeful of a great success for the policy of concilia- tion. I know that there are statesmen in the South, of broad views and na- tional feeling, who would gladly meet us half way in the establishment of such a policy. There is ground for hope that, under the leadership of such men, and with, due encouragement from the ad- ministration, a new Southern part.v maj'' be organized which shall be aiiim:ited by a liberal and patriotic spirit. Tiie di- vision of the old dominant class in the South into two parties, both inviting the aid of the. colored voters, would prepare the way for better feeling between the races, and would be full of promise for the whole country. The end which we all de.'ire to secure is the maintenance of the great safeguards of liberty, and through this the peace and prosperity of the nation. Anv measures which ac- -I'E>CH OF HON. JAMtS MOXKOK. corDplish this end, and are not contrary to the Constitution nor repugnant to sound morality, will finally be satisfac- tory to all paities. Measures of concil- iation and good feeling are, of course, preferable to those of a different kind whenever they can be successfully em- ployed, for they bring a success not only more complete in itself, but less likely to be followed by a dangerous reaction. If President Haj'es should not succeed with his polic}^ we can only regretfully say that an upright and patriotic ruler, desiring to heal the wounds of the coun- try, undertook to accomplish great ends of statesniansliip by an appeal to the patriotism, the brotherly fetlingaiid the generous sympathies of the whole peo- ple, but, un.Portunately, failed. But should he achieve success, as God grant he ma3% we shall all take pleasure in classing him and his ministers with those statesmen .whom Tennyson des- cribes as menj "Who know the seasons, when to take Oi-casion ]iy the hand, and make The hounds of freedom wider yet'"— men who cheerfully endure temporary criticism, and even loss of cherished friends, for the sake of securing enlarge- ments to the Xation's liberty, peace and P'osperitj'. 2. The next great want of the Xa- tion, after pacification, based upon the impartial execution of the laws, is the resumption of specie payments. If we would have the country escape general bankruptcy, we must soon take inea-sures to secure steadiness of value in our medium of exchange. If anything has been proved beyond possibility of Civil, it is, that the want of prosperity in business has been mainly due to the element of uncertainty— the^ risk, the hazard in it; and this element of uncer- tainty results from the almost daily tiuc- tuations in the value of our currency. To this cause are due the rapid rise and fall in prices — the numerous failures— the general business depression — the gimbling speculations of Wall street, with its conspiracies, Black Fridays, and corners in stocks, greenbacks and gold — the strikes of operatives and the suf- fering of laborers— in fine, ajl the long catalogue of our business misfortunes. I have been informed by intelligent ob- servers that it has repeatedly happened within th.e last (mw years that men, who desired to invest something in manufac- turing industry, have studied the mar- kets and questions of cost, and seeing, as they thought, a small margin of profit, have bought raw material and employed laborers, and, by and-by, when they have accumulated a large amount of manufactured goods, have, at some un- lucky moment, been ruined by the shiinkage in value of the greenback dolhu- to the extent of one-half of one per cent. Xo doubt others have made more money than they expected to make, but, in both cases, the business was in an unhealthj'- condition. Ther6 is but little encouragement to prudent men to make investments where the risks ar^ so great. Wise men will prefer to live upon little rather than to attempt to make more, with such danger of losing aH. If I am certain of anything, it is that we shall never have sound and general prosperity again until the element of risk in our business transactions has been reduced to its minimum, by making coin the standard of value. What, then, are we to think of the statesmanship of those who propose to relieve the people of their embarrassments by increasing this ele- ment of uncertainty in business? We must ask of our political parties, not only that thej' admit these facts, but that they act upon them — that they adopt such measures as will restore to us the sound currency which we need. Thej' have commonly professed to be in favor of specie resumption, but, with some honorable exceptions, they have done too much in talking about and around this question, and not enough in devising and applying efficient practical remedies. Their platforms have con- tained many fine phrases, but they have SPFECH OF HON. JAMKS MOKROE. too often been obscure and general rath- er than clear and definite. If I mistake not, the country will not much longer tolerate thi% indecision and delay. Among those who are earnestly in fa- vor of resumption of specie payments, considerable difference of opinion nat- urally exists as to methods. I voted for the act which provides for resumption on the first of Janunry, 1879, and have since steadily voted against, its repeal. I did not support it with entire satisfac- tion, for although it was the best legis- lation which could be obtained at the time, yet it seemed to me to fail in mak- ing the necessary preparation, by means of suitable provisions, for the gradual appreciation of the value of the legal tenders. Without sufficient preparation of this kind, it was evident that it would be no easier to resume oa the day fixed increase of one per cent for each half year, until the end of three years, when the greenback would I'each the par with gold. Lot a law like this be passed, and be faithfully carried out, and the follow- ing would be some of the noticeable re- sults. In the first place, nearly all the advantages of specie resumption would be enjoyed at once. The value of our legal tenders would be almost absolutely lixed. The uncertainty which now at- tends business transactions would be, to a large extent, removed. Men couldi buy material, make contr.-icts and incur debts, with a clear understanding of the extent of the obligations wl)ich thev would be called upon to.mi-et. It would make little difference to the business of the country how gradual the apprecia- tion of the value of tlie greenback should be, so long as it was definitely fixed, and for that purpose than on the day when could be foreseen with certaintv. But the act WHS passed. Indeed, some ar- rangement for the gradual approxima- tion in value of the greenback dollar to the gold dollar, seem.s to me to be essen- tial' to any successful plan tor resump- tion. There is no better method for .se- curing this approximation tlian the now familiar one embodied in the English act of 1S19— that of redeeming paper in gold, at rates steadily increasingthrough a considerable period of time. Tliatwe may understand what the working of this principle would be, as ^applied to our own financial system, let us suppose that Congress, on reassemblinsf, should pass a law to the following effect: That on the 1st daj' of -January, ISTS, and during the half year following, the Sec- retary of the Treasury shall offer to re- deem legal tender notes in gold, at what shall be the market rate on the first day of that j'ear, which we will assume to be ninety-four cents; that on the 1st day of July, 1878, and for the six months there- after, he shall redeem at the rate of ninety-five cents in gold to the dollar; that on tiie 1st of January, 1879, he shall commence redeeming at ninety-six cents 10 the dollar, and so on, with an an appreciation of two .per cent, per an.- num would be sufficiently gradual to re^ move all temptation to the hoarding of greenbacks, as tliis is much less than the interest which could be oWained for tliem when loaned upon the best security. Again, resumption under a system like tills would, in no proper sense, be forced . The offering of legal tenders for redemp- tion would be purely voluntary, and would take place only as the holders of them should prefer to have the coin. The process of redemption would go for- ward whenever, in the movements ot business, greenbacks should accumulate in excess of the demand. But should this process be likely, at any time, to be carried too far, it would for that very reason be checked at once by the in- creased demand for greenbacks among the people. Thus, the sj'stem would, to a large extent, be self adjusting. It is noticeable, also, that the danger to be guarded against, under the operations of such a law, M-ould be that of inflation and not that of contraction. First of all, the law would increase the value of the whole volume of oui- curresicy two per cent, per annum; that i^, it would give SI'KIXK OV HON. JAMKS MOXKOK, US SO luuch u)ore money for each of the three years:. For what is meant by more tuone\'? Certainly not more nominal values, but more real values, more par- chasing power. That there is often more money in the less than in tlie greater number of dollars, everybody know?. If I had a hundred dollars in gold in my pocket and should offer it to the candi- date for Governor of the Greenback partv for one hundred and tlirce dollars in greenbacks, I imagine that, at the present market rates, I should have no dilliculty in effecting the exchange. He would be compelled to admit that there is the most money in the fewer dollars. Again, the gold paid out in redeeming paper would pass into circulation, there being now little motive to use it, except for legitimate business. Being a full equivalent for the greenbacks redeemed by it, it would lill the vacuum created b}'^ their withdrawal, and thus of itself pre- vent contracuon. Xo doubt considera- ble accumulations of coin would be jiecessarj' in preparation for resumption, even under a plan like this; but I be- lieve much less would be required than under any other system. Tiie fact that the appreciation in the value of the pa- per currency would be so gradual, and that it; rate would be so fully determin- ed and known beforehand, would so very far towards removing both^the in- ducements and the opportunities for speculations in iiold, and would leave tne precious metals, for the most part, to move freely in the channels of trade, under the influenc? of its natural laws. Some plan like this, for the resump- tion of sjjecie payments, would have been and would still be my preference. But Congress has never seemed to be favorably disposed toward it,;and hence I have been willing to co-onerate with others in supporting any plan; which gave fair pi-omisc of accomplishing the result without injury to the busioe.-s'of the co\intry. Ic is said that the Secre- tary of the Treasury is making an earn- est t-ii'.n-z to prepare for resumption in 1879, by safe and efficient measures, provided for, in ids judgment, under existing law. W'hat the details of these measures are we are not yet informed, but 1 biilieve we can trust him. He has ability, long experience, sound discre- tion and intimate knowledge of our finances and of the wants of the people. Wc must sustain and encourage him iu the good work, and not ailow him to be disheartened by any unintelligent clam- or which may be raised against him. I may add, that as an aid to specie re- sumption, as well as for other reasons, I am in favor of the remonetization of the silver dollar. I am in favor of restoring it to the place which it held in our finan- cial system before the year 1873, without abatement of its powers and dignities — with "its arms and trophies streaming iu their original lustre." As t'.ie result of reading and reflection which have, at least, been animated by a desire to know the truth, 1 am convinced that silver will, as a rule, maintain its relative val- ue to gold. I believe that in steadiness of value, it will not compare unfavora- bly with the other precious metal. Dur- ing the last session of Congress, on the very day when the bill for the restora- tion of the silver dollar passed the House, a telegram from the city of Xew York was read, announcing thatjOn that day, silver bullion was at par with gold — that is, that an amount of uncoined silver, equal iu v.'eight and fineness to tlip old silver dollar, was worth as much — had as much purchasing power — in the market as the gold dollar. And j'et a larg3 portion of Europe had demone- tized silver. Germany had recently done it, and was putting her silver coin for sale on all the markets of the worhl ; and our own country had repudiated the silver dollar as a legal tender since the year 1S73. I submit that a precious metal which maintains such vitality — such buoyancy of value— under all these grievou.'^ disadvantages is worthy to be trusted — is worthy to be sent forth as a comp<>niun ot gold, to aid in icscoririg SPEECH OK UOX. JAMES MOXKOE. confidence aad reviving business. That great authority upon the precious met- als, Oernuschi, was right when, in a pa- per read before the Social Science Con- gress, at Liverpool, in ISTG, after giving some statistics of production, he says : "^hi view of these figures it is alto- gether impossible, even lor those who have been so much afraid of the fertility of silver mines, to attribute the depreci- ation of silver to natural causes — it is wliollj' and exclusively due to tlie action of legislators." It has recently become evident that there is no danger of any great over- production of silver in the mines of our countr3^ I have a suspicion that the yield of silver mines may be, at times, more capricious than that of gold mines. Tliere are points in history where we suddenly hear of their yielding im- mensely, and afterwards of their being as suddenly exhausted. But the dis- turbance arising from this excess or deficiency of production, has been local and temporary, and lias not materially changed, for long periods, the relative value of gold and silver. With such steadiness of value in silver, with such ! need of its aid as the near prospect of specie resumption brings, and with such large production from our own mines at our very doors, it is unreasonable to asli us that we shall not utilize silver as money. I believe it would be perfectly safe, and it would certainly be most useful, to recoin the siUof dollar, in company with gold coins, as rapidly as the facilities of our mints will permit. I admit there is something seductive in the idea of the single standard; its unity and simplicity are attractive to the mind. It may also be admitted that the relative -value of gold and silver cannot be so fixed, that it will, as a rule, exactlj' correspond to the fB,ct. But I believe it may be made sufficiently exact to prevent any serious injury to busi- ness. And here comes in another con- sideration, which is of the greatest im- portance in conneoti(!!i with this subject. Two eminent advocates of the double standard, Wolowski and Courcelle-Sen- euil, strongly urge— and in this they are followed by Jevons, though himself a friend of the single standard — that where two standards exist there is a cor- rective compensatory action by whicli each prevents excessive appreciation or depreciation in the value of the other. I quote the words of Jevons: "At anj- moment, the standard of value is doubt- less one metal or the other, and not botli; j'et the fact that there is an alter- nation tends to make each vary much less than it would otherwise do. It can- not prevent both metals from falling or rising in value, compared with other commodities, but it can throw variations of supply and demand over a larger area, instead of leaving each metal to be i affected by its own accidents. Imagine j two reservoirs of water, each subject to I independent variations of supply and demand. In the ab-ence of any con- necting pipe, the level of water in each reservoir will be subject to its own fluctuations only. But if we open a connection, the water in both will as- sume a certain mean level, and the ef- fects of any excessive supply or demand will be distributed over the whole area of bo:h reservoirs." He applies this illustration bj- saying, in substance, that the whole mass of the metals, gold and silver, is exactly repre- sented by tlie water in these two reser- voirs, and the connecting pipe is the law svbioh enables one metal at any time to take the place of t!ie other, as a legal tender. Wolowski, with good reason, as it would seem, warns the commercial na- tions against the serious evils which will result from the general abolition of the double standard. He afilrms that should the demonetization of silver be contin- ued, tiie compensatory action, which Jevons so well describes, will be sus- pended, and that as a consequence of the general disuse of one of the precious uiotals, tlicre will follow a lise in the 10 . SPEECH OK IIOX. JAMES MONROE. value of gold so disastrous as to involve the wliole business world in embarrass- ment. I ask thoughtful men whether it is safe longer to continue an experi- ment— fqr an experiment it is — which is so fraught with danger to the common prosperity? 3. Again, the Nation wants Eeform In the Civil Service. The utterance of these words may produce a smile — they have so often been used without serious meaning, or with a meaning that per- verts their proper sense. Those in oliice have used them as meaning that present incumbents should not be removed; those out of office, as meaning that nu- merous vacancies ought to be made in order to accommodate those who have not yet "had a chance." Parties have ofcen inserted these words in tlieir plat- forms as a gooJish phrase which it was hoped might win the favor of thought- ful and conscientious men. Republicans often talk of Civil Service Keform as meaning that Democrats should be turn- ed out of place and Republicans put in. Democrats use the term in a sense pre- cisely the reverse of this. Manj'^ per- sons tell me tliat no party can long maintain itself — that no President can maintain himself — ^^without using ofHcial appointments as rewards for zealous supporters. It is said that President Hayes "will not hold out," that he will soon find it necessary to modify the pol- icy on this question, v/ith v/hich he has commenced his administration. We see, then, what obstacles there are in the public mind, in the way of a fair hear- ing lor this subject. My own opinion is, that President Hayes is in earnest in this policj', and that he will maintain it. The Cincinnati Commercial reports him as having said of this reform, after he was nominated and before he was elected : "The trouble is not in any lack of promises on this question. Both parties have promised fairly enough. The Re- publicans promised fairly enough four years ago. The trouble is we haven't kept our promises. The thing to do now is to make our promises in earnest, aiid to keep them as fulli' as we make them." This is not tlie language of a Presi- dent who would fail in the maintenance of principles which he has solemnly avowed, both in his letter of acceptance and in his inaugural address. Of course, the country would not accept any pro- fessed system of reform which should merelj' substitute one species of favor- itism for another — which should only withdraw patronage from one set of men to whom it could not be safely en- trusted, to confer it, in the end, upon another set of men, equally frail and equally exposed to temptation. To such a delusive system of reform, I believe that the President will not lend his countenance. In saying that the Nation needs Re- form in its Civil Service, I must not be understood as expressing my agreement with those journals which affirm that this branch of the service is, as a whole, corrupt and inefficient. For a number of years past, I have been a somewhat close observer of our Civil Service, both at home and abi'oad. It has many ^de- fects — quite enough to justif}" earnest efforts at improvement. It ought to be more efficient, more economical and, above all, more systematic than it is. There are some instances of dishonesty and embezzlement, and still more of laxity and want of strict uprightness. But the great body of our officials are faithful to their trust, and are diligent and successful in the discharge of their duties. Many of them are men of great merit and capacity for business. On the whole, \t must be admitted that the government has been fairly served. Had this not been the case, it could not have been brought safely through some of the terrible ordeals to which it hcs been subjected. But this is not enough. It should not satisfy us that our Civil Service is passably good It should bo our honorable ambilton to we^d out of SPEECH OF HON. JAMES MOXROE. 11 it all incapacity, all dishonestj'^, and make it, if possible, the best in tlie world. Civil ofiices inaj- be divided into two kinds; tliose which are elective and those which are filled by Executive ap- pointment. The fonner are tilled for terms, the length of which is determ- ined by the supposed necessity for more or less frequent review of the olhcer's ollicial conduct by the people. In order to have a more conservative and perma- nent body ot legislators. Senators of the United States are elected for the long period of six j'^ears. Members of the House ot Representatives, who are in- tended to reliect tlie present wishes and opinions of the people, are, verj" prop- erly, elected every two years. In some of tiie States many officers, for what are believed to be good reasons, are elected annually. As regards the whole class of elective offices, it may be sufficient to say that tlie work of raising the stand- ard of moral and intellectual qualifica- tions, is committed to the great body of electors, aided by candid and thorough discussion in the press and upon the platform. To that tribunal this portion of the needed reform may be hopefully entrusted. But wiiat is meant by Reform in the Civil Service as applied to the offices which are fiUel solely by Executive ap- pointment? Without entering upon tedious and, as yet, unsettled details, we may answer in genera!, in the language of President Hayes, that reform in this department means that the affairs of the government should be managed as "a prudent merchant manages his busi- ness." This may be summed up in two maxims— first, fill the various offices with the best men you can get for ilie money; and second, retain them as long as they maintain that character. Why should not the business of the govern- ment be conducted upon these princi- ples? Why should not the public inter- ests be provided for with as much care as those of a bank, a factory, or a store ? Such a sj'stem would relieve the Civil Service from the effects of blundering ignorance; it would, to a large extent, prevent embezzlement, fraud and bribe- ry; and, as it would reduce the number of officials in proportion to their in- creased efficiency', it would save a large amount of money to the Nation in sala- ries. Officials of the Xew York Custom House, who would not be likel}* to ex- aggerate the evils of its administration, recently testified before an investigating committee appointed bj'^ the Secretary of the Treasury to inquire into its condi- tion, that twenty-five per cent, of the clerks of that great establishment could be dispensed with, if the appointments could all be made upon sound business principles. They lestitied that a large number of unnecessary clerks were kept upon the rolls and paid, in order to gratify prominent men. These superfluous clerks cost the Nation hundreds of thou sands of dollars. Why should the great body of the tax-payers be asked to bear a burden like this? It is said that the new system of reform gives no opi)or- tunity to recognize men who have done honest work for the party. This is n©t altogether true. There is certainly no objection to a man who has been the warm friend of the party, and has striven to promote its interests by up- right measures, provided he is, in other respects, the man that is required for the place. No doubt the party in power will often find it to be the right, as well as the graceful thing, to give places to men who have shown ardent attachment lo its principles. But a proper system would, no doubt, forbid the appoint- ment of a man merely because he had been a worker for the party, when a bet- ter man could be obtained for the service. The supreme end is the purity and effi- ciency of the service; but as in all free, and even in all parliamentary govern- ments, the existence of parties has thus far proved to be both necessary and wholesome, these need not be ignored . In filling civil offices, honesty and ca- 12 SPEECH OF HOX. JAMES MONROE. pacity must be the first thin