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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
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 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://archive.org/details/luciusbswiftbiog09foul 
 
INDIANA 
 
 HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 PUBLICATIONS 
 
 Volume 9 
 
 LUCIUS B. SWIFT 
 
LUCIUS B. SWIFT 
 
 A BIOGRAPHY 
 
 By 
 WILLIAM DUDLEY FOULKE 
 
 Author of Slav or Saxon, Life of Oliver P. Morton, 
 
 Maya, Translation of History of the Langobards by 
 
 Paul the Deacon, a Hoosier Autobiography, Roosevelt 
 
 and the Spoilsmen, and other works 
 
 Indiana Historical 
 
 Society Publications 
 
 Volume 9 
 
 PUBLISHED FOR THE SOCIETY BY 
 
 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 1930 
 
COPYRIGHT 1930 
 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
^11 i I* J^J- S*A^*^ 
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 The aim of the compiler of this biographical material has 
 been to let Mr. Swift (so far as possible) tell his own story in 
 his own words. He can do this far better than any one else 
 J can do it for him. There are a few men whose candor and 
 honesty are so perfect and transparent that the words they speak 
 or write give us a faithful image of their inmost thoughts. Mr. 
 Swift was one of them. 
 
 Nor do the things he said require much comment. They are 
 clear and simple and the reader can judge their merits quite as 
 well as the man who has collected them. Only a short descrip- 
 tion of his personal characteristics is added at the end, and even 
 this is drawn largely from the words of others so that it may 
 not be tinctured too much by the partiality of one of his closest 
 and most devoted friends. 
 
 (iii) 
 
INTEGER VIT7E 
 In Memory of Lucius B. Swift 
 
 A Spartan patriot (yet of kindliest heart) 
 
 With dauntless courage and a sturdy mind, 
 A simple nature, free from tricks of art ; 
 
 A soul that bore good-will to humankind, 
 Save to the miscreants who defiled the state 
 
 And seized the plunder of the commonweal ; 
 For those he had full store of righteous hate 
 
 And sought their overthrow with ceaseless zeal 
 Unselfish always, quick to give or share 
 
 The honor that his tireless toil had won, 
 So modest too that he would shun the blare 
 
 Of men's applause for "simple duty" done, — 
 What words are fit his rugged worth to tell? 
 Comrade in many a struggle, fare thee well ! 
 
 (iv) 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGES 
 
 Part I. Early Life 1-11 
 
 Boyhood — In the Civil War — In Michigan Uni- 
 versity — George Kennan ; Early Political Experience — 
 School Superintendent — Removal to Indianapolis ; 
 Law Practice 
 
 Part II. Civil Service Reform 13-98 
 
 The Garfield Campaign — The Blaine-Cleveland Cam- 
 paign — Freidenker Verein Speech — National Civil 
 Service Reform League and the Indiana Association — 
 Swift's Investigation of the Federal Civil Service — 
 Action of the Civil Service League — Swift's Interview 
 with Cleveland — A One-Sided "Investigation" — 
 Swift's Testimony before a Senate Committee — Indi- 
 ana Hospital for the Insane — "American Feudalism" — 
 The Harrison Campaign — Civil Service Chronicle, 
 First Period (1889-1893)— Discussions in the Na- 
 tional League — Swift's Criticisms of Cleveland's 
 Tariff Message — Close of Harrison's Administra- 
 tion — Cleveland's Second Term ; The Chronicle Con- 
 tinued — Roosevelt Resigns as Commissioner — Reform 
 at Last — McKinley and Bryan— Chronicle Discon- 
 tinued — McKinley and the Civil Service — Roosevelt 
 and Swift — Charges against the Commission — Roose- 
 velt as Police Commissioner — Roosevelt as Governor — 
 Roosevelt as President — Roosevelt's Visit to Indian- 
 apolis — Swift's Visit to Oyster Bay — Results of 
 Roosevelt's Administration — "Coercion of Office- 
 Holders" ; Swift's Report — Swift Criticises Taf t — Last 
 Visit to Oyster Bay — Roosevelt's Death — Taft and the 
 Civil Service — A Postmaster under Wilson — Swift on 
 the Board of Sanitary Commissioners — Lew Shank — 
 Last Words on Civil Service Reform 
 
 Part III. The World War and Civil Liberty 99-118 
 
 Other Public Questions — Germans in America — 
 Hughes Candidacy — German-Americans Become Loyal 
 
 (v) 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGES 
 
 — The Swift Dinner ; Roosevelt's Letter — On the 
 Conscription Board — America's Debt to England — 
 L.L.D. from Michigan University — How We Got 
 Our Liberties 
 
 Part IV. Characteristics 119-27 
 
 Appendices : 
 
 A. Postmaster General Vilas and the Dowling 
 
 Case 131-32 
 
 B. Terre Haute and Fort Wayne Post-office In- 
 
 vestigations 133-36 
 
 C. Porto Rican Tariff ; Indianapolis Street Rail- 
 
 way Franchise; The Military Situation. ..137-38 
 
 D. Addresses at Universities in Indiana. ., 139-41 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 The Boy "Burr" Facing Page 2 
 
 Lucius B. Swift " " 98 
 
 (vi) 
 
PART I 
 EARLY LIFE 
 
 BOYHOOD 
 
 Lucius Burrie Swift was born July 31, 1844, on a farm 
 which had been purchased by his father from the Government 
 in the town (or township) of Yates close to the southern shore 
 of Lake Ontario in Orleans County, New York. He was the 
 youngest of seven children of Stephen and Content Aber 
 Swift. His father was a pioneer farmer, who was descended 
 from William Swyft, "yeoman," who came to this country from 
 Bocking, Essex County, England, in 1630, as one of the settlers 
 under the charter of "The Governor and Company of Massa- 
 chusetts Bay." Swyft was called a "proprietor" in that com- 
 pany. When land was divided from time to time he received 
 his share. His first home was in Watertown near Cambridge. 
 But he presently sold all his rights in the company. In 1637 he 
 moved to a tract of land on the north shore of the peninsula of 
 Cape Cod in the town of Sandwich, which he turned into a farm 
 and which, it is said, was still owned only a short time ago, by 
 one of his descendants, Shadrach Freeman Swift. 
 
 When Lucius was four years old he began to attend the 
 district school. In his primary education, the spelling bee cut 
 a large figure. About a mile away from his home, however, 
 there was a classical school, known as the Yates Academy, which 
 was the center of intellectual activity for this rural neighbor- 
 hood. Every one believed in the merits of the Academy and 
 flocked to the public meetings which were held under its auspices. 
 At one time it had three hundred students. 
 
 When the boy was about ten he was sent to this academy 
 which his five surviving brothers and sisters also attended. 
 Both the district school and the Academy had good libraries 
 
 (i) 
 
2 Early Life 
 
 and he read such works as Irving's Columbus, Frescott's 
 histories, Cook's Voyages, Chambers' Miscellany, Pilgrim's 
 Progress and other standard books furnished by the Regents of 
 the New York University to all district schools. He confesses 
 that he also read the New York Ledger, a purveyor of poor 
 fiction, as well as the New York Weekly Tribune. He first 
 noticed the advent of telegraphy by a change in its headlines 
 to "Latest News from Washington by Magnetic Telegraph." 
 
 From his early boyhood he did chores upon the farm and 
 with the stock, and by the time he was fourteen he became 
 in most respects a full farm-hand. He was an expert raker 
 and binder and "could take into his bundle the last clip of any 
 cradler." In the winter he split rails and chopped wood for 
 fuel. His studying was done in school hours and at night by 
 the light of a single home-made tallow candle. His mother used 
 to spin, card and weave. His first trousers were the product 
 of her hand. Later he helped her in weaving rag carpets, and 
 became expert at the task. 
 
 He thus describes the neighborhood and what went on there : 
 
 In the main, Yates was a typical New England community, rigorous 
 in Sunday matters but gradually softening as the years went on. 
 Whiskey still had the floor. Two well and ditch diggers with a 
 jug of whiskey from time to time lay by the roadside sometimes 
 for two days in a stupor and the boys threw pebbles at them on the way 
 home from school and usually a very red face rose up and a hoarse voice 
 denounced them as they ran. And at times old Tom Porter came out 
 of the West gently driving an ox-team and took the road to the village. 
 When he returned all was changed. He was much stimulated, and his 
 steers were galloping and the children watched through the school 
 windows to see if he could turn the corner. Many times it was a close 
 call but no accident ever happened. Yet there were no arrests. 
 
 He remembered the day when Brooks struck down Charles 
 Sumner in the Senate Chamber and when the news came that 
 John Brown was executed, as well as a multitude of other 
 events in the fifties of the last century. In 1856 his town 
 had given a majority of 103 for John C. Fremont and his 
 father's vote was with that majority. Fugitive slaves passing 
 through the farm on their way to Canada and freedom asked 
 
THE BOY BURR 
 
 Lucius, callt-d "Burr," about ten years old, at Yates 
 
 Academy, wearing the suit spun, woven and made 
 
 by his mother. 
 
Civil War 3 
 
 for food and assistance and they were not denied. Thus the 
 boy was brought up in the traditions of human liberty. 
 
 IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 When the Civil War came on in 1861 he at once joined a 
 company of the 28th New York Infantry which was being 
 raised under Lincoln's first call for troops, but after drilling 
 for some time he gave his age as sixteen and the mustering 
 officer struck out his name. Whereupon he went back home 
 and his company departed without him. But in August he 
 borrowed some money from a neighbor and paid his fare to 
 the place where the company was camping in Maryland and 
 there, after serving several weeks in the ranks like a soldier, he 
 was finally accepted and put on the pay-roll and his age was 
 set down as eighteen, but he was not mustered in, till the 
 omission was discovered on the day the regiment was mustered 
 out at Lockport, June 2, 1863. He saw twenty-one months of 
 grilling service "under junior officers of the best kind but 
 under wholly incompetent high grade commanders, particularly 
 [Nathaniel] Banks and [Joseph] Hooker." 
 
 He was twice captured by the troops of Stonewall Jack- 
 son, the first time was during one of the Shenandoah campaigns 
 when he spent nine weeks as a prisoner on Belle Isle in the 
 James River. 1 He said that during this imprisonment there 
 was not a day when he did not keenly feel the pangs of 
 hunger. He was captured again at the battle of Chancellors- 
 ville and was then confined for a short time in Libby Prison at 
 Richmond but was afterward paroled. He had been pro- 
 moted to the rank of sergeant and he thus speaks of his com- 
 panions in the army : 2 
 
 There was in my company a sprinkling of all kinds of spicy Irishmen 
 and a few Germans. The rest were mostly American farmer boys like 
 myself and included twenty school-teachers. With such a combination 
 
 Captured May 25, 1862, at Bunker Hill, Virginia; paroled, September 
 thirteenth at Aikens Landing, Virginia. Captured, Chancellorsville, Virginia, May 
 5, 1863. Records AdjuantGeneral of the State of New York. 
 2MS. narrative. 
 
4 Early Life 
 
 there was no lack of conversation and jokes, and the march was not al- 
 ways dull plodding. To a great extent officers and men were school and 
 village comrades. The officers of my regiment, as a rule, were men 
 of substance and character at home and were respected by us. Our 
 colonel was a real father of the regiment and our other officers, although 
 often our schoolmates and boy companions and but a single remove from 
 actual comradeship now, were yet officers having the right to command, 
 and no enlisted man ever for a moment trespassed upon that right. Our 
 captain often urged the sergeants to keep a line between themselves and 
 the other men, but we could not bring ourselves to do it with old school- 
 mates and when off duty we were simply comrades with them. But on 
 duty, the matter was different ; we expected to be obeyed without demur 
 and I never knew of but one case of disobedience. 
 
 In his old age he visited with interest some of the scenes of 
 his army life — Harrisonburg, where his captain had been pro- 
 vost-marshal four weeks in 1862 and where his company policed 
 the town, also Waynesboro, where he went to look at the hills 
 over which he marched as a prisoner on his way to Lynchburg. 
 
 In 1864 he re-enlisted in the First New York Light Artillery 
 refusing the offer of the town committee to make him captain 
 of a new infantry company they were raising. This, as he 
 afterward found, was a mistake, for from then on till the end 
 of the war he was assigned to detached service as assistant 
 chief clerk at Elmira, forwarding men to Grant's army in 
 Virginia. 
 
 IN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY 
 
 He was finally honorably discharged on May 9, 1865, and 
 went back to the farm for the summer, but he did not want to 
 continue to be a farmer. One evening in the kitchen he talked 
 with his mother about his future plans "while she did the supper 
 dishes" and they came to the conclusion that in order to get 
 into anything more worth while he would have to go to college. 
 So he sold to his brother for $1,600 his half of a farm of some 
 sixty acres which they had bought together during the war, and 
 with this money he paid for the necessary preparation. At this 
 time Yates Academy was closed but its principal was at the head 
 of a new academy at Medina, the county seat, eight miles 
 south. Here Swift spent the winter of 1865-66 doing his 
 preparatory work. 
 
Early Political Experience 5 
 
 He had learned enough Latin for entrance but had never 
 studied Greek and none of the colleges near by would admit him 
 without a knowledge of that language. Learning that Michigan 
 University would do so, he entered there in the fall of 1866 
 and was graduated in 1870. He belonged to the Psi Upsilon 
 fraternity and was one of fifteen members of his class chosen 
 to speak at commencement. Of this he writes that he "was per- 
 mitted to deliver a fool oration about the 'Blood-Sealed Green- 
 backs,' " rehearsed before Professor Moses Coit Tyler, whose 
 only remark was, "Did no one ever tell you to open your 
 mouth when you speak ?" No one had done so, not even Moses 
 Coit Tyler himself. 
 
 GEORGE KENNAN EARLY POLITICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 After his graduation he went back home to Medina where, 
 he says, he was coaxed into the law office of the best lawyer 
 in the county — that this was a mistake. In compensation, 
 however, there were two years of intimate association with 
 George Kennan, the Siberian traveler ; who afterward wrote of 
 the exile system in that country. 
 
 His companionship with Kennan encouraged him in the 
 development of independent political views. He was always 
 interested in public affairs. His first experience in politics was 
 in Yates in 1865 as clerk of the Republican town caucus. He 
 observed that a man who wished to be nominated as a candidate 
 for the state legislature led into the room a large number of 
 men who were not Republicans, took their tickets and put them 
 into the ballot box. Swift refused to sign the certificate of 
 the man's election. The chairman of the caucus approved of 
 Swift's action but was too diplomatic to refuse to sign him- 
 self, saying, "We must look to the future." The more familiar 
 Swift became with politics, the more he came to see that 
 party organizations were largely in the hands of such men, and 
 that the main struggle was for places in the public service. 
 After he had learned that the primaries were usually controlled 
 by sets of professional politicians, he rarely attended them. 
 
6 Early Life 
 
 And now, with Kennan, he took to reading the Nation, a 
 New York weekly then edited by E. L. Godkin, and sympathized 
 warmly with the independent ideas it contained. Swift was a 
 severe critic of the scandals in Grant's administration and still 
 more so of the monstrous corruption and abuses under the 
 rule of William M. Tweed and his fellow conspirators in New 
 York City. 
 
 SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT 
 
 At the end of his two years of study in the law office at 
 Medina he had to teach school to pay a college debt. Receiving 
 an offer to act as principal of the high school at La Porte, 
 Indiana, he moved to that city where he served one year as 
 principal and later six years as superintendent of all the schools. 
 He declares that the best thing he did for La Porte was to bring 
 from Elmira College (the earliest woman's college in America) 
 six of its graduates as teachers. Among these was Ella Lyon, of 
 Medina, who afterwards became his wife and constantly 
 worked with him in his law office as his secretary, both in his 
 professional work and in his political and other public activities. 
 The following extracts from a diary kept by Mr. Swift while 
 he was principal of the high school are a striking revelation 
 of his self-criticism in the development of his character. 
 
 October 17, 1875. 
 
 One day last spring Harper Bros.' agent from Indianapolis met me 
 on the street and told me the position of Supt. of Schools in Evansville 
 was to become vacant. He suggested the perfect feasibility of my get- 
 ting the position and intimated that his influence would have great weight 
 for me. The pay is $2,500.00 and I was very much pleased with the 
 prospect. Upon the heel of this he asked me to go down to the meeting of 
 of our County Board of Education, which was to take place in a few 
 days and "speak a good word for Harper's Readers.'' I was fairly taken 
 in and with a little hesitation I promised to do so to the extent of answer- 
 ing all questions asked of me. 
 
 He had not been gone ten minutes before I saw how I had been made 
 a fool of and repented. The matter troubled me so much that the next 
 day I sent him a letter saying I had no definite opinion of Harpers' 
 Readers ; that if possible 1 would examine them before the meeting ; that 
 the matter belonged peculiarly to the County Supt. and I should 
 therefore not attend the meeting unless invited; that if present I should 
 not offer an opinion unless requested to do so ; that any opinion I should 
 
School Superintendent 7 
 
 give would be entirely based upon the merits of the books. I was not 
 invited and did not attend the meeting of the Board; Harpers' Readers 
 were not introduced into the county schools. The position of Supt. at 
 Evansville has been vacated and has been filled again by the appointment 
 of Mr. John M. Bloss. . . . 
 
 Whether success or failure had been the result it would simply 
 have been a bargain and sale of influence where influence should never be 
 bargained and sold. I condemn myself that I was so stupid as not to 
 see this at the first moment in its clearest light as I ought to have done. 
 As it was I had an indistinct idea that somehow it could be done hon- 
 orably and being somewhat dazzled by his generous offer I had not the 
 backbone to say what I suspected I ought to say instanter. I think my 
 character lacks a little in this respect. It is hard at all times to do just 
 right. 
 
 Such criticisms of himself however are combined with some 
 very just censure of one of his superiors as appears from the 
 same diary written after he had become superintendent of the 
 public schools in La Porte and the Reverend John T. Kendall 
 had become a member of the school board under which he 
 served. 
 
 January 21, 1877. 
 
 Mr. Kendall came up to the High School last Thursday and wanted 
 to see me alone. There was no vacant room and he said he would come 
 back when school was out, about four o'clock. I at once concluded that 
 he wanted me to help in some revival meetings now being held by the 
 churches here and when he returned after school I was not disappointed. 
 He sat down by me and placing one hand on my knee said, "I want to 
 have a spiritual talk with you. ... A great work ought to be done in the 
 schools and you are the one to do it; you and your wife and Mr. Goffe 
 could have a wonderful influence in bringing these souls to Christ." . . . 
 
 Mr. Swift replied that he could not see that there was any 
 right on the part of a teacher to do this in the schoolroom. Mr. 
 Kendall replied : "You have a right to speak to a child about his 
 soul wherever he is." 
 
 He lost sight of the fact that speaking to a child about his soul is 
 one thing and endeavoring to get the child within the pale of the orthodox 
 church is another thing. All education is for the good of the soul. . . . 
 
 I gave a general denial and maintained it although he repeated his 
 declaration several times. 
 
 He then said, "Now last Sunday night I watched to see you take a 
 stand on the Lord's side and you didn't do it." 
 
 I said, "You may call it being on the Lord's side or not just as you 
 choose, but Mr. Brown (the man whom they have hired to manage the 
 revival) proposed several things to which he wanted all Christians to 
 
8 Early Life 
 
 assent by standing up; one proposal was that they should attend all of 
 his meetings ; knowing that I could not do that I remained seated." . . . 
 He said, "Now why not?" 
 
 I told him I had two reasons, . . . if I should undertake to go out 
 for a series of evenings as in this case would be necessary, I must omit 
 some work which I was paid for doing. . . . 
 
 He said "If you had a real love of the work in your heart you'd find 
 a way to go." 
 
 I said that might be, but that I did not care to base my refusal to 
 attend solely upon the ground [of] my work, that I should not go if I 
 had plenty of time, that I had seen a number of revivals before and I 
 had carefully thought the matter over and made up my mind that I did not 
 believe in them, that from what I had seen of this I was satisfied it was 
 going to be like those and that I should not attend the meetings. 
 
 He said he had never known a Presbyterian or a Baptist to get too 
 much excited over religious matters, that Methodists sometimes did, but 
 that mixing them up made it about right; that his experience in the 
 matter of revivals was greater than mine, that his judgment ought to 
 outweigh mine and he was satisfied they were a good thing. 
 
 I said "Mr. Kendall, there is no use debating the matter with me, my 
 mind is firmly made up that no inducement can be offered that will make 
 me go down into those revival meetings and work ; I know how to do it, 
 I know what the motions are, but if I should do it with my present feel- 
 ings, I should be a hypocrite and that I don't intend to be." 
 
 Then he said there was another thing he wanted to speak with me 
 about; he wanted the work decreased so that the pupils could attend 
 the meetings. 
 
 I said it seemed to me that was a matter for the Board to decide. 
 
 He expressed an unwillingness to refer it to the Board. 
 
 I said the subject had not before been broached to me and the idea 
 
 had never occurred to me and at first sight it did not seem to me that I 
 
 had any right to lower the work of all the children because a part wanted 
 
 to attend some meetings. . . . 
 
 He said, "You needn't let anybody know it; just lower the work 
 and say nothing about it. What harm will there be if when the end of 
 the term comes you have done a little less work than usual?" 
 
 I said, "Mr. Kendall, I do not care to do anything that I am afraid 
 to do before all the people in this city, and I should be afraid to do that. 
 What would be thought of me if it should go out through this town that 
 I had reduced the work in the public schools on account of these meet- 
 ings?" . . . 
 
 Twenty- four hours later, the subject appearing to me in the same 
 light, I sent him the following note : 
 
 La Porte, Jan. 20, 1877. 
 
 . . . "It may be, though I doubt it, that the Board would have the 
 right to take some such step as you propose ; I certainly have no such 
 right." . . . 
 
 As Mr. Kendall is a trustee of the schools, any requests like those 
 above mentioned, in spite of his disavowal, when made to me or any 
 other teacher, must act coercively; for these are matters in which a 
 refusal must almost make it seem, to a minister like Mr. Kendall, a duty 
 to regard the teacher giving it as unfit for his position and no teacher 
 likes to have even one of the three men who control him hold this opinion. 
 
Removal to Indianapolis — Law Practice 9 
 
 On this account., for want of backbone I might have yielded against my 
 own judgment and against my duty as pointed out by that judgment. It 
 therefore seems to me very improper that he should speak to me or to any 
 other teacher on these religious matters. 
 
 But when he urges that the teacher ought to be at work "bringing 
 these souls to Christ" I can in no way reconcile it with his duty as a 
 trustee of public schools whose very success depends upon the non- 
 interference of the teachers with the political and religious opinions of 
 the scholars. 
 
 And when he asks me to reduce the work of the higher grades in 
 the interest of revival meetings and "say nothing about it," passing over 
 his duties as a trustee and as a pastor, I am unable to reconcile it with 
 common honesty and upright dealing. 
 
 There is a vein, and a large one, of that, kind of trickery running 
 all through the modern church. I expect it is a remnant of the old 
 priestcraft. Further, the schoolmaster for ages has been the tool of the 
 priest and it is hard for the priest to give up the control. But it must 
 come, though as yet many people look through the priest's spectacles. 
 
 REMOVAL TO INDIANAPOLIS LAW PRACTICE 
 
 He remained in La Porte until July, 1879, when he moved 
 to Indianapolis to embark in the practice of the law. He was 
 not drawn to that profession as a science but chose it because he 
 believed it to be an available way to earn a living with personal 
 independence for one who was without capital. When he came 
 to Indianapolis he knew only one man in the city, James H. 
 Smart, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, but he and 
 his wife had accumulated by their joint efforts (for she also 
 had been teaching school) some $2,500 and he could afford to 
 wait a while for clients. Immediately after his arrival he was 
 admitted to the state bar. This meant nothing, however, as 
 evidence of his qualifications, for by the constitution of Indiana, 
 all citizens of full age and good character were entitled to ad- 
 mission whether they had any knowledge of law or not. But 
 a few weeks afterward he presented himself for examination 
 and was admitted to the bar of the Federal court which gave 
 him a higher standing in the profession. Clients were slow in 
 coming. He never pushed himself in business or in any other 
 way, but prepared himself and waited. The following extracts 
 from a diary which he kept in 1881 show vividly and charac- 
 teristically the kind of life he and his wife led during the first 
 two years while he was gaining a foothold in his profession: 
 
10 Early Life 
 
 I came to Indianapolis July 7th, 1879. We stayed at Dr. Burgess' 
 two weeks, occupying the rooms of Mr. Smart, the State Superintendent 
 of Public Instruction, he being away for the summer. . . . 
 
 At last at the suggestion of Mrs. Burgess we tried living with a 
 family from Connecticut at 71 W. Michigan Street and rented a room 
 from them at $3.50 a month. We then obtained table board at $3.00 a 
 week. I rented Room 2 Hubbard Block for an office at $100 the first 
 year, six months in advance. We furnished the office with part of the 
 home furniture and a few law books and I paid $6.50 for signs and was 
 open for business about August 1, 1879. . . . 
 
 Thanksgiving week I made fifty cents, a notary fee and my first 
 money. 
 
 About that time too, a young lawyer on the same floor had a case 
 and being in want of help he proposed that I should help him and he 
 keep all the fee. I agreed to this with the understanding that I was to 
 lead in the case. $4,000 were involved. . . . 
 
 I made the principal argument on our side and occupied twenty-five 
 minutes. This was the first time I had ever spoken in court. We won 
 the case. This was in Dec. 1879. 
 
 He tells us that in his first year he made only $65, in his 
 second year, $250, but that after this his business grew steadily. 
 In his practice, he was, as in other things, not showy, but sub- 
 stantial, a valuable adviser to an excellent class of clients who 
 had money to invest or wills to be drawn, or property to buy 
 for which he examined the abstract and passed upon the title. 
 Knowing the uncertainties of the law, he kept them out of liti- 
 gation whenever practicable, but once involved he was a thorough 
 student of his cases and prosecuted them to a conclusion which 
 was generally satisfactory. His pleadings were clear and con- 
 cise, his briefs logical and convincing, his presentation of his 
 case to judge and jury simple, honest and straightforward. He 
 abominated a tricky, bombastic or sensational adversary and a 
 dull and opinionated judge. He was an old-fashioned lawyer 
 and so successful that although he was often unwilling to 
 charge an adequate remuneration for his services he had ac- 
 cumulated a reasonable competence from his practice at the time 
 of the outbreak of the World War. After that he devoted his 
 energies mainly to public duties and to questions in which the 
 welfare of his country or his community were involved. 
 
 These reached their culmination in his book How We Got 
 our Liberties, published the year before his death, which bears 
 witness to the thoroughness of his previous legal studies. Mr. 
 
Removal to Indianapolis — Law Practice 11 
 
 J. J. Daniels, one of the present leaders of the Indiana bar, says : 
 
 No one could have written it without a profound understanding of 
 the underlying principles of American constitutional government. Mr. 
 Swift brought to the task of writing this book not only a thorough 
 knowledge of historical events but the point of view of a careful lawyer 
 trained in the study of constitutional law. The chapter on the "Ameri- 
 can Constitution and the Supreme Court" exhibits a thoughtful con- 
 sideration of and long acquaintance with many of the most important 
 constitutional decisions of that tribunal. No mere general practitioner 
 could have written that chapter or, indeed, any of the others, such as 
 "Trial by Jury," "Bill of Rights" and "Freedom of Speech." They were 
 written by a lawyer who had devoted much time and thought to a study 
 of the fundamental principles of our jurisprudence. 
 
PART II 
 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 
 
 THE GARFIELD CAMPAIGN 
 
 Mr. Swift's activities on behalf of the merit system began 
 during the Garfield-Hancock campaign in 1880, not long after 
 his arrival in Indianapolis. This was three years before the 
 Civil Service law was enacted and was one year previous to the 
 organization of the National Civil Service Reform League. He 
 was, as far as I have been able to find, the very earliest of the 
 active civil service reformers of Indiana. He gives in his 
 diary an account of his speech on the subject in this campaign: 
 
 October 20, 1880 
 
 After the nomination of Garfield at Chicago and the defeat of 
 General Grant I felt that every Independent was called upon to do his 
 utmost for the election of the former. He was not a perfect man but 
 he was exceptionally good for the times and his votes and speeches on a 
 large number of questions had been most satisfactory. His letter of 
 acceptance somewhat dampened my ardor for it gave him the appearance 
 of unsaying the many good things he had said in favor of a reform of 
 the civil service. I still, however, thought the chances for good govern- 
 ment would be better under him than under Hancock and I therefore 
 called upon Hawkins the chairman of our county Republican committee 
 and offered him my help if he could make use of it. I told him I was 
 an Independent, a scratcher or whatever he might choose to call a man 
 who was not bound by party ties ; that I was decidedly in favor of the 
 election of Garfield ; that I was willing to make speeches if he needed 
 speakers, but if he did not I had nothing more to say. He treated me 
 politely and took my name, but I left feeling pretty certain that I should 
 hear nothing from him and I have not ; he has no use for any one who 
 will not glorify the machine. 
 
 October 21 
 
 Some two weeks before the election, Mr. A. C. Harris, a lawyer of 
 large practice and excellent standing, came into my office, about four in 
 the afternoon and asked me to go into the country that evening with 
 him and make a speech of thirty or forty minutes. I was glad of the 
 chance and agreed to go. . . . We rode out four miles in the rain and 
 
 (13) 
 
14 Civil Service Reform 
 
 dense darkness. Coming to the school-house we found about fifteen men 
 there. . . . Harris made a speech of an hour's length. . . . For a 
 party speech he made a sensible one. 
 
 Then my turn came. I announced myself as an Independent. If 
 the Democrats had any claim whatever to be put into power it must rest 
 upon their superior administrative ability. This could only be determined 
 by studying their past history and reading the signs of the times. 
 The question of administration involved the consideration of the duties 
 of the 80,000 office-holders who made up the civil service of the general 
 government. The present condition of that service was illustrated by 
 comparing the position of chief engineer of . . . the railroad which 
 extends from Toledo to Chicago with that of postmaster of this city 
 [Indianapolis.] "The engineer has the oversight of 1,400 miles of track 
 and of 700 men; he gets $2,500 a year. The postmaster has the over- 
 sight of about 100 men and gets $3,200 a year. The engineer is willing 
 to shoulder greater responsibility and bring greater skill to his work for 
 less money because so long as he meets the business requirements of 
 his position he is sure of holding it. The postmaster's fortune runs 
 parallel with that of a political party. This postoffice is a fair sample 
 of the great bulk of the government offices — that is a precarious tenure 
 requires higher pay . . . Removing all the office-holders when a party 
 in power is defeated is the application of the doctrine of spoils of office. 
 Breaking down this doctrine is civil service reform." Which of the 
 two great parties would the sooner do it was an important question to 
 every Independent. 
 
 During the forty years following the adoption of the Constitution 
 only forty- four men were removed from office. Then came Andrew 
 Jackson and in one year [he] removed 990 men and put his partisans in 
 their places. As long as the Democrats remained in power the spoils 
 doctrine gathered strength. . . . Again in this State only last year 
 they turned out of all our benevolent institutions officers of great skill 
 and experience simply because they were Republicans and put inex- 
 perienced Democrats in their places. They put in a dentist as super- 
 intendent of the Deaf and Dumb Institute, and an ordinary obscure 
 schoolmaster as superintendent of the Institute for the Blind. They 
 swept the trained physicians out of the Insane Hospital and put in 
 ordinary doctors in their places. The superintendent of the Insane 
 Hospital had held the position ten years ; that of the Blind Institute (a 
 blind man himself) twenty-four years; that of the Deaf and Dumb 
 Institute twenty-six years ; and all were yet in their vigor and were 
 rea'lly skillful men. I enlarged fully upon this subject for it was a 
 criminal and barbarous violation of their civil service professions. . . . 
 I intend they shall hear more of it. . . . 
 
 The audience including Harris were surprised but did not seem dis- 
 pleased. ... I know my having made such a speech was talked 
 of . . . But I was not invited to make another. 
 
 Between the state and the national election Swift wrote to 
 the Nation a criticism on the conduct of the campaign. It was 
 published over the signature "C. S. R." October twenty-first. 
 This publication and an editorial comment speaking with warm 
 
The Blaine-Cleveland Campaign 15 
 
 commendation of this letter, afforded Mr. Swift great satisfac- 
 tion. 
 
 THE BLAINE-CLEVELAND CAMPAIGN 
 
 When, in 1884, the Republican party nominated James G. 
 Blaine for the presidency, his actions in regard to the Fort 
 Smith and Little Rock Railway and his connection with the 
 Mulligan letters, convinced Mr. Swift that he was not a fit 
 man to be President. On the other hand the declarations of 
 the Democratic candidate, Grover Cleveland, and his conduct 
 in supporting the merit system in New York, strongly com- 
 mended themselves to Mr. Swift who determined to support 
 him. 
 
 Although in the East Independents were plentiful enough, 
 in Indiana a Mugwump was very rare. Mr. Swift, however, 
 succeeded in getting together an Indiana Independent Com- 
 mittee of One Hundred of which he was chairman and there- 
 upon he began to canvass the state. On October eighth, he made 
 an important speech at Fort Wayne at the Academy of Music. 
 It was an able and lawyer-like review of the record of Mr. 
 Blaine as Speaker of the House and of the letters which ex- 
 posed his venality. Mr. Swift also attacked the abuses of 
 political patronage in the hands of Republicans. Afterward he 
 canvassed the state thoroughly, and at the close of the campaign 
 it was found that Cleveland had carried Indiana by about 3,000 
 majority, that the vote of New York had determined the con- 
 test, and that he was to be the next President. Both in Indiana 
 and New York the Mugwump had been an essential factor in 
 winning the battle. 
 
 FREIDENKER VEREIN SPEECH 
 
 Before Cleveland took office Mr. Swift was invited to de- 
 liver before the Freidenker Verein of Indianapolis an address 1 
 
 lMr. Horace White, then the editor of the New York Evening Post wrote him 
 as follows: 
 
 "I gave Mr. Schurz a copy of your address before the Freidenker Verein. He 
 read it in my presence (he was stopping at my house) with many expressions of 
 satisfaction. He said he had never seen anything better on the subject." 
 
16 Civil Service Reform 
 
 on civil service reform. He accepted the invitation. The ad- 
 dress was comprehensive of the whole subject and was 
 afterward widely circulated. 
 
 The address opened with a brief account of the workings of 
 the competitive system. 
 
 If there is a letter carrier to be appointed in the Indianapolis post- 
 office, the postmaster may not call together the "workers" of his 
 party and take counsel as to who is the most deserving ward politician, 
 but he must apply to the Civil Service Commission, and out of a list of 
 three names highest on their rolls he must make the appointment. He 
 has no business to know the politics of the men he selects. The names 
 are placed on the rolls of the Civil Service Commission according to the 
 results of an examination held at Indianapolis at least twice a year, at 
 which any one may compete. This is civil service reform in practical 
 operation. 
 
 It appears at a glance that there is no "patronage" in such a system 
 of selecting public employes, and if this system is to be extended to 
 embrace nearly all the places, both State and National, filled by appoint- 
 ment, as the "theorists" insist, the perquisites and privileges of the 
 "practical" politicians will indeed be gone. Those who live by their 
 political wits have abundant ground for their present alarm. . . . 
 
 He narrated the growth of the spoils system which during 
 the time of Andrew Jackson supplanted the custom of earlier 
 presidents to appoint only meritorious persons and not to dis- 
 charge employees for political reasons. 
 
 The spoils system thus materialized has thriven and spread until it 
 has reached every corner of nation and state . . . The public offices 
 are not only the spoil of party, but party factions and cliques, and rings, 
 and rings within rings, mercilessly apply the axe to one another. . . . 
 
 A man in office may not follow common business principles. He 
 must buy and sell only with those of his political name. But yesterday a 
 baker of this city wrote to the papers complaining roundly that after 
 incessant activity to secure the election of our Democratic sheriff, he 
 is rewarded by seeing the jail fed upon Republican bread. Greed for 
 office knows no shame, cares neither for public nor private welfare, and 
 has no pity. . . . 
 
 The federal appointments are patronage which, by the grace of the 
 President, various persons control. Generally speaking these persons 
 are members of Congress belonging to the party in power. But cabinet 
 and other officers and friends, favorites and relatives of the President 
 also have a share. One man may be a greater favorite than another, as 
 Senator Conkling's colleague found in President Grant's time. Dis- 
 favor with the President is a serious drawback, as Mr. Conkling himself 
 found in President Garfield's time. . . . 
 
 Under the enormous pressure induced by the greed for place, a 
 constant shifting of employes goes on. Take the New York Custom 
 
The National Civil Service Reform League 17 
 
 House — Mr. Schell, a Tammany partisan collector, four years from 1858, 
 removed 389 out of 690 employes. This was in the interest of a faction. 
 Mr. Barney, a Republican collector, in the next three and one-half years 
 removed 525 out of 702 employes. Mr. Draper, also a Republican, suc- 
 ceeded, and made 117 removals in one year. Then Mr. Smythe took 
 his turn, and in three years removed 830 out of 903 officers. Then Mr. 
 Grinnell came, and, in the interest of another Republican faction, ejected 
 510 out of 892 officers, in sixteen months. "Tom" Murphy had his day, 
 and for his faction turned out 338 officers in eighteen months. If the 
 employes of this Custom House had contempt for their work it cer- 
 tainly was not bred by familiarity with it. . . , 
 
 He next discusses the blackmail involved in political assess- 
 ments and the interference in elections caused by the spoils sys- 
 tem, the majorities in many political conventions being composed 
 of office-holders ; he contrasts with these things the method of 
 appointment by competitive examinations and shows by illustra- 
 tions the practical character of these examinations and their 
 successful operation in the New York post-office under Post- 
 master James, where drunken and worthless employees were 
 supplanted by efficient men and a third more work was done 
 at far less expense. He urged the adoption of a civil service 
 law for Indiana. 
 
 the national civil service reform league 
 and the indiana association 
 
 The most important organization for propaganda on behalf 
 of the merit system was (and still is) the National Civil Service 
 Reform League, a body then composed of representatives from 
 various civil service reform associations throughout the country. 
 Its president, in 1885, was George William Curtis, of New 
 York, the editor of Harpers Weekly. Other leading spirits in 
 the movement were Carl Schurz, Dorman B. Eaton (who 
 drafted the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883), Everett P. 
 Wheeler, Richard H. Dana, Charles J. Bonaparte, E. L. God- 
 kin, editor of the Nation, Horace White, editor of the New 
 York Evening Post, Edward Cary, one of the editors of the 
 New York Times, and later, Theodore Roosevelt. 
 
 Mr. Swift had been in correspondence with a number of 
 these men and other supporters of the reform and at a subse- 
 
18 Civil Service Reform 
 
 quent period took an active part in many of the annual meet- 
 ings of the League. 
 
 During the session of the Indiana legislature of 1885, Wil- 
 liam Dudley Foulke introduced into the Senate a civil service 
 law for the state based upon the Pendleton Act, and supported 
 it by an argument before that body on February 17, 1885. A 
 considerable audience had assembled to hear what could be said 
 in favor of a measure so extraordinary to all Hoosier concep- 
 tions of political life, and among those present were Mr. and 
 Mrs. Swift, who there formed their acquaintance with Mr. 
 Foulke and laid the foundations of a close and lifelong friend- 
 ship. The bill, as was expected, failed to pass but with it there 
 began an agitation against the use of spoils in public office in 
 Indiana which lasted for many years. 
 
 Shortly after this, the Indiana Civil Service Reform Asso- 
 ciation was organized and Mr. Swift was made chairman of its 
 executive committee. It immediately became affiliated with the 
 National League. Its membership was not large; it held its 
 annual meetings in one of the rooms of Plymouth Church in 
 Indianapolis and its work was mainly done through the execu- 
 tive committee and special committees appointed to make 
 investigations. But there was finally developed a wide-spread 
 public interest in the result of its work and abundant space was 
 soon accorded to its proceedings in the newspapers of the state 
 and elsewhere. 
 
 swift's investigation of the federal civil service 
 
 Mr. Swift as chairman of the executive committee conducted 
 in person an exhaustive inquiry into the condition of the whole 
 federal civil service in the state. His report which was adopted 
 by the committee in October, 1886, contained fifty- three pages 
 in small type, the results of several months' labor. He first 
 called attention to the declaration of President Cleveland that 
 "positions disconnected with the policy of the administration 
 should be free from removals upon merely partisan grounds 
 but that those who used their places for party purposes and 
 
Investigation of the Federal Civil Service 19 
 
 instead of being decent public servants were offensive partisans 
 and unscrupulous manipulators of local party management must 
 be taught, as well as their successors that efficiency, fitness and 
 devotion to public duty were the conditions of their continuance 
 in office." Soon a definition of what constituted "offensive 
 partisanship" appeared in a circular of Postmaster General 
 William F. Vilas, dated, April 29, 1885. There were eight specifi- 
 cations : having been an editor or proprietor of an offensive 
 Republican newspaper, a stump speaker, a member of a political 
 committee, an officer of a campaign club, an organizer of 
 political meetings, having made one's office political headquarters, 
 having put one's clerks into the performance of political duties, 
 or possibly other acts of equal force. These definitions of 
 offensiveness gave wide latitude in making political removals 
 and appointments. 
 
 In the light of these declarations of the principles and 
 policy of the administration, Mr. Swift considered first, the 
 enforcement of the civil service law in the one office in Indiana 
 to which it applied, namely the Indianapolis post-office, and 
 secondly, the character of the appointments and removals which 
 were not governed by the Act but were subject to the principles 
 announced in the letters of Mr. Cleveland and Mr. Vilas. 1 
 
 The report shows that Aquilla Jones took charge of the 
 Indianapolis post-office, April 19, 1885. He at once removed 
 the assistant postmaster, cashier, stamp clerk, messenger, super- 
 intendents of the registry department and carriers, and filled 
 their places with Democrats. The assistant postmaster was John 
 W. Dodd, an obscure and reduced politician. The cashier was the 
 postmaster's son, Ben Jones. Dodd and Jones were both ap- 
 pointed to fill the place of one man. In the sack repair depart- 
 ment every man and woman, within a few weeks, was dismissed 
 and succeeded by a Democrat. The janitors, watchman, engi- 
 neer and elevator boy followed. 
 
 lMr. Vilas had written to Mr. Swift in September, 1885: "I hope I shall 
 ever be as willing to remove an unfit person when appointed by me as if he had 
 been found in the service as I took it." But his refusal to remove James Dowling, 
 a politician who confessed he had been guilty of bribery, placed the Postmaster 
 General in a serious predicament. (See Appendix A, "Postmaster General Vilas 
 and the Dowling Case.") 
 
20 Civil Service Reform 
 
 Mr. Jones said, "I made such removals for no other reasons 
 than that the persons were Republicans." The men appointed 
 by him were active political workers ; their names and acts of 
 partisanship were specified. In the classified service, too, men 
 were wantonly removed for the purpose of making room for 
 Democrats. None but Democrats were appointed. Charles W. 
 Riggs, who had passed the examination, asked if there was any 
 prospect of appointment and Jones answered, "Who did you vote 
 for at the last election?" Henry C. Green asked if any Repub- 
 licans would be appointed and Jones answered, "No." A new 
 examination was held almost immediately, although there were 
 many eligibles remaining from an examination made shortly 
 before Mr. Jones took office. Mr. Jones said that no Republi- 
 cans passed this new examination ! 
 
 Removals began in good earnest. Willis G. Wood was 
 turned off and Jones told him that he had no objection to him 
 personally but that he had promised his place to another. Jones 
 told Louis Howland and Swift that he would not appoint Repub- 
 licans, no matter how high they stood. Oscar P. Hoover had to 
 leave because, as Jones said, he was going to make places for 
 others, it made no difference whether this was a violation of the 
 civil service law ; Jones told Will E. Tousey that he had no 
 complaint ; that all he wanted was the position. 
 
 He told M. A. Lockwood: "You are all going anyway; I 
 have kept all of you longer than I wanted to ; summer has come 
 now and you can make a living and I want you all to get out 
 of here." 
 
 At another time, Dodd, the assistant postmaster, said: 
 "There are no charges at all. You have always done your work 
 well but we want your place for a Democrat. The party pres- 
 sure outside is actually causing removal of some men I think 
 more of than the men that take their places." 
 
 To Gustav Schmedel, Jones said, "I have no complaint to 
 make, only I have a Democrat whom I wish to put in your 
 place." 
 
 Dodd said : "If we begin to make promises to keep carriers 
 we shall have no places for our political friends." Dodd gave 
 
Investigation of the Federal Civil Service 21 
 
 Levi Hand this reason for his dismissal : "We want your place 
 for a Democrat ; we have got to begin somewhere so we begin 
 with you." To Oliver P. McLeland he said, "It is better for the 
 boys to resign than to have us trump up charges against them." 
 
 Still, charges were often made. 
 
 Charles P. Sample was discharged because he owed a debt of 
 ten dollars for a cloak for his sister, while Harry Crane, ap- 
 pointed by Jones, was retained, though he owed forty-seven 
 dollars. Jones told the widow to whom he owed the money that 
 he had no power to turn Crane off if he didn't pay. 
 
 Sometimes charges were preferred ex post facto, as in the 
 case of Oscar N. Wilmington who was removed without charges, 
 but when an investigation was demanded, a false accusation was 
 made that he had acted as a Republican challenger at the last 
 presidential election. 1 . . . Henry R. Browning, one of the Dem- 
 ocratic appointees, worked actively at a primary, made motions 
 
 lMr. Swift afterward in testimony before a Senate investigating committee, 
 September 13, 1888 {Senate Reports, 1888, X, Part IV, p. 74) thus describes the 
 details of the Wilmington case: 
 
 . . . There is another case, that of a man named Wilmington, who had been 
 a soldier and had been in the post-office service in Indianapolis thirteen years. 
 He was not a politician, and had confined himself simply to voting and attention 
 to his duties. In the original complaint made by the Independents to President 
 Cleveland, which I delivered to the President in person, we claimed that Mr. Jones, 
 in opposition to the President's repeated promises that men should be retained 
 for efficiency, had discharged, among others, this one efficient man without cause. 
 
 Q. You presented that complaint, after investigation, to the President? — 
 A. Yes, Sir. 
 
 Q. Yourself? — A. Yes, sir; in person. And the President turned that part 
 of the complaint over to the Civil Service Commission and they came out to 
 Indianapolis to investigate; and Mr. Jones then, although he had told myself 
 and Mr. Louis Howland, who was a member, or one of the officers of the 
 Independent organization, that he had nothing whatever against Wilmington; that 
 he had discharged him because he had promised this place to another man; yet 
 after the Civil Service Commission came out to' Indianapolis he evidently got 
 frightened and began to look up causes. So he got six men to sign a statement 
 that Wilmington had been a challenger at the polls at the election when President 
 Cleveland was elected, and that statement was shown to me. I took it and went 
 with Mr. Howland up to Wilmington, and found him working upon a building as 
 a carpenter. He at once got down one of the signers of the statement from the 
 building, and the signer immediately said that he did not say that he had been a 
 challenger, did not mean to say that, and had signed the statement without reading 
 it. I then took the statement around to another signer, who lived in that neighbor- 
 hood, a man named France, whom I know well. He said they came to him to 
 get him to sign, and he signed without knowing what the statement contained. 
 That is my recollection of his reply, and that is put into the report. They told 
 him it would be kept quiet at any rate, and so he signed the statement. We 
 brought before the Civil Service Commissioner the actual challenger that was 
 at that particular precinct where Wilmington was charged to have been, and 
 we brought the two committeemen and proved conclusively that Wilmington was 
 not at that polling place except about fifteen minutes about noon, when he went 
 there to vote, and then after he voted stood on the outside of the crowd. So that 
 the statement that he had been there all day was disproved by the facts. Yet 
 nothing has ever been done or said in the way of apology to Mr. Wilmington, 
 and neither has he been reinstated. 
 
 Q. Do you know what treatment the Commission gave that case? — A. They 
 refused to let any of us read the evidence; I have never seen it. 
 
22 Civil Service Reform 
 
 and speeches and had a fight with J. F. Hennessey, yet remained 
 in office. 
 
 There were many curious characters among the new ap- 
 pointees, for instance, a negro, Alfred Harrison, whose auto- 
 graph letter promised to let a client's suit go by default in consid- 
 eration of ten dollars to be paid in advance. Charles Noe was 
 detected stealing registered letters, pleaded guilty and was sen- 
 tenced. Another carrier who passed the examination creditably 
 could not read the superscription of his letters. He had to be 
 removed from his route and set to collecting mail. He was a 
 politician of long standing. Another carrier was appointed who 
 misdelivered a letter to Dr. Frank C. Ferguson, and when com- 
 plaint was made answered, "I leave just such mail here as I like ; 
 if you don't like it you may go to hell." That man was retained. 
 
 In the unclassified service all were removed and succeeded 
 by Democrats ; and in the classified service, of 71 former in- 
 cumbents 36 had been forced out, while 43 Democrats had been 
 appointed. 1 The effect upon the service had been most injurious. 
 Complaints of letters misdirected, engagements lost, of im- 
 portant mail matter misdelivered occurred almost every day. 
 
 The Labor Signal said : "Every week we have numerous 
 complaints from subscribers who failed to receive their paper. 
 We know that copies of the paper plainly addressed have been 
 found among the waste in the basement of the office." The 
 janitor who disclosed this fact, however, was severely rebuked 
 by Jones, and told that he must not tell outside what happened 
 within. Sellers of the Peddlers' Exchange, hauled waste paper 
 from the post-office, and in sorting it found a draft for $1,000, 
 another smaller draft and large packages of unopened letters, 
 200 at one time and 100 at another which they returned to the 
 office, and were cautioned to say nothing about it. Jones dis- 
 continued the sale of waste paper to the firm which made such 
 discoveries. The enumeration of instances of deterioration in 
 the service could be prolonged indefinitely. Mr. Jones said 
 publicly of the law, "I despise it." Why then was he permitted 
 to remain there to nullify it? 
 
 lBy September 13, 1888, all the Republicans had gone except nine. (See 
 Swift's testimony before Senate Committee.) 
 
Investigation of the Federal Civil Service 23 
 
 But the administration of the Indianapolis post-office, bad as 
 it was, continued Mr. Swift, was better than the remaining 
 civil service in Indiana which he next described. 
 
 Page after page of his long report was filled with illus- 
 trations of office-holders whose appointments were due 
 to Congressmen Howard, Lamb, Lowry, Matson, Holman, 
 Bynum and others taking the most active and often the most 
 unscrupulous part in proceedings for the renomination of these 
 congressmen. The character of some appointees was so bad that 
 the Democratic Sentinel, in an editorial, was constrained to cry, 
 "Halt," and to protest against the appointment of criminals 
 and jail-birds and ask that honest Democrats be given a chance. 
 In some instances complaints had been made to the Postmaster 
 General and to the President, but without effect. A long list 
 was also given of Democratic editors who were appointed to 
 various places in the government service, a thing which had 
 been cause of removal for Republican editors. 
 
 Mr. Swift thus concluded his report: 
 
 Regarding the Pendleton act, the President said: "My concep- 
 tion ... of public duty requires that this . . . should be in good 
 faith and without evasion enforced and ... I have in effect promised 
 the people that this should be done." Yet in the Indianapolis postoffice, 
 the only office in Indiana within the Pendleton act, that law has been 
 completely and faithlessly evaded and nullified. 
 
 With regard to removals, the President said "They should not 
 be made during the terms for which they (the incumbents) are appointed 
 solely on partisan grounds for the purpose of putting in their places 
 those who are in political accord with the appointing power." Yet the 
 displacement of former employees by those in political accord with the 
 appointing power has, in this State, using the words of Mr. Hendricks, 
 in 1876, been a "remorseless proscription for political opinions." 
 
 Speaking of former partisan officials, the President said : "Such 
 officials, as well as their successors, should be taught that efficiency, fit- 
 ness and devotion to public duty are the conditions of their continuance 
 in public place." Yet their successors have been platoons and companies 
 of "unscrupulous manipulators of local party management." 
 
 The President said of many former incumbents that "they had 
 forfeited all just claims to retention . . . because instead of being 
 decent public servants they have proved themselves offensive partisans 
 and unscrupulous manipulators of local party management." Yet of the 
 hundreds of their successors who in Indiana have impudently and 
 brazenly manipulated the local party machine, not one has forfeited his 
 place. 
 
 The President said : "Selections for office not embraced within the 
 civil service rules will be based upon sufficient inquiry as to fitness." 
 
24 Civil Service Reform 
 
 Yet the places in Indiana have been given out as the booty of congress- 
 men in disregard of fitness. . . . 
 
 The President said, October 30, 1884: "There should be no mistake 
 about this contest. It is an attempt to break down the barriers of the 
 people of the United States and those that rule them. The people are 
 bound down by a class of office holders. ..." Yet this year, in six 
 congressional districts of this State, the Federal office holders have, 
 without hindrance or rebuke, thwarted the will of the people. 
 
 It is not a pleasant task for those civil service reformers who had 
 a steadfast faith that every promise would be kept to examine the work 
 done and report the truth; but their sincerity is on trial. Besides to 
 stand silent now would impose silence when some other party succeeds 
 to the national administration. The truth must be stated plainly. In 
 Indiana civil service reform has been disgraced and made contemptible." 
 
 It is submitted that this report and its summary of the evi- 
 dence is a model for investigators today. The matters set 
 forth in it were a fair sample of the conditions prevailing not 
 merely in Indiana but in some other parts of the country at the 
 time of Mr. Cleveland's first administration. 
 
 action of the civil service league 
 
 The eastern Mugwumps had heard that complaints had been 
 made of the Administration's conduct of the civil service and a 
 conference had been called in New York by the executive com- 
 mittee of the National Civil Service Reform League. Mr. Swift, 
 who attended, thus describes what happened in three letters to 
 his wife : 
 
 New York, April 30, 1886. 
 
 ... I went to the Victoria Hotel and found Carl Schurz with 
 representatives from Boston, Cambridge, Philadelphia, Baltimore and 
 New York. The men were all young. John F. Andrews of Boston, a 
 son of the old Governor, was made chairman and explained that 
 Massachusetts was well satisfied with Cleveland and could not under- 
 stand the criticisms in Indiana and Maryland and the League had there- 
 fore called this meeting. I was asked to tell about Indiana and I told a 
 plain unvarnished tale and it is no exaggeration to say that Massachusetts 
 was struck dumb and from that time to the end had nothing to say except 
 that something must be done. 
 
 Then Maryland told her story but it did not make the same im- 
 pression because they did not dwell upon the classified service to which I 
 mostly confined myself. 
 
 Another letter follows : 
 
Swift's Interview With Cleveland 25 
 
 I went to the meeting last night. . . . Carl Schurz offered a 
 resolution for appointing a committee of seven to find out how the civil 
 service law was being carried out and other things ; this resolution was 
 passed and then I was called upon to tell about Indiana again. . . . 
 I got in the Dowling story on Vilas and was satisfied wtih the chance I 
 had to make a clean breast of the whole business. . . . 
 
 . . . Everett P. Wheeler then got up after others had made some 
 general remarks and deprecated doing anything that would embarrass 
 the President. . . . Horace White in the meantime came over and 
 shook hands. . . . As he went away he said "You have the Black Hole 
 of Calcutta out in Indiana." My blood was thoroughly up owing to the 
 speeches just made and for ten minutes I laid down to them our duty 
 and the President's duty in terms I think they understood. After I was 
 done I was afraid I had been too plain but the meeting soon after ad- 
 journed and Curtis came over to me very cordially and said "You said 
 just the right thing" and Carl Schurz, "You hit the nail exactly on the 
 head." On all hands I was congratulated. . . . Carl Schurz walked up 
 with me to 36th Street and then I learned that we are no whit ahead of 
 him and White and Curtis in our feeling toward Cleveland, only we have 
 spoken out and they have not. But the time is coming. . . . 
 
 And again, in a third letter : 
 
 My final interview was with Carl Schurz at his rooms in the 
 Spanish Flats. His tone in regard to Cleveland was one of bitter dis- 
 appointment. He fairly groaned in spirit. He, I think, feels that more 
 than any one else he is responsible for Cleveland's election and to see 
 Cleveland fail in vital matters is as though a personal insult was 
 offered. . . . 
 
 The League, however, was slow in acting. At its annual 
 meeting in Newport in August, 1886, its Committee of Seven 
 reported that a large amount of material had been collected but 
 so recently that it had been impossible to prepare a report. The 
 resolutions (mildly stating that the League had seen with regret 
 that many appointments and removals had been made at the 
 solicitation of Congressmen in violation of reform principles) 
 were themselves referred to this special committee. 
 
 At a later period, after the facts had been clearly shown, 
 the League's criticisms of Cleveland were vigorous and explicit. 
 
 SWIFT'S INTERVIEW WITH CLEVELAND 
 
 Swift was not satisfied to collect the facts and report them 
 to the Indiana Association or to discuss them with the eastern 
 
26 Civil Service Reform 
 
 reformers. He submitted them in person to President Cleve- 
 land. He thus describes the interview in a letter to his wife : 
 
 July 16, '85. 
 
 . . . The President sat at a tremendous desk covered with papers. It 
 stood at the end of the room and the window looked on the Potomac. 
 A breeze was blowing through and the President had but to swing his 
 chair to see at any moment a magnificent view outside. His desk was 
 perhaps fifteen feet from the door. He was at work and did not look 
 up until I had reached the corner of the desk. ... I sat down and 
 stated the object of my coming. I saw instantly that I would get a fair 
 hearing. There is not a particle of coarseness about his face. There 
 is no such fatness as I had been led to expect. As I saw him there was 
 not the least thing disagreeable in his appearance. His whole manner 
 was one of great kindliness and perfectly calm and judicial fairness. 
 We talked three-quarters of an hour. As I stated in a sentence the 
 object of the petition, he said, "Let me see; that is the man I appointed 
 isn't he? — Jones?" He then asked for the violations complained of. I 
 told him and he asked, "How can the postmaster know the politics of 
 any four men who may be certified to him?" I replied that in a town 
 the size of Indianapolis every man was known and the postmaster does 
 nothing except after full consideration with his partisans. I also recited 
 Jones' language. The President said, "I can see that if four men are 
 certified to a postmaster and he happens to know that one is a Democrat 
 and takes him, it would be impossible to prevent that. But this case is 
 entirely different. Here is a postmaster who says that under no circum- 
 stances will he appoint a Republican. That is clearly wrong." He re- 
 peated this three or four times during the talk. 
 
 After a little he asked for the petition and began to hunt for the 
 facts, saying, "I want to find what facts you have set up." I showed 
 him where they began. He went rapidly. Then suddenly, "Has he put 
 his son in there?" Then, "He has put in a minister. Who is the Rev. 
 Oliver H. Perry Abbott?" There was a good deal of tone in this. 
 "What about this nephew of the Vice-president? Has he put in two 
 sons?" I explained and he shook his head saying, "That is bad; he 
 ought not to do that." . . . He thus went through the paper and at 
 each allegation gave me full chance to comment and asked repeated 
 questions. He was very quiet, very judicial and only by the least shade 
 of tone could I tell the effect upon him. I got in about everything we 
 had thought of and a good deal more and it gave me great satisfaction 
 to quietly skin the Vice-President. 1 We then ran upon general matters. 
 He repeated what I had somewhere said that we must go judiciously in 
 the matter of civil service reform; he added that the Republicans would 
 not support him because he was a Democrat ; that he must take as many 
 of his own party with him as he could and not put himself where he 
 would have no party and so fall between two stools. He asked about 
 the people of Indiana and gave me the floor for a full expression. In 
 answer to his statement about taking his party with him, I said that in 
 any contest over the spoils system which he might have with the 
 politicians there would be no question as to the result. He broke in, 
 "That has nothing to do with it. We must find out what is right and do 
 it regardless of result." 
 
 iThomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, an old-fashioned spoilsman. 
 
A One-Sided "Investigation" 27 
 
 This is a mere outline. Of course he did not say what he would do 
 with our petition but he gave such intimation that coming from a judge 
 I should know I had won my case. 
 
 Mr. Swift, however, had not won his case. 
 
 a one-sided investigation 
 
 President Cleveland very naturally and properly referred the 
 petition (so far as it related to the classified service) to the 
 Civil Service Commission, then composed of Dorman B. Eaton, 
 John M. Gregory and Leroy D. Thoman. The Commission sent 
 Commissioner Thoman with Chief Examiner Charles Lyman 
 to Indianapolis to investigate. But the investigators were im- 
 pressed with the need of exonerating the President in his ap- 
 pointment of Postmaster Jones. They did not notify Mr. 
 Swift or any of the petitioners of their presence and they would 
 not allow them to be represented or even to be present at the 
 examination. Mr. Swift, who sought them out, found Thoman 
 in close consultation with Joseph E. McDonald, a former Demo- 
 cratic senator from Indiana, and Lyman with Hughes East, a 
 prominent politician and private secretary to Vice-President 
 Hendricks. 1 
 
 Mr. Swift says : 2 
 
 We spent much time upon the postoffice curb while the investiga- 
 tion was going on and at last the spokesman told me that the Commission 
 would ask of the outsiders such questions as it wanted answered and no 
 further statement would be allowed. We were finally admitted, one at 
 a time and answered the questions asked. We were not informed what 
 explanations the postoffice officials had made of their various acts, except 
 in a single instance and that was a clumsy falsehood easily refuted. This 
 was done in writing. 
 
 And again : 3 
 
 "I asked Mr. Thoman if I could be present when the witnesses were 
 making their statements. He refused. I asked him if I could know 
 what they were stating before the commission, and he refused 
 again. . . . 
 
 lSenate Reports, 1888, X, Part IV, pp. 90, 91. 
 
 2MS. Speech, 1917. 
 
 ^Senate Reports, 1888, X, Part IV, p. 91. 
 
28 Civil Service Reform 
 
 The commission made a report in which they said Mr. Jones had 
 bad ideas, but had intended to do no wrong; did not understand the law, 
 and would do better in future. That is the sum and substance of the 
 report." 
 
 The report of the investigation was published in Washington and 
 was a whitewash. The struggle for honest enforcement of the law in 
 this office was not dropped but went on steadily for four years and it 
 was completely unsuccessful. 1 
 
 The President's administration had evidently been over- 
 protected by his too subservient "investigators" and was put in 
 a worse plight than before in the eyes of the public. 
 
 swift's testimony before a senate committee 
 
 Mr. Swift's efforts obtained wide-spread publicity when, 
 on September 13, 1888, he was summoned as a witness before 
 a select committee of the United States Senate appointed to 
 investigate the Federal Civil Service. The reason for the call 
 was explained in his testimony. Having stated that he knew 
 well Mr. W. D. Foulke who had appeared before the committee 
 earlier in the year and that he had seen the printed report of 
 Mr. Foulke's testimony he added : 2 
 
 Later than that I saw in the Indianapolis Sentinel, I think, that 
 Senator Blackburn had made some strictures upon his statement, and had 
 characterized it with an intimation that he had perjured himself. I saw 
 that statement somewhere in some paper, and also that Senator Black- 
 burn had charged Mr. Foulke with being a tramp. I indicated to Mr. 
 Foulke that I should be willing to be examined upon the matter con- 
 nected with my report which he had put in, and I suppose that accounts 
 for my being here. 
 
 Mr. Swift introduced as part of his evidence his report on 
 the Indianapolis post-office together with another report showing 
 additional arbitrary removals of Republicans and the retention 
 of John R. Tompkins, a Democratic clerk who had been con- 
 victed on a plea of guilty of giving liquor to a thirteen-year-old 
 girl. In this report he said : 3 
 
 IMS. Speech, 1917. 
 
 2Senate Reports, 1888, X, Part IV, p. 65. 
 
 slbid., p. 70. 
 
Testimony Before a Senate Committee 29 
 
 Comment can not add anything to these cases. They are simply 
 additional examples of the brazen shamelessness with which Postmaster 
 Jones, in violation of his oath of office and of the law, has worked out 
 all but twelve of the former employes, and in every case has worked in 
 and kept in his partisans. He started in by saying that he would not 
 appoint Republicans in the classified service, no matter how high they 
 stood on examination, and he never has. He started in by saying publicly 
 of the law, "I despise it," and without hindrance he has literally spewed 
 it out of his post-office. 
 
 Mr. Swift in his testimony gave some amusing instances of 
 the diverse ways in which "offensive partisanship" operated, de- 
 pending upon whether it was Republican or Democratic partisan- 
 ship. 
 
 After his testimony was concluded Swift in a letter to his 
 wife thus described what happened : 
 
 I finished my examination this afternoon. It was a tame affair, for 
 Senator Blackburn (the Democratic leader on the committee who had 
 ridiculed the charges made) could not be found although hunted for 
 everywhere for two days past. . . . Senator Blodgett gave me a mild 
 cross examination but I think did little damage. 
 
 But Blackburn afterwards emerged from his obscurity in a 
 minority report in which he said (without having been present 
 at the meetings) : 
 
 The only two persons, misnamed witnesses, who came to assist the 
 committee and whose remarks and exhibits submitted to it comprehend 
 the entire "investigation" of the civil service in Indiana were William 
 Dudley Foulke, who had testified previously and L. B. Swift, neither of 
 whom spoke from personal knowledge and neither of whom could testify 
 to the truth or falsity of the charges made. 
 
 On October tenth the committee reported. It confirmed the 
 truth of Mr. Swift's statements as well as those of Mr. Foulke. 
 The abuses disclosed, together with those which had occurred 
 in other states and the vigorous final criticisms by the National 
 Civil Service Reform League, of Mr. Cleveland's shortcomings, 
 had a very considerable influence on public opinion in the cam- 
 paign for the Presidency and were undoubtedly among the 
 factors which led to his defeat. 
 
30 Civil Service Reform 
 
 indiana hospital for the insane 
 
 But Mr. Swift's activities in regard to the Federal Service 
 were not the only work of the Indiana Civil Service Reform 
 Association. Investigation was made of the administration of 
 the Hospital for the Insane, at Indianapolis, which had been 
 turned over by the Democratic legislature of 1883 to the care of 
 politicians elected by themselves. Horrible scandals and abuses 
 had been disclosed in its management; corrupt contracts, vile 
 food, maggotty butter, pork fed to the patients from a drove of 
 hogs dying of cholera, abuse of the insane by brutal care- 
 takers, all sorts of atrocities leading sometimes to the death 
 of the helpless victims. These were published by the Associa- 
 tion and so stirred the people of Indiana that in the election of 
 1884 the Republicans regained control of the state government 
 and of the House of Representatives in the legislature, but 
 owing to the Democratic members in the Senate who "held over" 
 from the previous session, that body still remained Democratic. 
 Two legislative investigations were instituted: one by the Re- 
 publican House, to inquire into the abuses, the other by the 
 Democratic Senate to "whitewash" the corrupt administration. 
 Mr. Swift volunteered to take charge of the House investiga- 
 tion. He examined witnesses for three weeks and took 1335 
 pages of testimony. A crushing report was made of the terrible 
 conditions in the hospital. 1 
 
 iThis report, based upon the evidence introduced mainly by Mr. Swift, 
 declared that the state senators and representatives who had been most in- 
 fluential in the passage of the so called "Brown Bill" (by which control of the Hos- 
 pital for the Insane had been assigned to Democratic politicians) were rewarded by 
 places for their relatives and friends. {Report of Committee of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives on the Hospital for the Insane, 1887, pp. 5, 420.) The report says that the 
 passage of the bill was in part at least a matter of bargain and sale, corruptly brought 
 about by promises and inducements of the most reprehensible character made by Dr. 
 Harrison who became President of the Board of Trustees (p. 5). Gapen, another 
 trustee, appropriated a check for $64.67 (p. 9) and drew pay for eleven months 
 during which he was absent in Arkansas. All the officers and employees were 
 Democrats. Six hundred and forty-eight changes in the force were made 
 within four years and the average term of service was two years and one 
 month. Fully one half of the appointments were upon the recommendation of 
 legislators (p. 11). Many ignorant and brutal attendants were selected and 
 
 ?ihysicians without experience. Hall, the bookkeeper, did not keep the books and 
 acked the necessary knowledge to pass upon the supplies delivered. 
 
 There were great numbers of cruelties committed upon the paTients. Some 
 were knocked down, struck with a club, kicked over a fence, teased, jumped on 
 or otherwise maltreated. There were thirty-five "elopements" between July 3 and 
 August 29, 1886. Some of those who escaped were never recovered. One 
 wandered about the country several weeks and then died. The highest price was 
 
Indiana Hospital for the Insane 31 
 
 The immediate removal of the trustees was recommended 
 and the placing of the management of the Asylum in the hands 
 of a non-partisan board with rigid examinations of applicants 
 and a rule forbidding employees to take part in politics other 
 than to vote. The report was signed by the Republican majority 
 of five on the committee (pp. 21, 22, 23). The three Democratic 
 members made a minority report attacking the good faith of 
 the prosecution, insisting that the management had been atten- 
 tive, conscientious, humane, economical and efficient ! The claim 
 of the minority that the investigation was to afford "an opportu- 
 nity to procure for the Republican party at least a portion of 
 the places" was diverting, coming from those who insisted that 
 Democrats should have them all! (p. 34.) 
 
 The House of Representatives accordingly concurred in the 
 majority report. 
 
 Owing however to the unwillingness of the Democratic 
 majority in the Senate to remove the place-holders of their own 
 creation, no bill could be passed and nothing was then accom- 
 plished. Mr. Swift did his work without compensation, the 
 only result to him being the loss of a valuable client involved 
 in these irregularities. 1 
 
 lln an address before the National Conference of Charities and Corrections in 
 Grand Rapids, in June, 1896, Mr. Swift thus speaks of his investigation: 
 
 "Some years ago, the General Assembly of Indiana was the scene of a busy 
 struggle to secure the reorganization of the benevolent institutions of the State. 
 No demand of public business nor any condition of the institutions themselves 
 called for the change. The attacking force was a well-organized band, a faction of 
 the party already in possession, its object was the capture of the places. The bill 
 became a law, and its promoters who had for weeks constituted the 'third house' of 
 the General Assembly, gave a dinner in celebration, and then as members of boards, 
 superintendents, stewards and so on, went into enjoyment of the captured spoils. 
 
 "Some four years later, it fell to me to assist in an investigation of the 
 State Hospital for the Insane at Indianapolis, made by a House committee of the 
 General Assembly. The investigation occupied three weeks. 
 
 "The hospital was beautifully situated, with male and female departments 
 
 paid to favored contractors for the poorest goods. John E. Sullivan, a Democratic 
 politician and worker for the Brown Bill, was preferred over far lower bidders 
 and his oleomargarine was accepted as creamery butter. Often goods were pur- 
 chased without advertising as required by law. The daily reports of the officers 
 showed the butter and other articles furnished to the patients was very bad 
 (pp. 17, 212, 219). Hogs were slaughtered for the table, taken out of the same 
 pen in which others were dying of cholera (p. 18). They were diseased when 
 received at the asylum. Two or three hundred of them died (p. 64). The iron 
 in eight new boilers ordered for the hospital in 1885, was rotten and unsafe to 
 the knowledge of the trustees; the engineer of the asylum, Mr. Stacey, was dis- 
 missed when he protested. Some of them had to be patched before they left the 
 shop and many afterwards. Streams of water poured through when subjected to 
 a hydrostatic test. They were unsafe and the lives of the inmates were placed 
 in jeopardy. The financial reports of the trustees omitted $10,000 unliquidated 
 indebtedness. Money was collected from employees for campaign purposes and the 
 hospital was run as a political machine. 
 
32 Civil Service Reform 
 
 The abuses however were so flagrant that at a later period 
 (1889) the guilty men were displaced by the legislature and 
 still later, this hospital as well as the other benevolent institu- 
 tions of the state, were conducted upon a non-partisan basis. 
 
 Mr. Swift at the annual meeting of the National Civil 
 Service Reform League at Milwaukee, December 14-15, 1905, 
 thus reports their condition: 
 
 The boards of control now represent both political parties and are 
 appointed by the governor and may, under certain conditions be removed 
 by him. Yet when parties change in the State government, the boards 
 are not changed, and it is now difficult to get an employee out of one of 
 these institutions by reason of politics or to get a new employee in on 
 the same ground. With things as they are, when we speak of the 
 necessity of a civil service law, people point to the State institutions and 
 ask what more we can want since we already have practically the merit 
 system. But it will be observed that everything is practically under the 
 control of the governor and if sometime we should have a governor like 
 our old friend, Tom Taggart, we might get a lesson as to what a 
 governor could do, unrestrained by a civil service law. It may be that 
 we shall have to endure the wreck and ruin which some governor might 
 cause before we can secure such a law. 
 
 "AMERICAN FEUDALISM" 
 
 On April 17, 1888, Mr. Swift delivered before the Tuesday 
 Oub at Richmond, Indiana, a crushing philippic upon the spoils 
 system which he entitled "American Feudalism." In this he 
 draws the following impressive analogy between that system 
 and the feudalism of the Middle Ages : 
 
 in great separate buildings standing in ample and shady grounds. Its board had 
 the disposal of about $300,000 a year. Yet in this modern environment, with 
 ample funds which made possible the application of the most humane and en- 
 lightened principles of the nineteenth century, the place was honey-combed with 
 mediaeval notions and practices, — unsympathetic, cruel, barbarous and corrupt. 
 Every employee, the doctor, the ward attendant, the clerk, the carpenter, the 
 washerwoman, must not only bear the party stamp, but must be of the faction 
 which had captured the hospital; and so fierce was the demand for a share, that in 
 the 350 places we found there had been 648 changes in four years. Along the 
 same line the contracts for supplies, with few exceptions, had been let to those 
 who had helped in the capture or who had obtained some later hold upon the 
 board. As might have been expected, we found an untold amount of misery 
 inflicted upon the thousand helpless inmates by this aggregation of inexperience 
 and knavery. Not one of the employees had an incentive to do well, for his 
 place was not secured by merit nor held by efficiency. Physical force, not in- 
 frequently assisted by blows, sometimes with the club, was the quick resort of 
 inexperience and inefficiency and, in some cases, was carried to extreme cruelty. 
 Contracts were made and prices were paid for the best articles: yet, through the 
 steward's office there was an endless procession of supplies foreign to the con- 
 tracts — decayed meats, decayed butter, decayed vegetables, hogs infected with 
 cholera, shelf-worn goods and so on. The whirlwind had been thoroughly reaped." 
 [Proceedings of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections, 23rd annual 
 session, Grand Rapids, Michigan, June, 1896, p. 391J 
 
"American Feudalism" 33 
 
 I turn to the law student's first book, the "Commentaries of Black- 
 stone" and there I find : "Large districts or parcels of land were allotted 
 by the conquering generals to the superior officers of the army, and by 
 them dealt out again in smaller parcels or allotments to the inferior 
 officers and most deserving soldiers. . . . The condition of holding the 
 lands thus given was that the possessor should do service faithfully both 
 at home and in the wars, to him by whom they were given," and, on 
 breach of this condition, "by not performing the stipulated service, or by 
 deserting his lord in battle," the lands reverted to the lord. The vassal, 
 upon investiture, took an oath of fealty to the lord, and in addition did 
 homage "openly and humbly kneeling, being ungirt, uncovered and hold- 
 ing up his hands, both together, between those of his lord, who sat before 
 him, and there professing that he did become his man from that day 
 forth, of life and limb and earthly honor, and then he received a kiss 
 from his lord." 
 
 "Services were free and base. Free service was to pay a sum of 
 money, or serve under the lord in war. Base service was to plow the 
 lord's land, to make his hedge or carry out his dung." 
 
 When it is proposed that public employment shall be given out and 
 held upon the rule of fitness of the employe, the politician attempts to 
 divert attention from himself by soberly telling the people to look out for 
 an aristocracy of office-holders. We have now an aristocracy of office- 
 holders. Congressional districts are yielded by the victorious Presidential 
 candidate to the Congressmen of his party, and by them dealt out again, 
 in smaller parcels to the inferior managers and most zealous workers. 
 The condition of drawing the wages thus given from the common 
 treasury of the people, is that the wage-receiving party-worker shall do 
 service faithfully both between and during campaigns to that Congress- 
 man by whom they were given. And on breach of this condition, by not 
 performing the stipulated service or deserting his Congressman in a 
 campaign, the holding reverts to the Congressman. The applicant who 
 asks his Congressman to allot to him a portion from the public treasury, 
 as effectually as the ungirt, uncovered, kneeling, feudal henchman takes 
 his oath to become his Congressman's man from that day forth, of 
 political life and political honor. 
 
 And what shall be said of the services? When a place-holder stays 
 off his railway run four weeks to set up primaries for his Congressman; 
 when a place-holder, for his Congressman, stuffs a ballot-box at a 
 primary; when a place-holder, raving for his Congressman in a conven- 
 tion, challenges an opponent to personal encounter, does he not plow his 
 lord's land, and make his hedge, and carry out his dung? 
 
 Following the facts from one to another in logical order, we can 
 not escape the inevitable conclusion. The lineal descendant of the 
 feudal system is an incubus resting to-day upon the United States and 
 it is rooted in every part of our political system. The feudal baron looked 
 over the territory allotted to him and thought and planned, not how he 
 might make the burdens of the people light, nor how he might contribute 
 to the good government of the realm, but what men, if given holdings 
 upon a bond of allegiance to him, would best help him to keep what he 
 had and get more. In exactly the same spirit the Congressman-elect 
 views his territory and assigns men to positions. And as the baron 
 viewed, coveted, over-ran and conquered the possessions of his neigh- 
 bors, so here and there a Mahone, or a Gorman, overcomes his fellow 
 Congressmen and solely upon the consolidated distribution of spoils 
 
34 Civil Service Reform 
 
 becomes a powerful national factor, overcoming, as Gorman has, all good 
 intentions of the President, and constantly threatening and hindering the 
 well-ordered progress of affairs. And when we see place-holders, paid by 
 the people, altering registration lists, stuffing ballot-boxes, setting up 
 delegations, bullying conventions, being hauled drunk in a mail car, or 
 turning sick Indian children out to snow and death, it is the glory of 
 Congressmen marching by. . . . These place-holding henchmen are the 
 most contemptible slaves on earth. They are deprived of free speech, 
 free action, and a free vote. Night and day, in sun and rain, they are 
 their over-lord's men of political life and political honor. No slave- 
 driver's whip ever drove a gang so quickly to their posts or hunted them 
 through the cotton field or rice swamp, as does this power of a Con- 
 gressman to snatch the bread between the hand and the mouth of a 
 henchman, drive him to dirtying the pool of the primary, the convention 
 and the election. . . . 
 
 Turning the offices over to be distributed by Congressmen is the 
 barrier to a proper transaction of the public business, and while this 
 power exists this barrier will be insurmountable. And with whom is the 
 fault of maintaining this insurmountable barrier? It must be laid with 
 the President and his predecessors in that office. He has but to resume 
 his manhood, his official dignity, and his constitutional authority. Let 
 him take a scourge and drive the office-changers out of his constitutional 
 temple and the road to resting government employment upon business 
 principles will become smooth and straight. And when the managers of 
 the party machine threaten, when they refuse to confirm his nominations 
 or make appropriations, what will happen? Let the issue be clearly 
 understood and the spectacle of a strong man contending single-handed 
 against this marauding band will be a sight that will stir the noblest 
 instincts of the American nation. Let the President, by his acts, say 
 that he is the constitutional President of the United States, instead of 
 being the bullied buffet of Congressmen, and the people will say, amen. 
 A party machine may pronounce against him, but his country will forever 
 crown him with her approbation. What shall it profit a man to gain a 
 re-election through Congressmen and lose the respect of history? Rather, 
 let him stand as a conscientious officer, not flinching at his duty, and as 
 the first great leader in the irrepressible conflict which is to end in the 
 complete overthrow of the spoils system. . . . 
 
 There is, in the constitution, the power of appointment and the 
 implied power of removal. Think a moment how the people who made 
 the constitution must have intended that power to be used. Did they 
 intend that the President should put in his friends to strengthen his 
 fortunes? That is a kingly power and they despised kings. Did they 
 intend that Congressmen should use it to cover domains with henchmen 
 bound to them? That is a feudal power, and in that very constitution 
 they said that no order of nobility should be created by the United States. 
 To say that they could have intended any motive to prompt the exercise 
 of this power, except solely the desire for the work to be done is to say 
 that they introduced into the constitution the principle of despotism. 
 Hear James Madison "I contend that the wanton removal of meritorious 
 officers would subject him [the President] to impeachment and removal 
 from his own high trust." . . . 
 
The Harrison Campaign 35 
 
 The evil structure founded by Jackson 1 must be destroyed from 
 turret to foundation-stone. Congressmen who keep themselves up by 
 planting their feet upon the necks of public servants, must be made odious 
 
 and must be brought down. The constitution must be reestablished; and 
 any President who does not do this is faithless to the highest duty of his 
 office. 2 
 
 No patriotic American familiar with the history of the 
 patronage system can read these stirring words without being 
 convinced that they deserve an honorable place in the standard 
 literature of our country. 
 
 George William Curtis wrote Swift, May 12, 1888: 
 
 I am very much obliged to you or some other kind friend for a 
 copy of your address upon American Feudalism and for one I thank 
 you most sincerely for so powerful a presentation of the facts. There 
 is no more forcible statement of the odious system and its danger known 
 to me and I look upon it as one of the most significant and encouraging 
 signs of the times that such a word should be spoken in Indiana. 
 
 THE HARRISON CAMPAIGN 
 
 In the summer of 1888, Cleveland was renominated by the 
 Democrats and Benjamin Harrison by the Republicans. The 
 Republican platform gave the strongest possible assurances for 
 the enforcement of the law, the extension of the classified 
 system to all places to which it was applicable, and promised that 
 the spirit and purpose of the reform should be observed in all 
 executive appointments and all laws inconsistent with it repealed. 
 Before Harrison wrote his letter of acceptance, however, Mr. 
 Swift had two important conferences with him which are thus 
 described in his diary. 
 
 iThough the spoils system was first actually introduced into the Federal 
 service on a large scale by Jackson yet if Jackson had never lived it would have 
 made its appearance there sooner or later. It was a result of discretionary ap- 
 pointments by the President and his heads of departments when combined with 
 the selection of the President by party agencies. Parties are inevitable in 
 popular governments. The men who think alike will vote together and organize 
 to effect their common desires and if a President controls the power of appoint- 
 ment — that is, the patronage — and is at the same time the head of a party, some 
 President will certainly at some time use it on behalf of his party and as 
 political spoils unless restrained by a law regulating the method of making such 
 appointments. The early Presidents used the patronage very sparingly and rarely 
 dismissed an official merely for political reasons, but when Jackson came in he 
 introduced into the Federal Government the system which already prevailed in 
 New York and which resulted in a "clean sweep" of the offices and the allotments 
 of patronage among the supporters in Congress and elsewhere of the party in 
 power in a manner analagous to the feudal system. (William D. Foulke, Fighting 
 the Spoilsmen, pp. 3-7, New York, 1919.) 
 
 2A few days afterward (April twenty-fourth) this address was delivered to 
 the students of Indiana University at Bloomington, still later to the Union League 
 Club of Chicago and at other places. 
 
36 Civil Service Reform 
 
 August 21, 1888. 
 
 General Harrison sent for me and yesterday at his home I had an 
 hour's talk with him as to what he would say in his letter of acceptance 
 as to how he should, if elected, manage the civil service. Soon after 
 his nomination I had an inquiry from Arthur Hobart of Boston and 
 sought a talk with General Harrison as to his views on the same matter. 
 He then said to me that the Pendleton Act should be enforced in spirit 
 and letter, without evasion or violation; that within this law there 
 should be no removal without cause. In the unclassified service he was 
 more vague. He said "You know I do not consider offices as a source 
 of strength but of weakness to a party." However in answer to my 
 direct question he said he should feel bound to follow the platform in 
 managing this part of the service. 
 
 Yesterday he repeated his position regarding the Pendleton Act and 
 proposes to say this in his letter of acceptance. But he does not want 
 to say much beyond that except to say that that Act will now bear some 
 extension. In talking about what he did not want to say about the un- 
 classified service he uncovered how he meant to manage that service if 
 elected. He expects to remove every officer without regard to the 
 expiration of his term and without giving any reason except "the im- 
 provement of the service." He said that he might possibly keep a few 
 Democrats who were exceptionally deserving. When he had fully ex- 
 pressed himself I told him frankly that I ought not to conceal from 
 him that I was very much discouraged. And in the long talk which 
 followed I stood squarely on the proposition that a complete change of 
 office-holders at every change of party could not continue and that some 
 one would have to fight that battle through. I did not lower my standard 
 a peg and when he would admit that it ought to be done, I kept to it 
 that some one should do it. He had no plan and I suggested that as a 
 first step he should even the service between the parties. This would be 
 a first step only but would appeal to the nation's sense of fairness and 
 once taken and the opposition to it overcome, the next would be easy. 
 I finally said that if he meant to have an iron-clad enforcement of the 
 Pendleton Act, but that outside of that he meant that the offices should 
 soon pass into the hands of the Republicans, that fact ought to be known. 
 Against this he protested promptly and said he should not be willing 
 to authorize such a statement. He said that he would have a strict 
 enforcement of the law and that outside of that he would do the best 
 he could so that at the end of his term some progress should have been 
 made in civil service reform. He declared throughout that he did not 
 want to promise more than he could do — but rather less, which I believe 
 and commend. He also said that not for the Presidency would he be in 
 the position regarding his promises that Cleveland is in. He finally said 
 that when he came back from Middle Bass Island he would not object 
 to letting me see what he had written on this subject for his letter of 
 acceptance. This was his own suggestion. 
 
 While talking I asked him why he did not set out to do something 
 great for the country and added that the greatest thing now to do was 
 to transfer the civil service to a business basis. He said he should be 
 glad to do it but did not see how it could be done. 
 
 I urged upon him steadily that unless he had a plan to be worked 
 which would tend to take the service out of politics, mere desultory ex- 
 ceptions would not be civil service reform. He admitted this but so far 
 
The Harrison Campaign 37 
 
 he clearly had no principle fixed except that to remove the Democrats 
 and put in Republicans, with rare exceptions, must improve the service. 
 
 In spite of these rather incomplete assurances of General 
 Harrison, Mr. Swift believed that if he thoroughly enforced the 
 Civil Service Act his administration would be more satisfactory 
 than that of Mr. Cleveland with which the Indiana Independents 
 had been so grievously disappointed. Harrison had previously 
 often expressed his sympathy with the merit system, his letter 
 of acceptance as finally written was satisfactory. Since he had 
 always been a man of his word, Mr. Swift and the other ad- 
 vocates of the merit system in Indiana generally supported him 
 in the campaign. Mr. Swift made speeches for him in many 
 parts of the state, and after his election and inauguration 
 awaited with confidence an improvement in eliminating the 
 spoils system. 
 
 In some respects the outlook was favorable. Theodore 
 Roosevelt and ex-Governor Hugh Thompson, of South Carolina, 
 were appointed on the Civil Service Commission. This gave a 
 far better assurance of the enforcement of the law than had 
 been the case under Cleveland. Locally, too, the condition of 
 affairs at the post-office in Indianapolis, the only classified office 
 in the state, began to improve. Mr. Swift in a speech delivered 
 some years afterward on "The Story of the Progress of Political 
 Reform" thus spoke of this post-office, contrasting an investiga- 
 tion made by the new commission with the one which had 
 whitewashed the Democratic administration : 
 
 In a very short time under Harrison's postmaster this office began 
 to exhibit strange signs. I wrote to a member of the Civil Service Com- 
 mission about it. A few mornings later I was walking down town and 
 about where Taggart's bakery on Massachusetts Avenue now is, I saw 
 Theodore Roosevelt coming toward me, his smile of recognition visible 
 half a block away. He was taking an after-breakfast walk. He had 
 brought with him the whole Commission to overhaul the post-office. He 
 asked me to come with them and as we went I gave him a brief statement 
 of the facts as I understood them. The inquiry was public and all the 
 newspapers were represented. The outsiders, four years ago kept on the 
 curb, were admitted and for once they had an inning. The assistant 
 postmaster was called and the questions at once indicated a desire to get 
 at the real facts. It was developed that the officials, ignoring the com- 
 petition and examination required by law, had gone upon the street and 
 
38 Civil Service Reform 
 
 picked up two party workers and put them into places. A gambling 
 room run by one of the clerks just across the alley from the post-office 
 had been previously raided by the police, the apparatus seized, the clerk 
 arrested, tried and fined. For this he had been discharged and this was 
 one of the few justifiable removals by the former postmaster. This 
 clerk had now been reinstated. The assistant postmaster stoutly de- 
 fended all of these appointments, but when the facts had been brought 
 out, Commissioner Roosevelt said, "These men must be discharged 
 to-day." Discharged they were and from that moment to the end of 
 his term the law had no more efficient and honest executive than Post- 
 master [William] Wallace. In commenting upon the investigation, the 
 Civil Service Chronicle of June, 1889, said, "The fearlessness of Mr. 
 Roosevelt, coupled with his long and brilliant experience in dealing with 
 unwilling and crooked executive officers, makes it plain that the President 
 has found a man." An opinion which neither the Chronicle nor myself 
 personally ever found reason to revise. 
 
 But in other directions sinister omens began to appear. On 
 January 4, 1889, shortly before he left office, President Cleveland 
 had classified the railway mail service to take effect March 
 fifteenth, only eleven days after the inauguration of his suc- 
 cessor. But after Harrison became President it was found that 
 the classification could not be made so early and it was soon 
 feared that the interval would be used to loot this branch of the 
 service and fill it with political appointees. Mr. Swift, on 
 March 11, 1889, wrote to President Harrison remonstrating 
 against the postponement and adding that the people had no 
 interest in the crowd now clamoring for office; that President 
 Cleveland yielded to such a clamor and thus cut himself off 
 from accomplishing the only thing that he might have done. 
 
 But the Civil Service Commission itself declared that the 
 classification could not be completed by March fifteenth with 
 the force then at its disposal, so the only course of action open 
 was to make the period of the postponement as short as possible. 
 It was finally fixed at May first and the Republicans improved 
 the shining hours that intervened by kicking out all the Demo- 
 crats they could and putting in their places Republican 
 "workers." President Harrison did little to stop this scandalous 
 proceeding which was widespread, though not universal, when 
 the places were finally classified. 
 
The Civil Service Chronicle 39 
 
 the civil service chronicle, first period (1889-1893) 
 
 Indiana had given a large majority to Harrison, and Swift, 
 at the head of those who had supported Cleveland in 1884 and 
 then opposed him because he had failed to carry out his 
 promises, determined to establish in Indiana a monthly periodical 
 which should vividly present the current news of the doings of 
 spoilsmen, with critical comments. His financial resources 
 were inadequate but he was an indefatigable worker ; the funds 
 necessary for the enterprise were raised among friends of the 
 movement and the entire work of preparing the paper for the 
 press was done in his office. The price at first was only fifty 
 cents a year, afterward a dollar, and it carried no advertise- 
 ments. It stated at the outset that its purpose was not to make 
 money and that it must depend for support upon those who 
 sympathized with its objects, but that it expected to get many 
 subscribers who did not so sympathize, adding, "We think we 
 can make it interesting to them, as they will find a certain kind 
 of truth told here that will not be in the papers of their ordinary 
 reading." 
 
 Its cost was about $450 annually. "Except the printer," 
 wrote Mr. Swift, "no one is paid anything on the paper." How 
 a periodical of eight pages (and sometimes more) of three 
 columns each, closely printed in small type, could be conducted 
 on such an expenditure is almost incredible, yet it was done. 
 
 The first issue appeared in March, 1889, the month in which 
 Harrison assumed the Presidency. 
 
 The contents of The Civil Service Chronicle were of two 
 kinds: first, the editorials written by Mr. Swift himself, and 
 second, reproductions of all the important news regarding the 
 spoils system and the reform, taken largely from current news- 
 papers and periodicals in much the same way that The Literary 
 Digest culls matters of general interest from the newspapers 
 and periodicals of the present time. 
 
 In one of the first of his editorials Mr. Swift thus reviewed 
 the course of the recent Democratic government in his own 
 state : 
 
40 Civil Service Reform 
 
 To repeat what is not disputed, the Indiana managers of the affairs 
 of the late (Cleveland) administration viewed the law and the reform as 
 so much dirt and without the slightest regard to solemn promises, they 
 proceeded accordingly, but from the beginning to the end they found 
 this path beset with very ugly thorns. They must today, in the fires of 
 defeat, look back over their course with small satisfaction. 
 
 He began his constructive efforts for improvement in the 
 administration of the law by urging, first, an abolition of the 
 secrecy which veiled its execution and which he insisted, was a 
 mere cloak for fraud. Of what use was it for the public to 
 know that an ignorant favorite of the postmaster had never 
 passed the examination at all, when some knavish politician 
 could cut off the public from the knowledge of the fact by the 
 cool statement that he had passed it ? Second, he insisted upon 
 a change in the organization of the local boards of examiners 
 which were formed from employees of the office under a chief 
 who had the power to dismiss them at any time. The mere 
 statement of this plan, he said, showed its innate worthlessness 
 and he urged that members should be included from other 
 branches of the service. Third, he demanded that men should 
 be chosen as heads of these offices who were friendly to the 
 law; that putting in mere politicians was much like turning 
 thieves into a bank. 
 
 In respect to the Indianapolis post-office which was the 
 first object of his efforts, Mr. Swift was successful in all these 
 demands. The eligible lists were made public, officials outside 
 the post-office itself were placed upon the examining board and 
 Mr. Wallace, the new postmaster, appointed by the President to 
 succeed Aquilla Jones, soon became friendly to the classified 
 system and observed the law. 
 
 In an article entitled "Reasonable Expectations" he says : 
 
 The spoils system is the spoils system under whatever President it 
 exists and it is none the less to be opposed because it appears under 
 President Harrison instead of President Cleveland. We regard the use 
 of public office as party spoils as a colossal evil. It is the greatest evil 
 in any manner connected with federal or state government. . . . 
 
 We mean to bring the facts of this American feudalism to the 
 notice of the people to the fullest extent in our power. And if in per- 
 sistently insisting that the facts shall be faced, we hurt, now the Under- 
 lord, now the Over-lord, now the Lord-Paramount, and now all 
 together, it will be their fault for causing the facts to exist. 
 
The Civil Service Chronicle 41 
 
 Naturally at the beginning of a new administration the 
 scramble for office was the first thing to attract the attention 
 of the Chronicle. It was universal and almost unbelievable. 
 Column after column of the paper was devoted to "The Siege" ; 
 scores of pages to the items of "American Feudalism." . . . 
 There were catalogues of office-holding delegates at Republican 
 conventions entitled "Commissioned Henchmen" and lists of 
 "Rebellious Barons" and the means used to placate them. There 
 were picturesque accounts of the ridiculous squabbles between 
 various lords and overlords as to the boundaries of their respec- 
 tive domains of patronage. Other columns gave countless 
 illustrations of "Current Spoils" and "Wanton Removals" ; 
 others entitled "Political Dicers" narrated the broken promises 
 of the party and its candidate. 
 
 Other columns gave lists running up into the hundreds and 
 thousands of the newspaper editors rewarded by plums of 
 patronage. These were published under the title "A Manacled 
 Press." There were published lists of the delegates to the 
 Republican convention of 1888 who had received important and 
 lucrative appointments. 
 
 The official reports, said the Chronicle, showed that Assistant 
 Postmaster General James S. Clarkson was decapitating a fourth- 
 class postmaster every five minutes. Soon the number increased 
 to one every three minutes, all this to make room for Republican 
 successors. At the end of the year, though these high averages 
 were not always continued, the number of changes was about 
 thirty thousand. Among the appointees were jail-birds whose 
 offenses were duly chronicled and their convictions recorded. 
 It was a melancholy recital yet often tinged with humor by its 
 absurdities. So overwhelming and persistent were the demands 
 of office-seekers that Congressmen ran away and hid and even 
 changed their residences to escape importunities. 
 
 W. H. H. Miller, the former law partner of President 
 Harrison, whom he appointed Attorney General, visited Indian- 
 apolis and the Chronicle reports his declaration : "In all ap- 
 pointments the two requisites are that the prize winner shall be, 
 first, a good man, second, a good Republican." Of this Mr. 
 
42 Civil Service Reform 
 
 Swift observes, "Thus the administration flounders along to 
 inevitable destruction." And so it did. 
 
 One of the most unfortunate of the early changes made by 
 President Harrison was his refusal to reappoint Henry Pearson, 
 the able and efficient postmaster of Xew York, who, although a 
 Republican, had been retained by President Cleveland but was 
 now supplanted by C. Van Cott, a mere politician, quite inex- 
 perienced in postal affairs. Mr. Swift thus speaks of Pearson's 
 administration of the Xew York office : 
 
 He has made it as free from politics of every kind and nature as 
 Broadway is free from weeds. Before the passage of the civil service 
 law, he had the competitive system in force. Since the passage of that 
 law there have been a few leading positions which he might have filled 
 with reference to politics but he has declined to do so. In every case of 
 such a vacancy he has promoted a skilled man from the ranks of the 
 classified service. He has held his men to their duty and whenever an 
 employee deteriorated in his work, competition put him in a lower grade 
 and put a more skilled or a more faithful man in his place. He was the 
 one postmaster who gave the law the "benefit of a friendly interpretation" 
 to its fullest extent. As a result he had incomparably the best post- 
 office service in this country. 
 
 In doing this work obstacles have been put in his way in a manner 
 to stir the indignation of every fair man. His office became of the 
 greatest use to the public but it was absolutely worthless to the party 
 machine, and the party machine has followed him with remorseless hatred. 
 
 Mr. Swift here describes the previous ineffectual efforts 1o 
 remove Mr. Pearson upon secret and fictitious charges, and thus 
 continues : 
 
 The public does not know what the motive power was that at last 
 succeeded in displacing him. It does know that the good of the service 
 had nothing to do with it. . . . 
 
 There is probably no other single act by which President Harrison 
 could have damaged himself and his party so much throughout the 
 country. . . . The "workers" have won a victory but it is like the 
 victory of the elephants of Pyrrhus. 
 
 Although Mr. Swift criticized the Indiana President he ac- 
 corded him high praise in the appointment of Theodore Roose- 
 velt and Governor Thompson, of South Carolina, on the Civil 
 Service Commission and when George William Curtis, president 
 of the National Civil Service Reform League, in his annual 
 
Discussions in the National League 43 
 
 address, filled it with little else than criticism, Mr. Swift editori- 
 ally remarks that the effect of it was "to leave the administra- 
 tion without any credit regarding civil service reform" and he 
 adds: 
 
 We can not concur in this general conclusion. For instance, the 
 appointment of the present civil service commission was an act of tre- 
 mendous importance and displayed not only a purpose to have the law 
 enforced, but entire knowledge of the way to go about it. . . . We have 
 now what has always been needed, a commission that can not be cowed 
 by the threats of congressmen whose hurts and outcries are the best 
 evidence of its efficiency. The recent outbreaks against the law are 
 conclusive proofs that a new and serious barrier to working in henchmen 
 in spite of the law has been encountered. The appointment here and 
 there of the head of an office who earnestly favors the merit system can 
 not be compared in importance to the selection of an "admirable civil 
 service commission." The one affects but one office, the other all the 
 offices in the classified service, and acts both as a prod and as a brake 
 upon the President himself. 
 
 DISCUSSIONS IN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE 
 
 But not only in the columns of the Chronicle did Mr. Swift 
 insist upon recognition of President Harrison's good work in 
 the appointment of an excellent commission. He also records in 
 his diary the following in regard to the resolutions at the annual 
 meeting of the National Civil Service Reform League in 
 Philadelphia in 1889: 
 
 Curtis drew out and read a set. As he finished I felt for the first 
 time that he was like the rest of us subject to prejudice and bias. His 
 resolutions were a sweeping condemnation of Harrison's administration 
 without the least credit. . . . 
 
 I held up against Curtis and steadily refused to agree to the resolu- 
 tions. ... I said I would be as severe as any one on actual specified 
 delinquencies, but that we could not omit acts deserving commendation. 
 Schurz reminded Curtis that they might have applied his rule to Cleve- 
 land but did not. Curtis replied that he felt that Cleveland was honestly 
 and really in favor of the reform while Harrison was not. . . . 
 
 Up at quarter before seven. . . . went to work writing out the 
 resolutions and while at it Curtis and others came in. . . . sent them to 
 breakfast while I finished. . . . We met at 9 o'clock as agreed. It 
 was now a short matter. With verbal changes the copy passed as it now 
 stands except that relating to the census bureau which was added by 
 the League. . . . a 
 
 iThe resolutions as passed, while severely condemning the President's failure 
 to fulfil other pledges of the Republican platform and of his letter of acceptance, 
 in regard to the Civil Service contained the following: 
 
 '"The personal character, ability and experience and the unquestionable and 
 fearless devotion to reform of the members of the Civil Service Commission ap- 
 pointed by the administration and the support accorded to them by the President, 
 deserve the heartiest commendation." 
 
44 Civil Service Reform 
 
 At one we adjourned for luncheon. Sat next to E. L. Godkin but 
 for a long time we said little. At last R. R. Bowker came around and 
 we three had a talk about Harrison. Godkin asked me how I accounted 
 for Harrison's lack of intellect. I said I did not account for it as I did 
 not admit the lack. . . . 
 
 SWIFT S CRITICISMS OF CLEVELAND S TARIFF MESSAGE 
 
 Mr. Swift, at the annual meeting of the National League in 
 1890, delivered an address insisting upon the paramount char- 
 acter of civil service reform and deprecating the fact that Presi- 
 dent Cleveland during his late administration had apparently 
 subordinated his advocacy of the merit system for another 
 issue, tariff reform, and had sent a message to Congress confined 
 to the latter subject alone. 
 
 "The prominent idea and discussion connected with the 
 early part of his administration," said Mr. Swift, "was in rela- 
 tion to the civil service, but the antagonism of his party machine 
 to his reform views and acts and the threatening attitude of his 
 party leaders confronted him until he brought forward the 
 tariff issue, upon which the bulk of them seemed willing to 
 unite and he took the first step by a message to Congress 
 devoted exclusively to that subject." Mr. Swift insisted that 
 the enactment of our laws was made with the halting advocacy 
 caused by the skeleton in the party closet — the fear of losing the 
 spoils of office ; that those interested in all questions which 
 related to any subject arising with a progressive people, had 
 found that the measure of relief granted was gauged by its 
 supposed effect upon the continued power of the Quays and the 
 Gormans over the spoils of office. Mr. Swift thus continued: 
 
 Therefore I say that the destruction of the spoils system ought to 
 regulate individual political effort. Not that other reforms may not 
 have sympathy and support. But there comes a time when the roads 
 part. Then there can be no compromise, no hesitation. The pursuit of 
 these bloodsuckers upon our civil government should be relentless. To 
 cease this attack at any point and unite with this common enemy with 
 the hope of benefiting some other object is to strengthen the enemy and 
 fill him with joy. Such deviation prolongs the unequal struggle on our 
 hands and does not accomplish its object. . . . 
 
 The advocacy of tariff modification, as it is now offered, gives no 
 satisfactory reward and actually helps the bosses to obscure civil service 
 
Criticisms of Cleveland's Tariff Message 45 
 
 reform and extend their own rule, and the poison of office — exploitation 
 for spoils — is left with increased virulence to course its way through 
 every hamlet, town and city in all the states of this Union. It ruins 
 public morals. It is the destroyer of nations. No man can look at our 
 national, state and city government and deny that it is the crying evil 
 of our time. The call to destroy it rings in the ears of every man who 
 loves his country. Our faces should be always towards it, and our hands 
 should be always against it. 
 
 The meeting of the League at which this was delivered was 
 held in Boston. Now Boston was par excellence the home of 
 the Eastern Mugwumps and the Eastern Mugwumps were 
 deeply devoted to Grover Cleveland. His administration had 
 been seen at its best in New England and in New York. But 
 Swift was from Indiana, a state which had suffered grievously 
 from the abuses of the spoils system. It soon became apparent 
 that Mr. Swift had stirred up a nest of hornets by his criticisms. 
 
 Everett P. Wheeler, of New York, a warm adherent of Presi- 
 dent Cleveland, took exception to some of Mr. Swift's state- 
 ments, especially to the statement that the Cleveland tariff 
 message was put forth at the demand of the party bosses. 
 Secretary Fairchild, he said, had told him that the conviction 
 of the immediate necessity of the presentation of that question 
 to the country led to the writing of the message. Winslow 
 Warren, of Boston, could not agree with Mr. Swift that the 
 Mills Bill or the McKinley Bill meant the shelving of civil 
 service reform. Colonel Charles R. Codman, of Boston, said 
 that if he had understood Mr. Swift aright, he had declared 
 that civil service reform was of such transcendent importance 
 that the League must abandon all the other great reforms of 
 the day. Mr. Swift interrupted to say that he believed that 
 when they came to a point where the road parted between an 
 advocacy of that reform and any other they should choose the 
 former. Mr. George Fred Williams, of Massachusetts, said he 
 should be much opposed to having Mr. Swift's views sent forth 
 to the world as those of the League. Mr. Swift's statement 
 that Cleveland's object in putting forth his tariff message had 
 been to shelve civil service reform was merely an inference, but 
 he, the speaker, knew it was wholly false. The president of the 
 League, George William Curtis, said that no man in his senses 
 
46 Civil Service Reform 
 
 would accept Mr. Swift's statement as being the view of the 
 League. After a long discussion, the executive committee was 
 directed, in preparing all papers for publication, to prefix a 
 statement that the League was not responsible for the views 
 therein expressed. A special disclaimer of Mr. Swift's opinions 
 was thereby avoided. 1 
 
 It is not necessary to believe that the Cleveland message 
 had been consciously designed to shelve the civil service issue. 
 Mr. Cleveland finally showed in his subsequent administration 
 that he was a sincere friend of the merit system. But undoubt- 
 edly the effect of thus forcing the tariff issue upon the exclusive 
 attention of the country was to postpone civil service reform. 
 Nor is it necessary to insist that the merit system is so pre- 
 eminent as to exclude other important measures. As President 
 Roosevelt said, "There are other and more vital reforms than 
 this." But as Mr. Swift pointed out, no other important public 
 measures can even receive fair-minded consideration while the 
 hunger for the spoils of office is the paramount motive for 
 political action. 
 
 Wheeler in a subsequent letter to Mr. Swift, dated December 
 2, 1890, urged that all reference to the tariff in Swift's address 
 and in the debate which followed be omitted from the published 
 record of the proceedings of the League. He said of this 
 subject : 
 
 It is one of course that has raised a great deal of feeling, and as 
 our membership is composed of Protectionists as well as Tariff Re- 
 formers, it seems to me undesirable for the good of the cause to embody 
 any discussion on that subject in our permanent publications. 
 
 Swift was opposed to this attempt to suppress his criticism 
 of Cleveland. In his answer to Mr. Wheeler he says : 
 
 lThe differences in the points of view between the reformers from different 
 sections of the country, continued for some time. President Roosevelt in his 
 autobiography thus speaks of them: 
 
 ''As a rule, these men were highminded and disinterested. Certain of them, 
 like the leaders in the Maryland and Indiana reform associations, for instance, 
 Messrs. Bonaparte and Rose, Foulke and Swift, added common sense, broad 
 sympathy and practical efficiency to their broad-mindedness, but in New York, 
 Philadelphia and Boston, there certainly was a mental and moral thinness among 
 very many of the leaders of the civil service reform movement." 
 
Close of Harrison's Administration 47 
 
 . . . I call your attention to the fact that the League has made it plain 
 that opinions expressed in a paper read before it are the individual 
 opinions of the writer. . . . As to the tariff, I have not discussed it and 
 to say that the tariff or the currency or force bills or any other subjects 
 not connected with civil service reform may not be referred to for the 
 purposes of illustration seems to me little short of childish. My paper 
 makes no exception of parties and treats all parties alike. So far as 
 the reference to Mr. Cleveland is concerned I had grounds for the posi- 
 tion taken. Any criticism of him for sending a tariff message to Con- 
 gress would have been improper and I made none. But following his 
 long career as a civil service reformer and after he became President 
 noting the gradual departure of his acts from his written words and his 
 utter silence after sending his tariff message (except in occasional per- 
 functory remarks) upon the subject of civil service reform, and the 
 final delivery of the balance of the service (except certain spots) to the 
 spoilsmen during the last six months preceding the election of 1888 and 
 which was repeatedly noted by the New York Evening Post, the con- 
 clusion irresistibly follows that civil service reform was abandoned. . . . 
 So good a judge as Mr. Schurz remarked to Mr. Foulke "There is no 
 question but that Mr. Cleveland has attempted to side-track civil service 
 reform." As I state in my paper it was side-tracked in answer to party 
 pressure and the tariff question was substituted. . . . 
 
 It is no friendliness to him to be blind to these facts. He is quite 
 human and has the limitations of a human being. He is more than 
 likely to be the next President and the duty rests upon all who com- 
 municate with him or speak of him not to jump up and attempt to put 
 down any criticism of him by a fulsome adulation ; nor are they workers 
 for the public good. 
 
 There is no question but that Mr. Cleveland has elevated his party. I 
 still believe that he would like to see the spoils system broken up. Under 
 certain conditions I should vote for him for President. But I should 
 vote with my eyes open, not regarding him as a man who could make 
 no mistakes but rather as a man who had made stupendous mistakes. I 
 should vote hoping that he would profit by experience and I should 
 vote with the reserved right to look his acts in the face and to be plain 
 spoken about any failure of duty just as I have been plain spoken with 
 any failure of duty with President Harrison. 
 
 When a copy of this letter was shown to Mr. Schurz he re- 
 marked, "What a sturdy old fellow Swift is !" 
 
 In the published proceedings Mr. Swift's criticisms were 
 retained. 
 
 close of Harrison's administration 
 
 The Congressional elections of November, 1890, were 
 disastrous to the Republicans. Mr. Swift in summing up the 
 causes in the Chronicle, declared that the course of the adminis- 
 tration had alienated the reform element. The dismissal of 
 Pearson had been supplemented later by the turning out of Silas 
 
48 Civil Service Reform 
 
 Burt, E. O. Graves, Leverett Saltonstall and others of the same 
 stamp. The administration had turned in to help William P. Ma- 
 hone put Virginia under his heel. A reasonable request for a non- 
 partisan selection of census employees had been refused and 
 that important work put into the hands of 60,000 party hacks 
 who had taken a census which had not and never would have 
 the confidence of the country. The Indian service had been 
 disgracefully used as spoils. Officers had been removed on 
 secret charges and political assessments upon their salaries had 
 gone unpunished and unchecked. He thus concludes : 
 
 If the administration can do any worse, it has over two years in 
 which to do it. If it means to do any better it has no time to lose. 
 
 The time passed without substantial improvement, yet in 
 June, 1892, Harrison was renominated by the Republican con- 
 vention at Minneapolis. Of this convention Mr. Swift says : 
 
 The spoils system was in full fruition. The successful candidate 
 was successful because, through his henchmen he had the Convention 
 literally by the throat. One hundred and forty place-holders at the 
 lowest estimate had votes. On the best authority at least three thousand 
 other place-holders gathered around and bore down opposition. All these 
 were led by a place-holder who makes thirty or forty thousand dollars 
 a year out of his place and who came specially from London for this 
 purpose. 1 The whole was superintended by the President who had wires 
 connecting the White House with the convention, and who, as the 
 Indianapolis Journal puts it, was busy "sending and receiving com- 
 munications from the seat of war." It is to be hoped that our United 
 States executive government has now reached its lowest point of 
 degradation. It would not seem that political pirates and buccaneers 
 could get or would want greater power. 
 
 The National Civil Service Reform League appointed a 
 committee to investigate and report upon the interference of 
 federal office-holders in primaries, conventions and elections. 
 The details of this duty were assigned to members of the 
 League from the various states affected, and in Indiana this 
 duty devolved upon Mr. Swift. His report was published in 
 the October number of the Chronicle and fills five pages. It 
 shows that the President had given his personal attention to 
 
 ljohn C. New, Consul General. 
 
Close of Harrison's Administration 49 
 
 the distribution of Indiana patronage. Delegates who sup- 
 ported Harrison in the convention of 1888 were specially 
 favored and lists of these are given. In peddling the smaller 
 patronage the successive chairmen of the Republican state com- 
 mittee were used. Every Indiana Republican in the govern- 
 ment service at Washington received a demand for campaign 
 contributions. Elaborate details are given of the office-holders 
 from Washington and other parts of the country who returned 
 to Indiana to control the primaries and the delegates of the 
 convention. The subsidized press was catalogued. 
 
 Practically all the leading office-holders and great numbers 
 of the subalterns attended the Minneapolis convention. Abun- 
 dant extracts from contemporary newspapers, mostly Repub- 
 lican, confirmed the details of the criticisms. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland was renominated by the Democrats and the 
 question arose: "Which of the two candidates should the ad- 
 vocates of the merit system now support?" Mr. Swift thus 
 replies, and says of Harrison : 
 
 In violation of his own and his party pledges he had refused to 
 extend the classified service and had divided more than a hundred thou- 
 sand offices as spoils among his relatives and personal friends and among 
 a pestiferous set of political manipulators and had shamelessly used the 
 offices to secure renomination. He ought not to have his acts ratified by 
 re-election. Four years previously Cleveland had been defeated and his 
 acts therefore had not been ratified. He was undoubtedly sincerely in 
 favor of civil service reform, he could now look forward to no further 
 reelection. He would probably profit by experience and knew that the 
 Democrats who wrung the most spoils from him did not want him for 
 President and he would not be likely to yield to them again. That in 
 short the advantage to civil service reform in the next four years would 
 be much greater with the defeat of Harrison and the election of Cleve- 
 land. 
 
 There are no doubt those who think that Mr. Swift, in 
 turning from Blaine to Cleveland in 1884 then back to Harrison 
 in 1888 and to Cleveland in 1892, was guilty of great vacilla- 
 tion and a total lack of party loyalty. If this means lack of 
 fealty to a mere political organization it is true, but in fidelity 
 to a principle, no man was more unswerving and consistent. 
 He regarded the overthrow of the spoils system as a vital ques- 
 tion essential to the welfare of republican institutions, and in this 
 
50 Civil Service Reform 
 
 sense much more important than the questions of the tariff or 
 the currency, the chief issues upon which the parties divided. 
 The result showed that in supporting Cleveland he did wisely, 
 for that President, in spite of many backslidings at the be- 
 ginning of his second term, finally extended the classified service 
 more widely than any of his predecessors had done, ultimately 
 making the most valuable contribution to the merit system which 
 had ever been made until Theodore Roosevelt took the helm of 
 state. It may also be noted that in these changes the majority 
 of the American people were with Swift for in each case they 
 elected the man of his choice. When the November elections 
 came on it was found that the scandals produced by President 
 Harrison's administration of the patronage had borne their 
 inevitable fruit and had been an important, probably a con- 
 trolling element in his disastrous defeat. Mr. Swift says, in 
 his November issue, of the army of federal office-holders who 
 had worked for Harrison in the campaign : 
 
 These same brisk fellows, paid by general taxation and a couple of 
 weeks ago such busy and brazen henchmen are now so limp and appre- 
 hensive that they rather excite pity. 
 
 In the February number he says : 
 
 While Mr. Cleveland has been busy selecting his cabinet, with his 
 judgment unhampered by party workers, the country has been treated 
 to the sight of congressmen dividing the offices. They have no authority 
 whatever in the law or in the constitution, and they do not seem to have 
 the least authority from Mr. Cleveland. Nevertheless they are holding 
 conferences, ordering elections to decide "contests," and deciding who 
 shall have this post-office and who shall have that collectorship. In this 
 business our Indiana Democratic congressmen appear the most prominent 
 and the most contemptible. 
 
 Cleveland's second term ; the chronicle continued 
 
 With the March number, 1893, the Chronicle, in response to 
 a wide-spread demand for its continuance, starts upon a new 
 four-year period to record and publish the acts of the second 
 Cleveland administration. "The only promise we can make," 
 says the opening editorial paragraph, "is to be thorough and 
 impartial." 
 
Cleveland's Second Term 51 
 
 In some particulars Cleveland had started out well. He 
 said offices ought not to be used to pay party workers and that 
 present incumbents should serve out their terms, but Swift 
 insists that while a change made at the end of each officer's 
 term was more orderly, yet if each officer were discharged to 
 make room for partisans, a clean sweep would be made as it 
 always had been and with the same motives. 
 
 Again the columns of the Chronicle are filled with countless 
 details of the "onslaught" of place-hunters. In its April, 1893, 
 issue, the situation is thus summarized : 
 
 The President and every member of the cabinet spend about all their 
 time with office-seekers. The daily applications for postmasterships ex- 
 ceed two thousand. There have been over eighty thousand applications 
 for consulships. A congressman takes as high as twenty office-seekers 
 before the President at a time. . . . They are constantly travelling over 
 their districts, and to and from Washington, solely engaged in dis- 
 tributing offices. . . . The general aspect is that of a wild scramble 
 for place, where the scramblers in squads, headed by congressmen, crowd 
 in upon the President and other appointing officers and stop public busi- 
 ness. Congressmen have entirely abandoned legislative duties or prepara- 
 tion, and have become simply squad leaders, marching their squads about 
 the streets and through the public buildings of Washington in the on- 
 slaught upon the executive. 
 
 Long lists of the removals of Republicans now follow in the 
 Chronicle under the heading "The Guillotine" and in the pages 
 devoted to "American Feudalism" is the catalogue of the 
 vassals appointed in each Indiana congressman's domain 
 separately set forth. 
 
 Cleveland had only been some six weeks in office when 
 Swift, hearing that the old system of removals on secret accusa- 
 tions was going on, went to Washington to inquire as to the 
 reputed charges against the postmaster at Indianapolis. He thus 
 relates his experiences in a letter to his wife. 
 
 Riggs House, Washington, D. C, 
 April 25, 1893. 
 . . . Here at half past two and walked over to the White House 
 without stopping even to wash. Asked to see the private secretary. 
 Was sent up stairs. Sent in my card and was received at once. Asked 
 to see Congressman Bynum's petition for the removal of Postmaster 
 E. P. Thompson if one had been filed. Was referred to the Postmaster 
 
52 Civil Service Reform 
 
 General. Hied me by street car to the postoffice department when after 
 being duly impressed by the Captain of the Watch with the fact that the 
 "General" was very busy, I was allowed to pass up in the elevator with 
 the information that by waiting in room four until he was through with 
 the rest I could see him. Room four was the ante-room. Eight men 
 were waiting. One was a young man with a tall hat, very nervous, who 
 had evidently waited a long time. He walked up and down and con- 
 tinually took off and put on his hat. The rest were quiet. I sat back 
 on a sofa. After a little the weary young man asked the colored door- 
 keeper if his turn didn't come next. Then a man who looked like a 
 smallish drayman in his Sunday clothes went across to a table and flip- 
 ping a document out, he said to another man, "This is the way all 
 petitions ought to be got up." As they turned it over I heard the ex- 
 pression "sixty-five thousand." It was Frank Lawler after the Chicago 
 postoffice. I looked at his document and found it was not the original 
 petition but printed classified excerpts, a sort of brief for use in his 
 argument for the appointment. We went on: 
 
 Lucius B. Swift. "How many men do they employ in the Chicago 
 postoffice ?" 
 
 Lawler. "Twenty odd hundred." 
 
 S. "That is a large number. They must have an immense amount 
 of business to handle." 
 
 L. "Yes." 
 
 S. "The postmaster's place is a very responsible position." 
 
 L. "Yes, very." 
 
 S. "You are familiar with the duties of the place?" 
 
 (All the listeners turn around and stare straight at Swift.) 
 
 L. "I spent twelve years of my life in that office." 
 
 S. "As a carrier?" 
 
 L. "As a carrier and in the mailing department" (with some un- 
 steadiness). 
 
 S. "What is your business generally?" 
 
 L. "I was in Congress six years." 
 
 S. "You have been in other business?" 
 
 L. "I have lately been in the sewage business." 
 
 After this there was a lull. Lawler never saw the point at all, but 
 to every one who was interested he explained his petition as a man 
 might explain a patent churn. Then I tried again. 
 
 S. "What kind of a postmaster has Chicago now?" 
 
 L. "The present postmaster, Saxton, has given a splendid adminis- 
 tration." 
 
 S. "Is his time out?" 
 
 L. "His time would be out in December but he is a Republican and 
 he does not believe in serving under a Democratic administration and 
 he offered his resignation." 
 
 S. "How many places are not under the civil service law." 
 
 L. "One hundred." 
 
 S. "The law will be observed?" 
 
 L. "It will have to be under Mr. Cleveland." 
 
 Bystander. "I hope your Democratic predecessor is for you." 
 
 L. "The last two Democratic postmasters have been failures." 
 
 S. "What was the matter ?" 
 
 L. "They were too much for show. It wants a man who can get 
 right down to work." 
 
Cleveland's Second Term 53 
 
 S. "You mean they were 'Swallow Tails.' " 
 
 L. "That's it and now it wants a 'Short-Hair.' " 
 
 I was quite satisfied and left off. In a minute the inner door opened 
 and a man came out. All waited for the door keeper to point out the 
 next. He said "Senator Voorhees, walk in," and Dan Voorhees who 
 had cut off his whiskers so that I did not know him got up and walked 
 in. He must have heard all of my talk with Lawler. 
 
 After Voorhees came out we were all turned into Bissell's room 
 together, and sat down on the leather-covered seats. He nodded one 
 after another up to a chair by his side where a talk of which more or less 
 could be heard went on. After a minute with the young man with the 
 hat, Bissell said, "Your recommendations are on file?" "Yes" and that 
 ended the young man. To another, Bissell said "Both places are under 
 the civil service law. They must take the examination." When all but 
 three were out, Bissell nodded to me. I said (anxious to hear Lawler's 
 plea), "Mr. Lawler was here first." Bissell said "Mr. Lawler wants to 
 talk with me longer." I took the seat and began: 
 
 "My name is Swift and I am a citizen of Indianapolis (he did not 
 seem to have ever heard of me) and the papers say " 
 
 P. M. G. (looking around to a third man), "Why how are you, 
 Terry? I didn't see you. Take a seat here." Then to me in an under- 
 tone, "Terry is a member of Congress." I stood aside and Terry went 
 on in a dissatisfied undertone. I caught from Bissell the words "Civil 
 Service Commission" and then he began to open and read his mail as he 
 had done with all the other callers while Terry went on mumbling. 
 When he quit I took the seat again and stated that I heard that Mr. 
 Bynum had filed a petition for the removal of the postmaster at Indian- 
 apolis and that if so I should like to see it with the charges and take 
 copies. 
 
 P. M. G. "Are you the sitting member of Congress?" 
 
 L. B. S. "No." 
 
 P. M. G. "Only the sitting member of Congress is allowed to see 
 the files. This has been the rule for perhaps a hundred years." 
 
 L. B. S. "If that is the rule, it is wrong. If any man is ready 
 to make charges against an officer he ought not to be ashamed to do it 
 in open daylight. What he says should be made public so that the 
 neighbors of the parties may know what is going on and be able to 
 judge of it." 
 
 P. M. G. "You know how hard it is to change any such custom 
 and it will be impossible to let any citizen who may come in here, see 
 the files. 
 
 L. B. S. "If I cannot see the petition, can I find out if one has 
 been filed with charges?" 
 
 P. M. G. "I can find that out for you in a minute." 
 
 He rang and a man came in and Bissell said to him: 
 
 "This man wants to know if a petition for the removal of the 
 postmaster at Indianapolis has been filed. It is a fair question and he 
 may have that information." 
 
 L. B. S. "A petition with charges." 
 
 The man went out and I stood aside and Lawler began his plea. 
 He said : 
 
 "Mr. Postmaster-General, I have had a very pleasant and satisfac- 
 tory interview with the President and if I can get your help I can be 
 
54 Civil Service Reform 
 
 postmaster of Chicago — (naming some Jake or Mike) writes "If it 
 were left to a vote Lawler would get the postoffice by 50,000 majority." 
 
 Then the man came back and said "A petition has been filed." 
 
 I said: "With charges?" Bissell said "Yes." 
 
 L. B. S. "Then as a citizen, I protest against the secrecy in this 
 matter. I am obliged to you for this information." (Bowing and 
 going to the door.) 
 
 P. M. G. "Well now you protest against the secrecy. I will take 
 the time and explain to you the reason of the rule. If you were a 
 business man you would understand it. Are you a business man?" 
 
 L. B. S. (returning and standing by the table) "No, I am a 
 lawyer." 
 
 P. M. G. "I am sorry you are not a business man. I say that 
 because I am a lawyer too. A business man would understand these 
 matters better." 
 
 L. B. S. "I think I can comprehend an explanation." 
 
 P. M. G. "Well, if we let every citizen look over the files, it 
 would stop the business of the government. It would cost $100,000 a 
 year. We should have to double the number of clerks and it would be 
 utterly impracticable." 
 
 He ran on in this strain in a loud tone until he ran down. Then I 
 said: 
 
 "Mr. Postmaster General, if you will allow me a word I should like 
 to say it. The matter of expense and trouble is not the reason of the 
 rule. The reason is that those who make these charges are afraid to 
 have their neighbors know what they are saying. The reason is that 
 Mr. Bynum would not consent, if his consent were asked. These charges 
 can be published without any trouble or cost by handing them out as 
 facts are handed out to newspaper men and they are never so handed out." 
 
 He broke in "Well, what if that is the foundation of the rule?" 
 
 I answered "That is not the way to run this government. Every 
 thing should be open and above-board." He slightly contemptuously "Oh 
 well, we'll try to manage this thing right." I, "I have no doubt of that, 
 but you are mistaken." The private secretary here broke in to keep the 
 peace. "I did not find any charges. I found several applications for 
 the place." 
 
 P. M. G. "Well then there is nothing." 
 
 L. B. S. "I am to understand then that no petition has been filed?" 
 
 Messenger. "Oh, yes, a petition has been filed but I did not see 
 any charges." 
 
 L. B. S. "Then no charges have been made?" 
 
 Messenger. "I did not see any charges." 
 
 (Scene. L. B. S. mad. Lawler paralyzed. P. M. G. annoyed and 
 feeling that somehow his triumph was not complete.) I bowed and 
 walked out. Those in the outer room had a scared sort of look as I 
 went through and I suppose they heard the altercation. Bissell is wel- 
 come to all he got out of that. 1 . . . 
 
 The Postmaster General's attitude continued unsatisfactory 
 for some time but finally he made an order that no carrier 
 
 lit was shortly after Swift's interview with Bissell that he and Foulke in- 
 vestigated the Terre Haute post-office where serious violations of the law had 
 occurred and still later in the year the post-office at Fort Wayne. A full account 
 of these investigations is found in Appendix B. 
 
Cleveland's Second Term 55 
 
 should be removed without notice and an opportunity to be 
 heard, whereupon the condition of the office greatly improved. 
 To return to The Civil Service Chronicle. In June, 1893, 
 there came a cheering item : 
 
 President Cleveland asked Mr. Roosevelt to remain on the civil 
 service commission and the latter consented to do so. It was against 
 Mr. Roosevelt's personal inclination to stay, a more congenial career 
 being open to him in other directions. But the call of reform was too 
 imperative. There was no one to take his place. And he is appreciated, 
 not only by civil service reformers, but by the American people, who 
 like a man who will not equivocate, who will not temporize, who will not 
 play the sycophant, who will not flinch, but who knows his duty and 
 will do it, whatever the consequences — in a word, whom no man nor set 
 of men can make afraid. These are the qualities the times need. 
 
 Meanwhile in the unclassified service, Mr. Swift's own state 
 was one of the most disreputable in its "onslaught" of office 
 seekers. He says : 
 
 Our Indiana Congressmen fight at the trough, and in the columns 
 of the Civil Service Chronicle they make voluminous, accessible and 
 mortifying history which their descendants and perhaps some of them- 
 selves in their old age, would give a great deal to have blotted out. 
 
 Mr. Swift is not disposed to question the personal friendship 
 of the President for the merit system. He says: 
 
 We believe that the views of the President and the Postmaster 
 General as to the final result which ought to be reached in the reform 
 of the civil service do not differ materially from the views of the 
 Chronicle. There, however, the resemblance ends. Judged by their acts, 
 they believe that it is necessary to yield more or less to the buccaneers 
 who prey upon the civil service. We do not; we take the ground that 
 it is their duty to stand upon the Constitution, the law and their oath of 
 office and take the consequences. 
 
 In the March issue, 1894, after Mr. Cleveland had been one 
 year in office he wrote : 
 
 The close of the first year of President Cleveland's second ad- 
 ministration brings little satisfaction to the friends of good government. 
 With rare exceptions, of which [David B.] Hill is one, he has delegated 
 his presidential power of appointment to political bosses. In the light of 
 his long experience, he has done . . . it in complete stultification of his 
 many declarations against doing it. . . . The boss system was never 
 
56 Civil Service Reform 
 
 more flourishing, and there are yet graver matters. It was for a long 
 time incredible, but it is no longer beyond question that the President 
 has given places in the civil service for votes in congress. 1 
 
 The dissatisfaction with Mr. Cleveland increased and in the 
 congressional election of 1894, after he had been in office 
 nearly two years, his party suffered a disastrous defeat. The 
 repudiation was particularly emphatic in Indiana and its magni- 
 tude was quite unexpected. Mr. Swift says in the Chronicle: 
 
 The Republicans in this state are stunned by their victory. They 
 have carried the state by about 45,000. Such an enormous change after 
 being disastrously defeated in 1892, is proof overwhelming that party 
 ties have gone to pieces and that at the next election the Republican 
 machine may be overthrown. 
 
 ROOSEVELT RESIGNS AS COMMISSIONER 
 
 Theodore Roosevelt resigned from the Civil Service Com- 
 mission in April, 1895, to take the position of Police Commis- 
 sioner in New York. New York was then the storm center in 
 the battle against corruption and the Commission at Washing- 
 ton was sailing in smooth waters. The other commissioners 
 were men of ability and integrity and within the classified 
 service the law was generally observed. Roosevelt was a stormy 
 petrel who naturally betook himself to the place where the gale 
 was fiercest. Swift wrote in the Chronicle : 2 "In view of the 
 great opportunity and great need of Mr. Roosevelt in New 
 York, it was time for him to leave the commission." 
 
 In the same issue he thus comments upon Mr. Roosevelt's 
 services : 
 
 In these later times it has fallen to the lot of few men to render 
 their country such important services as those rendered by Mr. Roose- 
 velt as a federal civil service commissioner, which place he has re- 
 cently vacated. . . . 
 
 The federal civil service act of 1883 will always be a monument of 
 statesmanlike sureness and simplicity as a remedy for one of the greatest 
 evils that ever existed in any government. But when the remedy came 
 to be applied, grave mistakes were made. . . . The critical moment 
 
 1T0 secure the repeal of a bill requiring the purchase of silver, a bill which, 
 as Mr. Cleveland believed, would debase the currency. 
 2May, 1895. 
 
Reform at Last 57 
 
 came with the first election of Mr. Cleveland, when the law was shaken 
 to its foundations in the determination to wreck it. The long struggle 
 which followed is well remembered. . . . Then came Theodore Roose- 
 velt, a man who knew the value of a blow between the eyes. Order began 
 to appear out of chaos. The commission was no longer afraid. Pub- 
 licity took the place of secrecy. Fair play to competitors, regardless of 
 politics, was made the first principle. Senators and representatives went 
 staggering from a contact with the commission, and the tricks of heads 
 of offices to cheat the law were dragged into the daylight. The people 
 like a man who is not afraid. They watched the brave contention and 
 the merits of the cause appealed to them, and an educational process 
 spread over the country, the result of which is seen in the present general 
 desire among the people for the reform system in all public business. . . . 
 This is what Theodore Roosevelt has done for his country. He is the 
 only man of the Harrison administration who has won permanent 
 national fame and the value of his work will grow in estimation the 
 further we get away from the system of transacting public business 
 upon the principle of "addition, division and silence" which prevailed for 
 generations. 
 
 REFORM AT LAST 
 
 As time went on, it became evident that the President in- 
 tended at last to make wide extensions of the classified service, 
 and remove a very large portion of it from the evils of 
 patronage. In November, 1894, Mr. Swift declares that an 
 executive order extending this service to many of the higher 
 positions "can hardly be sufficiently praised," and he adds : 
 
 It is not in the great number of places, about 3,000 in all but it is in 
 their importance and in the number of gaps stopped and more than all 
 in the fact that the scandal of going upon the street and picking up 
 politicians and placing them as heads of divisions over men a thousand 
 times better fitted than themselves, is, let us hope, forever ended. . . . 
 It is proper also to speak of the civil service commission. The law could 
 not be more fortunate in having a commission impartial, qualified, de- 
 termined and fearless. It is a pleasure to know that Mr. Procter has 
 largely added to the commission in these respects. 
 
 In February, 1896, Mr. Swift says, in reviewing the career 
 of the Chronicle for seven years : 
 
 Its one single principle of action has been a steady onslaught upon 
 officers in place for the time being, who were practicing or in any manner 
 aiding or abetting the spoils system. It has not omitted to praise any 
 acts of officers which promoted administrative reform but it has not 
 overpraised such acts, nor has it regarded even notable reform acts as 
 any excuse for indulging in carnivals of spoils. It has refused to 
 recognize any occasion as inopportune, nor has it regarded any sort of 
 
58 Civil Service Reform 
 
 plain speaking as intemperate. It has let the sun go down every night 
 upon its wrath. 1 Its course has met with protest on every hand — from 
 cabinet officers, from ail manner of under-officers, from ministers of the 
 gospel, from college professors, from good citizens whose party feelings 
 were hurt. It has been ostracised from college libraries and religious 
 reading rooms. Nevertheless, it knows that it has the respect of its 
 enemies, and it has the approval of a wide circle throughout the country 
 too eminent in the workings of government to leave any doubt. . . . 
 
 At last the glad news came of Cleveland's so-called "blanket 
 order" incorporating nearly the whole of the departmental 
 service into the classified system. This was the hour of com- 
 plete reconciliation with those who had criticised him. Mr. 
 Swift says : 2 
 
 The new order of the President transferring some 30,000 additional 
 places to the classified service well-nigh completes his work. The reform 
 in the federal service is not completed, but it has reached a stage where 
 it will go on to the end by reason of its own now understood merit. . . . 
 
 There is no work which President Cleveland has done which will in 
 any manner compare with his work in finally taking this reform almost 
 bodily and with his well-known strength and courage forcing it through. 
 
 Reviewing the former course of the Chronicle in regard to 
 Cleveland in July, 1896, Mr. Swift states : 
 
 The Chronicle has criticised President Cleveland in every case 
 where it believed he was at fault ; and looking back now it believes that 
 at times he was seriously at fault. But the summing up of his career 
 will leave him among the great Americans. He stands to-day immovable 
 between public honesty and order and all kinds of social and business 
 disorder, and he will continue so to the end of his term. It is a curious 
 irony of fate that the horde which at critical moments he tried to ap- 
 pease, we think improperly, now turn against him like wolves and try 
 to rend him. 
 
 MCKINLEY AND BRYAN 
 
 The presidential campaign of 1896 was now at hand. The 
 Republicans had renewed their declaration that the civil service 
 law should be thoroughly and honestly enforced and extended 
 wherever practicable and had nominated William McKinley, 
 who in his congressional career had consistently supported the 
 competitive system. 
 
 iThe New York Times says: "This quaint statement has the double merit of 
 sincerity and accuracy." 
 2Chronicle, May, 1896. 
 
Chronicle Discontinued 59 
 
 On the other hand, the Democratic party had nominated 
 William Jennings Bryan upon a free silver platform also ad- 
 vocating "fixed terms of office and such an administration of the 
 civil service laws as would afford equal opportunities to all 
 citizens of ascertained fitness." "What we oppose in that plank," 
 said Mr. Bryan, "is the life tenure which is being built up at 
 Washington which excludes from party representation in the 
 benefits, the humbler members of our society." 
 
 Against this platform and candidate Mr. Swift in the July 
 number of the Chronicle, 1896, wrote the following invective: 
 
 The meeting of looters held at Chicago this month which assumed 
 the name of the National Democratic Convention, included, among its other 
 schemes of robbery, the looting of the public service. Their platform 
 opposes a life tenure of office and Bryan defines it to mean such a life 
 tenure as is being built up at Washington which this demagogue says 
 ''excludes from party representation in the benefits the humbler mem- 
 bers of our society." With the crowd before him any kind of a lie 
 would pass, and he showed himself a glib and comprehensive liar. There 
 is no life tenure being built up at Washington nor anywhere else in this 
 country for the reason that executive officers have the power of instant 
 dismissal. The humbler members of society never had an opportunity 
 for public employment except at a sacrifice of manhood until the system 
 of competition open to all known as civil service reform was introduced. 
 
 In the August number Mr. Swift adds: 
 
 What we said of Mr. Bryan last month is fully borne out by later 
 events. Scarcely any man in American public life has shown such con- 
 tempt for the moral sentiment of the people. The stupidest politician in 
 the country would not have stood up before a crowd and said, "I am 
 not distributing postoffices now, but I expect to be before long." 
 
 Of McKinley he says : 
 
 Mr. McKinley in his letter of acceptance is in the matter of the 
 civil service fully up to the mark of the platform and even with his 
 former record in Congress. There is scarcely a shadow of doubt but that 
 his election will lead to the complete and final development of the merit 
 system. The full headway which that system now has will, under 
 friendly guidance, carry it to the end. 
 
 CHRONICLE DISCONTINUED 
 
 Believing that the object which he sought to accomplish by 
 the Chronicle was in such large measure achieved and that the 
 
60 Civil Service Reform 
 
 press of the country so generally favored it that it was no longer 
 necessary for him to continue the personal sacrifice which he 
 had made in carrying it on for nearly eight years, Mr. Swift 
 made the following announcement in September. 
 
 With the defeat of Bryan the publication of the Civil Service 
 Chronicle will cease. It was begun nearly eight years ago in the midst 
 of the struggle for the establishment and maintenance of the merit 
 system in the federal service and the burden of its work has been in 
 that struggle. By the far-seeing and statesmanlike measures of Mr. 
 Cleveland during his present administration the victory has been com- 
 pleted. It is not that there is not yet much to be done, but the forces to 
 accomplish it are abundant and united. The federal employes themselves 
 have at last espoused the reform, and on every hand they rise up and 
 demand its enforcement and extension. The country has accepted it and 
 it regards with aversion and distrust any man who threatens to over- 
 throw it. . . . The newspaper which now advocates the spoils system is 
 something of a rarity. The situation is believed to be a sufficient reason 
 for the discontinuance of the Civil Service Chronicle. 
 
 Indeed the Chronicle was discontinued even before the defeat 
 of Bryan, for this September issue was the last. Mr. Swift 
 was so busy in the campaign, speaking every day in all parts 
 of the state, that he was unable to prepare the October number. 
 He was confident that Bryan would be defeated and in this he 
 was entirely justified by the result. He was apparently equally 
 confident that the reform had reached a point where the future 
 was quite secure, but in this he was mistaken. McKinley dis- 
 appointed expectation, and although under Roosevelt and Taft 
 the competitive system reached a much higher development, 
 during the administration of President Wilson the advance 
 was checked, great numbers of exceptions being introduced in 
 laws creating new offices, and during the crisis of the World 
 War the administrative force of the government fell into con- 
 siderable confusion. With the advent of Harding who was 
 essentially a politician there began a new and dangerous on- 
 slaught on the competitive system and although this was stayed 
 before it reached its accomplishment there is still a large portion 
 of the civil service, including the postmasterships and many 
 other positions, which are subject to political manipulation. 
 The merit system is not yet secure and in the various states and 
 municipalities little progress has been made since the World 
 War. 
 
McKlNLEY AND THE ClVIL SERVICE 61 
 
 In the foregoing review of the work done by the Chronicle 
 its most important feature has received scant consideration. 
 This was the encyclopedic compilation of all the news items 
 concerning the spoils system appearing in the press, including 
 letters, opinions and speeches of public men, biographies of 
 Quay, Hill, Piatt and other peddlers of patronage, extracts from 
 the criminal record of Tammany Hall, a collection of facts ex- 
 posing in the fullest detail the absurdities, the injustices and the 
 cruelties of the distribution of official plunder — the assembling 
 in short, month after month, of that array of infinite iniquity 
 which political patronage had brought into our government. 
 This can not be adequately set forth in a memorial like the 
 present one. It is too variegated and colossal. No other paper, 
 periodical or book ever attempted to portray it in such complete- 
 ness. In this field the Chronicle was unique, and its record is 
 today one of the most valuable of the muniments of the history 
 of the spoils system and of the fight to overthrow it. No im- 
 partial man can read this record in full without realizing that 
 since the Civil War there has been no greater menace than this 
 to the free institutions of our country. 
 
 Mr. Swift, who first of all was a citizen of the Republic and 
 only a ' reformer" because faithful citizenship involved vital 
 reform, was, at the time when he saw the need of such a paper 
 as the Chronicle, active in his profession, which he had no 
 intention of abandoning. Therefore he had to have his 
 material furnished him and it so happened that his wife was 
 ready and competent to gather this material and was equally 
 willing to do so without thought of other reward than the con- 
 sciousness of a public service well performed. 
 
 MCKINLEY AND THE CIVIL SERVICE 
 
 Mr. Swift had high hopes that McKinley would maintain the 
 principles of the merit system throughout the entire civil service. 
 The incoming President's assurances in many of his speeches 
 and his steadfast support of the system in Congress had justi- 
 fied these anticipations, but it was still certain that he would 
 
62 Civil Service Reform 
 
 have to meet the constant importunities of office-seekers and 
 their congressmen and might yield to the pressure. The annual 
 meeting of the National Civil Service Reform League was held 
 in Philadelphia on December 10 and 11, 1896, and Mr. Swift 
 was one of the speakers. He refuted the idea that there was a 
 life tenure in the civil service while men could still be removed 
 at the will of the appointing power. He insisted that the law 
 prescribing the four-year term of office should be repealed. 
 However, the reform of the service could be completed even 
 without this repeal by the aid of one unfailing source of pro- 
 gress and success, the will of the President acting under the 
 powers conferred upon him by the Constitution. Mr. Swift 
 declared : "The first principle to be laid down by President 
 McKinley is that there are no offices to be divided as spoils." 
 But with the advent of the new administration there followed 
 the inevitable "onslaught" of office-seekers, and the President, 
 although most happy in the choice of his cabinet, made many 
 mistakes in the politicians whom he appointed to other im- 
 portant places. Mr. Swift was invited to address the Massa- 
 chusetts Reform Club on the subject of "McKinley and Civil 
 Service Reform" and in a journal kept by him for a short time 
 during this period he thus records what happened : 
 
 Boston, March, 1897 
 
 Went to Youngs. Very large attendance. Congressman Brosius, 
 Charles J. Bonaparte, E. M. Shepard and myself were the guests. . . . 
 
 The speaking began by 8. Brosius first for nearly an hour. A great 
 mixture of sound sense with nonsense and mistaken notions. [He urged] 
 a very strong support of the law with intimations that it might be well 
 to yield a little to the present clamor. [He was] handicapped by having 
 to glorify McKinley. [Made] some unfavorable allusions to 
 fanatics. . . . 
 
 Then came my turn for about 30 minutes. I had given a written 
 speech to the reporters but I largely discarded that and said things I 
 then felt I wanted to say. At the close the applause grew louder and 
 louder and finally led by Howe the Club rose to its feet and gave me 
 three cheers. This was a good deal for the Massachusetts Reform Club. 
 Was much taken aback and heard little of Shepherd's speech. Bonaparte 
 closed and he proceeded to finish up Brosius which he did in his best 
 style. 
 
 The contents of Mr. Swift's address are thus characterized 
 by the New York Evening Post, of March 29, 1897 : 
 
McKlNLEY AND THE ClVIL SERVICE 63 
 
 . . . The prevailing tendencies were set forth in a striking manner 
 by that sturdy opponent of the spoils system, Mr. Lucius B. Swift of 
 Indianapolis, in a characteristically vigorous speech before the Massa- 
 chusetts Reform Club last week. Mr. Swift confined himself to illustra- 
 tions furnished in his own state. President McKinley has thus far 
 filled three important federal offices in Indiana, and in each case his 
 choice not only is utterly indefensible, but provokes the severest criticism. 
 
 The position of United States District Attorney demands con- 
 spicuous legal ability and high personal character in its incumbent. 
 This office in Indiana has been given to a lawyer of the most ordinary 
 attainments, whose only reputation has been achieved in the lowest arts 
 of political management. The place of Consul-General at Paris has 
 been surrendered to a farmer-politician without education, breeding, or 
 business knowledge, utterly ignorant of the French language and unable 
 to speak his own grammatically. The Indianapolis News, the great 
 independent newspaper of the state, has said of this selection that "the 
 appointment is so delightfully unfit that it seems a joke," while the 
 Indianapolis Journal, the highest Republican authority, made these 
 indignant comments : 
 
 "The requirements of that position are exacting. Mr. Gowdy can 
 neither read nor write the language of the country to which he is 
 assigned. He has no commercial experience or knowledge of the official 
 or semi-official duties of the office, and is totally unfit for the place. He 
 probably deserved recognition for the vast amount of scavenger work 
 he did. 
 
 "The marshalship has been given to an open and avowed corruption- 
 ist — a man who was active in carrying Indiana for Harrison by bribery 
 in 1888, and who boasted of his achievements at the time. . . . Gowdy 
 helped greatly in securing McKinley delegates to the St. Louis conven- 
 tion a year ago ; he demanded his reward, picked out the office for which 
 he was most ludicrously unfit, and his claim was allowed. The marshal- 
 ship and district attorneyship were given for similar reasons." 
 
 But the claims of the spoils hunters were not confined to 
 the unclassified service. It was insisted that Cleveland, by his 
 "blanket order" and otherwise, had deprived Republicans of 
 their fair share of the classified places and a tremendous pres- 
 sure was brought to bear upon McKinley to repeal or greatly 
 modify this order. He showed signs of yielding, and Mr. 
 Swift on learning this, addressed to him, July 13, 1897, the 
 following characteristic letter : 
 
 I do not know how reliable the constantly repeated reports are that 
 you are intending to make extensive transfers of places from the 
 classified to the spoils side of the Federal service, but I desire to enter 
 the most emphatic protest of which I am capable. There is absolutely 
 no demand for such action among the people; the only demand is from 
 a set of heelers who have with few exceptions always been more than 
 paid out of the campaign fund for any services they may have rendered. 
 The pretence of confidential relations is a bare-faced humbug and the 
 
64 Civil Service Reform 
 
 claim has no support in the facts of experience. If there are men holding 
 places in the service for which they are not fitted any such can be dis- 
 posed of in something less than a minute; but let vacanies thus created 
 be filled by the only democratic method — competition — and not by the 
 method now being urged upon you which is a combination of feudalism, 
 absolutism and piracy. The good of the service forms no part of the 
 motive for which this change is urged; the sole motive is to make 
 places for men who couldn't get them in competition, who are unwilling 
 to do work necessary to make a living and who therefore want to be 
 quartered upon the people. The action urged is impossible of being 
 taken in the interest of the public service. No yielding on your part 
 will lessen the pressure; it will increase it. Quiet will come when it is 
 understood that the spoils system is destroyed — never while there is a 
 possibility that the President may be made to yield and to forget both 
 his own and his party's promises. 
 
 Mr. Swift's appeal was ineffectual. McKinley issued an 
 order taking several thousand places from the classified service. 
 The number, however, was not so large as originally estimated. 
 The service in the Philippine Islands was classified and a rule 
 adopted that no removals should be made on secret charges. 
 In administering the law President McKinley was very lax. 1 
 Many serious abuses were brought to his attention which he 
 failed to remedy. But in view of the wide extent of the service 
 in which the law was still observed the backward movement had 
 not been very disastrous. 
 
 Afterward (in 1907) in an address to the Tuesday Club of 
 Richmond, Indiana, Mr. Swift thus characterized McKinley 's 
 action : 
 
 When President McKinley came, the struggle began to undo Presi- 
 dent Cleveland's work. To the extent of several thousand places it 
 succeeded after a long contest. It was not so much the number of 
 places as it was the attitude of President McKinley. He was the slave 
 of the organization. Nothing could induce him to punish a violator of 
 the law and the law never ran on the even tenor of its way until the 
 long contest was ended when Roosevelt became President. 
 
 lMr. Swift could not keep his hands off an improper removal or appointment. 
 It was on February second, 1901, during the last year of McKinley's administra- 
 tion that he wrote the following letter to the President: 
 
 "I see by the public prints that it is proposed to drop Mr. R. S. Taylor from 
 the Mississippi River Commission and appoint Joseph B. Kealing in his place. 
 You are doubtless aware of the qualifications of Mr. Taylor. He is fitted for any 
 position and is an honor to his state and country. So far as the public knows 
 Mr. Kealing has been simply a political manipulator in the service of Senator 
 Fairbanks. Having been twice elected to the Presidency you can have no interest 
 in this matter except the public welfare and with History. The public welfare 
 will not be advanced by the proposed change but will receive great detriment. If 
 Mr. Kealing is appointed, History will always say that the change was made to 
 give a place to a man as a reward for personal service to Senator Fairbanks; and 
 History will be right. Knowing the demand upon your time, I have thought best 
 to be brief though plain at the risk of abruptness." 
 
Roosevelt and Swift 65 
 
 roosevelt and swift 
 
 Swift's personal acquaintance with Roosevelt had begun 
 during the Baltimore conference of civil service reformers on 
 February 23, 1889, shortly before Harrison's inauguration. A 
 close and flawless friendship between them was there formed 
 which lasted through life. 
 
 Immediately after Roosevelt became Civil Service Commis- 
 sioner an active correspondence began between the two as to 
 measures desirable for the enforcement of the law and the 
 promotion of the competitive system. Short notes fairly rained 
 upon Swift during Roosevelt's early days upon the Commission. 
 
 Two of Swift's early desires, publicity of the eligible lists 
 and the appointment of independent members to the examining 
 boards, not subject to the head of the office, were quickly secured 
 through Roosevelt's active efforts. His visit to Indianapolis 
 with the Commission to investigate the post-office, in March, 
 1889, had firmly cemented their friendship and the subsequent 
 correspondence bristles with lively accounts of the struggles 
 which Roosevelt and the Commission were having in their 
 efforts to bring to book the violators of the law in Milwaukee, 
 Port Huron, Baltimore and other places. 
 
 Sometimes Roosevelt sends to Swift his complete reports 
 of investigations possibly with the view of their reproduction 
 in the Chronicle, a periodical in which he was deeply interested. 1 
 The correspondence was continued on both sides (much of it 
 in autograph letters) during every phase of Roosevelt's career — 
 when he was New York Police Commissioner, Assistant Secre- 
 tary of the Navy, Commander of the Rough Riders, Governor 
 of New York, Vice-President, President, Editor of the Outlook 
 and of the Metropolitan. These letters covered many other 
 subjects besides the competitive system. Among these subjects 
 was the administration by the Department of Commerce and 
 Labor of the Chinese Exclusion Acts which Mr. Swift thought 
 was unjust to the Chinese; also Mr. Swift's proposition for a 
 
 lHe wrote to Swift, April n, 1891: "I must congratulate you on the admirable 
 work the Chronicle has been doing. It fills an entirely unique position among the 
 Civil Service papers." 
 
66 Civil Service Reform 
 
 central bank for rediscount, a precursor of the Federal Reserve 
 Bank system afterward passed during Wilson's administration, 
 but in respect to which Roosevelt then answered as follows on 
 November 9, 1907 : 
 
 I agree with your suggestion as to a central bank for re-discount and 
 as a Government depositary, but I do not believe we can get it adopted 
 in Congress and there is very strong distrust of the asset currency 
 system. Congress is much to blame for not acting on the currency, but 
 the chief trouble is that the big business men are absolutely divided on 
 the subject. 
 
 It was very nice of you to write me not to be worried by the stock- 
 watering crowd. You may be sure that they do not affect me in the 
 least. If business conditions grow such that a statement that dishonesty 
 will be punished tends to upset them it is a sure sign that they are 
 ripe for an upsetting. 
 
 There were discussions as to the character and fitness of 
 men recommended for office; suggestions by Swift as to ap- 
 pointments to some of the higher unclassified places ; arguments 
 contrasting independence in politics with participation in party 
 organization. 1 There were many remarks about the Taft cam- 
 paign, the labor problem, the tariff, the return of the Chinese 
 indemnity, the scandalous articles in various newspapers re- 
 garding the Panama Canal, the military situation in the United 
 States shortly after the outbreak of the World War, the attitude 
 of the German- Americans before we joined in the struggle. 
 
 Among the very last of these letters is one asking Mr. 
 Swift to help organize the division which Colonel Roosevelt 
 offered to raise for the World War, a proposition which was 
 rejected by President Wilson. 2 
 
 lWitness the following from Roosevelt to Swift in a letter (April 25, 1894): 
 "There is one point, however, where, as you know, I do not agree with you. 
 For the last thirteen years I have been openly and shamelessly addicted to the 
 habit of primary-going, and I know from my own experience that at times a very 
 great deal can be done in this way. I certainly did succeed in doing a good deal 
 at the time I was in the Legislature. It seems to me difficult to lay down a 
 universal law on this subject; there are times and places where one can do best 
 independently of the regular party organizations and there are other times and 
 places when one can do best by going with them." 
 
 2"I wonder if you could provisionally supply two or three men whom you 
 believe in and think are fit to raise one or more companies; or rather provisionally 
 to outline their skeletons, so that I could consider them in the event of war 
 and of my being allowed to raise a division? I would love to have some Indiana 
 men. I believe a division is only about 22,000 men. You would be helping us 
 along in the best way by such action." 
 
Charges Against the Commission 67 
 
 charges against the commission 
 
 But to go back to the correspondence relating to the Civil 
 Service, the conduct of Roosevelt and the other commissioners 
 in enforcing the law so exasperated the Republican spoilsmen 
 that charges were preferred against them instigated principally 
 by Mr. Hatton, of the Washington Post, and an investigation 
 was held by a congressional committee from which, however, 
 Mr. Roosevelt and Governor Thompson came out with flying 
 colors, not only exonerated but justified. Swift had taken a 
 lively interest in this investigation and when it was submitted 
 to the committee Roosevelt wrote him as follows, May 6, 1890 : 
 
 I enclose you slips taken from the Washington Star giving part of 
 my final argument before the investigating committee. . . . 
 
 I do not think I leave a single point unanswered. Of course it was 
 not my place to deal with what the previous commission had done. I 
 am not responsible and do not intend to be held responsible for all of its 
 acts. A funny feature of the case was that Frank Hatton flinched like 
 the cur he is on the last day. He actually did not dare to come around 
 to the committee room to hear our arguments and made no attempt to 
 present an argument himself. He had been told beforehand that 
 Governor Thompson and I would handle him without gloves, and he is 
 even more of a coward than a bully. As soon as the Committee reports, 
 I am going to wade into Congressmen Grosvenor, Biggs and Cummings 
 for deliberate misstatements of which they were guilty in the civil service 
 fight over the appropriation in the House. 
 
 Later in Harrison's administration Roosevelt was much dis- 
 gusted because the President did no more to extend the system. 
 On January 3, 1893, he wrote to Swift : 
 
 I have done my best to get Harrison to classify all the chiefs of 
 divisions but I have failed. If only he was a little more susceptible to 
 common sense argument ! 
 
 After General Harrison had been defeated by Mr. Cleveland 
 in the campaign of 1892, the questions arose: "Would Cleve- 
 land retain a political opponent such as Roosevelt on the Com- 
 mission? Would Roosevelt accept the position if offered to 
 him? Would he continue his work for the merit system?" On 
 the two last points he wrote to Swift on November 21, 1892, a 
 letter containing the following : 
 
68 Civil Service Reform 
 
 Of course if I quit the Commission I will do my best to help on in 
 the battle. The main reason influencing me to make me think I shall 
 leave is that I question if my usefulness would not be seriously impaired 
 by the mere fact that I would be attacking, not my party associates, but 
 my party foes. I think outside people would have more doubt as to my 
 motives ; and moreover I question whether the administration would be 
 willing to endure as much as they did this time. The Commission cer- 
 tainly did all it could to stop political assessments in the last campaign 
 and I wish we had had power to do more. I do not think that any 
 President of the United States would stand higher on the roll of honor 
 than the President who would make the first and most important article 
 in his creed the absolute destruction of the spoils system. 
 
 On April 24, 1893, Swift was invited to lunch at Roosevelt's 
 home in Washington and thus writes to his wife of some 
 matters pertaining to the Civil Service Commission : 
 
 I went to Roosevelt's at 2 yesterday and lunched. . . . Roosevelt 
 had had a talk with Cleveland Saturday and it is entirely settled that 
 he is to stay on the Commission. Between Lyman and Johnston, (the 
 other commissioners) he has a time of it but he seems to thrive under it. 
 He has more than twenty plans of battles all made out. The first and 
 main one is to prevent a clean sweep in the newly classified offices before 
 the lists are ready for appointments. . . . 
 
 I sat with Roosevelt also an hour at the office of the Commis- 
 sion. . . . General Johnston had been threatening to "slap my mouth." 
 At first I thought of not going so as to avoid a difficulty. I had no 
 particular business there but it rankled and I found that it would be 
 impossible to leave without having called at the rooms of the Commis- 
 sion. I called at the secretary's office and at Roosevelt's but did not meet 
 Johnston and came away. He came to the door but Roosevelt hustled 
 him off and did not introduce us. I was disappointed because the sooner 
 such chaps are faced down the better. 
 
 On November 28, 1893, Roosevelt thus reviews in a letter 
 to Swift the comparative merits of the Harrison and Cleveland 
 administrations : 
 
 I had a talk with the President the other day. It was mostly, how- 
 ever, about the disagreements in the Commission, but I am bound to 
 say that the President on the whole proved much more amenable to 
 reason as regards civil service reform matters than President Harrison 
 ever did. I personally never felt the hope that so many reformers did 
 that President Cleveland would make a radical departure in favor of 
 the reform. I thought that as regards the non-classified service he 
 would do just about what Harrison did — here a little better, and there 
 a little worse. This has proved to be just about the case. President 
 Cleveland is himself, I think, a much stronger friend of the reform 
 than President Harrison, but his party is much more hostile to it than 
 was the Republican party and in consequence the net outcome has been 
 
Roosevelt as Police Commissioner 69 
 
 very much the same in the two cases. Cleveland goes rather ahead of 
 his party but does not think well enough of the reform to be willing to 
 go so far ahead as to jeopardize in any way his party standing. Harri- 
 son, on the other hand, did not care to go ahead at all ; he merely wished 
 to keep abreast of his party in this respect; and so, as I said before, he 
 and Cleveland stand just about on the same plane in the matter. . . . 
 
 As to the disagreements within the Commission, he says : 
 
 It has become wholly impossible for the work of the Commission 
 to go on any longer. An open rupture took place over the annual report. 
 General Johnston sent in a separate one, the main feature of which was 
 an attack upon the classification of the free delivery offices. I saw the 
 President and told him that I thought he would certainly have to remove 
 either the General or myself. Very possibly he will remove both. . . . 
 
 P. S. The General has just been removed from his office. This is 
 an excellent thing in every way. 
 
 ROOSEVELT AS POLICE COMMISSIONER 
 
 When Roosevelt resigned from the Civil Service Commission 
 to become head of the Police Department in New York City 
 Swift wrote to him and on April 27, 1895, he thus replied : 
 
 No letter that I have received about my change to New York has 
 pleased me as much as yours, for you are the only correspondent who 
 has understood how I felt about the Civil Service Commission. I 
 have for six years given all my energy and all my heart to the work. I 
 can honestly say that I think I have accomplished something, and that the 
 cause has made during those six years far more progress from the 
 moral than even from the material side, though the latter, as shown by 
 the figures in the increase of the classified service, themselves, is suffi- 
 ciently great. I entirely share your belief that the Commission must 
 not be dependent upon any one man. In the first place, I think the whole 
 spirit of the Commission has changed. Mr. Procter has been on with 
 me a year and a half. He is as high-minded and upright a man as I 
 ever met, and our methods and desires are identical. I know that he 
 will continue the work when I am gone precisely as he and I have 
 carried it on while I was there. I can't help believing that any new 
 appointee will do the same. I am continually receiving letters from men 
 who say that they don't see how the Commission will get along without 
 me; that I am essential to it, etc. In the first place no man is essential. 
 There are always plenty to fill his place; and secondly, I think it un- 
 healthy to encourage a feeling that a given man is all important. 
 
 As for what I can do in New York I confess I feel rather doubt- 
 ful. The legislature has refused to pass the police bills it ought to have 
 passed, and I haven't any certain knowledge of how much power I will 
 have. Of course very much depends also upon who my colleagues are. 
 Then I fear that the reformers, in following the lead of Dr. Parkhurst, 
 may expect too much. There are certain evils which I fear cannot 
 
70 Civil Service Reform 
 
 possibly be suppressed in a city like New York in our present stage of 
 existence. I shall do my best to find out how to minimize them and make 
 them least offensive, but more than this I fear, cannot be done. As for 
 my own course, I am, as you know, in national matters a strong Republi- 
 can, and differ from most civil service reformers I think, in being an 
 advocate of a vigorous foreign policy, but as Police Commissioner I am 
 sure I do not have to say that I will be quite incapable of considering 
 any question of politics in the execution of my duty, whether in the 
 appointment or removal of a man, or in the adoption of a line of policy. 
 
 A few months afterward from the Police Headquarters he 
 wrote to Swift as follows : 
 
 July 12, 1895. 
 
 ... If ever I wished an absolute proof of the need of an applica- 
 tion of the principles of the Civil Service Reform, it would be furnished 
 by my experience in this office ; and my three colleagues are at one with 
 me on this point. 
 
 We have not made an appointment, a promotion, a reduction or a 
 discharge of any kind for political reasons. We do not try to divide 
 the office up according to parties. We do not even know the politics of 
 the men we discharge or appoint. ... I do not suppose there is a 
 Department in the country, which has as hard work before it or such 
 desperate enemies to fight as ours; nevertheless, I think we are going 
 to win. 
 
 Incidentally perhaps we may put Tammany Hall temporarily back 
 in power but we are enforcing the laws as they never before have been 
 enforced; we are attacking corruption as it never before has been 
 attacked; and we are for the first time, absolutely and really ruling 
 politics out of this Department. I think it is a fairly good object lesson. 
 
 ROOSEVELT AS GOVERNOR 
 
 In 1898, when Roosevelt, after returning from Cuba at the 
 head of his Rough Riders, was considered for the nomination 
 for the governorship of New York, a small party of Inde- 
 pendents in that state who had organized as a "Citizens Union," 
 asked him to become their candidate. He was not then willing 
 definitely to pledge himself to this ; afterward he accepted the 
 nomination at the hands of the Republican Convention, where- 
 upon the "Citizens Union" repudiated him and nominated an- 
 other candidate who later received only a few hundred votes at 
 the election. They became very bitter against Roosevelt even 
 charging him with bad faith. 
 
 Swift, who had been a warm supporter of Roosevelt, wrote 
 to him many years afterward the following letter reviewing 
 this disaffection and bitterness: 
 
Roosevelt as Governor 71 
 
 Watch Hill, R. I., July 7, 1913. 
 My Dear Colonel Roosevelt: 
 
 Just before I left home, I read in the last Outlook what you say 
 about a most interesting period. I have never been able to understand 
 the attitude towards you of our Eastern Civil Service Reform associates, 
 taken as a body. Of course, there are notable exceptions like Dana. 
 
 I had worked with you during the eight years I published the 
 Chronicle, and during all that time, it steadily set out with strong 
 approbation the work you were doing, and with me it all came from 
 the heart and was strongly believed in. During all of that time, I 
 never heard one word of dissent. I was therefore astounded when, upon 
 your return from Cuba, they took ground against your becoming Governor 
 of New York. The first and last one who spoke to me was Carl Schurz. 
 He invited me to dinner one day, I think for that purpose. I heard 
 him through, impressed with the puerility of part of his argument and with 
 the utter injustice of the remainder, and gave him a short answer in 
 plain terms and the subject was dropped. I have sometimes thought that 
 if I had followed the matter up I might have brought over all but the 
 Evening Post ; but this same crowd had not supported me when I was 
 warring against Cleveland in Indiana during his first term and my 
 feeling was that they might go to the devil. Their utter childishness in 
 judging men was their most noted characteristic. Now, as to the line 
 which you draw, that the crowd turned their back when the grip of the 
 interests was threatened, I have a feeling that George William Curtis 
 would have been with us. I am not sure also that Schurz, whose natural 
 bent was our way, would not have finally come in, if he had lived. I 
 visited McAneny in 1908 at Lake George and he seemed very friendly to 
 you. I can understand Oswald Villard and the Evening Post, and I 
 think as to both your statement is true that they balked at doing any- 
 thing which would loosen the grip of what is commonly referred to as 
 "the interests." . . . 
 
 I should modify a little your statement that the merit system was 
 not the greatest reform. It was about the only reform going at the 
 time, except the currency, and in its time, it was I think, the greatest 
 reform. But, compared with the gigantic revolution comprised in the 
 words, "Social and industrial justice" the merit system is a mere detail; 
 but it is, I think, an essential detail. 
 
 I do not know what the future has in store for you and as to that 
 I know you are entirely indifferent. But the credit of marshalling out 
 of a chaos of agitation and discussion, the principles of social and in- 
 dustrial justice and putting them in shape so that a political fight could 
 and can be made for them history will give to you. . . . 
 
 During Roosevelt's campaign for the governorship Mr. 
 Swift addressed a letter to the New York Evening Post, one 
 of the papers opposing him, containing the following : 
 
 I wish to urge that he remains today the ideal man for governor of 
 New York. . . . 
 
 I have known intimately a large part of his official career. Others 
 have proved recreant to their trusts and Independents have overlooked it, 
 but they have never been called upon to do that with Col. Roosevelt. 
 
72 Civil Service Reform 
 
 He has never dodged, he has never made excuses, he has never hesitated, 
 he has feared no man; his whole official life has been a model of manly 
 performance of duty, guided by those principles which we all know so 
 well, and which alone can drive bad government out of this country. 
 The promise for good in his election is undiminished, and is not only 
 for your state, but for the whole country. . . . 
 
 The Post, though opposed to Roosevelt, published this letter 
 on October 16, 1898, on its editorial page and in an editorial 
 comment said that Swift had worked with Roosevelt and was 
 beyond question sincere. The letter was afterward circulated 
 as a Republican campaign document in New York. 
 
 Roosevelt carried the state by about 20,000. 
 
 When Roosevelt entered the executive office, the civil service 
 of the state was much demoralized. His predecessor was de- 
 termined to take "the starch" out of the competitive system and 
 a law had been passed which gave ample room for political 
 manipulation of the classified service. 
 
 Roosevelt was determined to undo this mischievous work 
 and he strongly urged upon an unwilling legislature the need 
 of repealing this law and of enacting another which should re- 
 store the service to its former basis. After a hard struggle the 
 law was enacted and Roosevelt writes the following note to 
 Swift, April 19, 1899: 
 
 The first letter I sign after signing the civil service bill just passed 
 by our legislature is to you. Last year when the majority of the men 
 with whom I had been associated in working for such measures as the 
 civil service reform bill opposed me, either directly or indirectly, and 
 when I felt rather bitterly about their action, I took particular satisfac- 
 tion in your letter. I very deeply appreciated it, just as I deeply appre- 
 ciated the attitude of Foulke and one or two other men. I made up my 
 mind that you should have no cause to regret the step you had taken. 
 There has not been an appointment I have made which was not such as 
 I would always theoretically approve making, and not an act I have 
 done which I would not be only too glad to explain to any one, or a 
 conversation I have held which I would not have been quite content to 
 have had any honest and intelligent man hear. I have been rather 
 saddened by the fact that the great bulk of the people continue so utterly 
 indifferent and even in a luke-warm way hostile to the civil service law. 
 I have never in my life had to work for anything quite as hard as I 
 have had to work to get this "restarched" civil service law passed. But 
 it did pass and I am more relieved than I can say. . . . 
 
 Roosevelt's administration though highly successful in the 
 
Roosevelt as President 73 
 
 eyes of the general public was so distasteful to the politicians 
 who were seeking control of the patronage, that they urged his 
 nomination as Vice-President to get rid of him. Swift wrote to 
 him advising him not to accept it. He thus answered on 
 February 13, 1900: 
 
 I thank you heartily for yours of the 8th instant. I cordially agree 
 with you. I shall certainly not under any circumstances accept the vice- 
 presidency. 
 
 Is it impossible for you to get on here? I would like very much 
 to have you not only meet my civil service commission, but meet the 
 various officers under me in the departments. I can conscientiously say 
 that there is nothing that I have done that I would not like to have you 
 know everything about. I get at times indignant with the Evening Post 
 because I fear it may make some of my friends misunderstand what I 
 am doing. I wish to state in all seriousness that though I have met 
 many politicians whom I distrust and dislike during the past year yet 
 there are none whom I regard as morally worse than the editors of the 
 Post, who persistently and deliberately lie about me, seemingly because 
 I am an expansionist. One of their editors, Bishop, 1 left them the other 
 day, part of his reason being that he had declined to obey their positive 
 orders to suppress the truth about me and to tell an untruth about me, 
 the answer to his remonstrance being that "the policy of the Evening 
 Post is to break down Roosevelt." He had never been much of a friend 
 of mine, and indeed I had often thought his comments exceedingly unjust 
 and unfair, but he was not willing to acquiesce in the deliberate sup- 
 pression or perversion of the truth. 
 
 ROOSEVELT AS PRESIDENT 
 
 After Roosevelt became President, Swift was repeatedly 
 invited to visit him at Oyster Bay. One of these visits, during 
 the campaign of 1904, after Roosevelt's renomination, is thus 
 described in a letter to his wife. 
 
 St. Dents Hotel, New York 
 August 24, 1904. 
 
 I was at luncheon at Oyster Bay yesterday with Senator Lodge, a 
 Dr. and Mrs. Lambert and a young Hinckly, just graduated from 
 Harvard. 
 
 What Roosevelt wanted to see me about was his letter of acceptance 
 and we took a session at it before luncheon and immediately after, until 
 half past three when I had to leave to catch my train. I went at the 
 letter hammer and tongs and got in a good many points. He was 
 thoroughly ready for criticism. Lodge left at once after the luncheon 
 
 lit was Joseph B. Bishop who afterward wrote the authorized biography of Mr. 
 Roosevelt and to whom the latter confided his voluminous correspondence for the 
 purpose. 
 
74 Civil Service Reform 
 
 and I only saw Mrs. Roosevelt at the table. Roosevelt made me take 
 home a book to read and is going to send me two volumes of his speeches. 
 As I left he was going to umpire a match game of tennis. He regards 
 his campaign as a battle in which he must be the leader and he is 
 thoroughly enjoying it. He is in abounding health and his blood 
 is up. . . . 
 
 Two days later Swift wrote to his wife again: 
 
 . . . Roosevelt has sent me a copy of his letter to the two Oregon 
 senators about a land office appointment. The letter is a model. There 
 was a rascal in the land office and Roosevelt determined to have him out. 
 The senators recommended another man just like him and Roosevelt 
 refused to appoint him. Then they refused to make another recommenda- 
 tion and Roosevelt promptly filled the place on his own hook and then 
 wrote this letter to the senators. It is the tone of these letters and the 
 tone of the talk about such matters that make him enemies among the 
 party managers. It is very masterful and dictatorial but it is the tone 
 I have always advocated and he is the first President to take it. He 
 refused Lodge at Oyster Bay some spoil that would have touched upon 
 the civil service rules. I studied him carefully this time and I can see 
 it is his emphatic saying, "I will" and "I won't" that congressmen have 
 not been used to and it makes them mad. I also see that he is one of 
 the greatest political managers in the country if not the greatest. He 
 can beat old politicians on their own ground. But along with this goes 
 the reform side of him in which he is just as bold and outspoken and 
 which he has pushed along better lines and farther than any President we 
 have ever had. 
 
 It was more than a year later that we hear from Swift again 
 in the following letter to the President of January 2, 1906, about 
 the book that Roosevelt "made him take home." 
 
 I am very much ashamed to discover that I have never returned to 
 you the volume on Hayti which you kindly loaned to me at Oyster Bay. 
 I now send it by express and there being in existence no excuse, I can 
 only hope that you have not thought of it. I have read the volume 
 carefully and this with many other occurrences has rid me of my original 
 view, that if people occupy a territory they must not be interfered with 
 no matter what they do. I am now convinced that they have a duty to 
 govern themselves with reasonable regard for the welfare of neighbor- 
 ing peoples and that if they neglect this duty they may be compelled to 
 perform it. . . . 
 
 Your course as President has received such universal approval that it 
 seems almost an impertinence for me to write an individual letter along 
 the same line. I have many times thought of writing congratulations of 
 particular acts but before a letter could be written some new crisis in 
 which you took a stand I admiied made the other an old story, but I 
 wish to speak especially in praise of your course in the discharge of the 
 negro companies 1 and your determination to stand by it. 
 
 lThese had misconducted themselves at Brownsville, Texas. 
 
Roosevelt's Visit to Indianapolis 75 
 
 Then there is a long string such as laying the foundations and getting 
 the Panama Canal so far along, the Russian peace, the pure food law, 
 the meat inspection law, the prosecution of malefactors and a lot of other 
 things for which the people with one voice give you the credit. This is 
 a tremendous presidential record and you may well believe that no one 
 else is so pleased as I am. I am particularly gratified that Congress 
 has at last met its match and like a boy whipped off to school has been 
 driven to recognize that there is such a thing as a progressive government. 
 
 roosevelt's visit to Indianapolis 
 
 Later in Roosevelt's administration (May 30, 1907) he 
 came to Indianapolis to deliver an important speech. He was 
 to be the guest of Vice-President Fairbanks, with whom, how- 
 ever, his political relations were not altogether harmonious. The 
 managers of the meeting had been at some pains to keep Mr, 
 Swift's name off the list of prominent Hoosiers who were to 
 meet the President. But on the train Roosevelt remarked to 
 Fairbanks that he very much wished to see his old friend Swift, 
 of whom he spoke with characteristic heartiness. A telegram 
 was immediately despatched, inviting Swift to the Fairbanks 
 residence. Swift in a letter to his wife, who was then in 
 Europe, thus describes the occasion : 
 
 Yesterday Roosevelt was here. I was completely frozen out by the 
 Fairbanks crowd and was at the office just writing a note to Loeb ex- 
 pressing my regret at not being able to get at the President to greet 
 him when this telegram came from Muncie : 
 
 "The President would be glad to see you at my house at any time 
 after our arrival 
 
 Charles W. Fairbanks." 
 
 This of course was rather pleasing especially when I had just been 
 reading the list of the reception committee which had such names as 
 John Cockrum and Joe Kealing, and at the Fairbanks luncheon he had 
 invited such as Tom Taggart and Mose McClain, — of course with some 
 good citizens. I went just as I was from the office and it must have been 
 a bitter pill for Fairbanks to have to receive me. The only open friends 
 of Roosevelt I found there were Harry New and Beveridge. I had 
 quite a little talk with Loeb and with Beveridge, who was very mad that 
 the Fairbanks crowd were using Roosevelt for a show. Then Roosevelt 
 came down and (after his pointed invitation) I became the guest of 
 honor for a while. It was proposed to present me first but I declined 
 until after Judge Anderson and Admiral Brown had been presented. 
 Then came my turn. We talked about you and Roosevelt said he hoped 
 his letters of introduction fto American Ambassadors in Europe] would 
 be of some use to you. When he said, "Aren't you coming to Washing- 
 ton?'' I said I could not now. He said, "There are a million things I 
 
76 Civil Service Reform 
 
 want to talk with you about." I said, "There are ten million I want to 
 talk with you about." He said, "Well, if you come later, come to Oyster 
 Bay." This was in the hearing of the whole room full of his enemies 
 and mine and was highly gratifying to me. Then I was invited out to 
 have my picture taken with the rest and then I quietly slipped away. In 
 the afternoon I got near enough to hear his speech and it was a great 
 one and will be heard around the world. There were 100,000 people. 
 
 SWIFT S VISIT TO OYSTER BAY 
 
 The visit to Oyster Bay followed in due time, for Swift 
 writes to his wife : 
 
 I went to Oyster Bay from New York, July 24th. Just before I got 
 there I saw a man in front carefully wiping off the dust and straighten- 
 ing himself out. He wore gloves and was in a fresh suit and I guessed 
 that he was also going up to Sagamore Hill. He was, and turned out 
 to be the postmaster of New York whom Gov. Hughes had just ap- 
 pointed chairman of one of the utilities commissions. His name was 
 Wilcox. An automobile was at the station to take us up. Here appeared 
 another guest, Wilson, a Harvard man, who has lived a year in Japan 
 and now holds a place in the Boston Museum. 
 
 After the usual hearty reception the President took Wilcox into the 
 library for a private talk and sent Wilson and me into what he called 
 the North Room. We went down two or three steps into a very large 
 room which I think is a new addition and is like the large lounging room 
 of a seaside home. The floor was covered with trophies of Roosevelt's 
 hunts — bearskins, wolf skins, wild-cat skins, which now and then made 
 a subject of conversation. Then a loud bell rang and soon after the 
 President appeared and invited us in to luncheon. . . . 
 
 The luncheon was not long drawn out and when we arose, President 
 Roosevelt asked me to come with him and Wilcox as he wanted me 
 present to hear about a matter he had sent for Wilcox to go over. We 
 went into the library leaving Wilson with Theodore Jr. The President 
 then stated that the appointment of Wilcox to be the head of one of the 
 new Commissions would make a vacancy in the New York postomce. 
 That he was anxious to promote the assistant postmaster who was the 
 best fitted man for the place and it would be a promotion for which he 
 was recommended by everyone from Tom Piatt to the most ultra- 
 reformer. But in looking up his record it appeared that some years ago 
 checks had passed between him and one of the men of the Machen 
 crowd 1 and that when asked to explain the transaction he refused. Then 
 the President stopped and waited for me to speak. I said that I would 
 never appoint him unless he cleared that matter up ; that times had 
 changed. Once such an appointment could be made and put down to 
 necessary politics but now the appointment would bring a storm about 
 the President's head. He said, "That's just what I think." I said that 
 aside from that he would not want to appoint him. The day of appoint- 
 ing grafters had gone by and if this man had been a grafter and was 
 appointed, fairness required that his partners now in prison should be 
 
 1 Machen was shown to have been guilty of corruption. 
 
Swift's Visit to Oyster Bay 77 
 
 pardoned. If he had not been a grafter he could easily clear the matter 
 up. The President said, "I agree with you exactly. Before I appoint 
 him he must not only explain the matter and clear it up but he must also 
 explain why he refused to explain the checks at once when called upon." 
 There was some other talk but this was the substance. I noticed that 
 after this Roosevelt did not enter into other topics but evaded and cut 
 off discussion. Finally he said to Wilcox, "You will have to hustle to 
 make your train." I also rose but he took me by the arm and said, "No, 
 I want to talk with you." Wilcox left and then we began a long talk. 
 He said as to future legislation, he felt that some additional law ought to 
 be passed relating to corporations. I asked if he meant in the way of 
 stopping watering stock and he said that was it. Then he said, "I hope 
 you agree with me that the time has come for a thorough revision of the 
 tariff" and I said I did. He said, "I am a protectionist but some of the 
 duties are too high and others need re-adjusting." I suggested that he 
 could not hope to get a tariff revision law through in his present term. 
 He said, "I do not. I shall not make the mistake of asking for two 
 things at once and have them play off one against the other and beat 
 both. I shall ask for the corporation legislation at once and then when 
 that is far enough along to be safe I shall — perhaps by March — send a 
 message to Congress on tariff revision, but I cannot hope to get it through 
 during my term. At this point Mrs. Roosevelt passed through the hall 
 seeing two ladies out. They were going on foot and the President rose 
 and said he would go a piece with them. They started and then Mrs. 
 Roosevelt called, "Theodore dear ! Wait ! I must go too." 
 
 In a few minutes he came back and I said I should like to know 
 something about the next nomination. He said, "I am frank to say that 
 I prefer Taft, but I shall not attempt to dictate the nomination and I 
 certainly shall not use the office-holders to control it. I know Taft well. 
 He is capable of handling large matters. He is a man of the greatest 
 integrity. Nothing can turn him from a course he believes to be right. 
 He believes in what we are doing and I would rather have him succeed 
 me." I said that of course Taft would be preferred by all of the Presi- 
 dent's friends but how soon could we know anything as to the probable 
 prospects. He said he thought by December. He doubted if the New 
 England delegates would be for Taft. Lodge would be for Taft but he 
 could not tell whether Crane would be. Lodge wanted to put the case 
 to the enemies of Roosevelt that unless they took Taft they would have 
 to take Roosevelt. I said if it were put that way the entire West would 
 say "That settles it. We'll take Roosevelt." And I told him, that so 
 far as I could see if he were running again he would get about all the 
 votes there were. The tears came to his eyes and for an instant he 
 choked up, saying that it was very gratifying to him. I expressed the 
 opinion that Fairbanks stood no chance of the nomination and he agreed. 
 I should say the President opened this talk about the nomination before 
 he spoke of Taft by saying that he had refused to accept a re-nomination 
 at first and then the papers had started a doubt and he had refused again 
 and then after a while another doubt was started and he had re-stated his 
 position three or four times but that he should not refuse again. It 
 seemed to do no good and he did not care to become ridiculous. 
 
 We talked a long time but these were the two great topics. After 
 Wilcox left we spoke of Oswald Villard's attitude about the new post- 
 master appointment. I suggested that if he promoted the assistant, the 
 Post would jump on him for taking a grafter but that if he refused to 
 
78 Civil Service Reform 
 
 promote him the Post would say he had again gone back on his reform 
 professions. This was of course joking, but it illustrated the attitude 
 of the Post, which I told him I could not understand. He said he could 
 not — and he did not seem to be keeping back anything. He suggested that 
 it was possibly the result of the ultra reform mind of Oswald Villard. 
 I said I had the impression that it must be some personal feeling. He 
 said, "Perhaps so." 
 
 He also spoke again of the New York postoffice and said it was a 
 place of the greatest importance and was one where the right man could 
 render the public a great service. That it needed some such man as 
 Seth Low, but he said, "Seth Low does not want it but wants to be 
 ambassador to St. James." Then he added, "I don't know of a more 
 useless man to the public than the ambassador to St. James." 
 
 RESULTS OF ROOSEVELT S ADMINISTRATION 
 
 During Roosevelt's administration, the merit system ad- 
 vanced as never before or since. The classified service had been 
 extended by including the Rural Free Delivery; the field 
 branches of the War Department ; the Spanish War employees ; 
 the permanent Census Bureau ; the labor service by means of a 
 registration system; other portions of the Indian Service, and 
 Fourth Class postmasters in the region north of the Ohio and 
 east of the Mississippi. The competitive examinations were 
 tripled in a single year (1902-3). The rules were changed to 
 stop leaks and prevent political activity and lobbying by em- 
 ployees in the classified service and most important of all the 
 law was vigorously and impartially enforced. Those who dis- 
 regarded it were dismissed and those who violated its penal 
 provisions were prosecuted. The competitive service became 
 an honor to the country. This was the golden era of civil service 
 reform. 
 
 That is not to say that the merit system had been completely 
 established even in the Federal service. 
 
 "coercion of office-holders" — swift's report 
 
 There was one step in the abolition of patronage which 
 the President did not take because he was satisfied that it would 
 lead to disaster. In making nominations to all offices which 
 under the Constitution had to be confirmed by the Senate and 
 
"Coercion of Office-Holders" 79 
 
 were therefore outside of the classified service, he did not ignore 
 the recommendations of Congressmen, but he insisted upon 
 determining for himself the qualifications of the man recom- 
 mended. If he were a bad man the recommendation was not 
 adopted but if it were a reasonably good appointment, the rec- 
 ommendation of the Congressman was followed. Any other 
 course he believed would have led to the wholesale rejection of 
 his nominations by the Senate and to the disastrous mutilation 
 of his executive power. 
 
 He had refused to be renominated in 1908 and had expressed 
 his belief that Mr. Taft would be the most desirable man for 
 his successor. It was immediately charged by the friends of 
 other candidates that he was coercing all the officers and 
 employees of the government to the support of Mr. Taft. 
 
 This charge was published in some of the leading news- 
 papers of the country and the National Civil Service Reform 
 League was urged to make an investigation. Indeed it was 
 intimated among friends of the merit system, including certain 
 members of the League itself, that there was probably much 
 which needed to be disclosed. While Mr. Swift and Mr. Foulke 
 did not believe this would affect the President, they favored the 
 investigation, feeling that it was due to Roosevelt as well as the 
 public. He was informed of an interview in which the matter 
 was discussed and wrote in a letter to Mr. Foulke on February 
 25, 1908: 
 
 ... I have not the slightest objection to their conducting such 
 an investigation, only I want it conducted honestly. I am inclined to 
 insist that the first State to be investigated shall be Indiana. To Good- 
 win, 1 or you or any reputable man full access will be given to our files 
 concerning appointments. I suggest that whoever is to do the investigat- 
 ing take up in detail the whole matter as it is in the Department of 
 Justice. I do this because Mr. Bonaparte knows both the qualities and 
 defects of civil service reformers and what I want to avoid is the Eve- 
 ning Post, Boston Herald and Indianapolis News type of reformer making 
 a report rilled with unctuous disapprobation of conduct in me which they 
 would not dream of condemning in anyone else. In other words I want 
 real justice. I should suggest that they investigate the Department of 
 the Interior under Secretary Garfield, notably the Indian Service, for the 
 same reason ; then investigate the Post Office Department and the 
 Treasury Department, which are the two great "patronage" departments ; 
 
 l Secretary of the League. 
 
80 Civil Service Reform 
 
 also the Department of State, to include what has been done with the 
 Consular Service. 
 
 Can not Swift, just for his own satisfaction, come on here for a 
 couple of days, and I will turn him loose to look at everything in every 
 Department? He need not make any report about it, but I would like 
 him to know exactly how things are. 
 
 Mr. Swift together with Judge Samuel H. Ordway, Richard 
 H. Dana, Robert D. Jenks and Elliot H. Goodwin were ap- 
 pointed a special committee to make the investigation. It con- 
 sumed several months and was so exhaustive that it could not 
 be concluded until after the election of President Taft. It was 
 evidently anticipated that there would be revelations injurious 
 to the President and on November 23, 1908, Roosevelt wrote to 
 Mr. Foulke as follows : 
 
 If it were worth while feeling indignant with the Civil Service 
 Reform Association over some of their acts I should do so. But they 
 amuse me. If they make an attack in connection with the use of the 
 offices to nominate Taft, all I wish is that you or Swift would give me 
 the opportunity to furnish a few words, not in the way of answer but of 
 comment on my accusers. The attack on Taft's nomination by the 
 "Allies" was corrupt and infamous ; and it was backed by most of the 
 Mugmumps. I dictated to the office-holders just one thing and that was 
 that they should not be for my renomination. The only use I made of 
 my position in my control over them was to prevent many of them doing 
 what they earnestly desired to do, insisting upon my renomination. Out- 
 side of that they followed my lead simply as the great majority of the 
 Republicans followed my lead in their several communities; and literally 
 the only difference was that in Ohio a good many of them went against 
 Taft, and in the "favorite son" states they reluctantly went for the 
 favorite sons to much greater extent than the non-office holding population 
 did. I have seen Greene of the Civil Service Commission and he tells 
 me the Commission investigated every instance of alleged political 
 activity in the classified service. Outside of the classified service, from 
 Cabinet officers to postmasters, the Civil Service law does not apply, 
 save in certain narrowly limited cases, as to which it was strictly 
 enforced. Never before in a political campaign has there been, as there 
 has been in this campaign, a number of removals for violations of the 
 Civil Service law during the heat of the campaign contest. 
 
 A copy of this letter was sent to Mr. Swift. 
 
 When the report appeared it disclosed many serious abuses 
 at primaries and conventions. It was evident that considerable 
 portions of it, such as the following, were from the pen of Mr. 
 Swift: 1 
 
 iGood Government, April, 1909. 
 
"Coercion of Office-Holders" 81 
 
 In Indiana the Republican organization has been for years con- 
 trolled by what is known as the Fairbanks machine. The head of the 
 machine all the time has been Joseph B. Kealing, United States District 
 Attorney. In the seven years during which he has held that office, he 
 has devoted much time and effort to building up and strengthening that 
 machine. It covers both state and federal politics. It forced the nomina- 
 tion of the recently defeated candidate for governor. Kealing was a 
 delegate to the last national convention and had charge of the Fair- 
 banks candidacy. A considerable number of federal officeholders in 
 Indiana are opposed to the machine. On one side or the other in the 
 governorship nomination, nearly every federal officeholder in Indiana 
 in the unclassified service was desperately engaged, and their activity 
 was of the same kind and nature and included the same waste of public 
 time and contained the same element of advantage over private citizens, 
 whose time was not paid for by the government, as in the case of Mr. 
 Kealing. 
 
 But the report declared that President Roosevelt had taken 
 no part in such political activities. On the contrary he had done 
 what he considered practicable to prevent them. He amended 
 section one of Rule L of the civil service rules by adding the 
 following paragraph: 
 
 Persons, who by the provisions of these rules are in the competitive 
 classified service, while retaining the right to vote as they please and to 
 express privately their opinions on all political subjects, shall take no 
 active part in political management or in political campaigns. 
 
 Of this the committee reported as follows: 
 
 The enforcement of this rule was thrown upon the Civil Service 
 Commission and the Commission has performed its duty. The order is an 
 epoch in civil service reform. The competitive classified service now 
 embraces 22,125 places and the holders of these places are confined to 
 the quiet and efficient performance of their public duties and are com- 
 pletely absolved from the quasi-feudal allegiance which compelled them 
 to devote time on demand, to running primaries and conventions. This 
 is the tremendous victory which civil service reform has won. 
 
 These words were evidently written by Swift. 
 The committee concludes its summary of the evidence as 
 follows : 
 
 In the heat of the campaign the League was called upon to in- 
 vestigate the alleged use of the patronage by the President to secure 
 the nomination of a particular candidate. This committee is of the 
 opinion that such a charge cannot be sustained and that evidence to 
 support the newspaper allegations to this effect is utterly lacking. Presi- 
 
82 Civil Service Reform 
 
 dent Roosevelt's appointment lists, covering a considerable period prior 
 to election were, with his permission, examined by a member of this 
 committee. From these lists it would appear that presidential appoint- 
 ments prior to the convention were made in the usual manner on the 
 recommendations of senators, representatives and others claiming the pat- 
 ronage of the offices involved. The conditions to which the report calls 
 attention are a product of the spoils system and in the South, of the 
 chaotic political conditions resulting from the Civil War. The growth 
 of the evil is a matter of history covering several decades and the blame 
 for its present threatening proportions cannot justly be charged to any 
 one man or body of men, least of all to the President who has done more 
 than any of his predecessors to limit its scope by additions to the com- 
 petitive service and by an absolute prohibition against political activity 
 within that service. 
 
 SWIFT CRITICISES TAFT 
 
 Almost immediately after the inauguration of President 
 Taft, Roosevelt started upon his journey to Africa, and on his 
 return through Europe visited the crowned heads and chief 
 executives of many countries. But during his absence, Taft 
 had disappointed many of the friends of Roosevelt by ap- 
 parently adopting a policy quite different from that of his pre- 
 decessor, which the Republican platform had promised to con- 
 tinue. Gifford Pinchot who had been at the head of the 
 Forestry Bureau but had been dismissed by Taft, had gone to 
 Europe and conferred with Roosevelt on the causes of the 
 dissatisfaction. Swift addressed to the former President at 
 London the following letter on May 5, 1910: 
 
 I have no doubt but that you have had presented to you at great 
 length all sides of the tangle in which we are and I shall not go over 
 it at length. 
 
 With regard to conservation Gifford Pinchot must have given you all 
 the facts. It seems that Ballinger is to be whitewashed by the Con- 
 gressional committee but that will not make the least difference with 
 the almost universal opinion that he is the next thing to crooked. And 
 in this whole matter Taft blundered from the beginning to the end. 
 
 In the tariff matter, the interests had possession of all the com- 
 mittees and in a perfectly cold-blooded way they set about to prevent 
 any reduction to the extent that prices would be reduced and in some 
 cases like the cotton schedule they increased the tariff and prices have 
 increased accordingly. They were tricky from the word go, for in- 
 stance, as in glass, where they reduced the tariff on that kind of which 
 only a small amount is imported. The difference in cost of production 
 between here and abroad was the foundation of the rule of protection. 
 Yet they headed off every attempt to find what that difference was and 
 
Last Visit to Oyster Bay 83 
 
 struck out of the bill the. provision for a tariff commission whose partic- 
 ular business was to ascertain the difference. I followed the Congres- 
 sional Record very carefully and the debate was the greatest which has 
 occurred since the Civil War. 
 
 Taft could have given notice that there would be the right kind of 
 a bill or no bill at all. But he laid aside the Big Stick and sat quiet 
 until the bill was in conference and then he interfered and coaxed some 
 reduction. Cannon and Aldrich went as far as they found they had to go, 
 and then stopped, and Taft signed the bill. He could have then 
 announced that the country was entitled to more and must get it, but 
 he fell down and worshiped the law and questioned the party standing 
 of the Republicans who voted against it. It was this Winona speech 
 that alienated the whole W'estern country from him and made him seem 
 rattle-brained and childish and utterly to fail to comprehend the tariff 
 situation. He has followed up his Winona speech at different times in the 
 same vein. . . . 
 
 Our campaign was coming on and the Congressional committee was 
 circulating stand-pat speeches in Indiana and I wrote Taft a letter try- 
 ing to make him see that there was room enough for the progressives in 
 the Republican party and that these stand-pat speeches ought to be kept 
 out of Indiana. This letter he answered and I enclose a copy of both his 
 and mine. While his is marked personal he has let the whole corre- 
 spondence out to numbers of people and even let the substance of his 
 letter get into the papers so I feel I do not violate any confidence. 
 
 I have tried to make this letter as short as possible but so far as my 
 opinion goes with you, I wanted to let you know what it was. 
 
 To this letter Roosevelt sent the following answer : 
 
 Dorchester House 
 Park Lane W. 
 May 18th, 1910. 
 Dear Swift: 
 
 Your letter gave me just the information I wished. Can you get 
 to New York to see me and if possible to spend a night with me, some- 
 time early in July? 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 Theodore Roosevelt. 
 
 LAST VISIT TO OYSTER BAY 
 
 Foulke had also been invited and on July sixth the two 
 went to Oyster Bay together. Swift thus wrote to his wife 
 describing the visit : 
 
 . . . Ethel met us at the door, excused her mother and said her 
 father was expected from New York at once. Then up to our rooms 
 and a little washing and down again to the verandah and he came. Ethel 
 and the three boys had run down the road to meet him and they all came 
 in a heap. At the same moment came John Burroughs. After the usual 
 
84 Civil Service Reform 
 
 Roosevelt greetings and a careful introduction to all the boys we men 
 went out for cold tea. The talk ran back and forth from birds and 
 animals to politics. . . . Roosevelt began to show us things including 
 rare and choice old books on hunting. We were in the large living room 
 when he pointed to a large vase and said, "The Imperial Kaiser gave me 
 that." It had handles on the sides and a cover and was a kind of squat 
 caricature of a slop jar with the Kaiser's picture emblazoned large upon 
 the side. It was German taste. . . . 
 
 The butler came and announced dinner and Roosevelt exploded with 
 astonishment that the time had gone so fast. He asked if the dinner 
 could not be put off until eight o'clock and this was done. It was now 
 seven and we started up to dress. At the foot of the stairs he stopped 
 Foulke and me and putting a hand on the shoulder of each, he said, "I 
 could cry over Taft," and as we went up he said, "It is a case of a lieu- 
 tenant who did well but who failed when he came to the head." We 
 then went into my room and shut the door and he said, "I will talk to 
 you with perfect frankness. I would not consider another nomination 
 unless it were practically universally demanded." I told him if that was 
 all there was to it the demand would be universal — that in fact it was 
 so now. 
 
 At dinner the talk ran on Africa and politics was not mentioned. 
 Kermit here showed at his best. He is a thorough gentleman in appear- 
 ance, accent and manner. He often helped out his father and told a 
 lot of things about animals himself. This talk was particularly in 
 Burroughs' line but was as interesting as anything could be to all of 
 us. . . . The dinner was very simple and did not last long. Then we 
 went on the verandah and there was coffee. Mrs. Roosevelt went away 
 after while but came back about ten. Just then Burroughs asked per- 
 mission to retire and I suggested that perhaps we all ought to go, but 
 Mrs. Roosevelt said, "Mr. Roosevelt wants to see you. Sit down awhile." 
 The Colonel came back and we sat there until nearly midnight and when 
 we rose to go to bed I felt that I had looked right into Roosevelt's 
 heart. He kept nothing back. The Lodge matter took a long time for I 
 kept quietly suggesting objections to his speaking for Lodge. 1 He 
 finally blocked out what he would say for Lodge. He will dwell upon 
 his long and valuable service to New England running over the years 
 preceding the Payne tariff and completely omit that and will give Lodge 
 credit for marshalling the stand-patters to vote for the $250,000 appro- 
 priation for the tariff commission. I said, "The people will see right 
 through that speech and will say that you are making it out of personal 
 friendship, but I don't see now that it will do us any harm in the West." 
 The fact is that it will be a censure of Lodge's course on the tariff. 
 
 Step by step we got to the point where he said he would make one 
 political speech in Indiana and for Beveridge. He will make it entirely 
 upon principles and every one of those is an insurgent principle. He 
 believes exactly as we do. 
 
 The talk drifted from time to time. He said, "I know I am now at 
 the crest and the time will come when I shall be in the hollow ; but I 
 can swim just as well in the hollow as on the crest." 
 
 While he was taking Burroughs up stairs, Mrs. Roosevelt said, "I 
 am utterly opposed to this idea of his being President again." I sug- 
 gested that it might save a party defeat but she said, "The party is going 
 
 iLodge had supported the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Bill. 
 
Roosevelt's Death 85 
 
 to be defeated anyway and would have been before this had he not 
 pulled it out. Its time has come." 
 
 I asked him if he had any objection to telling us how he sized up 
 the Kings. He said, "Not in the least." And then he went through the 
 list. He liked the King of Italy, but most of all, Haakon (of Norway) 
 and his wife, and said he wished they lived at Oyster Bay so that he 
 could see them every day. He says every king is facing a possible 
 republic and that the King of Italy said that he wanted to train his two 
 boys so that either of them would be fit to be the first president of the 
 Republic of Italy. 
 
 I asked him if Taft was worried. He said, "Not in the least." I 
 asked if Taft saw that he had made any mistake. He said, "Not one. 
 He thinks that he has made a great success and is contented and happy." 
 Then I said, "He is hopeless." 
 
 He said that at one time Lodge was strong for me as civil service 
 commissioner. That Lodge was absolutely not controlled by the in- 
 terests. He recognizes that Taft may get on so as to be renominated and 
 he has warned Pinchot not to put himself in a position where he could 
 not support Taft. 1 It is plain that he thinks that Taft if nominated will 
 be defeated. 
 
 The next morning we were tapped up at 7 .30 and down to breakfast 
 at 8. Ethel and Kermit were on their way to New York in the auto. 
 The boys looked as though they had been out of bed about two minutes. 
 We had a jolly time and left at once. 
 
 The foregoing correspondence and visits show Swift's rela- 
 tions with Roosevelt but most significant are the words of Mrs. 
 Roosevelt in a brief note to Mr. Swift on October 26, 1910, in 
 which she says: 
 
 I can never be sufficiently grateful for your understanding sympathy 
 on which Mr. Roosevelt depends and which has never failed him. 
 
 Their subsequent intercourse in regard to other matters than 
 the civil service will be hereafter narrated. It is sufficient to say 
 now that when, on January 6, 1919, it was ended by Mr. Roose- 
 velt's sudden death it was hard to realize the full force of the 
 blow which had fallen. On January fifteenth, Mr. Swift thus 
 writes to Mrs. Roosevelt : 
 
 I have been in a daze ever since this mighty loss suddenly came 
 upon the country — upon a hundred million Americans who never leaned 
 
 lHe also remarked that he hoped his friends would not put themselves in 
 this position, thus clearly showing that he did not at that time intend to become 
 a candidate and that his final determinaton to do so was brought about by things 
 that happened afterward. 
 
86 Civil Service Reform 
 
 upon and needed Colonel Roosevelt so much as now. I can not realize 
 that his voice is stilled, and indeed it is not. His words which always 
 rang so true and which in these war years gathered force and volume as 
 never before, alone called the country to its duty, will go ringing on, and 
 side by side with Washington and Lincoln, he will go down from gen- 
 eration to generation. 
 
 My more than thirty years' acquaintance is now all the time in my 
 thoughts and when I recall all that he has said and written to me, I 
 know that he liked me. A multitude of Americans can say the same, 
 but this is my gift which he has left to me and no matter what cares may 
 come, this remembrance will always bring peace and rest. 
 
 Mrs. Roosevelt answered : 
 
 It is quite right. Theodore would have chosen to go before his 
 sword was sheathed. His heart has been sad since Quentin fell and to 
 keep up the fight was a constant effort. He loved you always. 
 
 Such was the friendship between Roosevelt and Swift — 
 mutual confidence and unmixed devotion to the public welfare. 
 Life can furnish few instances of an intimacy more noble and 
 disinterested. 
 
 TAFT AND THE CIVIL SERVICE 
 
 Mr. Taft was personally a sincere friend of civil service 
 reform and during his administration he made further ex- 
 tensions of the classified service. Indeed it then reached a 
 higher percentage of all the officers and employees of the Govern- 
 ment than at any other time before or since, but his administra- 
 tion of the law was far less vigorous and effective than Roose- 
 velt's. He made a change in the rules in regard to the vast 
 numbers of employees who served as carriers in the rural free 
 delivery service as well as those fourth-class postmasters, 
 classified by Roosevelt, which was extremely disastrous in its 
 consequences. Roosevelt had provided that in these very ex- 
 tensive branches of the service the man who stood at the head 
 of the list in the competitive examination should be appointed. 
 President Taft changed this and provided that the choice should 
 be made by the postmaster general of one out of the highest 
 three. The choice of one out of three had worked very well in 
 other branches of the service where the eligible lists were large 
 
Taft and the Civil Service 87 
 
 but in these places where the number of applicants was usually 
 not more than three and where the positions were politically 
 valuable to congressmen in disseminating propaganda through 
 rural communities, on their behalf, the result was that these 
 places became political spoils almost as completely as if they 
 had not been classified at all. The merit system made no 
 advance except in numbers during his administration. 
 
 In the Republican convention of 1912 Mr. Taft and Mr. 
 Roosevelt (who by this time had thrown "his hat into the ring") 
 were both candidates for the nomination. Mr. Taft was nomi- 
 nated. 
 
 Indiana was one of the states which, it was charged, had 
 been carried against the will of the people by political manipu- 
 lation. Mr. Swift wrote a letter explaining the situation to the 
 Springfield Republican which was published on June 19, 1912: 
 
 ... At the state convention the seats of 106 Taft delegates from 
 Marion county were contested. Roosevelt had seven of the 13 mem- 
 bers of the credentials committee and would control the committee. When 
 only six Taft members and four Roosevelt members were present, over 
 the protest of the latter, the committee elected a Taft chairman, John 
 B. Cockrum; then the other three being present and ready to vote the 
 chairman refused to allow them to vote on the ground that their seats 
 were contested. Then the committee unseated two Roosevelt men and 
 gave their places to Taft men; then they admitted the third Roosevelt 
 man, and, having eight to five, they seated the Marion county delegates, 
 having refused to hear evidence. 
 
 Then the scene changed. In the convention itself, not counting 
 delegates whose seats were contested, Roosevelt had 667 votes, while 
 Taft had only 648 votes. Applying the rule of the credentials committee, 
 Roosevelt would control the state convention. As Merrill Moores, who 
 presented the Taft case at Chicago, said to the national committee, "the 
 Taft forces were in the minority unless some of their contested delegates 
 were allowed to vote on the contests." 
 
 The state chairman, a Taft man, called the convention to order and 
 appointed another Taft man to preside. He allowed the Taft delegates 
 whose seats were contested to vote upon their right to their own seats 
 and thus Taft secured a majority. The committee on credentials obtained 
 a Taft majority by refusing to allow Roosevelt's contested delegates to 
 vote. The convention obtained a Taft majority by allowing Taft's con- 
 tested delegates to vote. These facts will not be disputed. This is the 
 title by which ex-Vice-President Fairbanks and Watson, Oliver and New 
 hold their places as delegates at large. 
 
 Ex-Vice-President Fairbanks has been called upon to put himself 
 in writing in defense of this title, but he remains silent. Everybody 
 knows what the other three would say — that it was "politics" but it 
 would be interesting to know what an ex-vice-president of the United 
 
88 Civil Service Reform 
 
 States would say about it. And he might justly take the opportunity. to 
 enlarge upon the ability of his man Kealing as a political manipulator. 
 
 These four delegates knew all the facts. If the Roosevelt members 
 of the national committee did not know the facts when they voted to 
 seat these delegates their action can be understood; if they did know the 
 facts, then the people do not agree with them, as will be shown on 
 election day, with Taft as the candidate. 
 
 Roosevelt was unwilling to abide by the iniquitous nomina- 
 tion of Taft, the Progressive Republican party was organized 
 and he became its candidate. 
 
 In a skeleton biography which Mr. Swift prepared not long 
 before his death is the following brief entry. 
 
 Joined the Bull Moose movement in 1912 because Taft had abandoned 
 Roosevelt's policies and had gone completely over to the ways of Aldrich 
 and Cannon. . . . Was chairman of the Indiana Bull Moose delegates 
 at the convention which nominated Roosevelt at Chicago. 
 
 The result of this division in the Republican party was the 
 election of the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson, but 
 from the vote it became clear that the Republican convention 
 which nominated Taft had misrepresented the will of their 
 constituents for the votes cast for Mr. Roosevelt greatly ex- 
 ceeded those cast for Taft who, in the electoral college, only 
 received the votes of the two scantily populated states, Utah 
 and Vermont. It turned out to be quite true as stated in Mr. 
 Swift's letter to the Republican that the people did not agree 
 with the action of the convention. 
 
 A POSTMASTER UNDER WILSON 
 
 With the advent of W r oodrow Wilson to the presidency 
 the old question of the distribution of sinecures in postmaster- 
 ships came to the fore. Mr. Swift, in reporting to the National 
 Civil Service Reform League at its annual meeting on December 
 11, 1913, on behalf of the Indiana Association of which he was 
 president, read a letter of his dated April 5, 1913, calling the 
 attention of Mr. Burleson who was Wilson's Postmaster Gen- 
 eral to the fact that there were in the post-office men abundantly 
 fit for promotion. It was as follows : 
 
On the Board of Sanitary Commissioners 89 
 
 For more than a generation the Postmaster of Indianapolis, so far 
 as being postmaster is concerned, has been a joke. General McGinnis 
 told me that when he was appointed all he was expected to do was the 
 social act, when people came in. A later postmaster on leaving the 
 office told his successor that he could make himself a great deal of 
 trouble by trying to run the office. 
 
 President Wilson's administration is the first one that seems to 
 hesitate about going out upon the street and picking up a man to be the 
 head of this very large office and I, therefore feel encouraged to say 
 that there are men already in the office entirely competent for the place, 
 any one of whom would make a real postmaster which will not be true 
 of any man selected from the outside. 
 
 Charles W. Byfield has been employed in the office more than fifteen 
 years and is now the head of the money-order department. He would 
 make an admirable postmaster and the fitness of his appointment would 
 powerfully impress the people of this city. He is a Democrat and I name 
 him first because he is, in an all round sense, best fitted. 
 
 Arthur M. Potts, Assistant Superintendent of mails, is a very 
 competent man. He is a Republican. He has been in the service a 
 long time. 
 
 I particularly mention these two names and an investigation would 
 discover others. I have known Mr. Byfield many years and he is en- 
 tirely straight. I knew his father also who was a leading lawyer here 
 and a friend of Thomas A. Hendricks. 
 
 After reading this letter, Mr. Swift added: "Nevertheless 
 a merchant tailor devoid of any kind of postal experience was 
 appointed. As a protection to him, however, the assistant post- 
 master, who was a Republican was reduced and thereupon left 
 the service and Mr. Byfield, mentioned in the above letter was 
 put into his place. The office will be conducted efficiently by the 
 assistant postmaster but the position of postmaster continues 
 to be a sinecure." 1 
 
 SWIFT ON THE BOARD OF SANITARY COMMISSIONERS 
 
 Up to 1919 Mr. Swift's efforts to keep out politics from the 
 administrative branches of the public service had been from 
 the outside, as a citizen. He was now to show as a public 
 officer how this could be done, even in the absence of any law 
 prescribing competitive tests. The story is derived from one 
 familiar with the facts. 
 
 The Sanitary District of Indianapolis was created by the 
 
 iThis was only one of many similar cases throughout the country and here 
 as elsewhere when the real work of the office had been carried on by efficient 
 subordinates its administration turned out to be satisfactory. 
 
90 Civil Service Reform 
 
 Legislature in 1917. The World War delayed the construction 
 of a sewage plant, which was the main object of its establish- 
 ment, until March, 1919; at that time Mr. Swift, without any 
 solicitation of his own, was made one of the Board of three 
 Sanitary Commissioners. The City Engineer, an appointee of 
 the Mayor, was an ex-officio member ; the State Board of 
 Health appointed another member and those two chose the third. 
 The term of each of the last two was four years. They could 
 only be removed by the mayor for incompetence or neglect of 
 duty and could require proof of this in court. Mr. Swift, the 
 third member, was chosen president of the board. He says 
 (speaking of himself and Mr. Craven, the appointee of the 
 Board of Health) : 
 
 The two of us agreed that we would have no politics. Our work 
 was to operate an existing garbage reduction plant and to build and 
 operate a sewage disposal plant estimated to cost about two and a half 
 million dollars. 
 
 We hired Charles H. Hurd as Chief Engineer at $15,000 a year and 
 adopted the rule that we would not receive applications in his depart- 
 ment except through him. He was for shutting out politics. The Mayor, 
 Mr. Jewett, let us alone. 
 
 The Sewage Disposal Plant was a pioneer construction. 
 Mr. Hurd scoured the country to find the fittest men for 
 different phases of the work. He was more than an engineer, 
 he was an inventor, and his inventions in Mr. Swift's opinion 
 saved the city hundreds of thousands of dollars. 
 
 In May, 1921, the collection of ashes and garbage was added 
 to the duties of the sanitary commissioners ; and Mr. Swift 
 says later in an address at Madison, Indiana i 1 
 
 We got with the equipment from the Board of Public Works, 90 
 men, nearly all colored, and to a man active politicians, each with his 
 "pull." Their two foremen, one a white man, carrying a city ward in 
 his hand, the other colored, whose real source of power I never learned. 
 Both seemed steeped in the notion that public service was only politics. 
 Here was the first test of our board. We put over them a superintendent, 
 Truly Nolen, who had our ideas about politics in city work and was a 
 
 iThe principal facts in regard to the sanitation plant and the administration 
 
 of Mayor Shank appear in a manuscript address of Mr. Swift to the State 
 
 Historical Association at Madison, July II, 1924. See also Good Government, 
 August, 1924. 
 
Lew Shank 91 
 
 man not to be trifled with. The story how politics was frozen out; how 
 at least half of the force, including the two foremen, became separated 
 from our service in the operation; how we got eight hours of actual 
 work instead of six ; how, acting under Nolen's advice, we completely 
 revolutionized the collection service, is most interesting but cannot be 
 given in detail. All the work in our department thus became a purely 
 business transaction. 
 
 LEW SHANK 
 
 In November, 1921, a new mayor was elected, "Lew Shank" 
 a highly successful auctioneer, who could keep his crowd amused 
 by quips and jokes ; indeed he went on the vaudeville stage for 
 a while. He was a chronic office-seeker. In 1917, failing to 
 get the Republican nomination for mayor, he ran on a home 
 rule ticket and was defeated. In 1918, he failed to get the 
 Republican nomination for Congress and then declared himself 
 a Democrat, made speeches for that party and voted that ticket. 
 But in all his transactions he had a reliable and compact body 
 of supporters of whom Mr. Swift says : 
 
 That piebald following felt that this joking auctioneer possessed 
 some magic by which in some way, if he had an official chance he could 
 better their condition or could carry out their visionary notions of 
 government or would make punishment for lawbreaking light and so 
 on according to the trend of the particular group. 
 
 Between his election and his installation in January, 1922, 
 Shank loudly announced his plans for cleaning out various 
 boards and declared that his cardinal principle was to give places 
 in payment for service to himself. 
 
 The terms of the members of the Board of Health and of the 
 Park Board expired at different times, the law having been so 
 made to avoid a political "clean sweep." That did not please 
 Shank and before he was inaugurated he set up a hue and cry 
 that all members of those boards must get out and they got 
 out, thus aiding him to defeat the object of the law. That put 
 him in control of the City Hospital and the Park Department. 
 
 Shank was not stable enough to be of himself a really 
 dangerous man, but he chose a singular and able figure, an old 
 friend, Bill Armitage, a former bar-keeper and a man re- 
 
92 Civil Service Reform 
 
 peatedly charged with gambling, 1 as his chief adviser. Shank 
 appointed an "advisory committee" with Armitage as chairman 
 to assist him in running the city. The committee soon disap- 
 peared, but Armitage remained and, without holding any posi- 
 tion, sat in the mayor's private office, constantly consulted and 
 considered to be the arbiter and director of affairs of the city 
 government. 
 
 After taking his office, January 2, 1922, Shank tried hard to 
 keep his pre-election promises to appoint his friends. The axe 
 fell everywhere except in the fire department and "that was 
 spared only because the insurance companies had an unpleasant 
 way of raising rates at any falling off in efficiency." The first 
 question he asked applicants was: "Were you for me in the 
 primary and the election and did you work for me ?" Reminded 
 that this Park Board had been out of politics, he answered, "I 
 have got it into politics now ; I am putting Shank workers in 
 there. I have put my wife on the Park Board because I know 
 she is for Lew Shank." He technically complied with the law 
 requiring a bi-partisan board, saying, "I am a Republican and a 
 Methodist but Sarah [his wife] is a Democrat and a hard-shell 
 Baptist." 2 At a public meeting introducing his new street com- 
 missioner he said, "I gave him this place because he delivered 
 the fifth ward, or at least he said he did." 
 
 The control of the Republican organization in Indianapolis 
 depended upon the precinct committeemen who had been elected 
 at the primary and who were to meet and choose their chairman 
 and other officers. Shank lacked thirty votes of a majority and 
 he obtained them as follows : 
 
 Two days before the meeting, his Board of Public Works 
 were called together in a special session. Precinct committee- 
 men who were openly in opposition or were thought to be doubt- 
 ful were present by invitation. One by one these men were 
 interviewed by Shank or his lieutenant and to the number of 
 
 llndianapolis Star, May 28, 1922. 
 
 2Later, when on market days spaces on the curb were to be granted to 
 peddlers, his order to the market master was, "Put Shank men on first." And in 
 1924, when, after years of competent service, a police-woman, Rachel Bray, was 
 promoted by the Police Board, Shank heard of it and said, "She wasn't for me in 
 the primary and the election," so she had to give up the promotion. 
 
Lew Shank 93 
 
 thirty each agreed, for a place on the city pay-roll, to cast his 
 vote for Shank's candidates. The Board of Public Works at 
 once made the appointments and each appointee was notified 
 by letter signed by the mayor directing him to report next day 
 for duty. That put him on the pay-roll the day before the 
 convention. 
 
 At the convention the defeat of those opposed to Shank was 
 so plainly in sight that no opposition candidate was proposed. 
 After the victory, speeches followed and Shank said : "In this 
 fight it was a question of winning or being dead in politics and 
 we won. Of course we had to give jobs to about thirty of you 
 precinct committeemen to put it over but we got over." 
 
 The following June, speaking at the national meeting of the 
 Junior Chamber of Commerce, Shank again brazenly explained 
 his methods : " When I was running for office I didn't buy votes, 
 I just promised jobs, and when I got started I found I had to 
 make good and so I gave everybody jobs I could. . . . Say, 
 if you fellows would run your own businesses like I run the 
 city the darn things would go bankrupt I" 1 
 
 On November 12, 1921, the Indianapolis News reported: 
 
 The mayor-elect is determined on one thing, he said, and that is find- 
 ing some plan to oust Lucius B. Swift as president of the board of 
 sanitary commissioners. Under the law it appears that a mayor can 
 not change the personnel of this board without court action, based on 
 some alleged inefficiency . . . 
 
 "There surely is some way I can get rid of that bird," Shank said. 
 "If there is a way we will find it. Why, they tell me he cut a big marble 
 slab in two up there in his office so that it would be easier for him to 
 get in and out without walking a few extra steps." 
 
 In the News two days later Swift made the following reply : 
 
 I have read with interest the declaration of war upon me by the 
 mayor-elect. His state of mind is caused by a survey of the department 
 of public sanitation. He sees there in the course of construction a great 
 sewage disposal plant costing over $2,000,000. He also sees in full 
 operation the garbage reduction plant, the gravel plant, the incinerator, 
 the engineer's office and, above all, the ash and garbage collection of the 
 entire city. He sees a large aggregate of places which in his opinion 
 may properly be given to those who have done political work for him; 
 
 1 Indianapolis News, June 15, 192J. 
 
94 Civil Service Reform 
 
 yet in not one of those places can he as mayor create a vacancy. And 
 when a vacancy occurs, if, as mayor, he should send a man to fill it the 
 man would be put with all other applicants and each would be investigated 
 as to whether he was a good citizen, whether he was sober, honest and 
 industrious, whether he supported his family, as to his physical condi- 
 tion, and as to other matters tending to show fitness for the position. 
 
 Then the one who seemed best fitted would be chosen without taking 
 any account whatever of his politics or for whom he worked in the 
 recent campaign. The law creating this department was expressly 
 framed to keep it out of politics and by unanimous determination of the 
 board it is out of politics; there is not a vestige of politics in its 
 operation. 
 
 The Mayor-elect sees all this and it makes him mad; he swallows 
 marble slab myths and calls names. He seems to think that the problem 
 will be solved if he can get rid of me. I have other work now suspended 
 which I would rather do and I could resign and have peace ; but the 
 law does not intend that a commissioner shall resign in the middle of his 
 term because a Mayor comes demanding opportunity to turn the depart- 
 ment into a political nest and I won't do it. Besides, for more than 
 thirty years I have fought the using of the civil service to pay political 
 or personal debts, and I will not now turn my back upon my professions 
 and by resigning aid the mayor-elect to beat the law and complete his 
 "Tammanyization" of the entire civil service of the city. 
 
 He has a little band assisting him in his wholesale seizure of the 
 civil service of the city, including the health and park departments, which 
 the legislature intended should never be in politics. In addition, men in 
 my own department, among those taken over from the board of public 
 works, are giving him aid and comfort, part of them from expectation 
 of promotion and the rest because of a final realization that a full day's 
 pay means a full day's work, that careless driving has its penalties, that 
 public corn can not safely be taken home, that the ancient craps game 
 at the loading station will not be reinstated and because of other whole- 
 some but unpleasant facts. 
 
 The above aggregation will not finally decide whether I stay or go ; 
 that will be decided by the orderly process of a court of justice. 
 
 I will be glad to have my record in this office examined. During 
 the many years since I joined the Union army in 1861 in the course of 
 duty I have been in fights, many in number and of great variety. I 
 have at times been beaten, but I have never run away. I shall not run 
 away now. In this struggle for good city government I hope for the 
 support of the public. 
 
 In the News of November sixteenth Shank is reported as 
 saying of Swift, "I am going to set my legal dogs on him. I am 
 going to direct Taylor Groninger to fight to the last ditch to get 
 rid of him." 
 
 This threat, however, proved quite ineffective. Swift served 
 during his full term, but his final displacement by the seekers 
 of spoils in the failure to re-elect him came about in the follow- 
 ing manner. 
 
Lew Shank 95 
 
 In January, 1922, Shank appointed a new engineer, John L. 
 Elliott, as a member of the Sanitary Board. His spirit and his 
 language suited a Shank appointment. In a board meeting in 
 August, 1922, he made attacks on the Chief Engineer appointed 
 by the commissioners. "This man has been at the public funds 
 long enough, and here we are wasting large sums of money 
 on a man like Hurd." 
 
 For two years, Mr. Craven, Swift's colleague on the board 
 had acted with him in "keeping politics out" but he too was an 
 engineer and seemed at times moved by professional feelings to 
 join hands with Elliott in attempts to thwart and harry the 
 Chief Engineer. 1 Swift was afterward told that Armitage and 
 his group reported that they "had him." 
 
 In January, 1923, as a final effort to eject "that bird" a bill 
 was introduced into the legislature to abolish the Sanitary Board 
 and confer its powers on the Board of Public Works controlled 
 by Shank but the measure was smothered in the House of 
 Representatives. 
 
 Mr. Swift's term of office on the board expired December 
 31, 1923. The construction of the sewage plant was not yet 
 complete. It would be a mistake to assume that Mr. Swift 
 would not have desired to see the finish. He knew that the 
 public had appreciated what he had accomplished ; all the news- 
 papers urged his retention and many clubs and citizens of all 
 degrees of influence. But Elliott's answer always was, "Mr. 
 
 lAn examination of the garbage plant (constructed before the Sanitary 
 Commission was organized) brought the unanimous opinion that it was unfit and 
 unsafe and that a new one must be constructed. Mr. Swift accepted the opinion 
 of the Commission in this respect but urged that the Chief Engineer, Mr. Hurd, 
 with his organization and laboratory, should undertake the new construction. 
 Mr. Hurd was willing to do this without additional personal compensation. But 
 the two engineers on the Sanitary Board joined hands at once with great vigor 
 against this plan. They hired E. W. McCullough as consulting engineer to super- 
 vise the design and construction of a new garbage reduction plant at a salary 
 of $6,ooo a year, the plant to be completed in one year. Among Mr. Swift s 
 papers is this summary: 
 
 "I could not agree to the employment of a separate engineer for this work 
 instead of our present engineering force. Nor could I agree to the selection of 
 one chemist from our laboratory for this work instead of using the whole research 
 force of the laboratory, nor do I think that the board is willing to give sufficient 
 study and consideration to garbage reduction before entering upon new con- 
 struction." 
 
 The contract made in August, 1922, called for one year to complete the new 
 plant; it was not ready until June, 1927, and meanwhile Mr. McCullough drew 
 his $6,000 salary for five years. While the cost of the garbage plant was by the 
 contract estimated at $375,000 it actually cost $550,000 and with its share of the 
 power plant, administration building, roads and railroads its cost was nearly 
 $725,000. 
 
96 Civil Service Reform 
 
 Swift has as much chance of getting my vote for his reappoint- 
 ment as a snowball would have in the lower regions," and 
 Craven said, "John Elliott will not stand for the reappointment 
 of Mr. Swift and I am not going to try to force his appointment 
 on John." 
 
 After a service of four years and nine months Mr. Swift 
 went out saying: "My greatest satisfaction is in the demon- 
 strated fact that a city department can be operated free from 
 personal or party politics and free from attachment to a per- 
 sonal or party machine. Indeed under no other conditions could 
 this great construction have been carried on to the success 
 which is now in sight." 
 
 LAST WORDS ON CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 
 
 In 1919 a few of the members of the National Civil Service 
 Reform League, seeing the halting progress made in the com- 
 petitive system, after the confusion of the World War, insisted 
 that the trouble was with the law itself, and that it needed a 
 complete revision. One or more drafts were made of a pro- 
 posed system of public employment to supersede it. To an 
 individual who wrote to him asking for his opinion on the sub- 
 ject, Swift's answer was characteristic. It was as follows : 
 
 November 22, 1919 
 . . . You know that for many years I have looked upon the present 
 law drawn by Dorman B. Eaton as a model of statesmanship and I never 
 have had the least sympathy with the general departure by state legis- 
 latures from the outlines of this noble model. Under it, an honest 
 President can do wonders in executive efficiency as Roosevelt did. On 
 the other hand, under any law that can be made, a dishonest President 
 can do wonders in breaking down efficiency; that is true of practically 
 all laws. 
 
 Aside from all this, I think that to introduce now into Congress a 
 new civil service bill, backed by the League, to take the place of the 
 present law, would be to put the cause of civil service reform into a 
 furnace of congressional hate so hot that not even any smoke would be 
 left to go up. 
 
 Mr. Swift's confidence in the existing law, as well as in the 
 methods of propaganda which the League had employed in 
 bringing more than 400,000 places into the competitive system 
 
Last Words on Civil Service Reform 97 
 
 remained during his whole life as strong as ever, notwithstand- 
 ing the temporary halt in its further progress. In the spring 
 of 1929 Mr. Kaplan, the Secretary of the League, had prepared 
 his report to the Council, to be submitted at the annual meeting 
 and had sent a copy to Mr. Swift for his criticism. He 
 answered : 
 
 ... I have nothing but praise to speak. I don't know when I have 
 read a document with more satisfaction. It has the ring of the days of 
 George William Curtis, Carl Schurz, Charles J. Bonaparte, Moorfield 
 Storey, Richard H. Dana, Herbert Welsh and William Dudley Foulke, 
 whose trumpet voice to this day has never lowered its tone, and finally 
 the leader of us all, Theodore Roosevelt, who, as President, made un- 
 shakeable the foundations of the merit system in the Federal Service. 
 
 The statement in the report that but little progress has been made 
 during the last ten years in transferring to the merit system the remain- 
 ing places which belong there, estimated at 137,000, is true. 
 
 Whose fault was it? At bottom it lay with the Presidents. Once 
 we had the field deputies of the internal revenue services. They were 
 taken away and what happened? In Indianapolis, the collector, when 
 appointing clerks, called them "deputies" and for one period of five years 
 that I know of, not an appointment was made from the eligible list. It 
 is childish to say that a President could not have stopped that. 
 
 The report is invaluable in its treatment of the appointment of 
 postmasters. There again the President at the time fell down. What 
 could have been a more effective blow for converting postmasterships 
 into spoils than the change, made by a President [Taft], from the rule 
 requiring the top man to be appointed to a rule allowing a choice to be 
 made from the top three and then allowing local spoilsmen to make the 
 choice? Any President may correct this colossal evil. 
 
 Again, the Secretary of the Civil Service Commission and two 
 government inspectors, after careful investigation, reported to President 
 Coolidge that Tolbert was selling offices in South Carolina. He turned 
 the matter over to Harry New, the Postmaster General and nothing came 
 of it. How will those two ex-officers feel when they read this report? 
 How will the public feel? Does any one believe that President Roose- 
 velt would have been fooled like that, or that anything will stop President 
 Hoover from closing the sale of offices in the South? 
 
 But after all, why should the party organization have anything to 
 do with filling the places named in the report as belonging to the merit 
 system? It no longer has to do with the choice of clerks and carriers 
 and thousands of other places now under the civil service law and yet 
 the party lives. The delay in ridding the service of this remnant of 
 poison is incomprehensible. Senator Watson of Indiana is a good 
 illustration. He was testifying before Senator Reed in Indianapolis and 
 voluntarily boasted of his personal machine as containing 60,000 members 
 "ready to go" at his call. A great portion are office holders and the 
 machine was organized originally by the then Collector of Internal 
 Revenue. It was this machine that he called out to back him for the 
 Presidential nomination when Hoover men began to seek delegates to the 
 later national convention. 
 
98 Civil Service Reform 
 
 A party organization must be bound together by party principles and 
 supported by contributions from its own members and not by places in 
 the public service maintained by the entire people. 
 
 This was enclosed in a personal letter to Mr. Kaplan, from 
 Tryon, North Carolina, on April 24, 1929, containing the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 It is true that for years we have not made progress. There is no 
 help except to begin war again. Hold up to the public the men who are 
 causing this drag. I am sorry I can take but a small part. Age tells, 
 but what I can do I shall. . . . 
 
 These were the last letters that Mr. Swift ever wrote. He 
 died not long after his return to Indianapolis. 
 
 The foregoing account is the record of a life devoted with 
 singular consecration largely to this most vital reform. 
 
LUCIUS B. SWIFT 
 
 From portrait by Simon Baus, 1928, owned by the 
 Indiana Historical Society 
 
PART III 
 THE WORLD WAR AND CIVIL LIBERTY 
 
 OTHER PUBLIC QUESTIONS 
 
 Besides the reform of the civil service there were other 
 public questions in which Mr. Swift was warmly interested. 
 He criticized severely a proposed Porto Rican tariff; he de- 
 nounced the wasteful concession of the Indianapolis Street 
 Railway franchise to a private corporation ; he discussed the 
 military situation shortly after the commencement of the World 
 War in Europe. These matters are treated in Appendix C. 
 At a much later period, in February, 1923, after the war was 
 over, he delivered an address on "The Call of the World to 
 America" to the students of Butler University, and two months 
 afterwards another address to the students of Indiana Uni- 
 versity on "Economics and World Politics." These are con- 
 sidered in Appendix D. 
 
 GERMANS IN AMERICA 
 
 There was one great cause into which Swift threw the full 
 force of his energy during some of his later years, and that was 
 the spread of a wider knowledge and better understanding 
 among our own citizens of the history and fundamental 
 principles underlying the liberties of English-speaking peoples 
 in contrast to the autocratic and military regime of the German 
 Empire. 
 
 It is hard to realize today the wide-spread and vigorous 
 pro- German propaganda which was undertaken by American 
 citizens of German birth or descent, during the early days of 
 the war. The general drift of opinion in our great metropolitan 
 journals was in favor of the Allies but much public sentiment, 
 
 (99) 
 
100 The World War and Civil Liberty 
 
 especially in various parts of the Middle West, was strongly 
 tinctured with anti-British prejudice, not greatly different from 
 that which afterward broke out in Chicago under Mayor 
 Thompson. This German propaganda, therefore, seemed at 
 that time to contain grave elements of danger to American 
 ideals and Mr. Swift resolved to resist it. 
 
 He embarked upon his crusade for this object not long after 
 the outbreak of the World War. Prior to that time his business 
 relations and his personal friendships had been largely among 
 the German-Americans of Indianapolis. These people had been 
 his most valuable clients ; many of them had taken part with 
 him in his previous efforts for better government, but now 
 they were showing their sympathy with the Kaiser and the 
 German military efforts to dominate the world. 
 
 Mr. Swift's first important public utterance against their 
 propaganda was contained in a remarkable address entitled 
 "Germans in America" which he delivered before the Indian- 
 apolis Literary Club on October 4, 1915, and afterward in other 
 places. 1 
 
 Mr. Swift said in the "foreword" to this speech as pub- 
 lished : 
 
 The National German-American Alliance, devoted to Germanizing 
 America, an organization now sixteen years old and claiming two million 
 members, challenges the American people with its slogan "Germanism 
 versus Anglo-Saxonism." In all that makes for liberty Germanism has 
 no background, while the sky of Anglo-Saxonism for fifteen hundred 
 years has lighted the path of the mighty progress embraced in the words 
 of Kipling: 
 
 All we have of freedom, all we use or know — 
 This our fathers bought for us long and long ago. 
 
 Ancient right unnoticed as the breath we draw — 
 Right to live by no man's leave, underneath the law; 
 
 iThe Literary Club held weekly meetings at which a paper was read and 
 then discussed by the members. A great many eminent men at one time and 
 another have belonged to this club, among others, President Benjamin Harrison, 
 vice-presidents, Thomas A. Hendricks, Charles W. Fairbanks and Thomas J. 
 Marshall; Secretary of State Walter Q. Gresham, Senator Albert J. Beveridge, 
 Governor Albert G. Porter, Reverend Myron W. Reed, Reverend Oscar Mc- 
 Cullough, Addison C. Harris, former minister to Austria, John L. Griffiths, 
 General Lew Wallace, James Whitcomb Riley and others. The papers were for the 
 most part of high quality and the discussions spicy. But the number of members 
 was limited and Mr. Swift's address would have had little influence had it not 
 been widely circulated afterward in pamphlet form. The first edition of this 
 pamphlet soon became exhausted, three others were subsequently issued and 
 some 40,000 copies were distributed throughout the country. 
 
Germans in America 101 
 
 Lance and torch and tumult, steel and gray goose wing 
 Wrenched it, inch and ell and all, slowly from the king. 
 
 It seems that Professor Julius Goebel, of the University of 
 Illinois, who had been a college instructor in America for more 
 than thirty years, in his book The Battle for German Culture 
 in America published early in 1914, just before the outbreak 
 of the World War, laid down the doctrine that Germans who 
 emigrate to this country were not to be made over into Amer- 
 icans, that they were such only in the political sense when they 
 took the oath of citizenship. He protested against the incredible 
 presumption of those who would stamp out "our German per- 
 sonality in the mold of a factory-made type of people." It was 
 a question he said, whether Americans could much longer govern 
 themselves. The remedy was for the German to step into the 
 breach with German "kultur" to save America from itself. 
 
 A report of the proceedings of the German-American Al- 
 liance said: "Our own prestige depends upon the prestige of 
 the Fatherland and for that reason we can not allow any dis- 
 paragement of Germany to go unpunished." 
 
 These were among many provocations which brought out 
 from Mr. Swift the following rejoinder : 
 
 Since the beginning of the present war we have had to bear a good 
 deal from Germans in America in their attempt to show us how little 
 we have accomplished in the world compared with Germany. The 
 Kaiser said that the Germans were the salt of the earth and Germans in 
 America have taken him at his word and have not been slow to let us 
 know about it. So far as heard from, there is not in their mind a 
 question but that our system of government and our merits and accom- 
 plishments as inhabitants of the earth are far inferior to the same things 
 in Germany. It seems to me that something can be said on the other 
 side and, further, that a little plain speaking would befit the occasion, 
 and, as an old friend of the Germans, I mean to do something in that 
 line. . . . 
 
 Judged by those who speak out, these technically American citizens, 
 and among them many graduates of our leading universities, believe in 
 the Kaiser and long for his success ; they approve of his rule in Ger- 
 many ; they find no flaw in his treatment of Belgium; they openly justify 
 the drowning of the passengers and crew of the Lusitania ; they see in 
 the Kaiser a Moses leading the Germans into the Promised Land ; and 
 to crown all, they prefer Prussian efficiency to American liberty. If 
 they had lived among the landed aristocracy of Prussia, they would not 
 have held more extreme notions. This chasm between us, no genuine 
 American will ever cross. 
 
102 The World War and Civil Liberty 
 
 Mr. Swift now traces the history of the Mark of Branden- 
 burg, of the Hohenzollern who purchased and ruled it "by divine 
 right," and of that other Hohenzollern who crushed the Teutonic 
 Knights in Prussia and became its ruler. He thus continues : 
 
 ... In 1912 in a speech at Brandenburg the Kaiser said, 'The 
 German Empire and the German crown rest upon a Brandenburg basis 
 and a Prussian foundation." With all that this means, Germans in 
 America accept it and approve it and display the same kind of infatuation 
 for the Kaiser that the French had for Napoleon Bonaparte, and they 
 think that Americans ought to partake of their enthusiasm. Americans 
 are immeasurably disappointed to find that Germans in America have 
 never learned that the line drawn from the America of today back to 
 Hengest and Horsa in 449 never approaches the line drawn from the 
 Germany of today back to the Brandenburg conquered from the Slavs in 
 928 and to the Prussia given to the Teutonic Knights in 1300. The 
 Anglo-Saxon line is blazed by the marks of an undying struggle for 
 government by the people, culminating in the democratic liberty we enjoy 
 today. From the highest to the lowest our officers are our agents, bound 
 and limited by our laws ; we are the masters and we have supreme con- 
 tempt for any authority which we have had no hand in establishing. Our 
 spirit is free and finds an outlet in free speech and a free press. We 
 started free-necked men and we are free-necked men now. All this 
 apparently has no weight today with Germans in America. 
 
 The German line runs for centuries in an unbroken monotony of 
 submission by the people to authority they had no hand in establishing 
 and to laws they had no hand in making. The line ends today in the 
 Kaiser's "Brandenburg basis and Prussian foundation." In conquered 
 Brandenburg and Prussia the Germans started under the yoke, and 
 under the yoke all Germany is today. There is in the German line no 
 Magna Charta, no John Hampden, no Oliver Cromwell, no axe in the 
 hands of the people descending on the neck of a traitor king, no king 
 driven from his throne for betraying his trust, no Bill of Rights, no 
 Declaration of Independence, no Minute Man, no Liberty Bell, no George 
 Washington, no Abraham Lincoln. Of all these marks blazed during 
 the centuries Germans in America today are apparently oblivious. 
 
 Yet, we started even. If we go back to the Germans in the German 
 forests, the lines do meet; for German tribes were self-governing. "No 
 man dictates to the assembly," says Tacitus, "he may persuade, but cannot 
 command." The Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes and the Frisians, uncon- 
 taminated by Rome, carried into England the ancient German freedom, 
 the town moot, the hundred moot, the folk moot. . . . Out of this pagan 
 German nation has come the English-speaking race of today. Although 
 a multitude of times crushed to earth, they never forgot their republican 
 institutions, their mass township-meetings, and never lost their capacity 
 to transact public business. War brought the king, but the king could 
 not shake off the Witenagemote, the predecessor of Parliament. In their 
 meetings the kicker kicked cut his kick; there the officers, even the king, 
 were called to account ; there for centuries was carried on that stubborn 
 fight of the people against oppression. These facts today, apparently 
 make no impression upon Germans in America. 
 
 It is not necessary to trace how or when the Germans in Germany 
 
Germans in America 103 
 
 lost their liberties ; they lost them. We find them in the eighteenth cen- 
 tury under all manner of potentates, and in every case the will of the 
 potentate is the law of his territory. This had been so, century after 
 century, with no voice raised on behalf of the people; while during all 
 those centuries the Anglo-Saxons were carrying on their mighty struggle 
 to maintain and extend civil rights. 
 
 The sending of German troops to fight against American indepen- 
 dence is a sufficient illustration of the ownership of the lives and bodies 
 of their subjects by the German rulers of that time. Twenty-nine thou- 
 sand one hundred sixty-six Germans came. Six rulers sold their 
 men. . . . Catherine of Russia refused and Holland refused. Bavaria 
 wanted a contract but her men were such a worthless lot that her applica- 
 tion was rejected. The transaction was like a sale of cattle by a ranch- 
 man. Each ruler got the best contract he could and then filled it with 
 men exactly as he would go into a field and separate cattle sold. . . . 
 The ruler of Hanau wrote, "My regiment is ready at the first twinkle 
 that shall be given me," and hurried off to England to push the matter. 
 The Prince of Waldeck collected eighty-nine men and locked them up in 
 the fortress of Hameln ready for delivery. . . . The Duke of Bruns- 
 wick sold 5,723 men, more than one-sixth of his able-bodied inhabitants. 
 He got for his own pocket $34.50 for each man, as a starter, and for each 
 man killed and each three wounded he got the same sum. Finally he 
 got an annual lump sum of 64,500 German crowns and twice that sum 
 for two years after the return of the troops. 
 
 The landgrave of Hesse fairly skinned England and got a contract 
 whereby he sent 16,992 men and made millions of dollars ; and the other 
 rulers sold their men with great profit to themselves. For this service 
 men were impressed from the plow, the workshop and the highway; no 
 man was safe from the agents of the prince who kidnapped without 
 scruple. Men were kept under guard and were marched to the ships 
 under guard to keep them from deserting. . . . Against these mer- 
 cenaries the American farmer took down his rifle and brought their 
 activities to an end at Trenton, at Bennington, at Saratoga and finally, 
 with the help of the French, at Yorktown. . . . 
 
 The principles of the American Revolution and of the patriots of 
 the French Revolution at last began to be known in Germany. Most of 
 the people were not interested, but here and there professors and student 
 bodies talked of freedom; although no one was ready to give his life for 
 it. In 181 7 the students at Wartburg burned some conservative books and 
 the code Napoleon. Autocracy was nervous and made severer laws 
 against such demonstrations for liberty. In 1832, at a great student 
 festival, toasts were drunk to the sovereignty of the people, to the United 
 States of Germany, and to Europe Republican. Autocracy was furious 
 and Prussia condemned thirty-nine students to death. The penalty was 
 not inflicted but the students were confined in a fortress. 
 
 Carl Schurz was in the gymnasium in Cologne in the forties. His 
 class was to write on the battle of Leipsic. Schurz emphasized the ill- 
 treatment of the people by the rulers in refusing to keep the promise of 
 a share in the government made to the people for their heroic efforts on 
 that battle field. He says, "I wrote that memorial oration, so to speak, 
 with my heart's blood." His professor called him up and said, "What 
 you wrote has a fine sound, but how can such things be allowed at a 
 royal Prussian gymnasium? Take care that it does not happen again." 
 
 Schurz was nineteen when the movement of 1848 came to a head — 
 
104 The World War and Civil Liberty 
 
 the only uprising of the people where they took chances and risked lives 
 for free government in German history. . . . 
 
 Until within recent years Germans in America universally spoke 
 with reverence of the forty-eighters. It was in the spirit of '48 that they 
 joined in the war for the Union; they were genuine in that war and did 
 the best they could. And they lived in the same spirit afterward, proud 
 to be called Americans and looking upon America as veritably the home 
 of the free; and then they fell. They fell before the glamour of Bis- 
 marck's government by blood and iron, before the spectacle of great 
 material prosperity, before the hypnotism of the doctrines Will to Power, 
 Will to Conquer, Might is Right, The Strong may take from the Weak, 
 German Arms and the German Language can be made to dominate the 
 world. Today the moderate ideals of the Germans of 1848 are lost in 
 the blaze of the glory of the Kaiser. No one hates the ideals of 1848 
 more than he does. In 1901, referring to the revolt in Berlin in 1848 
 when speaking to the Alexander regiment which had helped to crush it, 
 he said, " . . .if ever again a time like this should reappear in this 
 city, a time of uprising against the King, then I am convinced the 
 Alexander Regiment will be able energetically to force back into bounds 
 any impertinence and rebellion against its royal master." This is the 
 Kaiser's inscription upon the tombstone of the liberal movement of 
 1848. . . . 
 
 The German Empire today consists of states bound together by an 
 agreement called a constitution made, not by the people, but by the 
 rulers of the states, in 1871 at the end of the Franco-Prussian war. The 
 states also have constitutions granted by the various rulers beginning in 
 1830; the present Prussian constitution was granted by William IV in 
 1850. Under that constitution William, the Kaiser's grandfather, in 1861 
 went into church in Koenigsberg, picked up the crown from the altar, 
 placed it upon his own head and declared in a loud voice : "I receive 
 this crown from God's hand and from none other." 
 
 Bismarck says that the Prussian constitution was drawn with such 
 veto provisions as to protect the status quo. In the Imperial constitution 
 of 1871, the veto has the same effect. The status quo was autocratic and 
 there has been no change. The character of the imperial constitution is 
 denned by German statesmen. The Crown Prince Frederick expecting 
 the death of his father, asked Bismarck if he would remain in office in 
 case of a change on the throne. Bismarck says he answered that he 
 would on two conditions, the first of which was "no parliamentary 
 government." 
 
 Ex-Chancellor von Buelow, in his Imperial Germany, written in 
 1913, says : 
 
 ". . . What we Germans need can not be attained by alterations in 
 the sphere of constitutional law. The parties which would acquire greater 
 rights, to a large extent still lack political judgment, political training, 
 and consciousness of the aims of the State." 
 
 This is a roundabout way of saying that autocracy still has its way, 
 and that the German people would not know enough to rule if they had 
 the power. Price Collier, who, though not a German, knew the working 
 of the German government as well as anyone, said in 1913, "there is no 
 such thing in Germany as democratic or representative government. . . . 
 Germany today is no more democratic than Turkey was twenty years 
 ago." The German historian Gneist says it is "absolutism under consti- 
 tutional forms." 
 
Germans in America 105 
 
 ... In 1861, Bismarck and the King wanted to enlarge the army 
 but the legislature refused the money. They spent the money just the 
 same, saying, that the legislature by refusing to vote necessary supplies 
 had laid down its functions and the King must take over the responsi- 
 bilities that they declined to exercise. Having defied the constitution 
 four years and spent the money, in 1866, after the seizure of Schleswig- 
 Holstein and the victory over Austria, the speech from the throne an- 
 nounced, says Bismarck, "that the representatives of the country were 
 to proceed to an ex post facto approval of the administration carried on 
 without any appropriation act." The legislature obeyed the order almost 
 with gratitude for the opportunity. An Anglo-Saxon legislature would 
 have shaken the King over hell-fire, would have brought him to his knees 
 in repentance, would have made him reaffirm every declaration of Anglo- 
 Saxon freedom from Magna Charta to the Bill of Rights before grant- 
 ing forgiveness. . . . 
 
 Mr. Swift here quotes from many speeches of the Kaiser to 
 his troops, among them the following: 
 
 "It is in these serious days of mourning that God's will places me at 
 the head of the army and it is from a heart stirred deeply, indeed, that 
 I address my first words to my troops." 
 
 "The absolutely inviolable dependence upon the war lord is, in the 
 army, the inheritance which descends from father to son, from genera- 
 tion to generation. . . . 
 
 To Potsdam Regiments : "Every one lacked confidence in me ; 
 everywhere I was falsely judged. One alone believed in me, one alone 
 had faith — that was the army. And leaning upon her, trusting upon our 
 old guard, I took up my heavy charge, knowing well that the army was 
 the main support of my country, the main support of the Prussian throne, 
 to which the decision of God has called me." . . . 
 
 In an address at Koenigsberg in August, 1910, the Kaiser said: 
 "Here it was that the Great Elector, by his own right, created himself the 
 sovereign Duke in Prussia ; here his son set the King's crown upon his 
 head ; and the sovereign house of Brandenburg thus became one of the 
 European powers." . . . 
 
 "And here my grandfather, again, by his own right, set the Prussian 
 crown upon his head, once more distinctly emphasizing the fact that it 
 was accorded him by the will of God alone and not by parliament or by 
 any assemblage of the people or by popular vote, and that he thus looked 
 upon himself as the chosen instrument of Heaven and as such performed 
 his duties as regent and sovereign." 
 
 Again, he said : "Only one is master in the country. That am I. 
 Who opposes me I shall crush to pieces." 
 
 Mr. Swift now describes the brutalites and cruelties of Ger- 
 man officers to their troops, the case of Rosa Luxemberg and 
 others including the Zabern case supported by the Crown Prince 
 and the Government, and he asks : 
 
106 The World War and Civil Liberty 
 
 How long would such things be in an Anglo-Saxon community? It 
 will be answered that all Germany protested against these acts, and so 
 it did; but what good did it do? The struggle was recognized as one 
 between the people and the military caste and the caste won. The 
 Reichstag censured the outrage by a vote of 293 to 54; the colonel re- 
 ceived a decoration, a reactionary Prussian bureaucrat was made governor 
 of Alsace-Lorraine ; and the people submitted and are now fighting as one 
 man with the approval of Germans in America to spread German kultur 
 over the world. . . . 
 
 In November, 1891, in addressing recruits, the Kaiser said: "You 
 have sworn loyalty to me; that means, children of my guard, that you 
 are now my soldiers, you have given yourself up to me, body and soul, 
 there is for you but one enemy, and that is my enemy. In view of the 
 present Socialistic agitation it may come to pass that I shall command 
 you to shoot your own relatives, brothers, yes, parents — which God 
 forbid — but even then you must follow my command without a murmur." 
 
 Mr. Swift contrasts this with the voluntary resignation by 
 Washington of his military command and adds : 
 
 If Germans in America will examine this question with German 
 thoroughness and get a correct answer, then they will understand why 
 Americans will never, never wish success to German kultur with its 
 divine right of kings and military autocracy; and no efficiency, inseparable 
 from such company, will ever appeal to Americans. . . . 
 
 That Germans in America, legally American citizens, bound, as most 
 of them are, by the closest ties of relationship with Germans in Germany, 
 should love the people of Germany is entirely commendable and to be 
 respected. That they should feel the deepest anguish on account of 
 differences between this country and Germany can be understood. But 
 when they go farther, as the majority of them do, and desire the success 
 of the military autocracy which brought on the war, they are joining 
 in a movement to block the progress of civil liberty in the world. And 
 Germans who are furious and insolent and insulting toward Americans 
 who do not agree with them, expect Americans to bear in silence such 
 copperhead utterances as the following which was received with loud 
 acclaim by the National German- American Alliance : 
 
 "We have no right to sit in judgment upon other nations until our 
 own actions are above reproach. Germany has been instrumental in 
 sinking the Lusitania, she was provoked to do so by England. But by 
 far the greatest blame for this horrible catastrophe attaches to the United 
 States. The underlying cause was our greed for gold." . . . 
 
 How little Germans understand Americans ! When they ask us to 
 believe that the present day Germany ought to succeed in this war they 
 are asking us to pray for a country which may be used by the Kaiser 
 whenever he wills for just such purposes as Frederick the Great used 
 Prussia when he seized Silesia; and they as little understand Americans 
 as the Kaiser did when he thought we would appreciate a statue of 
 Frederick the Great set up in Washington. Nor did they understand 
 Americans when they thought that their excuses for their treatment of 
 Belgium would be acceptable. Belgium had wronged no one. There 
 liberty was preserved ; Belgium was living her life of happiness and 
 
Germans in America 107 
 
 prosperity in a high degree. Her country was her own. When her 
 people saw their country invaded, their soldiers killed, their cities seized, 
 their homes occupied, the least the Germans could do was to treat with 
 gentleness the crazed few who exercised the right of self-defense. In- 
 stead, they did things which made it seem that Attila was back in Gaul. 
 
 Mr. Swift next discusses the recent utterances of Professor 
 Muensterberg and among other things says : 
 
 . . . He falls back upon philosophy and in describing the difference 
 between Anglo-Saxon and German beliefs says, "The Anglo-Saxon system 
 is controlled by the belief in the individual as such and the Teutonic ideals 
 are bound by the belief in the over-individual soul." He further explains 
 that, under the Anglo-Saxon system the state serves the individuals and 
 their happiness, while under the German system the individuals serve 
 the state as the bearer of national culture. This is another way of stating 
 the well known doctrine of the German professors that the State has a 
 life of its own separate from and above that of the people. 
 
 A ruler's hand is upon every teacher in Germany. Every teacher who 
 talks of politics or history must shape his words to make for the com- 
 fort and stability of Kaiser, King, military caste and official class. Who 
 fails in this will find the wolf at his door. We have now the key to 
 this doctrine of the separate life of the state. It was invented by 
 German philosophers to give a respectable appearance to the autocrat for 
 the time being, instead of requiring him to base his right to govern upon 
 brute strength. This separate life is Muensterberg's over-individual 
 soul. The Kaiser for the time being is that over-individual soul ; he is 
 that life separate from the German people and is responsible to God 
 alone. In various forms this philosophical toadyism to autocracy has 
 been pursued by German professors until they have lost the respect of 
 the world. The circular of the ninety-three professors will forever 
 remain an example humiliating to the profession of letters. . . . 
 
 When an American looks upon his political history extending from 
 the German tribes in England, in whose assembly no man dictated, to 
 Abraham Lincoln standing upon the field of Gettysburg pledging the 
 nation to the defense of government by the people, that American is 
 looking upon a mighty heritage. This heritage is not for the Anglo- 
 Saxon alone ; it is for all who come and accept it. It is for the 
 Catholic, the Protestant, and the Jew, the Russian, the Pole and the 
 Hungarian, as well as the German. But there must be no divided 
 allegiance ; no attempt to blend American political ideals with old-world 
 political ideals which have been the mortal enemies of civil liberty since 
 the world was. Americans will make it their work to preserve their 
 heritage. The struggle which shakes the world today is the old struggle 
 of democracy against autocracy. That is how England is fighting our 
 battle. Americans can sympathize with only one side in that struggle 
 and that is the side which is in unison with their whole history. If that 
 side wins, the German people will come out of the darkness in which 
 they now live and with all their virtues, abilities and means of happiness, 
 success and prosperity, will stand side by side with us in the broad sun- 
 light of liberty. If that side loses, Americans must brace themselves to 
 meet an antagonist such as the world never saw before. But we have 
 
108 The World War and Civil Liberty 
 
 this — the American is unterrified and not afraid and he is a long-winded 
 fighter. 
 
 The reception of this address was of the most variegated 
 character. Naturally the friends of the Allies were delighted 
 with it. "That was a capital address on the Germans in America" 
 wrote Theodore Roosevelt on November 12, 1915. A few of 
 the Germans in America, for example Professor Frank W. Taus- 
 sig, head of the Department of Economics in Harvard Univer- 
 sity, wrote on November 19 : "I agree with you as regards your 
 main position ; my sympathies are on the same side as yours." 
 But he asked for the sources of the quotations from the Kaiser's 
 speeches. Swift in a letter of November twenty-third referred 
 him to The German Emperor as shown in his Public Utterances 
 by Christian Gauss, Professor of Modern Languages, Princeton 
 University (Scribners, 1915) and to other authorities adding, 
 "Every act of his and every word or utterance now is in line 
 with the utterances which I quote. The Kaiser and his system 
 of Government are the offense. The German people ruling 
 their own country would not be an offense to the world." 
 Professor Taussig replied November twenty-ninth : "Your 
 statements seem to be fully authenticated." 
 
 Naturally the Kaiser's supporters were filled with bitter 
 resentment and the immediate result of the wide-spread publi- 
 cation of this address was highly injurious to Mr. Swift's law 
 practice. His German-American clients left him and most of 
 them did not return. He had indeed been warned of this, but 
 his personal interests never stood in the way of what he be- 
 lieved was his duty to his country, so he went right on and con- 
 tinued to circulate the pamphlets containing this speech by tens 
 of thousands regardless of their effect upon himself. 
 
 HUGHES CANDIDACY 
 
 In the presidential campaign of 1916 between Wilson and 
 Hughes, Mr. Swift became uneasy at the attitude of the Re- 
 publican candidate in respect to Germany. Hughes had not 
 been explicit enough. It was said he had been talking with one 
 
German-Americans Become Loyal 109 
 
 J. S. O'Leary, the head of a pro-German "American Truth 
 Association'' which insisted that the truth about the war would 
 never become known till London ceased to edit the New York 
 newspapers. This was the man to whom President Wilson 
 telegraphed, "I would feel deeply mortified to have you or 
 anybody like you vote for me." So on October twenty-third, 
 Swift wrote to Roosevelt: 
 
 There has been a growing impression with me that Hughes is not 
 frank on the German question — that he is trimming for the German 
 vote. I felt safe because I knew that you had a long interview with 
 him before declaring for him ; but in view of this O'Leary business I am 
 uneasy. 
 
 I am not neutral. I think this war is a struggle between democracy 
 and the most dangerous kind of autocracy and that autocracy must not 
 win. If Hughes is elected, I should be sorry to see him do anything to 
 make it harder for the Allies. Can you say anything, in confidence, to 
 ease my mind? . . . 
 
 Roosevelt answered on October 31, enclosing a previous 
 correspondence in August with Mr. Hughes and the latter's 
 most explicit assurances upon the subject. Roosevelt's letter 
 concludes : 
 
 I wish I could see you and tell you more than I care to put on paper. 
 We have the choice of electing Mr. Hughes or Mr. Wilson. I believe 
 with all my soul Mr. Hughes will do very much better than Mr. 
 Wilson. To elect Mr. Wilson would be to put a premium upon the 
 worst traits of American character. 
 
 So Swift supported Hughes at the election. 
 
 GERMAN-AMERICANS BECOME LOYAL 
 
 At a later period what Mr. Swift sought was accomplished. 
 As the war went on, the rights of Americans were violated 
 by the German Government to such an extent that even Presi- 
 dent Wilson was at last compelled to abandon the neutrality he 
 so greatly desired. The United States became an associate of 
 the Allies in the struggle and the great majority of German- 
 Americans, however reluctantly, joined with other citizens of 
 their adopted country and co-operated in the prosecution of the 
 
110 The World War and Civil Liberty 
 
 war against their Teutonic Fatherland. Indeed long before the 
 actual declaration of hostilities our strained relations with Ger- 
 many were gradually bringing about this result. 
 
 THE SWIFT DINNER ROOSEVELT'S LETTER 
 
 On May 2, 1916, a dinner of appreciation, honoring in his 
 life-time Mr. Swift's career past and present, was given at the 
 Claypool Hotel, Indianapolis, by a hundred of his fellow 
 citizens. Booth Tarkington, presiding, spoke of Mr. Swift as 
 "the star that guides us," and introduced Meredith Nicholson as 
 chief speaker of the evening. Among other tributes was the fol- 
 lowing letter from Theodore Roosevelt : 
 
 I very sincerely wish that I could be present at the dinner in honor 
 of Lucius B. Swift on May 2nd. Mr. Swift has combined to a very 
 peculiar degree the qualities we like to think of as typical of American 
 citizenship at its best. I have never met in public or private life a more 
 entirely fearless and disinterested foe of every form of political corrup- 
 tion. Moreover, unlike many reformers of fearlessness and zeal, he 
 has always kept a sane and well-balanced judgment. Recently he has 
 been fighting against what is even a more deadly foe to this country than 
 political corruption, for he has been fighting against the peculiar baseness 
 of moral treason which, under the guise of hyphenated Americanism, 
 has been attacking what is best and most necessary in our national 
 heritage. There has been an organized anti-American propaganda, very 
 powerful politically and even financially ; and against this Mr. Swift has 
 warred fearlessly, at a time when most men held their peace. I wish 
 I could be present at the dinner in his honor. 
 
 W ON THE CONSCRIPTION BOARD 
 
 Following the entrance of America into the World War, 
 after Congress had provided for a general conscription, and 
 while the organization was being created which so admirably 
 accomplished that purpose, Mr. Swift was appointed by Gov- 
 ernor Goodrich to be chairman of the District Conscription 
 Board at Indianapolis. Giving up his professional life for this 
 greater service, he worked early and late at questionnaires and 
 schedules, interrogated the witnesses, rounded up the "slackers," 
 shaming the reluctant, cheering their wives and mothers, now 
 persuading, now compelling the men to do their duty. His 
 
America's Debt to England 111 
 
 work and his enthusiasm in it is best characterized by his own 
 words to an intimate friend : 
 
 I never would have dreamed that at the age of seventy-four, I could 
 have found an occupation where I could be so useful. I hope when I 
 pass away, it will be suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye. I have but one 
 desire. If I could only be at the front, go over the top, and die right 
 then and there ! 
 
 It is good to have had such a man for a friend and the 
 memory of it is a priceless possession. 
 
 Mr. Edward Lewis, who was Swift's intimate associate and 
 friend during the dark days of the war, gives the following 
 graphic account of his chairmanship of the Conscription Board : 
 
 It was like a chair of civic duty and patriotism. He talked 
 to the young men who came to the Draft Board like a kindly 
 uncle. He did not scold them and he did not even criticize them 
 unless he thought a dishonest or selfish exemption was being 
 claimed and then he was stern and fought determinedly to pre- 
 vent the injustice. But where, as usually was the case, he 
 thought that they were misguided or were attempting to obtain 
 an exemption which later they would regret, he held up service 
 in the army as a great privilege as well as a duty. One man who 
 had married a girl whose family had considerable means claimed 
 exemption. Mr. Swift told him that he had been blessed with 
 great advantages. He had had a college education, he had a 
 good position, his wife's family had means, and Mr. Swift asked 
 him if he did not think that that family ought to be represented 
 in the service of the country. The young man received an ad- 
 verse decision with tears in his eyes. When he returned from 
 France with an honorable record he went to Mr. Swift and 
 thanked him for the decision which denied his claim. 
 
 America's debt to England 
 
 Mr. Swift came to the conclusion that the cause of the 
 dangerous support of German autocracy during the early days 
 of the war, was our failure to teach the pupils in our common 
 schools the history of the English sources of our liberties and 
 of our representative government. True, an American might 
 
112 The World War and Civil Liberty 
 
 learn of these sources by a careful study of English history; 
 moreover our law schools and some of our universities gave to 
 a limited number of our youth some information on the subject, 
 but it never reached the great bulk of our people. He therefore 
 resolved to disseminate as widely as he could the knowledge he 
 had himself acquired upon this theme and with which he believed 
 that all Americans as well as immigrants ought to be familiar. 
 He had indeed already referred to the long struggles for 
 liberty in England, as early as May, 1915, in his speech on the 
 military situation and again in his address on Germans in 
 America, but now he took up this special subject in greater 
 detail, first in an address before the American Historical Asso- 
 ciation at Cincinnati, on December 28, 1916, entitled "Failure 
 to Teach the Foundations of Liberty," an address which sub- 
 sequently appeared in April, 1917, in the Educational Review 
 at Columbia University. It was delivered before the Indian- 
 apolis Bar Association, Literary Club and Law School, the 
 Indiana University School of Law, the St. Clair Chapter of the 
 D. A. R. and elsewhere, and after being extended and revised 
 it was published in pamphlet form in May, 1917, under the 
 title, America's Debt to England. The following extracts show 
 the general tenor of this address : 
 
 The human aspect of this country has changed from what it was 
 in August, 1914, and for many months following the outbreak of the 
 war. The voice of the peace-at-any-price advocates headed by Mr. 
 Bryan is silent, and Mr. Bryan offers himself for enlistment as a private. 
 Yet up to a very recent date he had a following made up of men and 
 women who sang, "I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier," and who 
 fought hard to make us, by staying at home ourselves and by keeping 
 our ships at home, submit to the domination of the Kaiser now, instead 
 of waiting for his final victory. . . . Nothing but a course, under a 
 conqueror, of slow devilish torture, such as triumphant German efficiency 
 has inflicted upon the people of Belgium for nearly three years, will 
 make them believe that liberty is worth fighting for. I am thankful 
 that I was born under different stars and have the hallowed recollection 
 of a different mother. . . . 
 
 Then we had various groups of socialists who apparently had never 
 heard of Anglo-Saxon principles and who thought that the only need of 
 the world was what they called economic liberty. . . . 
 
 We had also a multitude of men busy with money-making who 
 wanted to squeeze through and preserve their gains and they ignored the 
 war and passed by on the other side, not heeding the call of liberty. . . . 
 
America's Debt to England 113 
 
 We had labor bodies that with seemingly unsurpassed selfishness 
 thought that whatever the crisis of civil liberty, the demands and laws 
 of labor came first. . . . 
 
 We had a class larger than all of the other classes together made up 
 of those who, moved by a passive dislike of England, looked on with 
 indifference at whatever might happen to her in this war. . . . 
 
 Mr. Swift confesses that he had himself once shared this 
 feeling but, as he says : 
 
 ... I came to understand that both in the Civil War and in the 
 Revolution the English government for the moment was not the English 
 people. I came to learn of the battles which the English people had 
 fought for the development and establishment of Anglo-Saxon rights 
 and of the great reward of their victories that we had reaped, which I had 
 not before learned from lack of proper teaching in the schools. . . . 
 
 The greatest apparent change of all has taken place among 
 Americans of German birth or descent. Taking them the country over, 
 when the Kaiser drew the sword they seemed to rise as one man to 
 back him up. . . . Today Americans generally of German birth or 
 descent declare themselves united behind the Stars and Stripes against 
 the Kaiser. 
 
 Mr. Swift, without discussing what had produced the change, 
 thus proceeds with his account of America's debt to England : 
 
 . . . Although we took little notice of them, we had in America at 
 the beginning of the war a body of Anglo-Saxon rights such as 
 representative government, trial by jury, no taxation without representa- 
 tion, free speech, a free press, habeas corpus, the right of petition, the 
 right of protest, the right of public assembly and many other rights 
 which make a people free. The beginning of the growth of this body 
 of rights was 1,500 years ago at the beginning of the Dark Ages and 
 all through the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages and in modern times 
 down to the Abolition of Slavery in our own times those rights have been 
 held and created and added to by the English-speaking race. They 
 did not come like summer breezes. Most of them came in storm and 
 stress. The autocrat is always and everywhere. He did his best to 
 master the English-speaking race and he failed. For many centuries 
 Anglo-Saxon skies resounded with the combat for liberty. . . . No 
 other race has such a record. Other races have their own reasons for 
 pride but this record is the peculiar and the crowning glory of the 
 English-speaking race. . . . 
 
 [Why was] our country so slow in comprehending the danger to 
 its institutions? There is only one answer. We have never even named 
 the foundations of their liberty to American youth. Much less have 
 we told them the story of the storms which for centuries raged around 
 the building of those foundations, nor of the blood and sacrifice 
 and suffering which went into the construction ; and we have never 
 mentioned the subject to immigrant citizens. Autocratic governments 
 impress upon their subjects the virtues of emperors and kings and 
 
114 The World War and Civil Liberty 
 
 princes to cement allegiance. We do not even take the trouble to bring 
 to American citizens the knowledge of the history of the rights which 
 make them free. If we did it would become a religion arousing all 
 Americans at any sign of danger. 
 
 If you ask the inhabitants of America what are the foundations of 
 the liberty they enjoy, a great majority will name the American Revolu- 
 tion only. For this situation I blame the schools and particularly the 
 grades below the high school because more than three-fourths of 
 American youth never reach the high school. For more than a century 
 we have brought up American children to hate England and this has 
 led us to slur over the history of those foundations of our liberty which 
 rest upon English soil. 
 
 We send the children out to form public opinions founded upon 
 ignorance and prejudice, and this in a crisis is an opinion dangerous 
 to the welfare of the country. For more than a century we have in 
 effect taught each generation of children that Lexington, Concord and 
 Bunker Hill were the beginnings of all liberty; and after hearing us 
 talk our immigrant citizens have come to the same conclusion. . . . 
 
 Our Revolution and our Abolition of Slavery were indeed major 
 foundations of American liberty and they are America's noble contribu- 
 tion to the list. But other battles had been fought and won, in the 
 centuries past, which educated and inspired our fathers and made them 
 master builders to build these two American foundations. The re- 
 sults of those other victories lie in the midst of us and yet unseen; 
 generations come and go in happiness because of 
 
 "Ancient right unnoticed as the breath we draw." 1 
 
 . . . No youth should leave school without knowing that our Anglo- 
 Saxon forefathers carried representative government from the forests 
 of Germany into England ; how it flourished in the hundred -moot, the 
 shire-moot and the folk-moot ; how all government was laid prostrate for 
 the moment by William the Conqueror; how starting again with the 
 Great Council of the Norman Kings, the people of England slowly 
 against their kings built up a more and more representative government, 
 which developed into the English Parliament and the American Congress 
 of today; how the people of England drove to the block and to exile 
 their kings who would rule in defiance of their laws and without the 
 representatives of the people in parliament assembled; and finally how 
 our English fathers came and planted representative government upon 
 the shores of America; how ever since, those who had known only the 
 hand of a ruler have come here and have been permitted to enjoy the 
 ancient Anglo-Saxon right of joining in the choice of representatives 
 of the people and so have become rulers themselves. 
 
 iThis and the two preceding paragraphs were quoted January 3, 1917, in a 
 leading editorial in the Toronto Globe, an important Canadian daily, with the 
 comment: 
 
 "Every sentence carries the accent of the exact scholar and preserves the 
 perspective of the historical spirit. . . . The essayist is neither blind nor ignorant. 
 To him as to every true and enlightened American mind the conflict for the 
 right of a free people to govern themselves is one conflict. The Declaration of 
 Independence is in the great series of history, and its essential precursors are the 
 Petition of Right, Habeas Corpus and Magna Charta itself. . . . The ignorance 
 and the prejudice in both the countries of America and in all the democracies of 
 Britain and the Allies will be swallowed up in the clearer knowledge of their 
 common history. 
 
LL.D. From Michigan University 115 
 
 Mr. Swift insisted that Americans had no vivid picture of 
 the mighty drama of Magna Charta and added : 
 
 When this picture is unfolded before American youth and when 
 they read the words written seven hundred years ago : "We will not 
 go against any man or send against him save by the legal judgment of 
 his peers or by the law of the land," then they will realize that their 
 right to live in full enjoyment of the liberty guaranteed by those words 
 was established by an immortal struggle ; and that when our fathers 
 came to America, no matter from what country, they stepped at once 
 into full enjoyment of that right. W r e cannot afford not to have that 
 fact and the picture of that struggle indelibly written upon the mind 
 of every boy and girl in America. . . . 
 
 Americans do know that we fought the American Revolution with 
 "no taxation without representation" as our leading war-cry; but they 
 never think of the struggle of the English people through many centuries 
 to settle it that they should not be taxed except by law which they had 
 a hand in making. Yet without the example of that fight before them 
 our Revolutionary Fathers would never have thought of raising objec- 
 tion to the Stamp Act and the Tea Tax. . . . 
 
 In the New York farm house in which I was born, great beams 
 hewn from forest trees outlined the foundations ; these were the sills. 
 Other hewn timbers extended across from side to side, a few inches 
 apart ; those were the sleepers. This massive foundation which a hun- 
 dred years have not shaken, is all unseen, unless you go into the cellar. 
 American children have never been taken into the cellar of their 
 political history where they might see the sills and the sleepers which 
 are the foundations of the marvelous and well-ordered liberty which 
 they enjoy today. . . . 
 
 In teaching history it is essential to be truthful for truth's sake ; 
 but it is equally essential that all immigrant citizens as well as native 
 born Americans realize the struggle and the sacrifices of the hundreds 
 of years consumed in building up the Anglo-Saxon foundations of liberty 
 upon which the government of civilized democracy rests today. Knowing 
 its history, they will recognize the vast heritage of civil liberty which 
 they here enjoy ; and that that heritage was not built up by America 
 alone, but is the common work of the English-speaking race. They will 
 feel in their inmost souls that democratic government is a pearl without 
 price and will view with deepest anxiety and place before everything 
 else the danger of its being shaken or checked in the world and with 
 their backs to the wall will resist every kind of encroachment upon it. 
 And now the call has come. Let no one be persuaded that there will 
 be a greater issue for America in some later war with some other nation. 
 The issue of freedom for the world is here and must be settled on this 
 battlefield. 
 
 LL.D. FROM MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY 
 
 On June 25, 1919, after the war was over and the veterans 
 had returned, Mr. Swift delivered a public address at Ann 
 Arbor to the students of Michigan University. The University 
 
116 The World War and Civil Liberty 
 
 had offered to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws, 
 which is given not for mere scholarship but for distinguished 
 services. Mr. Swift greatly appreciated this honor, coming as 
 it did, from his own Alma Mater. He was invited to be present 
 and speak when the degree was conferred and he intended to 
 address the students on the subject so dear to him — the sources 
 from which we had derived our liberties. But he did not learn 
 until he arrived at Ann Arbor that the occasion had been 
 planned as a victory mass meeting in memory of the students 
 of Michigan University who had served and of those who had 
 died in the World War, and he felt bound to change at once 
 the character of his address to meet the new situation and to 
 bear a message from the soldiers of '61 to the new veterans. So 
 he began as follows : 
 
 If I had better understood the object of this meeting, I might have 
 come prepared with a more distinctive expression of the boundless praise 
 to which duty performed entitled the 10,000 soldiers of this University 
 now welcomed home. Yet I am not sure that I regret that lack of under- 
 standing. I know what it is for the soldier to be welcomed home. Just 
 fifty-four years ago this very month we came back from the South and 
 marched through the village and our mothers and fathers and sisters 
 and the other girls made merry with us and fed us with the good things 
 to be found nowhere else in the world. And I went back to hoeing corn 
 on a New York farm. I like to think of that. 
 
 Here is what has come to me. In boyhood I saw the gathering 
 storm of the civil war when Slavery lowered over the land and prepared 
 to strike at the foundations of our government. I saw that storm burst 
 in 1861 and while I was not yet over the threshold of manhood, it came 
 to me to become at once an enlisted man. And so in the morning of 
 life I had a part in that giant tragedy. 
 
 And now before the sunset of the long day it has been given to me 
 to see Autocracy leading an onrush of unprovoked war upon a peaceful 
 world ; and I have been permitted again to stand with those who stood 
 for liberty, not indeed in the ranks where the heart of every soldier was, 
 but in the honorable duties of chairman of the District Board. 
 
 Thus it was, continued Mr. Swift, that he had twice seen 
 his country marshal her armies. The first time, her very exist- 
 ence had been in the wavering scale ; she had never faltered, but 
 with all her resources she had gone on, year after year to the 
 end. That was for liberty within her own borders. In this 
 second war she had struck for the liberty of the world, she had 
 put herself for the time under unwelcome autocratic discipline ; 
 
How We Got Our Liberties 117 
 
 she had given body and soul to the struggle; she had rationed 
 her food; the voice of the pacifist and the traitor had been 
 stifled ; to the remotest hamlet it was "work and save and give" 
 so as to win the war, and when American soldiers appeared on 
 the battle-line, it was with an efficiency so high and a bravery so 
 exalted that words could not be found to express the nation's 
 thankfulness. So America stood today at the height of her 
 glory, free, prosperous, victorious. 
 
 Yet radical propaganda was insisting that we were not free ; 
 instructors in our schools were more or less openly teaching 
 some phase of the doctrine of the red flag. When objection was 
 made it was said that we must not interfere with academic 
 liberty. Mr. Swift would leave it to the school authorities to 
 settle the limits of free speech in public education, but he would 
 insist that it was the duty of the opponents of the red flag to 
 meet its propaganda by teaching the history of the noble founda- 
 tion of American liberty. Here he set forth some of the high 
 points in that history and declared that when we had done this 
 duty our people would know that freedom was not a mushroom 
 growing in a night but that it came out of the struggles of 
 centuries. 
 
 It was for the soldiers of the University of Michigan, fresh 
 from the battlefield, with their minds trained and toughened by 
 a mighty experience, to insist that the story of the foundations 
 of our liberty should become household words, and be the pride 
 of every American. It was, further, for the returning soldiers to 
 seize upon the vital fact that only by orderly progress under 
 the law could this Republic continue free and prosperous, and 
 with their whole strength they must see to it that there should be 
 such progress. 
 
 In that hope he welcomed them to the brotherhood of the 
 soldiers of the Civil War. 
 
 HOW WE GOT OUR LIBERTIES 
 
 Mr. Swift's efforts to spread among our own people a fuller 
 knowledge of the development in England of the principles of 
 
118 The World War and Civil Liberty 
 
 civil and religious liberty, which formed the basis of our own 
 representative government, reached their culmination in his 
 book Hozv We Got Our Liberties, published by the Bobbs- 
 Merrill Company of Indianapolis in 1928. To the preparation 
 of this important work he devoted most of his efforts during 
 the closing years of his life down to the time of its publication. 
 He examined for this purpose the general field of the history of 
 the English Constitution and, winnowing the grain from the 
 chaff, used such parts of it as affected American institutions. 
 The book includes in detail an account of the long struggle for 
 freedom from the days of the Anglo-Saxons to our own time, 
 and of the transplanting of the results of this struggle to our 
 shores. Every American interested in the welfare of his 
 country should read it. The work was well received by the 
 press, long and appreciative reviews being published in the 
 New York Times and many other leading newspapers and 
 periodicals. The lesson taught by its pages is that we should 
 adequately prize and be ready to defend the precious inheritance 
 acquired at so costly a sacrifice. 
 
PART IV 
 
 Characteristics 
 
 Mr. Swift's personal appearance is graphically described by 
 Meredith Nicholson in his article, "An American Citizen" i 1 
 
 He gives you at once the impression of solidity; a person not to be 
 jostled or pushed. Of good height and substantially built, at eighty-five 
 he still carries himself erectly, walks with the air of a man who knows 
 his destination and will arrive on time. The color of health is in his 
 smooth-shaven cheeks. His smile is worth waiting for, and his laugh 
 has the ring of honest mirth. You feel that here is a man of cheerful 
 yesterdays and confident tomorrows, a prosperous farmer, you might say, 
 in town to sell cattle; or if you met him in a seaport you might think, 
 here is a fine type of mariner, a retired captain perhaps, still capable of 
 going down to the sea in a ship which he will most certainly carry to its 
 destination and bring back to the home port in safety. Such a man is 
 Lucius B. Swift, an American citizen. 
 
 His appearance was a true index to his character. His pre- 
 dominant characteristics were his sturdiness, his steadfastness in 
 what he undertook and his superb moral courage. Mr. Lewis, 
 quoting the words of William James, says : " 'Of five hundred 
 of us who could storm a battery, side by side with others perhaps 
 not one would be found ready to risk his worldly fortunes all 
 alone in resisting an enthroned abuse' . . . Mr. Swift had 
 both kinds of courage in an eminent degree." 
 
 Mr. Lewis also relates the following incident regarding 
 Mr. Swift: 
 
 "In 1914 at the age of sixty-eight he spent a whole day as a 
 watcher at the polls in a hotly contested election, and chuckled 
 as he told me that he pleasantly told some rough from a down- 
 town ward, whom the organization had sent to the precinct to 
 see if he would be of some dubious service, that they were all 
 honest folk in that precinct but that they were able to fight if 
 
 lO/d Familiar Faces, p. 119. 
 
 (119) 
 
120 Characteristics 
 
 they had to and that personally he felt quite like having a little 
 fight that day if anyone wanted it." 
 
 His aim was first of all to be a faithful and unselfish 
 citizen of the Republic and of the community in which he 
 lived. He had an inbred conviction "that democracy pre- 
 supposes the sincere interest and devoted service of every 
 individual and that the public business is every one's con- 
 cern." The compiler of this biography enjoyed his con- 
 stant friendship for nearly half a century, but it would not 
 have lasted a day had it stood in the way of his higher devotion 
 to the commonwealth. No personal interest or feeling could 
 ever budge him when it came to that. No one can read his 
 "Germans in America" and fail to see this trait. And yet his 
 nature bubbled over with the most sincere and unaffected bon- 
 homie and with deep and abiding love for those who were close 
 to him. He was the most tolerant of men with one who honestly 
 differed from him in opinion, and though he carried no perma- 
 nent rancor or bitterness even in his indignation, he was ab- 
 solutely inflexible toward those guilty of self-seeking, hypocrisy 
 or cynical disregard of the welfare of the public. When later 
 in life they assumed civic virtue and respectability, he did not 
 fail to remember their earlier transgressions. 
 
 Some of his ways of dealing with people of this type were 
 interesting. Many of them 1 made in some public utterance, a 
 confession, as Shank explaining to an audience of Junior Cham- 
 ber of Commerce members how he secured his primary victory 
 by making appointments to office ; or as Senator Watson telling 
 in detail how he had built up a machine of 60,000 office-holders 
 or seekers "ready-to-go" ; or as Bookwalter, ex-mayor, explain- 
 ing to the State Tax Bureau how three hundred thousand dol- 
 lars a year might be saved by using business instead of the 
 spoils methods. Mr. Swift hung on to these confessions with 
 a bull-dog grip and at unexpected moments published them for 
 the benefit of the community. 
 
 He sought to convince his audience by facts, solid argument 
 and fitting illustrations, rather than by flights of "oratory." He 
 
 lSee Good Government, August, 1924. P- IJ 3- 
 
Characteristics 121 
 
 was fair and just in statement, though he never minced his 
 words ; he never attempted to hoodwink or mislead his hearers ; 
 he took great care to be sure of his facts, so that in the sharpest 
 controversy his assertions did not have to be withdrawn or 
 corrected ; this is particularly noticeable when his correspond- 
 ence is examined. His words were oftenest Anglo-Saxon ; his 
 sentences, without involved construction ; his illustrations always 
 within the scope of his hearers. The reader will recall his ex- 
 planation of the Spoils System to a small group of farmers in 
 the Garfield campaign. He had a way of talking to these 
 farmers and to other ' 'plain people" which was very effective. 
 At the conference of civil service reformers held in Baltimore 
 in March, 1889, he thus describes the way to reach an audience 
 of this kind : 
 
 I once was speaking in the presence of two thousand people who 
 came miles and miles in wagons — men, women and children, who had 
 never heard of civil service reform, who hardly knew there was such 
 a thing. I said to them, "I am in favor of civil service reform." "Well, 
 what is that?" "That means good officers, that means death to the spoils 
 system." "Well, what is the spoils system?" "Let me give you an illustra- 
 tion. Here in Indianapolis there is an old soldier with a wooden leg, a 
 respectable man with a family, who owned a little cottage of his own 
 and supported his family. He carried the marks of wounds upon him, 
 and he had the respect of the entire community. For fifteen years he 
 stood at the general delivery window of the post office and handed out 
 the mail. He was put out of his place when the new postmaster came in 
 and that man walks about today with nothing to do. Who took his 
 place? Why, a young man twenty-one years old, who, through the 
 interest of his party, got the place and for no reason in the world but 
 that his father has political influence. A young girl, thirteen years old 
 goes through that postoffice twice a day on her way from school. The 
 young man gets acquainted with her and from time to time he makes 
 an engagement to meet her and take her riding. At last he takes her 
 to a drinking resort outside the city. As a result of that the young girl 
 is now in the insane hospital, but the young man is still at his place in 
 the postoffice, kept there by this abominable spoils system." Now you 
 see, that strikes these people; you can make them understand that. So 
 I say that by a flank movement, if you choose to use that term, you 
 can teach civil service reform, and whatever man, woman or child will 
 come to hear political speeches will listen to you. I do not advise the 
 use of the term "civil service reform" ; if you stick to that your crowd will 
 leave you, but you can tell them the real facts about the matter and 
 that will do what you want to accomplish. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt, who immediately followed Mr. Swift, re- 
 marked : 
 
122 Characteristics 
 
 I will be frank to say that if I had the power to put the 
 question with the force that Mr. Swift has put it, I should doubtless 
 have spoken of it far more often than I have done. 1 
 
 Swift spoke the thought that was in him just as he felt it 
 without regard to the effect of his words upon his own interest 
 and he had little patience with others (especially the mealy- 
 mouthed politicians) who hardly dared express an opinion on 
 any subject before the party had spoken lest it might displease 
 some supporter. 2 
 
 While he was an idealist he was no mere visionary. A 
 project must have some well-grounded hope of realization or he 
 would not embark on it. In this he much resembled Theodore 
 Roosevelt. Once when a fantastic enthusiast proposed to go to 
 Indianapolis and arouse a crusade in behalf of a new law for 
 a "State Employment [instead of a Civil Service] System" 
 asking a group of leading men and women to "get a live com- 
 mittee, select officers, hire a secretary, raise $10,000, make 
 alliances," et cetera, he wrote (June 4, 1925) rather dryly: "I 
 don't believe Mr. A's plan would be successful" and declined to 
 join the movement. When the enthusiastic gentleman persisted 
 and asked to be introduced "to the right person, not a woman, 
 not a clergyman, not a professor, but an Indianapolis lawyer 
 or business man, about 35 to 40 years old, of good social stand- 
 ing and some influence," et cetera, he answered that there was 
 no use coming to Indianapolis on such an errand. 
 
 One who knew him well says : 
 
 A characteristic very amusing to Mr. Swift's friends was his 
 assumed ignorance of subjects that he did not care to discuss. For 
 many years he used to ask genially as if he had never heard of it before, 
 "What is Philosophy?" and he never admitted any understanding of 
 what the gentlemen meant who wished to revive civil service reform 
 under a new title such as "Personnel Administration" or "Public 
 Employment Service." 
 
 He had his full measure of ambition; he craved success and frankly 
 enjoyed it when he believed he had won it. He was not unaware of his 
 own qualities; but he could not and would not stoop to conquer. His 
 
 iCivil Service Reformer, March, 1889, pp. 31, 32. 
 
 2 For instance he sent a controversial pamphlet to two of these who wrote 
 thanking him for his "most interesting" document but saying not a word of what 
 they thought of it, whereupon he wrote in pencil on one reply "prudent" and on 
 the other "trebly prudent." 
 
Characteristics 123 
 
 was almost a clairvoyant understanding of what were the limitations im- 
 posed upon his undertakings through life; and in no way was his judg- 
 ment finer than in his quick recognition and prompt submission to these 
 limitations. He lost no vitality or force in futile schemes or in useless 
 complaints or bitterness. And in the end his modest estimates brought 
 success, perhaps not great, but splendidly genuine. It gave him strength 
 during so many years of work and temptation, to keep his eye straight 
 on the goal of civic righteousness with few traces of personal selfishness 
 or aggrandizement. 
 
 It would be a mistake to conclude that he was indifferent to the 
 elation of speaking to a great audience and that he always preferred the 
 "small towns and villages" to which he asked to be assigned during 
 the Bryan campaign, but no group was too small nor any occasion too 
 modest to enlist his best efforts. 
 
 Under stress of defeat he was always serene; during his later 
 years this became more marked ; to those who knew him best, it seemed 
 perhaps exaggerated, more than he actually felt. As a good soldier, he 
 meant to go out with the drums beating. 
 
 As his realization deepened with the oncoming years that his 
 physical forces were growing less and that his fighting days were over 
 he increased the number of things over which he declared with a bang 
 of his fist that he "should not worry"; he more and more deprecated 
 the attitude of alarmist or of pessimist ; his optimism to a close observer 
 sometimes seemed a little strained and underneath his serenity he did 
 have apprehensions not to be downed — for instance, over the municipal 
 situation and the disasters possible in public life should the people 
 continue indifferent and callous. There was once a moment when one 
 near him had to see his very soul torn with anguish over his feebleness, 
 when the forces of evil and rapacity seemed on the threshold of seizing 
 the Sanitation plant and sweeping out the loyal and efficient guards 
 who had so far barred the way. 
 
 He belonged early in life to the increasing army of sinus sufferers 
 and long summer vacations were necessary to keep him in working trim. 
 He is described by one who knew him, as a past-master in the 
 philosophy of travel ; whatever the weather, too much rain or too 
 little, too hot or too cold, his letters always insisted that it did not 
 interfere; whatever the people, a "dull" crowd or a "silly" crowd he 
 seemed always to find the exceptions ; the coasts of Maine and Massa- 
 chusetts, Watch Hill, Lake George, the mountains of Virginia never 
 failed to put an edge on both mind and body. 1 
 
 At his death came expressions from many of his young friends as to 
 how much at ease they felt in his company; how there seemed to be 
 no barriers in age to sympathy. He appraised youth as of many sorts. 
 Anyone who showed signs of a civic conscience gave him particular 
 joy and he made it his duty to aid and abet its growth. He would not 
 even discuss any possibility that when the coming amazing responsibilities 
 were faced by our younger generation, it would not rise to meet them. 
 
 1 ^ n r August, x 9o8, when he was on a visit with Silas Burt and others to the 
 home of George McAneny and Doctor Jacobi at Bolton Landing on Lake George, 
 he thus writes to his wife: "Night before last we went to the dance at the 
 aagam ore. The rest came away in the middle of it but McAneny and I stayed to 
 the end and were brought home in a beautiful launch by two young ladies. (I 
 am just now going to their house to lunch.) It was 3 A. M. when I blew out my 
 candle. 
 
 There were frequent dinner-dances at his home at Indianapolis in which he 
 and Mrs. Swift participated but they ceased when the World War came on and 
 were not afterward renewed. 
 
124 Characteristics 
 
 His home life was simple but ideal. A modest dwelling on 
 a quiet side street, its walls hung with interesting and artistic 
 engravings and some exquisite Japanese prints, with good 
 literature in a small compact library — its chief charm was the 
 kind of people you were sure to meet there almost to the very 
 last day of a long life in which good cheer and hospitality always 
 pervaded the home. 
 
 The guests of the Swifts were of the most varied character 
 and all were interesting people. In addition to those residing 
 in his own city there were army officers stationed there, pro- 
 fessors in Indiana University at Bloomington, in Butler College, 
 in Notre Dame and many other institutions of learning. His 
 friends, Professors Taussig, of Harvard, and Farnam, of Yale, 
 were guests ; also John J. Chapman, Lewis J. Ehrich and others, 
 at the time when Bryan's free silver doctrines menaced the 
 country. When his own National Civil Service Reform League 
 came to Indianapolis, Charles J. Bonaparte, Richard H. Dana 
 and other leaders of the movement were entertained by the 
 Swifts. When the Anti-Imperialists met there, Moorfield 
 Storey, Oswald Villard and others visited them and on another 
 occasion, Julia Marlowe, who was later Mr. Swift's client in a 
 libel suit against an Indianapolis paper. When the National 
 Convention of Charities and Corrections was held, Thomas 
 Mott Osborne, Julia C. Lathrop and others dined with the 
 Swifts. To some readers these may be mere names but those 
 who knew them will understand the character of the entertain- 
 ments at the little house on Fourteenth Street, where the dinner 
 guests were strictly limited to ten persons. 
 
 There were others from distant lands, among these Pro- 
 fessor and Abbe Ernst Dimnet, of Paris ; but perhaps the one 
 whom Mr. Swift enjoyed as greatly as any other, and who 
 came frequently was Wong Kai Kah, Imperial Chinese Com- 
 missioner to the Exposition at St. Louis, a graduate of Yale, 
 who first came to Indianapolis to speak on Chinese poetry, then 
 captured the city and brought his family to live there. A later 
 guest was his official superior, Prince Pu Lun, who was invited 
 to see a modest American home, which he gravely examined 
 
Characteristics 125 
 
 from kitchen to maid's bedroom, and who once said his title 
 was a thing gladly to be exchanged for Mr. Wong's accomplish- 
 ments. 
 
 The conversation at the dinners and other reunions was 
 lively and often merry but there was always something worth 
 while to talk about and generally some earnest purpose beneath 
 the mere flow of words. 
 
 Mr. Swift died on the third of July, 1929, at his home, from 
 a stroke of paralysis which occurred two days before and from 
 which he did not recover consciousness. 
 
 As Meredith Nicholson says : "His was a full life, a life 
 of usefulness, void of low aims and mean ambitions." 
 
 There are comparatively few men who are wise enough to 
 know that the greatest measure of happiness, even for them- 
 selves, is found by losing themselves in their efforts for the 
 welfare of others — of the community, the nation or the world. 
 These have within them the well-spring of lasting felicity. 
 While no man can always be free from sorrow and anxiety, yet 
 those who are most at peace with themselves have found the 
 fullest enjoyment in their own lives as well as the respect of 
 others. In spite of its occasional disappointments and hopes 
 not yet completely realized, the career of Lucius B. Swift was 
 a success. Few men have known better how to live. 
 
 He was not connected with any church. At his funeral the 
 services were conducted by three of his old and intimate friends. 
 He lay behind his country's flags and went out to the sound of 
 "taps" to which as a youth he had so often listened in the 
 Civil War. 
 
 He did not seek religious discussions. These too often 
 tended "to heat rather than light" and he found them unprofit- 
 able. He was far from being a fundamentalist and realized that 
 most of the great religious organizations in matters of faith and 
 doctrine were in a state of transition ; but admitting all its weak- 
 nesses and its errors, he believed that the Church was a most 
 vital force in civilization. It still held in its protective arms 
 those who never questioned its doctrines or authority, whose 
 faith had the Apostolic glow, and for such as these he never 
 
126 Characteristics 
 
 lost a tender understanding and reluctance to shatter or to 
 disturb that faith. Hence his reticence. 
 
 But what of his own religious problems ? We seem to hear, 
 "Why talk of them ?" If pressed, he probably would have said 
 and believed that he had none. In fact, he had gently, happily 
 and unconsciously been able to substitute a philosophy of life 
 in which disinterestedness was the core and salvation meant "a 
 condition of the soul reached only by some kind of self- 
 discipline" and "approached by such virtues as honor, faithful- 
 ness, veracity, justice, temperance, magnanimity and love." 
 
FROM CHARACTER OF THE HAPPY WARRIOR 
 
 William Wordsworth— 1807 
 
 Tis, finally, the Man, who, lifted high 
 Conspicuous object in a Nation's eye, 
 Or left unthought-of in obscurity, — 
 Who, with a toward or untoward lot, 
 Prosperous or adverse, to his wish or not, 
 Plays, in the many games of life, that one 
 Where what he most doth value must be won : 
 Whom neither shape of danger can dismay, 
 Nor thought of tender happiness betray ; 
 Who, not content that former worth stand fast, 
 Looks forward, persevering to the last, 
 From well to better, daily self-surpast : 
 Who, whether praise of him must walk the earth 
 For ever, and to noble deeds give birth, 
 Or he must go to dust without his fame, 
 And leave a dead unprofitable name, 
 Finds comfort in himself and in his cause ; 
 And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws 
 His breath in confidence of Heaven's applause : 
 This is the happy Warrior ; this is He 
 Whom every Man in arms should wish to be. 
 
 (127) 
 
APPENDICES 
 
APPENDIX A 
 
 POSTMASTER GENERAL VILAS AND THE BOWLING CASE 
 
 Mr. Vilas wrote to Mr. Swift in September 1885: "I hope I shall 
 ever be as willing to remove an unfit person when appointed by me as 
 if he had been found in the service when I took it." 
 
 He showed however that he was not willing to remove such an 
 unfit employee. James Dowling was appointed by the influence of a 
 Democratic congressman, to a position in the railway mail service. He 
 boasted that he had bribed certain members of the Common Council of 
 Indianapolis of which body he was a member. For this he had been 
 tried by the Council and it was found by a vote of seventeen to three 
 that he had made this boast. A majority voted to expel him but the 
 requisite two-thirds was lacking. Dowling had refused to testify before 
 a grand jury on the ground that his answer might incriminate him. 
 These facts were notorious in Indiana. Postmaster General Vilas was 
 notified of them by Mr. Swift but wrote him on September 14, 1885, 
 that it would be fair to Mr. Dowling to have notice of the accusation 
 because inquiry might put a different complexion on the case. 
 
 Mr. Swift replied stating that Mr. Burt, superintendent of this 
 division, knew the facts and had forwarded a complete statement of the 
 case to the department ; that the matter was as notorious as murder 
 committed in open daylight in a crowd ; that if formal charges were 
 necessary he would prepare them if assured of a fair chance to prove 
 them, adding that ''his retention in the face of his publicly acknowledged 
 criminality is of the greatest importance. Any influence which secures 
 his retention is a corrupt influence, and the persons exercising it are 
 the enemies of the President and of the people. Their only purpose is 
 to secure personal benefit or to bring to nothing the aims of the President 
 toward administrative reform. 
 
 "So imperative does the duty of continued protest seem to me, that 
 without regard to a future investigation I inclose proof of my former 
 assertions ; this is in the form of a statement, with the necessary affidavits 
 and other evidences and signed by citizens of this city." 1 
 
 Swift enclosed detailed affidavits and a petition concluding as 
 follows : 2 
 
 Mr. Vilas answered on December 23. 3 
 
 lSenate Reports, 1888, X, Part IV, p. 85. 
 2lbid., p. 89. 
 
 No sound business man would retain an employee who declared he had cheated 
 a former employer. The people demand that the same rule shall be applied to their 
 business, and that no man who publicly boasts that he has cheated them and has 
 become a criminal by bribing their representatives shall ever again have confided 
 to him a public trust. We therefore ask that James T. Dowling be dismissed from 
 the public service. 
 
 Lucius B. Swift, 
 Alexander Metzger, 
 Louis Howland, 
 Arthur A. McKain, 
 Lindley Vinton. 
 slbid., p. 81. 
 
 (131) 
 
132 Appendix 
 
 . . . Dowling was guilty either of having given a bribe or of indiscreet 
 and foolish speech. He denies the first, and there is nothing but the fact of an 
 indiscreet and foolish speech to charge him with. He was not convicted of it 
 by the council of the city, nor has he been by any tribunal. I am unable to decide, 
 nor to find sufficient evidence to believe, that he was guilty of having given the 
 bribe, upon the evidence. 
 
 I have no hesitation in finding that he was guilty of reckless and foolish 
 speech. The question is what effect that should have. . . . The officers commend 
 him as industrious, of good memory, as showing aptitude and taking interest, as 
 obedient, as careful, as quick, as learning distribution rapidly, of good habits, 
 especially on duty, of good disposition and neatness, orderly in his work, and as 
 a fit person for promotion, and they accordingly recommend his re-appointment. 
 
 Such a record seems to me to justly outweigh the folly and indiscretion of a 
 single speech made under excitement. Besides to such a man it seems to be 
 fairly due to afford the opportunity of mending his ways and becoming the good 
 citizen that he appears to possess the capability of. I am also assured by men of 
 eminent position and high character that they have great confidence in him. 
 Upon these grounds, I think it my duty to give him the appointment to which 
 his record entitles him. 
 
 Mr. Swift thus replied on January 16, 1886: 
 
 ... I am not surprised that Dowling is to be kept in the service, for I 
 sometime ago found out that even under this Administration if a Congressman 
 wanted to keep his "man" in place he could do so, and if he needed them he 
 could always get "men of eminent position and high character" to say and do 
 whatever was necessary to accomplish the end. Dowling is Mr. Bynum's "man" 
 and can give to him or take away from him some votes among the vicious 
 elements of this city. I think Mr. Bynum's price for the votes is dear. 
 
 I do not wish to be understood as urging this matter further, but I can not , 
 refrain from protesting against your statement of what the evidence before you 
 shows. That evidence shows that Dowling boasted of having bribed certain 
 members of our city council; that twenty-four hours later, in a different place 
 and to a different set of hearers, he repeated the same boast and wanted an in- 
 vestigation by the grand jury; that four days later still, when called before the 
 grand jury, he refused to answer because, as he said under oath, it might 
 incriminate himself, and when taken before the judge he persisted in this plea 
 and was therefore excused. I do not see how you can read over that evidence and 
 say that the offense is simply "the folly and indiscretion of a single speech made 
 under excitement." His denial, which you mention, now comes for the first 
 time. After the charges were filed he came to my office to browbeat and threaten 
 me into withdrawing them. But when I said to him, "Since you were before the 
 grand jury you have said to different persons that you did bribe members of the 
 council, and you won't now deny it to me;" he anwered, "I know I have, and 
 I never have denied it and I never will, but I didn't handle the money. I don't 
 want you to think I was such a fool as that." . . . 
 
 In the prosecution of this matter those who signed the charges have not been 
 afraid of the daylight. They have been willing that not only Dowling but all their 
 neighbors should know what was said and done. On the other side everything is 
 done in the dark. Yet the eminent men of whom you speak have no right to 
 hide their work, and I ask for their names for publication here. The people of this 
 community know Dowling well, and they would like to know, and have a right to 
 know, who among them of eminent position and high character have great con- 
 fidence in him. I say plainly that you have been duped, and it is due to you 
 and to the Administration to let the people here know who have helped to 
 bring this about. 
 
 Mr. Swift adds the following to his account of the Dowling case 
 given to the Senate Investigating Committee, September 13, 1888 : x 
 
 He [Postmaster General Vilas] refused to dismiss Dowling. The termination 
 of the case is a matter of some interest. The man was wholly inefficient and was 
 in the habit of getting intoxicated, and going out upon his run intoxicated. . . . 
 They kept him, however, in the service until the latter part of 1887, when he 
 went from Indianapolis to Peoria drunk in his car, and arrived at Peoria with 
 no mail distributed. Then he came back to Indianapolis, and, I am informed 
 upon credible testimony, allowed his car to go to Peoria and back without any 
 one in it. After that occurred, and after, I suppose, a careful investigation, they 
 dismissed him. 
 
 Senate Reports, 1888, X, Part IV, p. 89. 
 
APPENDIX B 
 
 TERRE HAUTE AND FORT WAYNE POST-OFFICE INVESTIGATIONS 
 
 The free delivery post-offices in the various cities of the country had 
 been classified by President Cleveland on January 5, 1893 (see Tenth An- 
 nual Report of the United States Civil Service Commission, p. 1). The 
 Attorney General on May fifth gave an opinion that the classification of 
 such offices took effect only after an examination had been provided for 
 the particular office to which it was to be applied, so the Democratic 
 politicians now began to get busy in ousting Republicans and putting in 
 Democrats before these examinations were held. 
 
 David C. Greiner, a Republican, was postmaster at Terre Haute, 
 Indiana, his term expiring July 7, 1893. John E. Lamb, a former 
 Congressman from that district and a leading Democratic politician, sug- 
 gested Greiner 's resignation and said if it were not given, personal 
 charges of a sensational nature would be made against him and his 
 removal demanded. At a later time a suggestion was made by Crawford 
 Fairbanks, another prominent Democratic politician, through one Mr. 
 Bauer, that if Greiner would resign immediately, no charges would be 
 made and he would be allowed his pay for April and half pay for May 
 and June. This offer was made for the purpose of appointing a Demo- 
 cratic postmaster and putting in Democratic mail carriers and other 
 subordinates in lieu of the Republicans then in office before the civil 
 service rules should take effect. Greiner refused. Charges were pre- 
 ferred and sustained and about the fifth of May he was removed and 
 Allen H. Donham was appointed in his place. Daniel W. Voorhees, one 
 of the Democratic senators from Indiana wrote to the Civil Service 
 Commission that the board of local examiners was so partisan that no 
 Democrats would apply. This charge was absolutely false but upon 
 receiving it the Commission, which had ordered an examination for May 
 sixth, postponed it until Saturday, May thirteenth. Donham, the new 
 Democratic postmaster, arrived in Terre Haute on Friday, May twelfth, 
 at about eight o'clock in the morning. A little after nine o'clock, ac- 
 companied by three of his Democratic associates and proposed appointees, 
 he came to the office of Postmaster Greiner and demanded immediate 
 possession. Mr. Greiner said that this was impossible; that the inventory 
 was not completed and he asked an extension of time until the following 
 Monday. Donham refused and Greiner telegraphed for instructions from 
 the Postmaster General and received an answer that it was customary to 
 transfer the office Saturday night after business hours and instructed him 
 to so advise Mr. Donham and conform to custom. But Saturday was the 
 thirteenth of May, when the civil service examination was to be held, 
 and if Donham waited until Saturday evening the office would be 
 classified and he could not appoint the Democrats he had chosen but 
 would have to select from the applicants who stood highest on the 
 examination, so Donham refused to leave the office as Greiner asked him 
 to do, but remained in the postmaster's room all day with his friends, and 
 in the evening he forcibly entered the principal room of the post- 
 office and remained there all night. On Friday he had sent to all the 
 
 (133) 
 
134 Appendix 
 
 letter carriers and employees except three, notices that they were removed 
 and had caused his own appointees to be sworn in, and on Saturday he 
 attempted to take possession of the whole building and exclude all the 
 former employees. Greiner telegraphed this to the Postmaster General 
 who replied "that postmasters could not employ, re-instate, promote or 
 remove carriers." The civil service examination was held on Saturday 
 and completed about four o'clock. That night Greiner delivered posses- 
 sion of the post-office to Donham. 
 
 A committee of the Indiana Civil Service Reform Association com- 
 posed of Lucius B. Swift and William Dudley Foulke at once proceeded 
 to Terre Haute to investigate, reaching that city about one o'clock Sun- 
 day morning. By Sunday night a large group of witnesses had been 
 examined who made statements in regard to the foregoing facts. On 
 the afternoon of Monday, May fifteenth, the committee had the fol- 
 lowing interview with Postmaster Donham: 
 
 Mr. Swift stated to him that the committee desired to make a report 
 of the facts connected with the present post-office matter to the President 
 and the Postmaster General and felt that it was but fair to come and 
 have a talk with him; that there had been a clean sweep and that we 
 should like to know upon what ground he based his action. He answered 
 that he did not think the law had gone into effect in this office and that 
 he felt he had the right to make these removals. 
 
 Mr. Swift then asked him how he viewed the matter in connection 
 with the statements of the national Democratic platform, that officers 
 should not be subject to change at every election, and that they should 
 not be given out as a reward for party service and also in connection 
 with President Cleveland's well-known views, Donham said he could 
 not say as to that. Mr. Foulke then said that the regulations forbade 
 any postmaster to remove carriers and asked him how he could dis- 
 miss carriers under that rule. He answered that he had not dismissed 
 any one but had done everything subject to approval at Washington. 
 
 Mr. Swift said that he had seen written notices of dismissal. Donham 
 answered that that was a mere formality and that he had done everything 
 subject to approval at Washington. Mr. Foulke said that he had intro- 
 duced some of these men to their successors and told them that they 
 were dismissed. Mr. Donham repeated his statement that everything 
 was done subject to approval. 
 
 Mr. Foulke then asked him if these men removed had been guilty 
 of any misconduct. He said that he made the charge of general in- 
 subordination. Mr. Foulke asked him in what that consisted. He 
 answered that when he came in to take possession he met with resistance. 
 Mr. Foulke asked him if the Postmaster General was not equally guilty 
 of insubordination in not letting him have possession. He answered that 
 he did not know about that. 
 
 Mr. Foulke then asked him as to the qualifications of the appointees, 
 as to whether they had had experience in the business. Donham said 
 some of them had. Mr. Foulke asked how many and he answered, 
 "Two." 
 
 Mr. Foulke then asked him why he was in such a hurry to get 
 possession, and he said on account of the civil service law, that the 
 opinion of the Attorney General held that it did not take effect until 
 after the examination; that they thought if they had possession before 
 the examination, they would have a right to make these changes. 
 
 Mr. Swift asked him if he knew every one of these new men and 
 
Post-Office Investigations 135 
 
 he said that he did. Mr. Swift then suggested that he had worked with 
 them politically and he said that he had, but that he knew them to be 
 bright and capable men and that was his first consideration. 
 
 Mr. Swift suggested that Mr. Donham did not think much of the 
 civil service law and he answered that he did not; that he wanted to 
 avoid the effect of the law but not to defy it. 
 
 The substance of the foregoing facts was embodied in a report which 
 was sent both to the President and the Postmaster General. The report 
 concluded as follows; "We respectfully submit the question whether it 
 is possible to secure an enforcement of the Civil Service law through the 
 agency of a postmaster who has thus avowed his purpose to evade its 
 provisions. Should such a postmaster be permitted to remain in the 
 public service?" . . . 
 
 A few days later this report was sent for publication to the 
 Indianapolis Journal and other papers by Mr. Swift who added the 
 following : 
 
 After a week's reflection I am satisfied that the report is too mild. The 
 whole thing was a piece of scoundrelism. Nothing less can be said of men who 
 offer an officer money if he will resign and at the same time tell him that, if he 
 does not resign, sensational charges will be filed against him. Their only object 
 was to get possession of the office, fill it up with heelers and thus beat the civil 
 service law. The postmaster had only seven weeks to serve and he had been 
 stricken blind. He refused to resign and the sensational charges were made, not 
 in the interest of the public service or of public morality, but solely as a means 
 of making vacancies into which henchmen might be put and the law cheated, and 
 to gain time, charges, known to be false by all who had to do with them, were 
 filed against the local examining board. Following the receipt of his commission, 
 the new postmaster, standing in the Government building, refused to obey the 
 explicit order of the Government directing the transfer to be delayed until 
 Saturday night; but after this order was shown to him he continued in his 
 attempt to take possession by force and delivered written dismissals to employees 
 and tried to keep them out of the building. In dismissing employees he piled 
 violations of the postal regulations upon his defiance of the order of the Govern- 
 ment. Yet this double law-breaker files charges of insubordination against em- 
 ployees who were merely trying to carry out the orders of the department by 
 performing their duties and keeping interlopers out of the postoffice. Up to 
 Saturday night, the time fixed by the government for the transfer, Donham was 
 nothing but an interloper. It is inconceivable that he can remain postmaster at 
 Terre Haute a week longer. This whole business shows the desperate expedients 
 to which those who have to do with the piracy of public office will resort. 
 
 In addition to the committee's report, Mr. Swift on June 3, 1893, 
 personally addressed a letter to President Cleveland filled with vigorous 
 denunciation of the piratical onslaught and containing the following: 
 
 I have seen many things done in politics which were censurable but I have 
 never seen a transaction so damnable as this. The managers of this work have 
 been Senator Voorhees, John E. Lamb, Crawford Fairbanks and the new post- 
 master, Donham. You cannot afford to countenance any one who has had any- 
 thing to do with it." 
 
 The report of Swift and Foulke was referred to the Civil Service 
 Commission which ordered an inquiry. Fortunately Theodore Roosevelt 
 was then one of the Commissioners and he was delegated to make the 
 investigation. He went to Terre Haute, conducted the examination and 
 on his return to Washington on May twenty-fifth he made an elaborate 
 report to the Commission which was approved, and all the employees 
 whom the new postmaster thus attempted to introduce into the classified 
 service were removed and the old employees were re-instated. The new 
 postmaster who had been guilty of these illegal acts was not, however, 
 himself removed. Doubtless his inexperience and ignorance of the 
 law as well as Congressional influence were the cause of this leniency 
 
136 Appendix 
 
 and it must be said that his subsequent administration of the office gave 
 no cause for serious criticism. This was one of the fortunate investi- 
 gations of the Indiana Association. 
 
 It was not so immediately successful in an inquiry which was made 
 the following February into the condition of the Fort Wayne post-office, 
 where the plan was to discourage Republicans from taking examinations 
 and thus to get a Democratic eligible list and then to turn out the Repub- 
 licans in office and put in the Democrats who passed. This plan suc- 
 ceeded. It was well known that Democrats only would be appointed so 
 very few Republicans applied for examination. Then began the dis- 
 missals of the men in the classified service, either without cause or upon 
 charges trumped up after the dismissal. The postmaster excused the 
 changes by the pressure for place and the statement, "Everybody has his 
 friends." 
 
 The same committee (Mr. Swift and Mr. Foulke) reported these 
 matters in detail concluding as follows : "We believe reasonable informa- 
 tion of the ground of complaint should, as a general rule, be given the 
 man it is proposed to remove before final action is taken." 
 
 By order of the Association this report was sent to the President, 
 the Postmaster General and the Civil Service Commission. The Com- 
 mission some time afterward reported that of thirty-six employees 
 twenty-seven had been separated from the service and that the presump- 
 tion was that the postmaster was controlled by political consideration, 
 yet no action was taken upon its report. 
 
 Postmaster General Bissell, although he was anxious to prevent 
 violations of the law seemed unwilling to punish those who had com- 
 mitted such violations. Commissioner Roosevelt however, approved Mr. 
 Swift's investigation. On February 7, 1894, he wrote: 
 
 Dear Swift: 
 
 I am glad you went down to Fort Wayne; I only wish you could go to 
 La Porte, to Evansville and to several other Indiana offices. We have had more 
 complaints from the Indiana offices than from any others. As I wrote you, I 
 have long been growing to believe that we must have some power to investigate 
 dismissals in all cases, and at least to file our opinion in the case; and I am 
 as firmly convinced as ever that full and detailed reasons should be given for the 
 dismissal of each man, and that then he should be heard in his own defense.l 
 
 Such investigations however, as the one at Fort Wayne at last bore 
 the fruit desired. On June 28, 1894, Postmaster General Bissell issued an 
 order that no carrier should be removed except upon written charges 
 of which he should have notice and an opportunity to make defence. 
 When McKinley became President he promulgated a similar rule in 
 regard to all employees of the Government and at a still later period, 
 August 24, 1912, this was enacted into law. 
 
 lAs President, however, Mr. Roosevelt afterward modified this view. 
 
APPENDIX C 
 
 PORTO RICAN TARIFF 
 
 In the winter of 1899- 1900 a project was introduced into Congress 
 to establish a tariff on our commerce with Porto Rico, thus indirectly 
 imposing taxation upon the people of that island without their consent. 
 The excuse was that the money was needed for education, road building 
 and other activities in Porto Rico. Many Congressmen, as well as 
 President McKinley, had previously opposed such a tariff but had ap- 
 parently changed front and now supported it. 
 
 The idea was so revolting to Mr. Swift that he sent indignant 
 letters to his Congressmen in regard to it. In one of these, written 
 March I, 1900, just after the House had acted favorably upon the project, 
 to Jesse Overstreet, the representative from the Indianapolis district, he 
 said : 
 
 There are few more disgraceful pages in our history than that written 
 yesterday by the House of Representatives. I can think of no comparison but the 
 Stamp Act. Congressmen seem to have gone mad. There is a greater thing 
 than education or roads or money and that is justice. No one will believe that this 
 shift of Congress and the President from one side to the other was caused by the 
 need of revenue. Porto Rico must get schools and roads as other communities 
 do, largely by local taxation, or go without them. I cannot conceive that 
 congressmen are ignorant of public opinion. They seem determined in spite of 
 that opinion to cram this thing down our throats. No one will be more surprised 
 at the result than they will be, unless it is the President. The people like a 
 President, when he puts his foot down, to keep it there and not go to lobbying 
 for the other side. . . . 
 
 He also addressed the following to Senator Fairbanks : 
 
 Three things can avert Republican defeat in Indiana this year: free trade 
 for Porto Rico, an adequate beginning of legislation against great corporations 
 called trusts and a reasonable redemption of the civil service pledge. The talk of 
 Indiana Congressmen that the people at home do not understand matters may as 
 well cease. All human understanding has not moved to Washington. Indeed we 
 think we have a pretty clear comprehension of certain principles which have 
 been bragged about for something over a hundred years and we intend to stick 
 to those principles. I must assure you that free trade between Porto Rico and 
 the rest of the country does not admit of suspension for a single hour. 
 
 Fortunately free trade with Porto Rico was maintained. 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS STREET RAILWAY FRANCHISE 
 
 Another matter in which Mr. Swift was deeply interested was the 
 wasteful concession of the Indianapolis Street Railway franchise to a 
 private corporation. He prepared and circulated a pamphlet on this 
 subject in which he detailed the whole past history of the street railway 
 and its financial transactions. He added : 
 
 It is said that the fooling away of the street railway franchise cannot be 
 charged to any one party. I am not seeking to charge it to any party; but 
 when a government has the controlling power and acts, we must hold that 
 government responsible. 
 
 The reader of these pages might well ask why so little of reform 
 efforts within his city's gates? Was Mr. Swift indifferent? Far from 
 
 (I37J 
 
138 Appendix 
 
 it. Whenever the occasional flurry over a bad mayor or a corrupt 
 machine offered a chance to protest, he was there ; but it led nowhere ; 
 there might follow a period of rest with surface decency. But so 
 long as the foundation of city government remained in the national 
 political machines, so long as their workers (always on the job) were 
 maintained by loot, permanent cleansing was hopeless; such Tammany 
 foundations at their decentest cost fabulously. To convert politicians who 
 were thus watchful for personal pelf would require the unflagging zeal 
 of many men for many years. Swift realized that it was first necessary 
 to wipe out the party machine and the ward worker, fed from the 
 public trough. 
 
 THE MILITARY SITUATION 
 
 On May 25, 191 5, not long after the outbreak of the World War, 
 he read before the Economic Club of Indianapolis an address on "The 
 Military Situation in the United States" in which he said : 
 
 No man can tell what may come against us after the present war is over. 
 Whatever hostile array can come possibly, may come actually; we must prepare 
 for that. We are compelled to recognize the fact that we are no longer immune 
 from attack by reason of isolation, and we have not only our own country but 
 the Monroe Doctrine and the Panama Canal to take care of. The people of the 
 United States will make no preparation for aggression but they ought to refuse to 
 be left in a helpless condition against the strongest aggressor who can come, 
 such a condition for instance as when the British landed in 1814 and burned the 
 public buildings in Washington. 
 
 I saw the gathering of the hosts when Fort Sumter was fired on in 186 1. 
 I saw the painful process of creating in the midst of war, an army out ot 
 absolutely raw material with its enormous losses of lives and money. But where 
 a hundred thousand were then raised, a million must now be forthcoming — in 
 case of war. I shall not enter into the field of the experts, but after some con- 
 siderable experience in the ranks, I shall venture to say that a man who goes 
 into battle knowing that he can hit what he shoots at goes in with his courage 
 ten times braced. 
 
APPENDIX D 
 
 ADDRESSES AT UNIVERSITIES IN INDIANA 
 
 On February 7, 1923, Mr. Swift delivered the Founders' Day ad- 
 dress at Butler University, Indianapolis. His subject was "The Call of 
 the World to America." He reviewed the history of the great world 
 conquerors, referred to the recent extinction of Armenia by Turkish arms 
 and massacre, and continued : 
 
 And so, while a conqueror is loose or while the conquering spirit lives, the 
 world is driven and will be driven from war to war. Today the entire Christian 
 world is against war. How, then, shall we stop war? To speak softly all are 
 agreed and pacifists believe that will make an end of war, if it is followed up by 
 throwing away arms. That is a pleasant vision, but it ignores common sense 
 and common knowledge of men and nations; the Peace Ship sailing December 
 4, 1915, with its motto "Out of the Trenches by Christmas" is an example. 
 Turning to another well-meaning class, I read in a sermon the other day that 
 if all men have Jesus in their hearts there will be no more war. The teachings 
 of Jesus are everlasting, but the Turk does not and never will have them in his 
 heart; he has Mahomet and a God who justifies killing Christians. Yet in the 
 presence of the Turk and the Red Army threatening to rend the Christian 
 world, our pacifist friends say it should disarm, and so doing be safe. . . . 
 
 If you live within reach of a people possessed of the will to conquer, you 
 will not pacify them by making yourself helpless. If you are wise, you will carry, 
 not necessarily a big stick, but a stick big enough for adequate blows in defense. 
 That is the first rule to guide our own non-predatory nation, and that is the only 
 rule to guide teaching in our schools and colleges. Strong as is the determina- 
 tion to have no more wars, the fighting spirit of our youth must not be 
 weakened. . . . 
 
 Having guarded the safety of our established institutions, if we stop here, 
 we leave our work half done. . . . 
 
 It was in the air for years that sooner or later we would have war with 
 Japan and our greatest men regarded it as possible. That atmosphere con- 
 tinued after the war and we set about building the largest fleet in the world. 
 Then came an epoch in American history — the Washington Conference. At 
 the opening of that conference President Harding said: "Our hundred millions 
 frankly want less of armament and none of war." Balfour picked three words 
 from that address, "Simplicity, Honesty, Honor," and proposed them as the 
 motto of the conference. Secretary Hughes said: "The world looks to this con- 
 ference to relieve humanity of the crushing burden created by competition in 
 armament." The opening words and proposals of the conference sent a thrill of 
 joy all over the civilized world, and as it went on, step by step, to the end, it 
 was followed by world approval. 
 
 An enormous reduction in warship building and armament w,as agreed to and 
 is being carried out by Japan, England and America. Passing to the Pacific the 
 conference performed a miracle. Nine powers signed an agreement embodying 
 the principle of the Open Door and the maintenance of the integrity of China. 
 Japan gave up Shantung and England Wei Hai Wei. Japan came to the con- 
 ference suspicious and wary and went home to lead the world in the performance 
 of her new obligations. China came in her darkest hour and went all the way 
 home in sunlight. The war cloud over the Pacific has vanished and America and 
 Japan meet as friends, believing in their mutual fairness. A vital triumph of the 
 conference was the establishment among its members of confidence in the 
 sincerity of one another. The next and equally great triumph was that the 
 nations who took part cast out the conquering spirit. . . . 
 
 Since those days of hope realized, many months have passed and the world 
 is asking what next? Had America only one move to make? While we wait 
 the world is seething again and all the good done by the Washington Conference 
 threatens to become an oasis overwhelmed by a storm of war. . . . 
 
 Our isolation has left us not in all respects well fitted. Walter H. Page 
 said that in foreign affairs some American representatives needed to substitute 
 courtesy for rudeness. Elihu Root speaking before the Civic Federation a few 
 days ago in New York said that the voters of the nation needed education in 
 foreign affairs. Our papers hand out insults to foreign nations and in congress 
 a member, for the sake of a few votes in his home town, not infrequently in 
 
 (139) 
 
140 Appendix 
 
 speech or by resolution, commits the grossest indignity upon a friendly people. 
 We must all enter the school of foreign affairs and you, the students of Butler, 
 must help to fill the educational gap. . . . 
 
 At this late moment there remain some noisy and shallow demands for 
 continued national isolation — a preachment up and down the land that we must 
 make no political agreements with any other nation. The chief argument in its 
 support is Washington's advice against "entangling alliances" with foreign nations. 
 Was the political agreement with Britain, now over a century old, not to fortify 
 the Canadian border an entangling alliance? What would Washington have 
 said to that? Was the Washington Conference which was a political agreement 
 with other nations to have peace instead of war in the Pacific and to cut down 
 fleets, by which we have already saved one hundred and eighty million dollars, 
 an entangling alliance? 
 
 Notwithstanding all of the foregoing the country has today absolute freedom of 
 action. It is confronted by a world, in great part, on the brink of chaos. There 
 is a breach in the ramparts of order, which the United States of America alone can 
 fill. The meanest and most selfish words found in our language today are in 
 the phrase "For America and for America Only." 
 
 At the close of the war America held an enviable position. The world 
 literally turned to her in moral need of her counsel. It is not boastful for an 
 American to say that she deserved it. It was not alone that she fought the war 
 through without price. It was an American, John Hay, who began, as was 
 stated from this platform a year ago today, to write the Sermon on the Mount 
 into our dealings with other peoples. H was the first of that line of American 
 statesmen including such men as Elihu Root and Walter H. Page, who dealt with 
 a foreign nation as one honest man deals with another. They have placed 
 America as far apart as the poles from the Machiavellian diplomacy of Metternich 
 and Talleyrand and Bismarck, which knew no Simplicity, no Honesty, no 
 Honor. . . . 
 
 Ever since the end of the war when our overseas army came home asking 
 nothing and bringing nothing but their guns and their victorious flag, the strained 
 and tired eyes of our rent and torn allies have turned to us. More than four 
 years have passed; civilization seems powerless to right itself and the call of the 
 world thunders louder than ever and there is a new and rising public opinion 
 which says that the call must be answered. It is America's burden and we 
 must take it up. 
 
 Mr. Swift delivered another address to the students of Indiana Uni- 
 versity at Bloomington on April 5, 1923, entitled "Economics and World 
 Politics," on the occasion of the dedication of Commerce Hall. In this 
 he reviews the triumphs and general fairness of American diplomacy 
 from the days of the mission of Pinckney and John Marshall to the 
 French Directory down through the Alabama Arbitration and the 
 negotiations leading to the open door in China and the Washington Con- 
 ference, and continues : 
 
 Shall we go on? I feel bound to repeat what I have said before, that I am 
 not a pacifist. I have a modest Civil War record of which I am proud. Our 
 late overseas army struck one of the most righteous blows it was ever given to 
 human beings to strike. While conquerors can raise armies or while grasping 
 nations act upon the principle that might makes right, wars will have to be 
 fought, and so long as that is true there must be a trained fighting spirit in 
 America. ... On the other hand, there suddenly appears from Washington 
 hard-boiled propaganda in these words: 
 
 "America's prosperity would be hurt by the return of Europe to normalcy. 
 Restoration of production in Europe means less exports from this country." 
 
 I do not believe that the American people will be satisfied with the brutal 
 selfishness of that statement or with its economic unsoundness. 
 
 We must go on. As to methods of procedure, no single one can be urged 
 as the only method; nor can any man be allowed to say that we must enter by a 
 certain door or not at all. The Washington Conference method has won its 
 spurs. Only blind prejudice will turn us away from the World Court with its 
 open door to international justice. . . . 
 
 The desire to do right, such as ruled the Washington Conference, must be 
 made the controlling spirit of this and all other international methods. If that 
 can be, no coercion will be necessary; if that cannot be, then, the methods will 
 fail and we shall be thrown back upon balance of power, secret diplomacy, might 
 makes right, and shall live in the atmosphere of Overreach and in need of the 
 Long Spoon. It rests with America to turn the scale and make "Simplicity, 
 honesty, honor" the fixed motto of the world's international dealings. 
 
Addresses at Universities in Indiana 141 
 
 Mr. Swift also delivered the address at the annual Memorial Day 
 exercises of Purdue University in 1923. This address was printed by 
 Purdue University in its Bulletin, Volume 23, No. 8 (June, 1923). After 
 speaking briefly of the Civil War, Mr. Swift considered the assaults 
 then being made upon the foundations of constitutional government. 
 
INDEX 
 
INDEX 
 
 'America's Debt to England," Brosius, Marriott, congressman, 
 
 Swift's speech on, 111-15. 
 "American Feudalism," philippic 
 on Spoils System, 32-35 ; edi- 
 torial in Civil Service Chronicle, 
 40; department of Chronicle, 41, 
 
 5i. 
 Armitage, Bill, chief adviser to 
 Lew Shank, 91, 92, 95. 
 
 Beveridge, Albert J., at Roosevelt 
 reception at Indianapolis, 75. 
 
 Bishop, Joseph B., associate edi- 
 tor New York Evening Post, 
 resigns because Post tries to 
 break down Roosevelt, 73 ; 
 writes authorized Roosevelt biog- 
 raphy, 73n. 
 
 Bismarck, Otto von, autocratic 
 constitution, 104, 105. 
 
 Bissell, Wilson S., postmaster gen- 
 eral, Swift's interview with, 51- 
 54- 
 
 Blackburn, Joseph C, senator, at- 
 tacks Swift and Foulke, evades 
 Senate committee meeting, 28, 29. 
 
 Blaine, James G., opposed by Swift 
 in campaign (1884), 15. 
 
 Bonaparte, Charles J., in Civil 
 Service Reform League, 17; at- 
 tacks Brosius' defence of Mc- 
 Kinley, 62. 
 
 lauds McKinley, 62. 
 
 Bryan, William Jennings, nomi- 
 nated (1896), 59; denounced by 
 Swift, 59. 
 
 Bull Moose movement, joined by 
 Swift, 87, 88. 
 
 Burleson, Albert S., postmaster 
 general, letter to, from Swift, on 
 sinecure postmasterships, 88, 89. 
 
 Burroughs, John, at Oyster Bay 
 with Swift and Foulke, 83, 84. 
 
 Butler University, Swift addresses 
 students, 09, 139-40. 
 
 "Call of the World to America," 
 address to students of Butler 
 University, 99, 139-40. 
 
 Cary, Edward, editor New York 
 Times, in Civil Service Reform 
 League, 17. 
 
 Characteristics of Swift, 119-26. 
 
 Civil Service Chronicle, The, estab- 
 lished by Swift, 39; sample edi- 
 torials by Swift, 40, 42, 43 ; on 
 Harrison's appointment of New 
 York postmaster, 42 ; on Minne- 
 apolis convention (1892), 48, 49; 
 continued during Cleveland ad- 
 ministration, 5of f . ; thorough and 
 impartial policy, 50; on place 
 hunters, 51 ; on removals by 
 
 (145) 
 
146 
 
 Lucius B. Swift 
 
 "guillotine," 51 ; on Cleveland's 
 distribution of patronage, 55, 56 ; 
 on Republican landslide (1894), 
 56; discontinued (1896), 59-6o; 
 collection of news items for, by- 
 Mrs. Swift, 61 ; Roosevelt's com- 
 mendation of, 6sn. 
 Civil service reform, Swift's ac- 
 tivities for, 13-98; Freidenker 
 Verein speech, 15-17; "American 
 Feudalism," 32-35 ; course of, 
 since McKinley election, 60 ; com- 
 parative importance of, Swift on, 
 71 ; Swift's last words on, 96-98. 
 Civil War, Swift's service in, 3-4. 
 Clarkson, James S., assistant post- 
 master general, decapitates 
 fourth-class postmasters, 41. 
 Cleveland, Grover, supported by 
 Swift (1884), 15, 39; administra- 
 tion of Indiana civil service criti- 
 cised by Swift, 23, 24; Swift's 
 interview with, 25-27; refers 
 Swift's report to Civil Service 
 Commission, 27 ; abuses disclosed 
 by Swift contribute to defeat of, 
 29; renominated (1888), 35; side- 
 tracking of civil service reform 
 criticised by Swift, 44-47; sup- 
 ported by Swift (1892), 49, 50; 
 second term, 5of f . ; extends 
 classified system, 57, 58; com- 
 pared with Harrison by Roose- 
 velt, 68, 69. 
 Codman, Charles R., disputes 
 Swift's position on paramount 
 importance of civil service re- 
 form, 45. 
 Coercion of office-holders, charged 
 against Roosevelt, 79; Swift's 
 report on, 80-82. 
 Congress, members of dictate ap- 
 pointments, 23; "fight at the 
 trough" for patronage, 55. See 
 also Senate Committee. 
 
 Conscription Board, Swift's serv- 
 ices on, no, in. 
 
 Craven, Jay A., on Board of 
 Sanitary Commissioners, 95. 
 
 Curtis, George William, president 
 Civil Service Reform League, 
 17; letter to Swift on latter's 
 "American Feudalism," 35 ; dis- 
 putes Swift's position on Cleve- 
 land tariff message, 45-46. 
 
 Dana, Richard H., in Civil Service 
 Reform League, 17; on commit- 
 tee to investigate Roosevelt's 
 coercion of office-holders, 80. 
 
 Daniels, J. J., Indianapolis lawyer, 
 estimate of Swift's legal qualifi- 
 cations, 11. 
 
 Dowling, James T., bribery case, 
 I9n., 131-32. 
 
 "Economics and World Politics," 
 address at Indiana University, 
 99, 140. 
 
 Elliott, John L, engineer, ap- 
 pointed on Board of Sanitary 
 Commissioners, in effort to dis- 
 place Swift, 95. 
 
 "Failure to Teach the Foundations 
 of Liberty," Swift's address on, 
 1 12-14. 
 
 Fairbanks, Charles W., invites 
 Swift to reception for Roosevelt, 
 75 ; Swift's letter to, on Porto 
 Rican tariff, 137. 
 
 Fort Wayne (Ind.), post-office 
 investigation, 136. 
 
 Foulke, William Dudley, introduces 
 civil service bill in Indiana sen- 
 ate, 18; testimony before United 
 States Senate committee on civil 
 service, 28, 29 ; accompanies 
 Swift to Oyster Bay, 83-85. 
 
 Fremont, John C, supported by 
 
Index 
 
 147 
 
 Swift's father (1856), 2. 
 Fugitive slaves, aided by Swift 
 family, 2-3. 
 
 Garfield Campaign, Swift's speech 
 in, 13-14. 
 
 German-American Alliance, criti- 
 cised in Swift's speech on "Ger- 
 mans in America," 100; on dis- 
 paragement of Germany, 101 ; 
 blames America for Lusitania 
 disaster, 106. 
 
 German-Americans become loyal, 
 109-10. 
 
 "Germans in America," Swift's 
 speech, 100-8. 
 
 Godkin, Edwin L., editor of The 
 Nation, in Civil Service Reform 
 League, 17; conversation with 
 Swift on Harrison, 44. 
 
 Goebel, Julius, of University of 
 Illinois, urges German "kultur" 
 to save America, 101. 
 
 Goodwin, Elliot H., secretary Civil 
 Service Reform League, on com- 
 mittee to investigate Roosevelt's 
 coercion of office-holders, 80. 
 
 Grant, Ulysses S., administration 
 criticised by Swift, 6. 
 
 "Happy Warrior," poem by Words- 
 worth, 127. 
 
 Harris, Addison C, speaks with 
 Swift in Garfield campaign, 13- 
 14. 
 
 Harrison, Benjamin, nominated for 
 president (1888), 35; confer- 
 ences with Swift, 35-37; sup- 
 ported by Swift, 37; appoints 
 Roosevelt and Thompson on 
 Civil Service Commission, 37 ; 
 looting of post-offices under, 
 prior to classification, 38; scram- 
 ble for office under, criticised 
 by Swift in Civil Serine e Chron- 
 
 icle, 41, 47, 49; gives patronage 
 to newspaper editors, 41 ; close of 
 administration, 47-49; opposed by 
 Swift (1892), 49, 50; criticised 
 in Roosevelt's letter to Swift, 
 67; compared with Cleveland by 
 Roosevelt, 68-69. 
 
 Hatton, Frank, editor Washington 
 Post, charges against Civil Serv- 
 ice Commission, 67. 
 
 Hayti, discussed in Swift's letter 
 to Roosevelt, 74. 
 
 Hendricks, Thomas A., vice-presi- 
 dent, criticised by Swift, 26. 
 
 How We Got Our Liberties, 
 Swift's book, io, 1 1 7-18. 
 
 Hurd, Charles H., chief engineer, 
 Sanitary Commission, thwarted 
 by members of board, 90, 95. 
 
 Indiana Civil Service Reform 
 Association, Swift chairman of 
 executive committee, 18 ; investi- 
 gates abuses in Indiana Hospital 
 for the Insane, 30; investigates 
 Terre Haute post-office, 133-36; 
 Fort Wayne post-office investi- 
 gated, 136. 
 
 Indiana University, Swift ad- 
 dresses students on "Economics 
 and World Politics," 99, 140. 
 
 Indianapolis Literary Club, 100. 
 
 Indianapolis Post-Office, abuses 
 under Postmaster Aquilla Jones, 
 19-22; abuses under Postmaster 
 Wallace investigated by Roose- 
 velt, 37-38; Wilson's sinecure ap- 
 pointment criticised, 88-89. 
 
 Indianapolis Street Railway fran- 
 chise, wasteful concession de- 
 nounced by Swift, 99, 137-38. 
 
 Insane, Indiana Hospital for, 
 abuses in management of, investi- 
 gated by Swift for Indiana 
 House of Representatives, 30-32. 
 
148 
 
 Lucius B. Swift 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, introduces spoils 
 system, 34-35- 
 
 Johnston, George G., former Con- 
 federate general, Civil Service 
 commissioner, disagreements with 
 Roosevelt, 68-69. 
 
 Jones, Aquilla, Indianapolis post- 
 master, investigated by Swift, 
 18-22; criticised by Cleveland in 
 interview with Swift, 26; white- 
 washed by Civil Service Commis- 
 sion, 27-28; criticised by Swift 
 before United States Senate com- 
 mittee, 29. 
 
 Kaplan, H. Eliot, secretary of Na- 
 tional Civil Service Reform 
 League, commended in Swift's 
 last letters, 97-98; report on sale 
 of postmasterships and other 
 abuses, 97. 
 
 Kealing, Joseph B., appointment as 
 Mississippi River Commissioner 
 opposed by Swift, 64; report on 
 his political activity, 81. 
 
 Kennan, George, Swift's associa- 
 tion with, 5-6. 
 
 La Porte (Ind.), Swift school 
 superintendent at, 6-9. 
 
 Lawler, Frank, applicant for Chi- 
 cago post-office, colloquy with 
 Swift in postmaster general's 
 office, 52-53. 
 
 Lewis, Edward, describes Swift's 
 services on Conscription Board, 
 in; Swift's courage, 119-20. 
 
 Libby Prison (Virginia), Swift 
 prisoner in, 3. 
 
 Lodge, Henry Cabot, present dur- 
 ing Swift's visit to Oyster Bay, 
 73, 74', criticised by Swift, 84. 
 
 Lyman, Charles, chief examiner 
 Civil Service Commission, con- 
 
 duct in investigation of Indianap- 
 olis post-office, 27. 
 
 McKinley, William, supported by 
 Swift (1896), 58-59; disappoints 
 civil service advocates, 61-62; 
 urged by Swift not to repeal 
 Cleveland's order extending civil 
 service, 63-64; removes several 
 thousand places from Cleveland's 
 order, 64; classifies service in 
 Philippines, 64; lax enforcement 
 of the law, 64. 
 
 Madison, James, president, contends 
 removal of meritorious officers 
 is cause for impeachment, 34. 
 
 Magna Charta, little understood in 
 America, 115. 
 
 Medina Academy (New York), 
 Swift attends, 4. 
 
 Michigan University, Swift a grad- 
 uate of, 5 ; confers LL. D. on 
 Swift, 1 15-17. 
 
 "Military Situation in the United 
 States, The," at outbreak of 
 World War, Swift's address on, 
 99, 138. 
 
 Miller, William H. H., attorney 
 general, insists on Republican ap- 
 pointments, 41 ; criticised by 
 Swift, 41-42. 
 
 Muensterberg (Miinsterberg), Hu- 
 go, describes difference between 
 Anglo-Saxon and German ideals, 
 107-8. 
 
 Nation, The, influence on Swift, 
 6; Swift criticises Garfield cam- 
 paign in, 14-15. 
 
 National Civil Service Reform 
 League, relation to Indiana Asso- 
 ciation, 17, 18; action on Swift's 
 report on Federal service abuses 
 in Indiana, 24-25 ; criticises 
 Cleveland, 25; on Harrison ad- 
 
Index 
 
 149 
 
 ministration, 43 ; on Swift's ad- 
 dress criticising Cleveland tariff 
 message, 44-47 ; committee to in- 
 vestigate spoils system in Minne- 
 apolis convention (1892), 48-49; 
 annual meeting, addressed by 
 Swift (1896), 62; committee in- 
 vestigates charge of Roosevelt's 
 coercion of office-holders, 79-82. 
 
 Newspapers, editors obtain patron- 
 age under Harrison, 23, 41. 
 
 Nicholson, Meredith, chief speaker 
 at Swift dinner, no; describes 
 Swift's personal appearance, 119; 
 and useful life, 125. 
 
 O'Leary, J. S., head of pro-German 
 "American Truth Association," 
 arouses Swift's suspicion of 
 Hughes as Republican candidate, 
 109. 
 
 Ordway, Samuel H., on committee 
 to investigate Roosevelt's co- 
 ercion of office-holders, 80. 
 
 Overstreet, Jesse, congressman, let- 
 ter from Swift on Porto Rican 
 tariff, 137. 
 
 Oyster Bay (New York), Swift's 
 visits to, 73-74, 76-78, 83-85. 
 
 Pearson, Henry, Swift criticises re- 
 moval as New York postmaster, 
 42. 
 
 Pinchot, Gifford, consults Roose- 
 velt in Europe on Taft's adminis- 
 tration, 82; warned by Roosevelt 
 not to put himself in position 
 where he could not support Taft, 
 85. 
 
 Porto Rican tariff, opposed by 
 Swift, 99, 137. 
 
 Procter, John R., civil service com- 
 missioner, praised by Roosevelt, 
 69. 
 
 Progressive Republican Party, 
 
 Swift chairman of Indiana dele- 
 gates, 88. 
 Purdue University, Swift's address 
 at, 141. 
 
 Religious revivals, criticised by 
 Swift, 7-9. 
 
 Roosevelt, Theodore, in Civil Serv- 
 ice Reform League, 17; appointed 
 by Harrison on Civil Service 
 Commission, 37 ; investigates In- 
 dianapolis post-office, 37-38; esti- 
 mate of civil service reformers, 
 46n. ; remains on Civil Service 
 Commission under Cleveland, 55 ; 
 resigns to become police com- 
 missioner in New York, 56, 69- 
 70; meets Swift at Baltimore 
 conference after Harrison's elec- 
 tion, 65 ; correspondence and re- 
 ports of investigations, 65-66; 
 secures publicity of eligible lists 
 and independent members of ex- 
 amining boards as desired by 
 Swift, 65 ; discusses central bank 
 of rediscount with Swift, 66; 
 asks Swift to help organize di- 
 vision in World War, 66 ; dis- 
 cusses party independence or 
 regularity, 66; attacked as com- 
 missioner by Hatton, of Wash- 
 ington Post, 67; criticises Presi- 
 dent Harrison, 67 ; correspon- 
 dence with Swift in regard to 
 leaving the Commission, 67 ; dis- 
 agrees with Johnston, 68, 69; re- 
 views merits of Harrison and 
 Cleveland, 68-69 ; reviews career 
 on Civil Service Commission, 69 ; 
 applies competitive principles in 
 police department, New York, 
 70; nominated for governor of 
 New York, 70 ; nominated and 
 then repudiated by Citizens 
 Union, 70; Swift's letter review- 
 
150 
 
 Lucius B. Swift 
 
 ing disaffection, 71 ; as governor, 
 72-73 ; as president, 73-82 ; enter- 
 tains Swift at Oyster Bay, 73-74, 
 76-78, 83-85; visits Indianapolis, 
 75-76; consults with Swift about 
 New York postmaster, 76; about 
 Taft's nomination, 77 ; achieve- 
 ments in civil service during ad- 
 ministration of, 78 ; system of ap- 
 pointing officers to be confirmed 
 by Senate, 78-79 ; letter to Foulke 
 on coercion of office-holders, 79- 
 80; exonerated unanimously by 
 committee of National Civil 
 Service Reform League, 81-82 ; 
 compares European sovereigns, 
 85 ; death, 85 ; compliments Swift 
 on speech "Germans in America," 
 108, no; letter to Swift enclos- 
 ing correspondence with Hughes 
 as to his supposed German sym- 
 pathies, 109; letter to Swift at 
 dinner of appreciation, no; re- 
 marks at Baltimore conference 
 complimenting Swift on his 
 method of public speaking, 121- 
 22. 
 Roosevelt, Mrs. Theodore, disap- 
 proves third term candidacy for 
 Roosevelt (1912), 84; letters to 
 Swift (1910), 85, 86; letter to, 
 from Swift regarding Roosevelt's 
 death, 85-86. 
 
 Sanitary Commissioners, Board of, 
 Indianapolis, Swift serves on, 89- 
 96 ; extravagant appointments 
 and expenditures, 95 ; members 
 controlled by Mayor Shank's ad- 
 ministration refuse to re-elect 
 Swift upon expiration of his 
 term, 95-96. 
 
 Schurz, Carl, active in Civil Service 
 Reform League, 17; resolution 
 to investigate Indiana abuses, 25 ; 
 
 attitude toward Cleveland, 25 ; on 
 Qeveland's tariff reform mes- 
 sage, 47; rebuked by professor in 
 German gymnasium for liberal- 
 ism, 103. 
 
 Senate Committee, investigates 
 Swift's report on abuses in In- 
 diana, 28, 29. 
 
 Shank, Lewis, mayor of Indianap- 
 olis, 91-96; political career, 91; 
 spoils administration, 91-94; pro- 
 poses to remove Swift, 93, 94; 
 Swift's answer, 93-94. 
 
 Spoils System, denounced as Amer- 
 ican Feudalism, 32-35 ; origin, 
 35n. 
 
 Swift, Ella Lyon, wife of Lucius 
 B. Swift and his secretary, 6; 
 her important work on Chron- 
 icle, 61. 
 
 Swift, Lucius B., boyhood, 1-3 ; 
 Civil War service, 3-4; educa- 
 tion, 4-5 ; friendship with George 
 Kennan, 5-6; early political ex- 
 perience, 5-6 ; refuses to certify 
 fraudulent election certificate, 5 ; 
 The Nation's influence on, 6; 
 criticises Grant and Tweed, 6; 
 school superintendent at La 
 Porte, 6 ; on religious revivals, 
 7-9; self-criticisms, 6, 7, 8 : mar- 
 riage, 6 ; removal to Indianapolis, 
 9; law practice, 9-1 1; attitude in 
 Garfield campaign, 13-14; op- 
 poses Blaine, supports Cleveland 
 (1884), 15; Freidenker Verein 
 speech, 15-17; active in National 
 Civil Service Reform League, 
 17, 18; meets W. D. Foulke, 18; 
 chairman executive committee In- 
 diana Reform Association, 18 ; 
 investigates Federal civil service 
 in Indiana (1886), 18-24; urges 
 action by National Civil Service 
 League on abuses in Indiana, 24- 
 
Index 
 
 151 
 
 25 ; interview with Cleveland, 25- 
 27; testifies before Senate Com- 
 mittee, 28, 29 ; conducts House in- 
 vestigation of Indiana Hospital 
 for the Insane, 30-32 ; address on 
 "American Feudalism," 32-35 ; 
 interviews with Benjamin Har- 
 rison, 35-37; supports Harrison 
 (1888), 37; describes progress in 
 Indianapolis post-office, 38; re- 
 monstrates with Harrison on 
 looting of railway mail service, 
 38; establishes and edits Civil 
 Service Chronicle, 39; sample 
 editorials, 40, 42, 43 ; criticises 
 W. H. H. Miller for insisting 
 on appointment of Republicans, 
 41 ; criticises appointment of Van 
 Cott for postmaster of New 
 York, 42; praises appointment 
 of Roosevelt and Thompson on 
 Civil Service Commission, 42, 
 43 \ opposes George William Cur- 
 tis who gives no credit to Har- 
 rison in resolutions of Civil 
 Service League, 43 ; criticises 
 Cleveland's tariff message, 44- 
 47 ; criticises Harrison and 
 Minneapolis convention renomi- 
 nating him, 48, 49; investigates 
 patronage and office-holding 
 delegates, 48-49; supports Cleve- 
 land against Harrison (1892), 49- 
 50; interview with Postmaster 
 General Bissell and applicant for 
 postmastership at Chicago, 51-54; 
 commends Roosevelt's career as 
 commissioner, 56-57 ; commends 
 Cleveland's extension of classi- 
 fied system, 57-58; supports Mc- 
 Kinley and denounces Bryan and 
 Democratic platform, 58-59; ad- 
 dresses annual meeting of Na- 
 tional Civil Service League 
 (1896), 62; addresses Massachu- 
 
 setts Reform Club, 62-63; criti- 
 cises McKinley's Indiana appoint- 
 ments, 63 ; urges McKinley not 
 to repeal Cleveland's order ex- 
 tending civil service, 63-64; op- 
 poses appointment of Kealing as 
 Mississippi River commissioner, 
 64m ; association with Theodore 
 Roosevelt, 65f f. ; discusses with 
 Roosevelt a central bank of re- 
 discount, 66; asked by Roosevelt 
 to help organize division for 
 World War, 66; discusses with 
 Roosevelt party independence or 
 regularity, 66 ; correspondence 
 with Roosevelt on Hatton's at- 
 tack on Commission, 67 ; tries to 
 meet General Johnston who had 
 threatened him, 68; letters from 
 Roosevelt, regarding Johnston's 
 removal, 69 ; letter to New York 
 Evening Post on Roosevelt's 
 campaign for governor, 71-72; 
 visits Oyster Bay, 73-74, 76-78, 
 83-85 ; invited by Fairbanks to 
 reception for Roosevelt, 75 ; re- 
 port on alleged coercion of 
 office-holders by Roosevelt, 78- 
 82; criticises Taft in letter to 
 Roosevelt, 82-83 ; letter on 
 Roosevelt's death, 85-86; letter 
 to Springfield Republican on 
 frauds in electing Taft dele- 
 gates, 87-88; joins Progressive 
 Party, chairman Indiana dele- 
 gates, 88; chairman Board of 
 Sanitary Commissioners of In- 
 dianapolis, 89-96; last words on 
 civil service reform, 96-98; criti- 
 cises Porto Rican tariff, 09, 137; 
 and Indianapolis Street Railway 
 franchise, 99, 137-38; discusses 
 military situation in U. S. 
 (1915), 99, 138; addresses Butler, 
 Indiana, and Purdue universities, 
 
152 
 
 Lucius B. Swift 
 
 99, I39-4I ; address on "Germans 
 in America" and its consequences, 
 100-8; questions attitude of 
 Charles Hughes, as Republican 
 presidential candidate (1916), 
 108-9; supports Hughes, 109; 
 dinner of appreciation, Roose- 
 velt's letter, no; chairman of 
 Conscription Board, 1 10-1 1 ; 
 pamphlet, America's Debt to 
 England, 111-15; LL. D. from 
 Michigan University, 1 15-17; 
 book, How We Got Our Liberties, 
 1 18 ; characteristics, 1 19-26 ; 
 method of convincing an audi- 
 ence, 121 ; guests at his home, 
 124; death and funeral, 125; in- 
 vestigation of Terre Haute and 
 Fort Wayne post-offices with 
 Foulke, 133-36. 
 Swyft, William, yeoman, 1. 
 
 Taft, William H., Roosevelt's sup- 
 port of criticised as coercion of 
 office-holders, 79; change of ad- 
 ministration policy criticised by 
 Swift, 82-83 ; discussed by Roose- 
 velt, Swift, and Foulke at Oyster 
 Bay, 84, 85 ; on civil service, 86- 
 87; candidate for presidential 
 nomination (1912), 87; frauds in 
 electing Taft delegates discussed 
 by Swift, 87-88. 
 
 Tarkington, Booth, presides at 
 Swift dinner, no. 
 
 Taussig, Frank W., Harvard pro- 
 fessor of Economics, concurs 
 with Swift's position on Germans 
 in America, 108. 
 
 Taylor, R. S., Swift urges reten- 
 tion on Mississippi River Com- 
 mission, 64n. 
 
 Terre Haute (Ind.), post-office in- 
 vestigation, 136. 
 
 Thoman, Leroy D., Civil Service 
 
 commissioner, action in investi- 
 gating Indianapolis post-office, 
 27. 
 
 Thompson, Hugh, appointed to 
 Civil Service Commission, 37. 
 
 Tweed, William M., criticised by 
 Swift, 6. 
 
 Vilas, William F., postmaster gen- 
 eral, circular regarding civil 
 service, 19; letter to Swift, I9n. ; 
 attitude toward Dowling case, 
 131-32. 
 
 Villard, Oswald, editor Evening 
 Post, criticised by Swift, 71 ; at- 
 titude toward Roosevelt dis- 
 cussed by Swift, 77-78. 
 
 Von Buelow (Biilow), Bernard H., 
 on German constitution, 104. 
 
 Voorhees, Daniel W., present at 
 Swift's interview with Lawler, 
 53 ; false statements as to Terre 
 Haute post-office, 133, 135. 
 
 Wallace, William, postmaster at 
 Indianapolis, original mistakes 
 and subsequent improvement, 37, 
 38, 40. 
 
 Watson, James, Indiana senator, 
 Swift criticises his personal ma- 
 chine, 97. 
 
 Wheeler, Everett P., in Civil Serv- 
 ice Reform League, 17; defends 
 Cleveland, 25 ; seeks to expunge 
 Swift's criticisms of Cleveland's 
 tariff message, 46-47. 
 
 White, Horace, editor Evening 
 Post, in Civil Service Reform 
 League, 17; refers to "Black 
 hole of Calcutta" in Indiana, 25; 
 gives Schurz Swift's speech be- 
 fore Freidenker Verein, I5n. 
 
 Wilhelm II, emperor of Germany, 
 extract from speeches of, 105. 
 
 Williams, George Fred, disputes 
 
Index 
 
 153 
 
 Swift's views on Cleveland's 
 tariff message, 45. 
 
 Wilson, Woodrow, election of, 88 ; 
 sinecure postmasterships criti- 
 cised by Swift, 88-89. 
 
 World War, chapter on War and 
 Civil Liberty, 99-118; military 
 situation discussed in address be- 
 
 fore Economic Club (1915), 99, 
 138; Swift's services on Conscrip- 
 tion Board, 110-11. 
 
 Yates Academy (New York), 1. 
 
 Yates Township (New York), 
 birthplace of Swift, 1, 2; fraud- 
 ulent politics, 5.