Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 5.djvu/366

342 that even in the limited time now at my disposal, I have given consideration to the ideas which you advocate.

In the near future I shall hope, with the assistance and coöperation of yourself and others interested in necessary reforms in this branch of the Government, to develop some practical plan of progress which will be satisfactory to the friends of good government in all parts of the country.

In due time I shall take pleasure in considering the ideas in detail presented by the gentlemen who have made a special study of this subject. Allow me at this time to thank you very heartily for the promise of prompt and continued co operation on the part of the strong and progressive organization over whose deliberations you have the honor to preside.

Thanking you sincerely for your good wishes for the success of the new Administration, and trusting that your expectations may be fully realized, I am, 



The election of Grover Cleveland to the Presidency in 1892 was one of the most extraordinary events in our political history. During his first Administration he had estranged many of the leading politicians of his party. He had gone far enough in the line of civil service reform to alarm and disgust the believers in the doctrine that “to the victors belong the spoils”; and a large majority of the Democratic leaders and workers held to that belief. He had affirmed, meaning it, that “public office is a public trust,” and that the interests of the country are paramount to those of any party—doctrines, profession of which is regarded by the thorough-paced partisan of our