Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 5.djvu/404

380 without influential backing, the man who depends entirely upon his own worth, be sure to have his fair and equal chance. Only then will public office be truly open to the people. Only then will our public service be administered upon principles truly democratic.

If the lowly, the laboring men, the men without influence, understood this competitive system—as some day, I trust, they will understand it—they would be aware that this alone opens to them and their children the road to public employment consistently with their self-respect and dignity as men, and that, without it, they will never be able to attain office unless becoming the political slave of somebody. They would be aware that every place withdrawn from honest competition and put within the discretion of the appointing-power is, as a rule, put beyond their reach, because it can be attained only by persons having the favor and influence of the powerful behind them. And knowing this, they would jealously watch every place removed from the honest competitive rule as a place stolen from them; and they would hold to stern account every political party seeking to transfer offices from competitive examinations conducted by independent examiners to the discretion of the appointing officer, and thus to expose it to political pressure and arbitrary favor; for they will have a right to denounce that party as seeking to rob the poor, the lowly, the men without backing, and their children, of their equal chance, and as playing directly into the hands of the aristocracy of influence.

Now, sir, apply what I have said to our present civil service law and to the change proposed in it by the bill before you. The existing law is based upon the right principle—that is to say, it provides for competitive examinations open to all, the examinations to be conducted by civil service boards, which are indeed appointed