Page:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (Volume Three).djvu/537

 Democracy faded steadily away. With all his high purpose, rugged force and iron will, the President could not cope with the social and economic powers that were rising against him. The Democracy was revolutionized, but not by him or for him. His tariff policy was wrecked by the capitalistic Democrats of the East. As Mr. Schurz had foreseen, the danger was not that the revision would be too radical, but that it would not be radical enough. Cleveland's currency policy, after a brief but spectacular triumph, was wrecked by the populistic Democrats of the West. Through the stirring politics of this transformation, Mr. Schurz supported with voice and pen the President's policies, and found some comfort in the unmistakable progress of at least one of his ideals, the reform of the civil service.

Upon the death of Mr. Curtis, in 1892, Mr. Schurz, already president of the New York Civil Service Reform Association, was chosen to succeed him as president of the National Civil Service Reform League. The words in which the work of Curtis had been described by Schurz now became precisely applicable to his own position: “He was not only president …, re-elected from year to year without any question, but also the intellectual head, the guiding force and the moral inspiration of the civil-service-reform movement. The addresses he delivered at the annual meetings of the League were like milestones in the progress of the work; … he reported to the country what had been done and what was still to be done, enlightening public sentiment, encouraging his fellow-laborers and distributing, with even-handed justice, praise and reproof among the political parties as they deserved it.” …

That Schurz should doubly succeed Curtis was a rare compliment to the mental and moral qualities of the two men. Their mutual respect and sympathy had long been complete.