The New York Times/1900/10/7/Mr. Schurz's Resignation

The letter of Carl Schurz, containing his resignation of the Presidencies of the National Civil Service Reform League and the Civil Service Reform Association of New York, was given out for publication yesterday by George McAneny, Secretary of the National Civil Service Reform League. In a note accompanying the copy of Mr. Schurz's ” letter, Mr. McAneny says that the resignation was transmitted to the individual members of the Executive Committee two weeks ago. The resignation has not yet been acted on, but will be considered by the Executive Committee at its next meeting, Oct. 20.

The letter of Mr. Schurz is as follows:

Bolton Landing, Lake George, N. Y. September 22, 1900. George McAneny, Esq., Secretary of the National Civil Service Reform League, and of the Civil Service Reform Association of New York. Dear Sir: In my last annual address to the National Civil Service Reform League, delivered Dec. 14, 1899, in which I had to make unfavorable comments upon certain acts of the National Administration, I said: &ldquo;I frankly confess that on account of my position of antagonism to other policies of the Administration, the performance of my part of that duty is especially unwelcome to me. I should gladly have left it to someone else, had that been possible.&rdquo; This has been my feeling ever since, and that feeling has grown upon me, particularly for the reason that the conduct of the Administration with regard to the civil service, of which the President's civil service order of May 29, 1899, was only a characteristic part, calls for more and more unfavorable remark.

That criticism might, coming from me or from officers of our organization supposed to act under my direction, be liable to be suspected of being prompted by a desire to carry on a systematic antagonism to the Administration, my opposition to it with regard to other policies having in the mean time become more conspicuous.

In my opinion it is essential to the usefulness of the civil service reform organizations that their utterances or acts should not only be, as I am sure they always have been, but also appear to be free from all personal or political bias. The possibility of their not appearing so I wish, so far as I am concerned, in the interest of the civil service reform cause to avoid, especially under the present somewhat critical circumstances.

I, therefore, would ask you to submit to the Executive Committees of the National Civil Service Reform League, and of the Civil Service Reform Association of New York, my earnest request that the representative positions at present held by me, be transferred to some member or members not laboring under the difficulties peculiar to my position, and that the action of the Executive Committees be referred to the annual or called meetings of the respective organizations for appropriate action. Very truly yours, C. SCHURZ.


 * Facsimile at query.nytimes.com