athy and understanding. At this time
propositions of civil-service reform have not even the recognition, much
less the comprehension, of the mass of the people. Their importance,
their limitations, their possibilities, have never been demonstrated: no
commanding intellectual authority has ever taken up the subject and
worked it out before the eyes of the people as a problem of our national
politics. It remains a question of the closet, a merely speculative
proposition as to the science of government.

What, then, are the metes and bounds of this reform? How much is
demanded? How much is practicable?

Not attempting a full answer to all of these questions, and intending no
dogmatic treatment of any, let us give them a brief consideration from
the point of view afforded by the democratic system upon which the whole
political fabric of the United States is established. We are to look at
_our_ civil-service reform from that side. Whatever in it may be
feasible, that much must be a work in accord with the popular feeling.
It may be set down at the outset, as the first principle of the problem,
that any practicable plan of organizing the public service of the United
States must not only be founded upon the general consent of the people,
but must also have, in its actual operation, their continual, easy and
direct participation. Any scheme, no matter by what thoughtful patriot
suggested, no matter upon what model shaped, no matter from what
experience of other countries deduced, which does not possess these
essential features can never be worth the serious attention of any one
who expects to accomplish practical and enduring results.

(Possibly this may seem dogmatic, to begin with; but if we agree to
treat the question as one in democratic politics, the principle stated
becomes perfectly apparent.)

It must be fair, then, and for the purposes of this article not
premature, to point out that the measure which is especially known as
"civil-service reform," and which has been occasionally recognized in
the party platforms along with other generalities, is one whose essence
is _the creation of a permanent office-holding class_. Substantially,
this is what it amounts to. A man looking forward to a place in the
public service is to regard it as a life occupation, the same as if he
should study for a professional career or learn a mechanical trade. Once
in office, after a "competitive examination" or otherwise, he will
expect to