nd miles of railway; with mountains of
gold and silver; with hundreds of thousands of square miles of coal
fields; with iron enough for the whole world; with the best system
of common schools; with telegraph wires reaching every city and
town, so that no two citizens are an hour apart; with the telephone,
that makes everybody in the city live next door, and with the best
folks in the world, how can we help prospering until the continent
is covered with happy homes?

_Question_. What do you think of civil service reform?

_Answer_. I am in favor of it. I want such civil service reform
that all the offices will be filled with good and competent
Republicans. The majority should rule, and the men who are in
favor of the views of the majority should hold the offices. I am
utterly opposed to the idea that a party should show its liberality
at the expense of its principles. Men holding office can afford
to take their chances with the rest of us. If they are Democrats,
they should not expect to succeed when their party is defeated.
I believe that there are enough good and honest Republicans in this
country to fill all the offices, and I am opposed to taking any
Democrats until the Republican supply is exhausted.

Men should not join the Republican party to get office. Such men
are contemptible to the last degree. Neither should a Republican
administration compel a man to leave the party to get a Federal
appointment. After a great battle has been fought I do not believe
that the victorious general should reward the officers of the
conquered army. My doctrine is, rewards for friends.

--_The Commercial_, Cincinnati, Ohio, December 6, 1880.

MR. BEECHER, MOSES AND THE NEGRO.

_Question_. Mr. Beecher is here. Have you seen him?

_Answer_. No, I did not meet Mr. Beecher. Neither did I hear him
lecture. The fact is, that long ago I made up my mind that under
no circumstances would I attend any lecture or other entertainment
given at Lincoln Hall. First, because the hall has been denied
me, and secondly, because I regard it as extremely unsafe. The
hall is up several stories from the ground, and in case of the
slightest panic, in my judgment, many lives would be lost. Had it
not been for this, and for the fact that the persons owning it
imagined that because they had control, the brick and mortar had
some kind of holy and sacred quality, and that this holiness is of
such a wonderful character that it woul