It is not, then, reasonable, under the conditions of our Government and in the actual situation, to expect a President to go much faster or much further than public opinion.  But executive action can aid most effectively the development and movement of that opinion, and the most decisive reform measures that the present administration might take would be undoubtedly supported by a powerful public sentiment.  The educative results of resolute executive action, however limited and incomplete in scope, have been shown in the two great public offices of which I have spoken, the New York custom-house and the New York post-office.  For nearly three years the entire practicability of reform has been demonstrated in those offices, and solely by the direction of the President.  The value of such demonstrations, due to the Executive will alone, carried into effect by thoroughly trained and interested subordinates, cannot be overestimated.  But when they depend upon the will of a transient officer and not upon a strong public conviction, they are seeds that have no depth of soil.  A vital and enduring reform in administrative methods, although it be but a return to the constitutional intention, can be accomplished only by the commanding impulse of public opinion.  Permanence is secured by law, not by individual pleasure.  But in this country law is only formulated public opinion.  Reform of the Civil Service does not contemplate an invasion of the constitutional prerogative of the President and the Senate, nor does it propose to change the Constitution by statute.  The whole system of the Civil Service proceeds, as I said, from the President, and the object of the reform movement is to enable him to fulfil the intention of the Constitution by revealing to him the desire of the country through the action of its authorized representatives.  When the ground-swell of public opinion lifts Congress from the rocks, the President will gladly float with it into the deep water of wise and patriotic action.  The President, indeed, has never been the chief sinner in the Spoils System, although he has been the chief agent.  Even President Jackson yielded to party pressure as much as to his own convictions.  President Harrison sincerely wished to stay the flood, but it swept him away.  President Grant doubtfully and with good intentions tested the pressure before yielding.  President Hayes, with sturdy independence, adhered inflexibly to a few points, but his party chiefs cursed and derided him.  President Garfield,—­God bless and restore him!—­frankly declares permanent and effective reform to be impossible without the consent of Congress.  When, therefore, Congress obeys a commanding public opinion, and reflects it in legislation, it will restore to the President the untrammelled exercise of his ample constitutional powers according to the constitutional intention; and the practical question of reform is, How shall this be brought about?