for the consular business; then to be promoted according to merit, and also to be salaried as befits respectable agents and representatives of a great nation.  With this understanding, every Good Government Club, every Municipal League, every Chamber of Commerce or Board of Trade must be an active Civil Service Reform Association.  But more than this.  Every intelligent and unprejudiced citizen, when he candidly inquires into the developments which have brought about the present state of things, will understand that of the evils which have so alarmingly demoralized our political life, and so sadly lowered this Republic in the respect of the world, many, if not most, had their origin, and find their sustenance, in that practice which treats the public offices as the plunder of victorious parties; that as, with the increase of our population, the growth of our wealth, and the multiplication of our public interests, the functions of government expand and become more complicated, those evils will grow and eventually destroy the very vitality of our free institutions, unless their prolific source be stopped; that this force can be effectually stopped not by mere occasional spasms of indignant virtue, but only by a systematic, thorough, and permanent reform.  Every patriotic citizen understanding this must be a Civil Service reformer.

You may ask how far this understanding has penetrated our population.  President Cleveland answers this question in his recent message.  Listen to what he says:  “The advantages to the public service of an adherence to the principles of Civil Service Reform are constantly more apparent, and nothing is so encouraging to those in official life who honestly desire good government, as the increasing appreciation by our people of these advantages.  A vast majority of the voters of the land are ready to insist that the time and attention of those they select to perform for them important public duties should not be distracted by doling out minor offices, and they are growing to be unanimous in regarding party organization as something that should be used in establishing party principles instead of dictating the distribution of public places as rewards for partisan activity.”

With gladness I welcome this cheering assurance, coming from so high an authority.  If such is the sense of “a vast majority of the voters of the land, growing to be unanimous,” it may justly be called the will of the people.  If it is the will of the people, what reason—­nay, what excuse—­can there be for further hesitation?  Let the will of the people be done!  Let it be done without needless delay, and let the people’s President lead in doing it!  Then no more spoils and plunder!  No more removals not required by public interest!  No more appointments for partisan reasons!  Continuance in office, regardless of any four-years rule, of meritorious public servants!  Superior merit the only title to preferment!  No longer can this be airily waved