tion>Frederic Bancroft, William A. Dunning
A Sketch of Carl Schurz's Political Career 1869–1906
Published by Good Press, 2020
EAN 4064066412531
Table of Contents
Journalism, Cleveland's First Administration, Literature and Business
Editor of "Harper's Weekly," Political Sage
The Rising Senator
I
THE RISING SENATOR
WHEN Mr. Schurz entered the Senate the political conditions centering in that body were very peculiar. The arduous conflict between President Johnson and Congress had shifted the center of gravity of our constitutional system far over on the legislative side, and the Senate especially had gained unprecedented prestige and importance. Through the Tenure of Office Act Senators were enabled, as never before, to influence the personnel of the civil service and thus to check and control the presidential policy in every branch of the administration. The consequences were serious. In the absence of unified and certain control the civil service had become demoralized beyond even its wartime state. The Senate was displaying an overweening hauteur as if it were the government. In the heat of the fierce struggle with Andrew Johnson these exceptional conditions had been little thought of, although they were factors in determining the acquittal of the President on impeachment, and also in inspiring the first concrete proposition for a civil-service reform. Soon after Grant took possession of the White House the relation of the Senate to the offices became a subject of serious debate.
| From the collection of Joseph Keppler |
CARL SCHURZ IN 1879
The new President, assuming that there was no longer any reason for the restrictions that had been imposed upon the powers of his office when Johnson filled it, suggested the repeal of the Tenure of Office Act. The House, always restive under any access of power to the Senate, promptly and enthusiastically supported the President's suggestion. In the Senate, however, a strong opposition was manifested. A number of the ablest Republican Senators, having supported the passage of the act by grave doctrines of constitutional law and with a serious purpose of exalting the authority of the Senate, were reluctant to reverse themselves. But Grant grimly announced that he would make no removals till his hands were freed. Under pressure of this attitude, so grievous to the spoils-mongering Congressman, and of the general desire among the Republicans to have harmony between the legislature and the new Executive, a disingenuous bill was patched up and passed that in a devious manner restored the power of removal to the President.
The debate on this subject, running through March, 1869, gave to Mr. Schurz an opportunity to put on record, at the very outset of his senatorial career, the conviction and purpose which were peculiarly to distinguish his whole public life, and to make it unique in American politics. In the effort to adjust the different views as to what should be done with the Tenure of Office Act, a proposition was made to suspend its operation for a time, instead of repealing it. This suggestion was on its face ignoble, but it received considerable support, especially from those who were tormented with a desire for an immediate "clean sweep" of the Johnson incumbents. Schurz voted for the motion to suspend on wholly different grounds. The great need of the time, he declared, was the abolition of the spoils system and of Congressional patronage, and the establishment of appointment through examination. The more the existing system and its evils should be discussed, the nearer would be the accomplishment of reform. If the Tenure of Office Act should be suspended for a time, the end of the period fixed would bring a fresh discussion of the general subject—a result wholly desirable and warranting support of a proposition otherwise unjustifiable.
The purpose thus announced naturally failed of realization in the particular form here proposed. But Schurz held fast to his policy; and on December 20, 1869, he introduced a bill embodying a far-reaching system of civil-service reform. This incorporated the scheme already advocated for several years by Representative Jenckes, of Rhode Island, but extended its provisions over a much greater number of offices. In taking up the advocacy of this project Schurz identified himself with a group of Senators—Trumbull, Thurman, Sumner, Bayard—that included some of the best minds in public life. However, many influences conspired to render comprehensive reform impossible at this time. To the majority of Congressmen patronage and spoils were indispensable instruments of party success, and party success was the sole practical method of promoting patriotic ends. President Grant, by throwing his powerful influence in favor of reform in the manner of appointments, insured the adoption of a measure in 1871 under which a commission was established and a system of examinations was instituted. But by the time it was fairly in operation some of the strongest supporters of the reform had become antagonistic to the administration, and the consequent alienation between these men and Grant made it possible for the congressional adversaries of the reform to reduce the new system to a nullity, for a time, by refusing the necessary appropriations. However, the law remained and furnished a basis for the developments of later years.
The same intellectual and political traits of which Mr. Schurz's zeal for civil-service reform was born made his hostility to the administration inevitable. His whole conception of public policy was far above the play of merely personal and party interests. He had no taste for political controversy that turned mainly on the rivalry of ambitious leaders, or for the creation of efficient vote-getting machinery without reference to the principles and the vital issues that the votes should sustain. Perhaps his indifference to these considerations was, at times, extreme for a statesman in a democracy; but it gave to his senatorial career exceptional seriousness and dignity. From his first appearance in the debates, the lofty tone of his speeches, emphasized by graceful diction and impressive delivery, at once commanded the close attention of his colleagues on the floor and of large audiences in the galleries. Every formal speech also had much of the
