MAYOR'S OFFICE,
BUFFALO N.Y., October 28, 1882.

GENTLEMEN:

In answer to your letter of inquiry, dated October 20, 1882, in relation to civil service reform, I beg to refer you to my recent letter accepting the nomination for Governor, in which many of the matters referred to in your letter are touched upon, and I assure you that the sentiments therein expressed are sincerely and honestly entertained, and are stated without any mental reservation.

I have no hesitation in saying that I fully approve of the principles embodied in the Pendleton bill relating to this subject, and that I should be glad to aid in any practical legislation which would give them a place in the management of the affairs of the State and of municipalities, so far as they can be mad, applicable thereto. I believe that the interests of the people demand that a reform in the national and State administrative service should speedily become an accomplished fact, and that the public should receive honest and faithful service at the hands of well-fitted and competent servants. When contests between parties are waged for the purpose of securing places for professional politicians, of high or low degree, whose only recommendation for appointment is their supposed ability to do partisan service, the people are apt to be defrauded by the displacement of tried and faithful servants, well able to perform the duties for which they are paid with the people's money, and the substitution of those who are unfit and incompetent. In this way, the interests of the party may be subserved, but the interests of the people are neglected and betrayed.

This pernicious system gives rise to an office-holding class, who in their partisan zeal, based upon the hope of personal advantage, arrogate to themselves an undue and mischievous interference with the will of the people in political action; this breeds the use of dishonest and reprehensible methods, which frequently result in the servants of the people dictating to their masters. If places in the public service are worth seeking, they should be the reward of merit and well-doing, and the opportunity to secure them on that basis should be open to all. Those holding these places should be assured that their tenure depends upon efficiency and fidelity to their trusts, and they should not be allowed to use them for partisan purposes. The money they earn they should receive and be allowed to retain, and no part of it should be exacted from them by way of political assessments.

It seems to me that very much or all of what we desire in the direction of civil service reform is included in the doctrine that the concerns of the State and nation should be conducted on business principles, and as nearly as possible in the same manner that a prudent citizen conducts his private affairs. If this principle is kept constantly in mind I believe the details of a plan by which its adoption may be secured will, without much difficulty, be suggested. You refer especially to mismanagement in schools, asylums, and institutions of charity and correction, and to the difficulty of securing the construction of an additional aqueduct in the city cf New York. Without being fully acquainted in detail with the evils and obstacles surrounding these subjects, I believe they may be remedied and removed by a due regard to the dictates of humanity and decency and the application of the principles to which I have alluded.

Yours very respectfully,

GROVER CLEVELAND