Civil Service Reform (Original Broadside - circa 1881)

Civil Service Reform Association (Boston, Mass.); Moorfield Storey; Charles Francis Adams; Francis Parkman

Civil Service Reform Association (Boston, Mass.), 1881

[American Civil Service Reform : Massachusetts : Good Governance in the Gilded Age]  Original Broadside. Sheet in excellent condition.  Printed on blue paper.  Two folds.  Dimensions: 14 1/2 x 21 inches. Small ink stamp on bottom left corner (dated 1881).   

The broadside lays out the principles of good government. It offers quotes from President Grant, and Gen. Garfield about the importance of civil service reform; the example of success in England; explains the core reason for the Civil Service Reform Association; a brief view of the Association's constitution; and a list of the principal officers.  

The Association's President, Moorfield Storey and other "Mugwumps" were strongly in favor of anti-corruption / good government reforms advocated by Grover Cleveland and other reformers.  "The principles' of the Association were as follows: "That while certain officers of the Government should be in sympathy with the policy of the Administration the routine business should be conducted on business principles; that officers should be appointed on account of fitness for the work to be done, and should be continued in office as long as they do that work well' that offices should not be used for partisan purposes; that Representatives are chosen to legislate, and their time should not be given to the distribution of patronage; that the adoption of the well-devised system, carrying out these principles, will insure better administration and better legislation."  Also includes a reprinted article on the Association from the New York Times, February 19, 1881.