rnment positions persons
not sufficiently well known to them personally, or who give letters
indorsing the characters of office seekers without a proper sense
of the grave responsibility which such a course devolves upon them.
A civil-service reform which can correct this abuse is much desired.
In mercantile pursuits the business man who gives a letter of
recommendation to a friend to enable him to obtain credit from a
stranger is regarded as morally responsible for the integrity of his
friend and his ability to meet his obligations. A reformatory law which
would enforce this principle against all indorsers of persons for public
place would insure great caution in making recommendations. A salutary
lesson has been taught the careless and the dishonest public servant in
the great number of prosecutions and convictions of the last two years.

It is gratifying to notice the favorable change which is taking place
throughout the country in bringing to punishment those who have proven
recreant to the trusts confided to them and in elevating to public
office none but those who possess the confidence of the honest and the
virtuous, who, it will always be found, comprise the majority of the
community in which they live.

In my message to Congress one year ago I urgently recommended a
reform in the civil service of the country. In conformity with that
recommendation Congress, in the ninth section of "An act making
appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government, and for
other purposes," approved March 3, 1871, gave the necessary authority
to the Executive to inaugurate a civil-service reform, and placed upon
him the responsibility of doing so. Under the authority of said act I
convened a board of gentlemen eminently qualified for the work to devise
rules and regulations to effect the needed reform. Their labors are not
yet complete, but it is believed that they will succeed in devising a
plan that can be adopted to the great relief of the Executive, the heads
of Departments, and members of Congress, and which will redound to the
true interest of the public service. At all events, the experiment shall
have a fair trial.

I have thus hastily summed up the operations of the Government during
the last year, and made such suggestions as occur to me to be proper for
your consideration. I submit them with a confidence that your combined
action will be wise, statesmanlike, and in the best interests of the
whole country.