John Harrison Wilson, The life of Charles Henry Dana

It was during this period that the Sun brought forward its most elaborate arguments against the internal revenue laws as an outgrowth of the Civil War, but which had outlived the occasion that so fully justified them. It advocated the abolition of the entire system, except the excise on distilled spirits and tobacco, as no longer necessary and as bringing the Federal government too close to the daily life of the people. For similar reasons it opposed the adoption of a permanent civil service, and the establishment of competitive examinations for filling the public offices. It contended that, while the appointing power should be held responsible for the selection of its agents, it should be left free to exercise its own best judgment as to their qualifications. In reply to an invitation to attend a competitive examination at the New York custom-house, after stating the case in general terms as above, and allowing that every applicant for public office should be examined individually but not competitively for the work he wished to undertake, the editor continued as follows:

... I do not believe in this method of reforming the present evils of civil service. Above all, I do not believe in the establishment in this country of the German bureaucratic system, with its permanent staff of office-holders who are not responsible to the people, and whose tenure of place knows no variation and no end except the end of life.

In my judgment a genuine reform of the evils complained of is reached by the rigorous simplification of the machinery of government, by the repeal of all superfluous laws, the abolition of every needless office, and the dismissal of every unnecessary officer. The true American doctrine on this subject consists in the diminution of government, not in its increase.