If this practical illustration exhibited the weakness of the President's order it also anticipated what the country afterwards recognised, that true reform must rest upon competitive examination for which the Act of March 3, 1871 opened the way, and which President Hayes had directed for certain positions.
This statement emphasizes the necessity of competitive examinations for civil service reform, a key issue of Alexander's time.
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If Clinton was the Hampden of the colonial period, Robert Yates could well be called its Pym.
Indeed, he went a step farther in the way of irreconciliation, preferring Hoffman and Tammany, he said, to "the reckless, red-radicalism which rules the present Congress....
Thus far Conkling's success had been as unexpected as it was dazzling.
This reckless claim amazed his friends as much as it aroused his enemies, and he at once became the object of most cutting reproaches.
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