already cited, are significant. In 1880 the revenue collected was more than one-third greater than that of 1877, with a force smaller than in that year. At the same time the cost of collection had increased only one-eighth. (Mr. Eaton's pamphlet, p. 62-63.) Mr. Murphy's term of office lasted eighteen months, during which he made three hundred and thirty-eight removals, or three every five days. (Mr. Eaton's pamphlet, p. 23.) Mr. Eaton, writing in February of the present year, states that during the eighteen months of Mr. Merritt's collectorship then completed, only forty-four removals had been made, and each of them for cause. (p. 63.)

1

The statistics in connection with the competitive examinations are interesting, as disproving some familiar objections to the system. "It was not generally boys or young persons fresh from their studies who competed, but men ; the average age of the first four hundred competitors being thirtyseven years. (p. 67.) And to conclude, let us listen to the testimony of the merchants themselves. The New York Chamber of Commerce, in June, voted:

"That, in the judgment of this chamber, the system of examination for appointment to places in the custom house which has ruled during the last few years has been of substantial value to the mercantile community, and is, in their eyes, of great importance.

"Resolved, That the interest of all doing business with the custom house demands the continuance and extension of the same system, as one which has resulted in more prompt and intelligent attention to the business both of the government and the merchant."2

In July of the present year Mr. Merritt retired from the position of collector with distinguished honor. In his final report he says:

"I am of opinion that applying the simple test of efficiency and character, as compared with appointments heretofore made, it may be declared a complete success. While it is possible for the nominating officer, if unembarrassed by political considerations, to select competent and trustworthy men (and with the desire to do so he

1 In February of the present year Mr. Merritt made a special report to the secretary of the treasury, in consequence of a request for information made by the senate, from which, among other points, it appeared that a reduction of 33 per cent. had been made in the cost of collecting, as compared with the expense under his predecessor. [Executive document no. 61, 46th congress, 3d session, p. 4.]

2 Resolutions of the New York Chamber of Commerce, at its monthly meeting, June 2, 1SS1.

would still be open to the charge of favoritism), it is practically impossible to become sufficiently acquainted with applicants at the outset to determine as to the wisdom of their appointment. The present rules have at least one merit, that the tests, whether the best that can be devised or not, are fair, and absolutely impartial. Rules, however, to have the fullest measure of respect should apply to all branches of the civil service under similar conditions. Permanency of tenure is an important consideration, if the employé is of proved competency and trustworthiness."

His successor, Mr. Robertson, in some remarks made to a committee of the New York Chamber of Commerce, a few days after assuming control, said:

"I shall continue to pursue the policy adopted by my predecessor in making appointments to the customs service. The usual competitive examinations will be held. My predecessor bequeathed me a legacy of names of candidates for examination and appointment which will last for a long time."

Nor is the experience in the New York Post Office of less interest. The need of efficient and intelligent administration was no less urgent. When Mr. James was appointed postmaster, in 1873, "Hundreds of long-neglected bags of mail were found scattered or piled in various parts of the postoffice." "For policemen to bring in drunken carriers, to empty their pockets of mail before taking them to stationhouses, was among the incidents of post-office experience at New York." These details sound more like the brilliant absurdities of opéra bouffe than plain narration of fact; but they are stated on good authority. (Mr. Eaton's pamphlet, p. 71.) "Those in the postal service," he adds, were nearly all active partisans and henchmen of great poltiicians." Fortunately Mr. James was one of the comparatively few men who have a native talent for organization and adminis

66

1 In the letter of President Hayes to Mr. Eaton, Dec. 3, 1SSo, calling for a report on the observance of the civil-service rules, he stated that, besides describing their operation in New York, it would be well to notice also "the more recent and less complete experiments in the direction of enforcing those rules at Boston and Philadelphia." Although, in the limited time at his disposal, Mr. Eaton was prevented from giving his attention to the offices at either of the two latter places, Collector Beard, of the Boston custom-house, has published in the Boston Journal of August 6, 1SSI, a statement of the work of his office during 1880. He states "that the appointments have nearly all been to the minor grades of the service. The promotions have been because of merit as exhibited in competitive service, and upon the recommendations of superior officers. The collector is responsible for the efficiency and good conduct of his office, and believes that removals shouid only be made for sufficient cause, and appointments to the customs service should be made on business principles."

tration. Few phenomena are so interesting as the process, alluded to on another page, by which, without any civilservice rules to begin with, a true civil-service reform was developed in this office almost in the order of nature, striking testimony to the firm basis of truth and commonsense underlying it.

a

"He thought," says Mr. Eaton, "he could best serve his country and his party by thoroughly performing his duty as postmaster." A writer in Scribner's, in 1878, remarked:

"Under Mr. James's administration a system of genuine civil service has grown up. He has steadily resisted the demands of politicians that good clerks shall be removed on account of their lack of efficiency in ward politics. It is said to be a beautiful sight to see him send for a superintendent and ask what kind of a man the clerk is, in the presence of the 'statesmen' of the assembly district who are urging his removal. A good report from the superintendent, and a polite 'You see, gentlemen, that it is impossible to remove him,' ends it."— ("The New York Post Office," by Edward Eggleston, Scribner's, May, 1878, v. 16, p. 76.)

Mr. James found the pass-examinations which he at first. established "not calculated to meet the growing requirements of the situation," as he himself states in a letter to Mr. Eaton (Mr. Eaton's pamphlet, p. 73); and accordingly, after consultation with other officers of the government, decided to coöperate with President Hayes in establishing open competitive examinations at the New York Post Office. After six months' trial, he stated in his report to the president, Nov. 8, 1879, "I have no hesitation in saying that the results have been salutary in a marked degree, and that, from my experience so far, I am satisfied that the general application of similar rules could not fail to be of decided benefit to the service." (Mr. Eaton's pamphlet, p. 74.) The statistics of this office also are instructive. The cost of administration is less by $20,000 than five years ago, yet the business of the office has increased fully one-third during that time.

"It is not merely that mails a third larger and more numerous have been handled at less cost, but collections and deliveries have been made more frequent and certain. As against five daily deliveries under his predecessor, Mr. James now makes seven; and where there were only ten collections below Canal street there are now nineteen. Nor is this the most important; an office so lately

disreputable for its scandals, inefficiency, and corruption has become the pride of those who serve it, and an honor to republican administration throughout the Union. It has become the model post-office of the country, and imparted a higher ambition to every worthy postmaster."

-

"It has won such strength with the community that a senate, which had not voted a dollar in aid of the reform through which such results have been possible, has twice hastened to confirm Mr. James without a dissenting vote. And yet there are thousands of partisans, zealous for the party to which the postmaster belongs, to say nothing of other thousands too ignorant or prejudiced to form any judgment on the matter, who affect to sneer at the very methods through which such results have been possible. Just as, ten years ago, they thought the postal service of the city as good as it need be, they now think it the most complete in the world; when, in fact, it is yet behind that of London and other English cities, where the standard is higher, the competitive methods have been much longer in practice, and appropriations are more adequate. The daily deliveries in London, for example, are twelve in some parts and eleven in other parts as against seven in the most favored portion of New York."

And yet a writer, who seems very much in earnest, has mentioned, as one of his objections to civil-service reform, "the claim that the business of the government should be done on business principles.' This is generally understood to mean obtaining the most work for the least money." And, after expressing his disapproval of this claim, he passes on to mention what he considers would "more probably secure an efficient service."2 But this is a free country, where every man is entitled to his own opinion, however peculiar.

Nor is this the extent of our experience in the practical working of the principle. The accession of Gen. Garfield to the presidency in March of the present year was made the occasion of the transfer of Mr. James, who, as we have seen, had become thoroughly identified with the reformed administration of the New York Post Office, to a position in the national cabinet, as postmaster-general of the United States. It is safe to say that few cabinet appointments were ever so heartily and universally endorsed by the public sentiment of the country. The circumstance, also, is not without its significance as marking a distinct advance

1 Mr. Eaton's pamphlet, p. 75-76.

2 North American Review, April, 1SS1, v. 132, pp. 314, 319.

in national ideas of administration. Cabinet officers have frequently been selected heretofore on the ground of being distinguished men, able legislators, far-seeing statesmen, or sagacious diplomatists, but never before on the ground of conspicuously competent administration, as in this instance. Even the selection of Mr. Schurz as a member of Mr. Hayes's cabinet, which proved in the end to have secured an exceptionally able administrator, was made before he had actually had experience in similar service. The expectations which Mr. James's appointment encouraged have not been disappointed, and his administration has been a signal example, not less striking than that of Mr. Schurz, of what a department may be made under the rule of intelligent principles. A saving of nearly seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars was made within the first three months, in the Star route and steamboat mail service, and with the energetic and determined measures which have since then been pushed, for the summary abatement of the Star route abuses, the public is happily familiar.

As would naturally be supposed, the experience of Mr. James with competitive examinations in the New York Post Office has led him to believe them practicable in the Postoffice Department, and accordingly we find him stating, a few months ago, that he has "been considering two schemes to reform the service. The tragic event which has since then occupied the minds and attention of all has delayed their execution, but, should he continue to fill this position, their ultimate adoption is reasonably certain.

That some of the other departments of the government have not before this set in operation the same system is due to the national calamity just referred to. Secretary Windom, beginning with no intimate acquaintance with civil-service reform, has passed through some such an experience as Mr. James in the New York Post Office. The overwhelming pressure of office-seekers, fitly compared by Mr. Curtis, in his Saratoga address, to Niagara, has, by sheer force of circumstances, made him a civil-service reformer." Said Mr. Curtis, in answering the question why the fittest appointments are not now made by officers of the government, without the interposition of civil-service reform methods: :