REPORT OF COMMISSION.

SPRINGFIELD, ILL., Dec. 31, 1910.

Honorable Charles S. Deneen, Governor of Illinois:

DEAR SIR—The annual report of the State Civil Service Commission for the year ending Dec. 31, 1910, in view of the developments during the year, we believe, should be in the nature of a special report containing information necessary to an intelligent consideration of the further and complete extension of the law. The developments referred to were: First-Provisions in the platforms of the two leading political parties of the State declaring for a complete extension of the State law.

Second-The submission to the voters of the State at the general election of the question "Shall the next General Assembly extend the merit system by the enactment of a comprehensive and adequate State Civil Service law, thus promoting efficiency and economy?" On the question of extension, which was submitted in order to secure the opinion of the voters, the result was: In favor of extension, 411,676; against, 121,132. The majority, therefore, in favor of "a comprehensive and adequate State Civil Service law" was 290,544. Every county favored the proposition except one, situated in a legislative district where the majority for the proposition was 3,420.

The information we believe helpful should set forth the results to the service under the present law and information as to the remainder of the State service to which the Act should be extended.

THE CHARITIES' SERVICE.

The present law went into effect Nov. 1, 1905. It covered only the charitable service composed of seventeen institutions with a service of 2,201 employés. In the low salaried service such as the attendant force, the Commission has eliminated the "hospital tramp," and introduced the trained nurse.

In the higher paid offices of the institutional service, such as are included in the medical, mechanical and clerical departments, the competitive method of selection has fully demonstrated its worth. While the Commission seeks every source possible to invite applicants, the attractiveness of a place after all produces the applicants. Given competition, the civil service examination is only an intelligent and practical method of selection according to qualification and fitness by expert examiners. That this method of selection is intelligent and practical

is no where more strikingly illustrated than in the gradual employment of its use among the employers in large private concerns. The Burlington Railroad in its employment bureau has applied the civil service system and methods of selection. The superintendent of that department predicts, from the results obtained, that every concern where large forces of employés are used will ultimately adopt it. This prediction. rests largely on the basis that the civil service system with a department specializing in the work of securing competent employés is the most intelligent method of selection. Large concerns have departments to select and purchase material-why not to select employés, especially in view of the fact that after all results depend more largely on the kind and character of employés-on the human equation than on the material one.

IMPROVE HOSPITAL SERVICE.

The Civil Service Commission coöperated, wherever possible, in the good work inaugurated by the Board of Charities for the reorganization of the hospitals for the insane. The plans of the Board contemplated a high order of medical service. The Commission was able to equip the hospitals with men who had the ability and interest to make this work effective. In the general introduction of trained nurses for the first time in the hospitals and in the organization of the training schools for nurses the Commission and its secretary not only urged these improvements but assisted materially in securing them.

MEDICAL SERVICE.

The board of examiners for the medical service in all the institutions except the Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, consists of Dr. William E. Quine, chairman; Dr. Charles E. Kahlke, Dr. John B. Murphy, Dr. H. N. Moyer, Dr. Sanger Brown, Dr. Theodore Tieken, Dr. Robert B. Preble and Dr. Maximilian Herzog of Chicago, Dr. L. C. Taylor, Springfield.

To those physicians of recognized standing in their profession is entrusted the important duty of passing on all the physicians who enter the service of the hospitals for the insane, and also to determine by proper tests their right to promotion after they are in the service. The domination of politics not only had served as a bar in the past, but had destroyed the value of the service to men who wished to enter the work in order to achieve results. The changed conditions under civil service soon became known to the profession and now we have competition among the best to enter this department. With the resulting rapid improvement in this line of service and the added advantages of the Psychopathic Institute, the medical departments will attract a still larger group of able men. One of the older superintendents stated at a conference of superintendents held in Springfield during the month. of November: "My medical staff is the best I have ever had." This is typical. After a year of the operation of the law another superintendent wrote: "The year in which the law has been in operation has

unquestionably been the most successful period in the history of the Illinois charitable institutions. It has operated without friction and is in every way a desirable law.

"Its greatest aid to us was in the professional and scientific line. Heretofore many of the members of the medical staff were practitioners of middle life, who were tired of practicing and who, through political influence, secured positions in asylums where they and their entire families could 'rest.' Many excellent men were very often secured in this manner, but it is easy to observe that when qualifications other than professional service were allowed to influence these selections a tremendous chance was taken. This has completely changed."

BOARDS SEEK EFFICIENCY.

In the examinations for eye and ear surgeons and the other positions on the staff of the Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, we have had the services of an examining board composed of such leading specialists as Dr. Cassius D. Westcott, Dr. Henry Gradle, Dr. F. Gurney Stubbs and Dr. George E. Shambaugh. The Commission regrets the loss of Dr. Stubbs by death from its staff of examiners. Dr. Stubbs had acted from the first and had been of great assistance in the work of his examining board.

These two boards take an interest in the service greater than that of examiners. They manifest a personal interest in the efficiency of the medical staffs and make frequent suggestions leading to their improvement. It is needless to set forth the value to the State of having the services of these men who are recognized as leaders in their profession. Experience has demonstrated the Commission can obtain the best men in any line to act as examiners and has the advantage of their united judgment. In this service there seems to be an unrecognized public spirit which impels men of high standing in professional and other lines to give their time willingly for the public good.

CLERICAL SERVICE.

The applicants for the positions of chief clerk, storekeeper, bookkeeper and other clerical places are tested in the actual duties of the positions by experienced men secured by the Commission as examiners. Moreover, an applicant's previous record and character is searchingly inquired into. In reply to our inquiries, former employers very frankly tell us of a candidate's service, habits, ability and other personal qualifications or disqualifications. The fact that a candidate may have been able to qualify in the examination does not entitle him to a place on the eligible list until the Commission is thoroughly satisfied as to these other essentials. No one enters who has not been thoroughly tested as to his knowledge of matters necessary to enable him to perform his work. That the old method of selection could not ascertain this so successfully is shown by the following illustration: At the beginning of the administration of the law and before we had any eligible lists, a

vacancy occurred in one of the positions of storekeeper. As provided in such a case a temporary appointment was permitted until an examination could be held. The board of trustees, acting under this authority, made a temporary appointment and boasted that they had secured the best storekeeper ever in the service. They further stated that if he did not pass high on our list it would show that our examinations were impractical. Not only did this temporary appointee, with the actual experience he had, not pass high but he actually failed. He passed successfully on the knowledge of merchandise, but failed in simple. bookkeeping. When he left, to be succeeded by one of his successful competitors, the superintendent found his accounts so entangled that it was impossible to straighten them out. This illustrates how a civil service examination will reveal a candidate's weakness before he enters the service and before the service will have suffered because of it.

THE ENGINEERING BRANCH.

Mechanical. The first appointment made from the first eligible list for chief engineer was at Kankakee. It is the most important post in the service, and at the time of the appointment was doubly so because of the great work necessary to make the plant effective. The plant, under employés appointed under the old system, had run down and had become the most costly in the State. The Commission was naturally anxious that the new chief engineer should make good. The Commission felt secure in the result of the test and in this it was not mistaken. The condition of the plant at the present time speaks for itself. So much confidence did the new chief engineer establish in his ability and faithfulness that the new Board of Administration made him its consulting engineer.

The results of the tests for the positions of engineer very often give us men on the eligible list who are receiving a higher salary in private employment than the wage scale offered by the State. These men, of course, we cannot secure. We hope in time that this will be corrected.

How FARMERS ARE SELECTED.

Farm Service. It is important that the institutional farm be well conducted. Many of the farms are of good size. Those at Kankakee and St. Charles consist of approximately 1,000 acres each. It is the desire of the Governor that the farms be made model farms in every respect. With this high standard demanded for the head farmer the Commission called to its assistance Dean Eugene Davenport of the Agricultural Department of the State University, and Frank I. Mann, a most successful and progressive farmer near Gilman. They constituted our board of examiners and passed on the qualifications and knowledge of the applicants for head farmer. There were 120 applicants. Twenty successfully passed the test of the examining board. Of the applicant who stood first on the list Mr. Mann wrote the Commission: "The Dean writes that he can find but little fault in No. 52 and considers