34

COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS IN IRELAND.

Again the Commission says (Same Report, p. 24): "It is rapidly becoming clear that the system of competitive examinations is easily applicable to almost every subordinate post, however high, in every branch of the public service, State or municipal. In Ireland the four national examiners of the public schools are selected by competitive examination, and a note of the subjects for examination gives an idea of the varied scientific and scholarly attainments in which the applicants must be versed."

And again the Commission says (Fourth Report, 1887, p. 26): "One advantage of the competitive system, on which stress has been laid by a Professor of Trinity College, Dublin, is in its avoidance of animosities arising from religious differences, which, he remarked some thirty years ago, are greatly embittered by the patronage system.'

Mayor Seth Low of Brooklyn, New York, in 1885, said of the competitive system: "There is a fairness and openness about it peculiarly American, and smacking of all that is best in the American love of fair play and the American demand for equal treatment of all citizens."

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Governor David B. Hill says (An. Message, 1886): Open competition rests on the solid basis of equal rights and fair play, and is a principle so thoroughly democratic in its character, so completely in harmony with the theory of our institutions and the spirit of our people, that the method would seem to commend itself to universal approval. When merit alone, ascertained by fair cómpetition, is recognized as the ground of ap pointment and promotion, the equity and propriety of the mode are self-evident and require no defense. * * * It is besides a constant stimulus to the better education and training of the people, and a recognition of the utility of our common schools, sustained at the public

GOOD EFFECT OF THE PROBATIONARY TERM. 35

expense, and an incentive for the best men to seek the public service."

Collector William H. Robertson, writing Dec. 8, 1883, says (First Rept. New York C. S. Com., p. 266): "For several years the civil service system has been in force in the Custom House at this Port, and the results are highly gratifying to its friends. The appointments are made upon competitive examination wherever it is practicable to do so. No wiser or safer rule could be devised for filling these offices."

Postmaster Henry G. Pearson of New York, who also believes in the wisdom of competitive tests, says (Same Report, p. 271): "I do not desire, however, to be understood as maintaining that the system of appointment through competitive examination is a neverfailing means of securing the services of none but the most efficient and deserving for the performance of the public business. In spite of all precautions, it is and has been possible for idle, intemperate, dishonest, and careless persons to obtain employment under that system. But the cases have been rare in which those defects have not been discovered before the expiration of the six months' term of probation, and the unfaithful or incompetent servant dismissed."

Silas W. Burt, who speaks from experience as Naval Officer of the Port of New York and also Chief Examiner of the New York Civil Service Commission, says (Second Rept. N. Y. C. S. Com., p. 47): "Open competition gives the broadest scope of choice, determines with substantial accuracy the relative fitness of all who apply, and puts on record all the transactions, with their details."

As early as 1881, two years before the passage of the civil service law, the New York Chamber of Commerce, whose members' business connection with Custom House

36 N. Y. CHAMBER COMMERCE, WEBSTER, GODKIN.

officials makes them eminently qualified to judge of their merits, passed the following among other resolutions:

Resolved, That in the judgment of this Chamber the system of examinations for appointment to place 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 this Chamber hereby instructs its Committee on Foreign Commerce and the Revenue Laws to wait upon the new Collector, when he shall be installed, with a copy of these resolutions, and to press upon his attention the importance of their subject

matter.

The following maxim of Webster is similar in principle to competitive examinations (iii, 4): "Nothing is more unfounded than the notion that any man has a right to an office. This must depend on the choice of others, and consequently on the opinions of others, in relation to his fitness and qualification for office."

Edwin L. Godkin says ("Danger of an Officeholding Aristocracy," p. 14): "It may be laid down as one of the maxims of the administrative art, that no public officer can ever take the right view of his office, or of his relation to the people whom he serves, who feels that he has owed his appointment to any qualification but his fitness, or holds it by any tenure but that of faithful performance. No code of rules can take the place of this feeling. No shortening of the term can take its place."

So far as my researches go, Commissioner of Patents S. S. Fisher has the honor of being the first person to practice the system of competitive examinations in this country. He began them in 1869, and his example was followed by most if not all of his successors in the

FISHER AND THOMAS AS PIONEERS.

37

Patent Office. Colonel Fisher, who was a well-known patent lawyer, accepted office more to accommodate President Grant than anything else. But as his profession was more remunerative than his office, he resigned at the end of eighteen months.

John L. Thomas, Collector of the Port of Baltimore, instituted, in 1869, strict non-competitive examinations in the Baltimore Custom House. The system was so satisfactory that his two successors in office continued

it.

When Mr. Thomas was again appointed Collector, in 1877, he found that all the clerks, with three or four exceptions, whom he had appointed between 1869 and 1873 had been retained; and when he left the office, in 1882, they were still there. (Senate Report No. 576, for 1882, pp. 179, 182.)

Silas W. Burt instituted competitive examinations for promotion among the employés in the New York Naval Office in 1871. This was on his own responsibility. In 1872 he began competitive examinations under the Grant rules for general admission to the service. In the same year Postmaster Patrick H. Jones began competitive examinations in the New York Postoffice. These were continued by his successor in office, Thomas L. James, in 1873. In 1879 Mr. James improved the system, and issued "Rules governing appointment and promotion in the New York Postoffice."

Collector Chester A. Arthur, who was appointed in 1871, introduced radical changes in the New York Custom House. Mr. Eaton says ("Term and Tenure of Office," p. 82) that in five years Mr. Arthur made only 144 removals as against 1,678 during the preceding five years. Mr. Arthur advocated as well as practiced reform in the civil service, as is shown in Chapter VII of this work.

CHAPTER III.

SOME OF THE LAW'S PROMISES.

Reforms of priceless value Probable.—The danger of Bribery at Elections.--Opinions thereon of Messrs. Buchanan, Harrison, Benton, Jefferson, Barton, Bell, and Graves. --The chief English Election Laws from 1275 to 1883.

AN honest and intelligent enforcement of the civil service law promises to have numerous beneficial effects, some of which are more or less indirect. This is natural. A good law not only aids in and leads to other reforms, but is sometimes the parent of other good laws. Further, it creates a general spirit of reform.

It promises, by securing the services of men of business as well as intellectual ability, to materially increase, if not double, the efficiency of the civil service. In fact this has been partly accomplished already. Increase of efficiency will naturally lead to perfection of system, and perfection of system will naturally lead to economy. Are efficiency and system probable, or, in a great degree, even possible, when officeholders are appointed chiefly on account of their politics, and without much if any regard to their ability to discharge the peculiar duties of their offices, and who, for obvious reasons, take more interest in politics than in their official business?

It promises to aid in purifying and elevating politics, and to thereby induce and encourage men of character and ability to take part in the affairs of state. It was by such men that the government was founded, and i: