MISCONCEPTIONS CONCERNING THE POWERS OF THE COMMISSION. Many singular and inexcusable misconceptions will appear to exist with regard to the powers and authority of the Commission with respect to appointments. Some appear to think that the Commission has control of appointments, and can give a position to a man when he desires to have one, or can assist a public official in giving a place to any one whom he may desire to accommodate. Others seem to think that the Commission can shift names upon the eligible lists so as to make those lists subservient to the wishes of those who desire places for their friends. And others, again, labor under the error that appointments are made from the competitive list only when the Commission sees fit to suggest names for vacant places. It ought not to be necessary to correct misapprehensions so unfounded and errors so grotesque as these. But perhaps it may be well to repeat that the Civil Service Commission has no patronage. That it cannot furnish a position for any person, and that it cannot, and does not in the slightest manner, seek to influence public officers in making their selections or appointments, and cannot transpose names on the eligible lists, nor certify them. out of their regularly ascertained standing. The function of this Commission is clearly defined by law. It is to ascertain, by open competitive examinations, the fitness of the applicants for the classified public service, to make and keep lists of those found fit to enter the service, and, on demand of a public officer, to certify to him the names of three persons for a vacancy in the order of their merit, from whom the officer has the right of selection, subject only to the requirements of the statute, that the selection shall be made from among those graded highest, as the results of such competitive examinations. As the statute, however, provides that there shall be noncompetitive examinations, when competition may not be found practicable, there must, in some instances, be non-competitive examinations, and in those cases the function of the Commission. is merely to cause those examinations to be properly made, and to certify their results to the officer who has made the nomination. for such a position. The methods prescribed by the rules must in all instances be scrupulously observed, or the whole system would speedily become a delusion and fraud. LUMP APPROPRIATIONS. The Commission has, in its previous reports, called attention to the custom of lump appropriations, and has urged the desirability and importance to the service of a change in that custom. For nearly all the departments of the State government lump sums are appropriated by the Legislature, with authority to the head of the office to apportion salaries in his discretion. This gives opportunities for favoritism, and leads to inequalities in the salaries paid in different departments for the same quality and character of service. This is manifestly unjust to those who are in the service. It is very clear, and the Commission again urges the recommendation, that the subordinate public service should be carefully classified, and the compensation for positions in the various offices and departments in the State government and State institutions fixed by law, so that every person in the service may know precisely what his compensation is, and that uniformity of compensation may exist throughout all the departments and offices for similarity of service. This would also be a great aid in promotions and transfers, which are now frequently embarrassed by the inequality of compensation. An illustration of the bad results of unequal pay for similar service is found at the Elmira Reformatory, where the guards are paid only about half the compensation received by the guards at the other prisons, although the service is practically identical. As a consequence, difficulty is experienced in procuring guards for the reformatory, and those who are employed rarely remain more than three months in the service. This inequality is unreasonable and should be corrected. THE CHIEF EXAMINER. When the Hon. Silas W. Burt, the first chief examiner of the Commission, and who had so greatly aided the Commission in all its duties, resigned his position to accept another appointment under the Federal government in the customs service, the Commission appointed as its chief examiner Mr. Edgar M. Jenkins, of Schenectady. Mr. Jenkins held the position only a few months when he felt obliged to resign on account of ill-health. His duties were performed very acceptably, although his illness was serious for some considerable time. Upon his resignation, which took effect about the 1st of March, 1886, the Commission appointed the Hon. James E. Morrison, then superintendent of public instruction, who still holds the position of chief examiner. All of which is respectfully submitted. JOHN JAY. AUG. SCHOONMAKER. |