Martin Schenck, Whitehall, rodman, August 2. C. L. Johnson, Kingston, assistant engineer, February 14. Chas. G. Whitbeck, West Troy, surveyor Hud. Riv. Imp't., June 3. Charles A. Sweet, Albany, assistant engineer, November 14. M. A. Wilbur, Albany, rodman, November 14. Asylum for Insane Criminals, Auburn, N. Y. P. M. Wise, M. D., Willard, superintendent, November 19. Asylum for Idiots, Syracuse, N. Y. James C. Carson, M. D., New York, superintendent, December 1. Hudson River State Hospital, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Frederick Peterson, first assistant physician, November 18, 1884. Charles E. Atwood, third assistant physician, December 25, 1884. Supreme Court, Kings County. Joseph W. Carroll, court attendant, January 16, 1885. Number of positions in Schedule D filled under the Civil Service rules from January 4, 1884, to January 1, 1885, 386. STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF PERSONS ADMITTED TO COMPETITIVE Had been previously in civil service, 2; had been previously in United States military service, 6; had been previously in United States naval service, 1. Education. 160 73 3 236 5 50 88 42 43 236 Total.... DISTRIBUTION IN THE SCHEDULES OF THE EMPLOYES IN EACH DE The following positions have been included in the classified ser vice since the original promulgation of those rules, and are addi tional to the above: APPENDIX C. CORRESPONDENCE. To the Honorable the Judiciary Committee of the Assembly: In response to the request of your Honorable Committee, the Civil Service Commission has the honor to submit the following suggestions in reference to a bill before your Committee, "defining and restricting the powers of the Civil Service Commission in regard to certain qualifications in receiving and considering applications for appointment to the Civil Service of the State. I. The bill has been drawn under a misapprehension of the existing law, and the powers of the Commission under it. The Governor of the State alone has the power to establish a classification of the Civil Service, and to promulgate the rules to regulate it (§§ 2, 6 of the act). The function of the Commission is to aid the Governor, as he may request, in preparing suitable rules for carrying the act into effect. 2. The Commission properly and necessarily perform the work, but the Governor's approval can alone give it vitality. This is similar to the National Civil Service in which the rules are established by the President. The fixing of the rules by the chief executive officer instead of by a statute, seems wise. Flexibility in rules, and the power to speedily modify them to meet emergencies, and to correct mistakes, are indispensable in the early stages of an administrative reform like Civil Service. Like power has been conferred upon the Judges of the Court of Appeals with regard to rules for admission to the bar. The delegation of such a power is purely a question of policy and expediency. II. The bill in question is not in harmony with the intent of the Civil Service Act, but is opposed to its principles, and if it should become a law would tend to defeat the object of that act, and embarrass its execution. It would substitute an arbitrary statute for mere rules which may be changed or modified in the discretion of the executive as the necessities of the service, justice to the people, and enlightened public sentiment, may seem to require. III. The system of appointment to subordinate positions in the public service established by the Civil Service Act, which had nearly [Assem. Doc. No. 42.] 9 the unanimous sanction of the Legislature, irrespective of party, is based upon two great fundamental principles-first, the right of the State to the highest attainable excellence in, those who are to fill its positions of trust and second, the equal right of its citizens to compete for those positions upon the ground of merit. Civil Service is a practical application of the Jeffersonian test of honesty and capacity for public trusts. Rules are only instrumentalities for ascertaining with certainty and impartiality, these necessary qualifi cations. IV. Of the qualifications constituting fitness-physical, moral, mental and personal-the first especially, and others in some degree, depend upon age. The vigor of body and mind required for useful service do not ordinarily co-exist with the tenderness and inexperience of extreme youth, or with the feebleness of advanced age. Some limitations in respect to age of persons entering the service, therefore, are necessary. And rules in such matters must be founded upon the average or general experience of mankind, and not upon exceptions or rare instances. This has accordingly been done in respect to many offices both under the National and State governments. In the military service the maximum age is forty-five; in civil offices of an elective character the minimum age is twenty-one and in some cases higher. Under the Civil Service rules the minimum age is fixed at twentyone. It may be that for some unimportant positions, like messenger, the minimum might probably be lower. But a modification of the rules can readily adjust that. A maximum age has not, as yet, been fixed by any rule. In a synoptical statement, prepared for convenience, the maximum is tentatively stated as forty-five, in analogy to the military rule, but when a rule shall be authoritatively adopted and promulgated, it may be found expedient to fix it higher. Suggestions on that or any other subject would always be gladly received. If the Legislature should see fit to prescribe limitations of age, it has the undoubted right to do so, but to admit as applicants persons of all ages or any age, would be inexpedient and calculated to encourage unreasonable aspirations, and unnecessarily increase the labors of examining boards and of the Commission. V. The second section of the bill establishes a privilege as an exception to the general rule as to who may be admitted, not only without competitive examination, but without any examination whatever as to their present fitness for the service. It assumes that persons who have once held positions in the service to the satisfaction of a head of a department, have a right superior to the rest of the people to enter the service again. It is an assumption, at variance, both with the right of the State and the rights of the people at large. The fact that a former employe was certified to be satisfactory to a former employer, does not prove his fitness for the same post or a |