POST-OFFICES.

BOSTON." In my judgment the general result has been satisfactory. Its tendency has been to secure the service of a somewhat higher grade of clerks than heretofore and greatly to relieve the postmaster from any well-founded charge of favoritism.

office.

*

PROVIDENCE." There has been little change in the employés of this * * I believe, however, that when numerous appointments are made they will result in economy and efficiency to the service. It is certainly a relief to the postmaster to refer applicants to

the Examining Board."

ALBANY.-The appointment of only two persons has been made under the rules, and "both of them are good, efficient men." The postmaster thinks the general effect of the rules "will be [to] secure a class of men who, knowing that their tenure of office depends mainly on their ability to fill it properly, will make themselves conversant with the duties and perform them in an intelligent and painstaking manner." He favors the extension of the rules to other offices.

NEW YORK.-"The opinions formed by me during the existence of the method pursued for some years past at this office of making admissions to the service dependent alone on the success of the applicants in competitive examinations have been strongly confirmed by my experience and observation under the rules now in operation

here." Among the advantages he mentions are relief from pressure, more time for official duties, a sense of dependence by subordinates upon good behavior, superior intelligence, and other qualifications in the service. Some unfit persons have got in, but he thinks the rules "will be of great benefit to the public service," as they have been in the past.

BROOKLYN." The operation of the law has not produced very satis factory results at this office. I do not attribute the unsatisfactory result in any respect to the law, rules, or regulations, nor to the standard of examinations, but the inadequate inducements offered to persons desiring employment." He thinks those who have come in under the law "do not appear any more than equal in character and attainments to those employed under the system of close scrutiny employed by me while I have been postmaster." The law, he says, relieves him "of the constant importunity and pressure of political and personal friends for appointments to office." He thinks that the vouchers, especially on the part of a physician, should be made more specific, particularly in regard to physical qualifications. The applicants, however, have steadily increased in number and improved in appearance at each subsequent examination.

excellent.

NEWARK.-"The effect of the civil service rules at this office is The public at large rest satisfied in the thought that the qualification is good or no appointment. The politician claims that he is relieved from a pressure which was exceedingly annoying. Personally, I give it my hearty approval."

BUFFALO." The results [speaking of the examinations], so far as a.

chance of candidates was concerned, were all that we could have asked We have made seven appointments from the lists of eligibles, all of which have been a success, and three have already been promoted by reason of meritorious service. * The opening of this new field

*

for the choice of candidates cannot fail to be of the greatest benefit to the public service."

PHILADELPHIA.- "The enforcement of the civil service rules in my office has been marked by a great relief to me in not having my work continually interrupted by applications for positions." He believes public men are also relieved. "The effect upon the clerical force in this office has been good, inasmuch as the clerks now employed feel assured that under no postmaster would they be removed for the purpose of making places for others."

He says that in one case he was somewhat embarrassed, four months ago, by reason of thinking that no one of the four certified was competent for the vacancy; and suggests that in such cases others should be certified, and gives some reasons for his views.

PITTSBURGH.-The postmaster says that for two years he has had a system of competitive examinations in the office. That those who have come in under the new rules "have shown ordinary ability, no better and no worse than former appointments." He adds, that "the effect of the civil service rules, as far as the Pittsburgh post-office is concerned, is, as yet, imperceptible."

ROCHESTER.-"The effect of the enforcement of the civil service rules at this office is favorable to the appointment of a better class of employés in offices where political or personal considerations have heretofore been the controlling influence." He thinks a larger number than four should be certified, from whom to select one.

INDIANAPOLIS.-"The effect at this office is a less number of applicants for positions. So far as the public service is concerned I cannot see there is any special difference. * I had established very

good civil service before the law was passed."

NEW ORLEANS.-"Besides being the means of securing competent officials, the law and rules are a great protection to the appointing power against a throng of incompetent political applicants."

CINCINNATI. "The reports * * justify the conclusion I have reached that thus far the system has worked well.

The habits, industry, promptness, and general efficiency of the civil service appointees are most commendable, and will in every instance entitle the probationary appointee to a permanent appointment when his six months shall have expired. I think the record of the employés of this

*This is the only case of the kind during the six months covered by the report, except that, in a single case, objection was made by one of the Departments at Washington that neither of the four persons certified for a vacancy appeared to be competent, but one of them was tried and found entirely competent, and each of the other three has since been appointed, and they too appear to be giving satisfaction. So far as experience has gone, it would seem better to adhere to the present rule by giving one of the four a trial. He can be dismissed if found incompetent. The course suggested by the postmaster might open the way to favoritism.

office for effective work furnishes a high standard for comparison, and judged by this standard the new men are found equal in all respects to the best of the new men appointed under the old system."

CHICAGO. "The applicants for appointments who have been certified by the Board of Examiners have been, as a class, well qualified. * Those who have accepted appointments have been fully up in efficiency to the average new appointees under the former system. The effect of the civil service law has been beneficial." He says that about forty per cent. of those appointed to the lowest positions declined by reason of the small salaries allowed.

DETROIT.-"On the whole, I am well pleased with the working of the civil service rules at this office." The postmaster adds that it has been the practice to select the best persons that could be procured, so that the effect at his office is not as perceptible as it might be elsewhere. The allowance for his office compels him to employ young men. He thinks there should be a graded compensation for clerks as for carriers.

MILWAUKEE.-By reason of the rules not being yet familiar to the public, the postmaster says the more intelligent classes cannot be induced to appear for examination, and the successful applicants, especially for clerkships, have been mostly very young men just from the schools. He adds: "However, I believe, as soon as it becomes generally understood what the nature of the examinations is, and that perfect impartiality is shown, we will have no further trouble in the direction indicated. * It cannot be expected that such a radical change in the manner of making appointments will be at once understood and appreciated."*

*

SAINT LOUIS.-"The chief advantage

The examinations

*

has been in the relief afforded from the importunities of influence, political and social, seeking appointments in which fitness and capacity are frequently ignored or not considered. Similar testimony comes unsought from those whose supposed influence is always solicited in such cases, and who do not hesitate to complain of the annoyance to which they are subjected. have been entirely within the scope of an ordinary public school education, and, therefore, have disarmed the criticism by which this feature was formerly assailed." He cannot say the service has been better, "but it has been in no degree inferior." He thinks some improvement may be made in the rules, but says, "in my judgment (they) must be extended as their merits are better understood."

KANSAS CITY.-"I am well satisfied with the civil service system at this office. The men appointed to positions under its rules have so far done excellent work, and I have been greatly relieved of the importunities incident to the informal and promiscuous applications for appoint

*This is the only office where the difficulty of securing applicants of the desired class now exists, as it appears to be the only one where formerly there was not an uncomfortable pressure for places.

ment under the former plan." He says the principal objection is that he gets more younger men than is desirable under all circumstances, and wishes more attention given to physical qualifications for letter. carriers.

SAN FRANCISCO.-"The law has worked exceedingly well at this office; much better than expected by me. * The tenure of office being reasonably secured to the subordinate clerks they are encouraged to do their duty to the best of their ability. It relieves the head of the office of a great pressure for place, giving him more time to devote to his duties, and makes life more endurable by reason of not being constantly harassed and importuned by a multitude of persons for self or friends." He thinks the system shuts out old soldiers;* that it does not accomplish all that could be desired; that more latitude could be given the appointing power. He cannot say that the new appointees are better or worse than the old ones. He says the present educational test will not always give the best clerks.

WASHINGTON.-Out of fifty who succeeded at the examination at this post-office seventeen have been appointed. Eight of those appointed have already been promoted to first-class clerkships. The postmaster further says, "I have in all cases selected the persons highest on the list of eligibles, and so far have not had occasion to drop any one for incompetency, and am of the opinion that probably all of those selected will be entitled to permanent appointments on the expiration of six months' probation as clerks."

EFFECT IN THE DEPARTMENTS.

Several causes have combined to make the number anpointed in the Departments at Washington, during the six months covered by this report, much less than is likely to be the average number for such a period in the future.t

No complaint or suggestion that any person appointed to either Department under the rules has been unsatisfactory has reached the Commission. On the contrary, several of those thus appointed have been promoted during the probationary period. The pressure for places has been materially diminished, but old habits in that regard do not cease the moment they become fruitless. Many doubtless still think that some secret back-door of entrance to the classified service may be found. There has undoubtedly been some inconvenience caused by the introduction of changes so extensive, but this seems to be nearly at an end. The relief from pressure on the heads of Departments is naturally the one of the practical effects of the new system which is most readily noticed, but it is trifling compared with those results sure to spring from the convictions, rapidly growing in the public mind, that every

*He is probably not aware of the last amendment of the rules in favor of soldiers. For example, nearly all the vacancies in one of the Departments have been filled from a Bureau under it-the Census Bureau-the work of which is soon to cease, many of its employés having been found too valuable public servants to be dismissed.

applicant for a place must win his or her own way to it by good character and superior capacity.

It is one of the salutary effects of the new system that it has taken away all the inducements to bring supernumeraries into the service, or even to fill a vacancy without a real necessity of having it filled.

IV.

The leading facts have been presented which illustrate the bearing of the Civil Service Act upon the independence and responsibility of the Legislative and Executive branches of the Government. It is plain that none of the places in the classified service can be promised or filled by executive officers in such a way as to affect confirmations pending in the Senate, appropriations desired from the House, or investigations feared by either body. Members of both houses, relieved of the compromising occupation of office-begging, will have more time for the vast work of legislation, for which, year by year, the sessions of Congress are becoming more and more inadequate.*

It may be hoped that this first step towards a restoration of the constitutional counterpoise and independence of these great branches of the Government, always held so vital in 'theory, may incline our higher institutions of learning to supply a more adequate teaching in aid of making such counterpoise and independence salutary facts rather than remote ideals in our administration.

It has been an injustice of the past that it has held the political and official classes alone responsible for the patronage system and its abuses. In the future we may hope it will be more clearly seen that false theories and opinions concerning parties and administration, while not the causes of the evils of that system, are the greatest sources of its strength. Those with whom rests the duty of shaping the minds of our youth have a grave responsibility for the pernicious theories which have prevailed. As we are not likely to make fundamental changes in our institutions, all the good which can come from the liberal principles of our Government must spring from its administration. Yet the science or the principles according to which our Federal administration should be carried on, are too rarely made a matter of systematic or thorough instruction.

SUGGESTIONS.

The civil service act provides for such suggestions in the reports of the Commission as it may approve "for the more effectual accomplishment of the purposes of this act."

1. It would seem plain that since the subordinates at the post-offices and customs offices, to which the rules extend, are no longer appointed on the basis of a party test, consistency not less than the efficiency of the service forbids the application of that test for the selection of collectors or postmasters at such offices. Only on that condition can these

*The late President Garfield declared that one-third of the working hours of members, in his time, was required for attending to matters connected with getting offices.