ferred patronage from members of Congress to members of the Commission. The simple fact is that within the Classified Service patronage has been suppressed.

There are some persons, though a far less number than formerly, who either come to the office of the Commission, or persuade men and women of supposed influence to come or write to it, for the purpose of having certain applicants examined by special favor before they are reached, certified before those of superior merit, or of having some other mere privilege accorded in violation of the Rules and of common justice, often basing their appeals on grounds of charity, but sometimes hinting at their relations to great officials and party managers. It is proper for the Commission to say that such attempts are as use less as they are obtrusive and indefensible. As men, the Commissioners are not insensible to the claims of benevolence, but as public officers they are administering a system based not on charity, but on justice and personal merit which alone can be considered.

WHEN COMMISSION INVESTIGATES CAUSES FOR REMOVAL.

There is a common but unwarranted belief that the Commission has the power and duty of investigating all charges of removal without good cause. How greatly the Merit System has tended to prevent unjustifiable removals sufficiently appears in the statistics in its report, and es pecially in what is said under the head of "Removals."

The Commission will consider, and in proper cases will investigate, any charge made of a removal in violation of Rules 1 and 2, which is the extent of its duty and authority on the subject. It has no warrant to review generally the action of the appointing officers in the matter of removals, even though great injustice has been done or the spirit of the Civil Service Act and Rules has been violated. Those not satisfied with the law on the subject may properly appeal to Congress for appropriate legislation which shall require a supreme regard to personal merit in making removals and appointments.

WHY AGE LIMITS ARE FIXED.

The Commission is frequently asked the reason for the limits of age declared in Rule 12. It is sometimes assumed that they had reference to particular sections of the country or that they are wholly arbitrary. Such is not the fact. It is obvious that it would be a mere loss of time, if not a kind of fraud, to examine those so old or so young that they could not, if successful, be accepted in the public service. Hence the need of fixing ages within which the examinations must be limited.

The 1754th section of the U. S. Revised Statutes, part of a law enacted in 1865 (and not affected by the Civil Service Act), declared the rights and preferences of soldiers and sailors honorably discharged by reason

of disability incurred in the line of duty; and it was not thought that a rule could properly fix a limitation of age upon such rights.

The limitation of age for entering the Customs service to the period between 18 and 45 years did not originate in the Rules. As early as 1874 official Regulations for the Customs Service contained them, and they have been since in force. The Postal Regulations fixed the maximum limitation of age for entering the Postal service at 35 as early as 1879. It seems plain that for the active duties of carriers and post-office clerks men over 35 are not the best.

It should be noticed that the maximum limitation of age does not include those who apply for special examinations under clause 5 of Rule 7. These examinations are for places where matured judgment and experience in life are more important than in clerkships to which alone that limitation applies. Active clerical habits are not readily acquired by persons over 45 years of age.* The mere clerks in business firms

are generally much under that age, excepting those who have positions corresponding to the positions filled, in the public service, through the special examinations, which are, as we have seen, without the age limit. The limit of 45 does not mean that a man is not fit to be a clerk after that age, but that, as a general rule-as an aggregate body of workersthe clerks will be more valuable if they do not enter the service after that age. The average age at which they have actually entered under the Rules is, as we have seen, about 30. There can be no doubt, we think, that clerks who entered at ages varying from 30 to 45, would be far more valuable than the same number who had entered at ages vary. ing from 45 to 60. The age rule, therefore, except so far as the law as to soldiers and sailors is an exception, is based solely on experience and business principles. The difficulty of dealing with superannuated clerks affords another reason for requiring persons to enter the service young, so that it may not become a refuge for those who are worn out in other employments.

RESULTS OF ENFORCING THE NEW SYSTEM.

These facts and positions at least have been established:

(1) That the charges of the enemies of reform and the fears of some of its friends, that the enforcement of a Merit System of office would impair the legitimate and salutary activity of parties has been proved to be wholly unfounded. No thoughtful man surely can desire a more vigorous antagonism or more earnest work on the part of the great parties than was exhibited in the last campaign. The taking of the

*In the cities of New Bedford, Chelsea, Fall River, Cambridge, and Springfield, Mass., where the age limits for the examinations under the Civil Service Commission of that State were suggested, on simple business considerations, by the cities themselves, the maximum age is fixed at 40 years. In Worcester it is fixed at 45. In the police and fire departments of Boston it is fixed at 30, as the State Commissioners say, "at the earnest solicitation of the heads of these departments."

more than 14,000 places out of the barter and prizes of partisan politics but makes it clearer than before, that if every place where political opinions are not material for discharging public duties were thus withdrawn, party contests would be on a higher plane and the merits of their candidates for election and the soundness of their principles would become, more than ever before, the conspicuous and decisive issues, in presence of which selfish influence would be less powerful and mere demagogues would be more contemptible. Obviously the best men of every party are those who are most active for principle and the worst men are those most active for spoils. If these 14,000 places were now offered as so much patronage and spoils to the dominant party, we can not think its harmony or power would be greater, but it is certain that whatever may be venal and vicious in it would be greatly strengthened. The influence of statesmen would certainly be as much diminished as that of manipulators and patronage purveyors would be increased. If patronage in such places could keep a party in power, or is indeed favorable to its purity, vitality or strength, it would not be easy to account for the accession of a new party to power during the past year, especially when the reform issue was so prominent in the contest.

(2.) That the partisan and proscriptive tests, long enforced at the gates of the Departments and larger Customs and Postal offices, may, without loss of any kind, and with increasing support from the people, be rejected, and that in their place practical tests of character and capacity, irrespective of political or religious opinions, may be substi tuted, without inconvenience of any kind, even in the early and most difficult stages now fairly passed; all this having been accomplished so smoothly and the public business having gone on in the mean time so effectively that not a single complaint has been made to Congress from any Department or from any post office or customs office subject to the examinations.*

(3) That with the growing approval of members of Congress themselves, shown by increased appropriations for the Commission and reports against repealing the Civil Service Act, and with great relief from solicitation and pressure for places, by reason of which members, as declared by themselves, have more time for their duties as legislators, mere Congressional influence and official favor for securing appointments have been in large measure suppressed. And members are certain to be more and more relieved, with the extension of the new system, of that merciless persecution for places by greedy office seekers, which has almost compelled Congressmen to become place-hunters for

* In the first two reports, the opinions of each customs officer and postmaster at these offices as expressed in writing were given, showing the great advantages of the new system. It is hardly worth while now to increase the size of the report by similar testimony, especially as owing to the changes in these offices more than one officer, in several instances, would need to be consulted, and some of them have been so recently appointed that they cannot speak from experience.

their constituents, even when as high-minded men they must greatly dislike such occupation.

(4) That the theory has been overthrown, which was at one time generally accepted by partisan managers, viz, that all attempts to interpose competitive examinations of merit as barriers between great parties and politicians on one side, and the spoils, offices and salaries which they seek on the other, would be found utterly unavailing, even if admitted to be useful, could they be enforced. Experience has established the adequate strength as well as the practical utility of such examinations. It has also shown that the elements in our politics which stand for justice, principle, and public duty, and against venal patronage and partisan despotism, are much more potent and decisive forces than they have generally been thought to be.

(5) That a merit system of office of which such examinations, open and free to all on the same terms, are the most important part, even under all the disadvantages attending their first introduction, has proved itself capable of supplying for the public work officers at least as worthy and capable as those secured under any other system, without introducing auy evils peculiar to itself; and that such examinations, under a non-partisan Commission, may be made adequate for bringing the character and capacity needed into the public service, without extending the subjects they cover, except for a very small number of special places, beyond those which are deemed so essential to success in private business, and for the discharge of the common duties of citizens, that they are required to be taught at the public expense in the common schools throughout the country.

(6) That these results and tendencies of the new system have, in three years, greatly changed its position before the public, and especially in the estimation of its natural enemies. It is no longer ridiculed, but is dreaded by them. What is proved to be practicable and useful in the 14,000 places is plainly seen to be equally practicable for many thousands of other places in the Federal, State, and municipal service of the country. More and more a great issue is thus made imminent, all over the country, between the spoils system and the merit system, which is now rapidly becoming a practical question in State and city politics, not so much between the parties as within each party. All the indications are of a growing and vigorous contest until one or the other of these systems shall generally prevail. But considerations of this nature would carry us beyond the proper scope of this report.

ATTITUDE AND VIEWS OF THE PRESIDENT AND HEADS OF DEPART

MENTS.

Under all circumstances, and in every part of its work, during the past year, not less than in previous years, the Commission has had the cordial and unswerving support of the President. Not for a moment, in deciding any of the perplexing questions which have arisen within the last

few months, has it had occasion to feel in the least embarrassed or enfeebled by any doubts whether the President or any member of his Cabinet would stand by the reform policy to which the administration is committed, or would co-operate in the enforcement of the rules in their true spirit. In no instance has the Commission had occasion to complain of any lack of friendly support on the part of any head of a Department, but, on the contrary, it has had decisive evidence from each of a purpose to enforce the rules in good faith.

President Arthur held that the present scope of the examinations and of the Classified service are ample enough to test the value of the new system. President Cleveland has neither allowed their application to be diminished by a single office, nor consented to the appointment of a single officer in violation of the rules.

The Commission expresses the views of the President and of the members of his Cabinet in declaring that the enforcement of the new system thus far has so clearly demonstrated its beneficial effects in various ways that it should no longer be regarded as experimental, but as a part of the established policy of the Government.* In minor particu lars modifications of the rules will doubtless be required, and much in detail remains to be learned. But by the common consent of those most familiar with their practical operation the leading provisions of the rules and the great principles on which the Civil Service Act is based have been shown to be as consonant with sound business methods in administration as they are with the intelligence, justice, and liberty which are the vitality and the strength of our institutions.

WHO ARE HOSTILE TO THE MERIT SYSTEM..

It has thus been made clear that those having charge of the great Departments, who are most responsible for the well doing of the public work, who best know the abuses, and who are consequently the best judges of the proper methods of removing them, are convinced of the utility of the new system and are resolved to enforce it. Indeed, it has been a significant feature of the reform movement from the beginning, that it has found its greatest strength, so far as officials are concerned, in Presidents and high executive officers who were nearest to and most familiar with the evils of the spoils system, notwithstanding the fact that the removal would involve the surrender, at the outset, of the long-enjoyed patronage of these officers; while, on the other hand, the greatest opposition to the new system has come mainly from a few

*The Postmaster-General has found the recommendations of persons for inspectors in the Postal service who are not yet within the Civil Service examinations to be so unreliable that he has been compelled to resort to examinations to protect himself against fraud and incompetency. For the same reasons the Secretary of the Navy has enforced examinations for securing skilled workmen at the navy-yards. These spontaneous evidences of the need and utility of examinations indicate directions in which perhaps they may soon be extended under the Commission.