The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1870-03-09
the civil service.

N----~-~~~-
ICES the departmental reports, in recommending
reforms in the Civil Service. T:ae statements of
Secretary Cox relating to this subject, are SO
pertinent, lucid, emphatic, and convincing, that
we reproduce them below:
q Nv predecessor remarked in his report for
1866: No one with the least experience IN an
executive department can. believe, avoid the
conclusion that its efficiency would be largely
promoted by radical change in the organization
Of its clerical force and in that Tor 1865 1t Is
my settled opinion, the result OF much reflection,
and of experience in my present position, that
the efficiency of the clerical force would be essen
TALLY promoted BY thoroughly reoreanizing it.
He added 1t is hoped that subject Of so
much importance TO the successful working OF
the executive departments, win receive the con-
sideraiion it so well merits / fully concur in
the opinions, and unite in the hope be expressed.
The first measure of reform is to raise the stand
ard of qualification make merit, as tested by the
duty performed, the sole ground Of promotion.
and secure to the faithful incumbent the same
permanence of employment that is given TO OH
GERS of the army and navy. Under the present
system, the general conviction among the clerks
and employees is that the retention of their
places depends much more upon the political in
huence they can command than upon energy or
zeal in the performance of duty. After careful
examination of the subject, | am fully persuaded
that the measure i have suggested would have
enabled this department to do the work of the
last fiscal year with a corps Of clerks one-third
less in number than we found necessary, SPe-
cial knowledge and skill Indispensable for the
proper performance of much of the clerical labor
of most of the bureaus, and can only be acquired
in time and with great labor. An intimate IA
miliarity with the statutes bearing upon the sub
ject under investigation, with the rules and regu-
lations Of the department, and with the practice
10 relation thereto is necessary for the accurate
and rapid transaction Of business yet Il is safe
to say that under our present customs, very few
clerks are retained IN place long enough to learn
their duties. and perform them with dispatch. and
that there are no inducements offered them to
make any real effort to that end. An experienced
clerk is a repository of the law, the history and
the traditions Of the department, and may often
by a word of suggestion, expose fraud, which
might otherwise escape unnotlced, Indicate an
important fact OF which there is no record, or in
a thousand ways save his superior from imposi-
ton, or from long and laborious investigation.
Yet such is the singular anomaly OF our system,
that the very fact that man has been retained il
place during change of administrators, has been
held to be a sufficient political reason for demand
ing his removal. My own conviction is very
strong, that the advantages supposed to be gained
in this way are as unreal and delusiye as the mis-
chiefs are substantial and certain.
The evil does not stop with the increased
cost and diminished value of the clerical labor
itself 1t has given rise to a practice Of Office
seeking. which goes far to prevent the proper per
Torrance Of their duties, by the highest officers of
the government. During the first three months
after The Inauguration Of new President, nearly
the whole time of bis confidential advisers is oc-
cupied by applications for Office, and it Is impos
,;6 al Eof,r rof.a he hns
hours, to get sufficient time for the careful study
of the larger duties pertaining to the departments
or Of questions of public interest. The devices
used by applicants to obtain an audience make it
impossible to discriminate between those who
have important public business TO transact and
those who have not. The only mode Of relief is
to change, entirely the habits Of easy access,
which ought to mark all officers of the republic,
and this, of ITSELF shows the necessity of re-
form.
Theoretically it would seem that the remedy
is in the hands OF the executive and departmental
officers but, practically the custom has become
so firmly established, that members Of Congress
are forced to yield to the Importantly of their
constituents. and are unable to get relief except
by urging appointments and removals upon the
executive departments. Thus public business is
most seriously embarrassed and retarded and
changes are sometimes made because in that
way alone does it seem possible to get room for
the ordinary action of the administrative machine
ry. In this matter, the custom established for
forty years has so much the effect Of law, that no
remedy seems adequate except to give perman-
ence to the subordinate branches of the civil SER
vice by legislation, making capacity and integrity
the sole tests of the fitness of the applicant and
throwing competition open to ALL
The argument in favor OF a change could not
be more cogently and succinctly presented. 1t
may be added that the complications named are
augmented by the displacement of heads of de- |
partments which almost always occurs when |
new administration comes into power, invariably |
when It's political complexion differs from its pre-
decessor, and generally even when the transfer, |
while not involving the success of new party |
principles and measures, passes into different |
hands. Often men only theoretically acquainted |
with the duties deyolving upon them are placed |
at the heads of departments. They may be per- |
SONS of large intellectual capacity and cultivated |
understanding yet these attainments and natur- |
al abilities are small compensation for the lack |
OF experience and the important knowledge which /
that experience bring. When, therefore the in |
duction into Office of heads of departments, who |
know absolutely nothing of routine duty, is ac-
companied by general dismissiOn OF the clerical |
force in EACH for political reasons alone, the |
trouble is greatly intensified.
The evils OF our present system OF appoint |
ments to office are so conspicuous that no ingen-
uty can hide them from public view and compre-
hensIon, and no sophistry gloss them over. Fit
ness is never the first qualification regarded. He |
who can most etfectually manipulate the wires of /
nominating conventions, or exercises no matter /
how, preponderating influence upon the vote of
his county or district or who can make cozenng |
speeches to the multitude which win an election |
is regarded as having claims upon the appointing |
power. when his party is in power, superior to /
the one who has made, from motives of investi-
cation, the particular branch of the public service
to which he desires to be assigned, an object of
long-continued, truth-seeking. enthusiastic inves
tigation. In this way, individuals that have no
atom of natural or acquired capacity, fitting them
for the places to which they may have been ap-
pointed, contrive to slip into Office enjoy its sal
aries do little good when not a positive injury,
discourage the Flooding intelligence of the coun-
try, and iDfict upon the community services which
sometimes would be costly even if the incum.
bent paid price for the position he held.
In the selection of its clerical force, in the
several departments, our Government has fallen
into the hands of blunderng methods. The
least meritOrions and experienced do, or pretend
to do, duty, while those whose studies, attain
ments, experience, inclinations and natural ca
pacities most fit them to perform assigned duties,
are excluded by partisan considerations.
This must be stopped. Every national inter
est makes the demand The Offices are not or
rather were not intended to be, the spoils of par