Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-12-02

Guiding salaries, involved in discharging the
duties of the Commission. The report was
transmitted to Congress by special message
of April ls, 1874, with the following favOra-
BILE comment upon the labors of the Com
mission 'If sustained by Congress, | have
no doubt the rules can, after the experience
gained, be so improved and enforced as to
still more materially benefit the public SER
vice and relieve the Executive, Members of
Congress, and the heads of departments, from
influences prejudicial to good administration.
The rules. as they have hitherto been en-
forced, have resulted beneficially, as is
shown by the opinions of the members of the
Cabinet and their subordinates in the de-
partments, and in that opinion | concur"
And in the annual message of December Of
the same year similar views are expressed,
and an appropriation for continuing the work
of the Commission again advised.
The appropriation was not made, and, as
consequence, the active work of the Com
mission was suspended, leaving the Commits
sion itself still in existence. Without the
means, therefore, of causing qualifications to
he tested in any systematic manner, or of Sc
curing for the public service the advantages
of competition upon any extensive plan, re-
commended in my annual message of Decem-
Der, 1877, the making of an appropriation for
the resumption of the work of the Commits
sion.
In the meantime, however. competitive ex-
aminatons under many embarrassments have
been conducted within limited spheres in the
Executive Departments in Washington. and
in a number of the custom houses and post
offices of the principal cities of the country,
with view to further test their effects, and
in every instance, they have been found to be
as salutary as they are stated to have been
under the administration of my predecessor
| think the economy purity, and efficiency of
the public service would be greatly promoted
by their systematic introduction, wherever
practicable, throughout the entire civil SER
vice of the Government, together with ample
provision for their general supervision, in Or
der to secure consistency and uniform justice.
Reports from the Secretary OF the Interior,
from tho Postmaster General, from the post
master in the city of New York, where such
examinations have been sometime on trial,
and also from the collector of the port, the
naval officer, and the surveyor in that city,
and from the postmasters and collectors in
several of the other large cities, show that
the competitive system, where applied, has,
in various ways, contributed to improve the
public service.
The reports show that the results have been
salutary, in a NAKED degree and that the gen.
eral application of similar rules cannot fail
to be of decided benefit to the service.
The reports of the Government officers, in
the city of New York especially, bear decided
testimony to the utility of open competitive
examinations in their respective offices, show
ing th.t ''these examinations, and the ex-
celent qualifications of those admitted to the
service through them, have had marked in
cidental effect upon the persons previously
in the service, and particularly upon those
aspiring to promotion. There has been, on
the part of these latter, an increased interest
in the work, and a desire to extend acquaint-
ance with it beyond the particular desk occu-
pied, and thus the morale of the entire force
has been raised. The examinations
have been attended by many citizens who
have had an opportunity to thoroughly inves-
tigate the scope and character of the tests
and the methods of determining the results,
and those visitors have, without exception,
approved the methods employed, and several
of them have publicly attested their favora-
BILE opinion.
Upon such considerations, | deem it my
duty to renew the recommendation contained
in my annual message of December. 1877,
requesting Congress to make the necessary
appropriation for the resumption of the work
of the Civil Service Commission. Economy
will be pomoted by authorizing moderate
compensation to persons in the public SER
vice who may perform extra labor upon or
under the Commission, as the Executive
NAV direct.
am convinced that if just and adequate
test of merit is enforced for admission to the
public service and in making promotions,
such abuse as removals without good cause
and partisan and official interference with the
proper exercise of the appointing power, will
in large measure disappear.
There are other administrative abuses to
which the attention Of Congress should be
asked in this connection. Mere partisan ap-
pointments. and the constant peril of removal
without cause, very naturally lead to an ab-
sorbing and mischievous political activity,
on the part of those thus appointed, which
not only interferes with the due discharge of
official duty but is incompatible with the free
dom of elections. Not without warrant, in
the views of several of my predecessors in
the Pre- .idential Office, and directly within
the law of 1871, already cited, l endeavored,
by regulation, made on the 22d day of June,
1877, to put some reasonable limits to such
abuses. 1t may not be easy, and it may new
er perhaps be necessary, to define with pre-
cision the proper limit of political action on
the part of Federal officers. But while their
right to hold and freely express their opinions
cannot be questioned, II Is very pam tnat
they should neither be allowed to devote to
other subjects the time needed for the proper
discharge of their official duties, nor to use
the authority of their Office to enforce their
own opinions, or to coerce the political action
of those who hold different opinions.
Reasons of justice and public policy, quite
analogous to those which forbid the use of
official power for the oppression of the pri-
vate citizen. impose upon the Government
the duty of protecting its officers and agents
from arbitrary exactions In whatever as
pect considered, the practice of making lev
les, for party purposes, upon the salaries of
officers is highly demoralizing to the public
service and discreditabe to the country.
Though an officer should be as free as any
other citizen to give his own money in aid Of
his opinions or his party, he should also be
as free as any other citizen to refuse to make
such gifts. If salaries are but a fair cOmpen-
sation for the time and labor of the officer, it
is gross injustice to levy a tax upon them. If
they are made excessive in order that they
may bear the tax, the excess is an indirect
robbery of the public funds.
recommend. therefore, such revision
and extension of the present statutes as shall Sc
cure to those in every grade of official life or
public employment the protection with which
l i n