Litchfield enquirer., 1879-03-06
FIXED RULES"

as watchwords of liberty till time shall be no more. FIXED RULES"
 In the Presidents letter to Collector Merritt there was one short sentence which contains the fundamental principle of sound civil ser vice: "Let appointments and removals be made on business principles, and by fixed rule. " The head of business house does not need fixed rules, because his conduct is necessarily regu- lated by business considerations. But the head of an office traditionally regarded as place of reward for active workers, or as retreat for disabled veterans of the caucus, would find himself overwhelmed unless he relied upon rules. For instance, if there were a vacancy in the Collectors office, and there were no liked rule' fo: filling it, he would find him. self exposed to the conflicting entreaty of a dozen persons of influence" each insisting that the appointment of his man is indispensa- ble to the party in his 'deestrick," and that the
 man himself is honest, capable, industrious,
 and as full of various virtue as General Butler
 when he runs as a reform candidate for Gov
 ernor of Massachusetts The only defense against the waste of his time, and the only re-
 al security for the service that the Collector under such circumstances can have, is a ''fXed rule' by which the appointment is made to de- l pend not upon the representation of an inter- ested person, but upon the candidates own 1 proof of his fitness.
 l At this point appears the value of a compet- 1 itive examination. It is said that the lower | places at which the entrance is to be made are of kind that any body who is honest and of an average capacity can fill Probably; and if the object be to propitiate influence the Col lector will not go wrong in appointing the hon. est average applicant who has the most indu- ence. But if the purpose be to escape infiu- | ence, liked rule'' becomes indispensable. | Honest men of an average capacity differ in many things. Some can spell better than oth- CTS; some can write better hand: some have more general knowledge. Nova method which while it abolishes Influence" also secures for the public service the honest and capable man who spells and writes and has more general Knowledge than his competitors, is evidently | as excellent system. But that system is ''fix- ed rule" of competition. Here, of course, we encounter the n1mbe and familiar answer that the thing wanted is tact and practical ability, not :" book-earning," nor penmanship, nor knowledge of 1.-the chief lake ports" Very well: the thing wanted, then, can not be ob- tained by taking the word of an influential gentleman, or ward association, or a county committee, all of whom are politically interes- ted in particular appointment If the thing wanted be tact and good judgment and practi- cal capacity. it can be obtained only by trial, and liked rules" provide for that very trial. Thus, having selected the honest and capable gentleman who can, for instance, spell and write better, and who knows more even of the lake ports than the others, the power of ''in- f1uence" IS broken down, and then his practi- cal ability is tested by actual trial, or by pro- baton, as it is called. All this is done by fix ed rules" and by them only. The object of competitive examination is to ascertain the one among forty or fifth who is really the most in- telligent. A ''pass'' or standard" eXamina- tion is no defense against pressure of influence, and determines not who is best of the fifty, but who among the fifty can answer certain ques- tfons. The questions and the character of the answers under ''pass" system will be always at the mercy of the examiner. They can be easily arranged 50 that the person whom it is wished to appoint may succeed in answering, and then he will be appointed from among all the rest who reach the same minimum, even if they go far beyond. For in such an examina- tion it is only necessary to pass 8 certain point.
 In beginning reform of system at any par ticuar office, which must be assumed to be full of the abuses that make reform necessary, fix ed rules" also, are unavoidable for removal as well as for appointment. If the abuses which reformers denounce really exist, there are, for instance, in the Custom-house superfuous and incompetent officers who have been quartered upon public support for other reasons than their efficiency. This indeed, is one of the most notorious of abuses under the old system The committee of experts in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing two years ago-all of the same party-ascertaine that more than half the force could be dispensed with The temptation under system of patronage is to make places. Even General Butler admits that with swarm of hungry office seekers surrounding the appointing power, under system of patronage, it is impossible to abol- lshneedless officers or to stop leaks in the Treas ury. To weed out the incompetents will be one of the first and most painful. duties of just administration of the Custom-h house, and it can be done only by fixed rules" A Col lector or Naval Officer or Surveyor might we'll hesitate personally to turn adrift clerks some of them old, all of them dependent But these officers hold public trust, which they are bound to administer not by their private sympathies and feelings, but for the most ef- fective public service. By fixed rules' their duty can be done, and those who are removed will be satisfied that they have not been arbi- trarily dealt with. When thus the service has been made thoroughly efficient C fixed rules' will prescribe no removals except for legiti- mate cause. fair system of promotion, and entrance at the lower grades after competitive examination. This will secure not only bet ter service than one in which appointments and removals depend upon the solicitation of politicians and the demands ot ward associa-. tions and committees but will foster self-res- pect in the members of the service; it will re- move the stigma from the term ''effice-hold- er;" it will restore every man in the service to his legitimate political sympathy and ac- tivity; it will enable the public business to be transacted upon business footing; it will ft,o 0f contention by preventing the public service from being regarded as party plunder. De''s Weekly. ".