Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-12-16
The PendIetOn Civil Service Re form


OF the $50 bills brought forward in the
Senate last week the most important is Sena-
| tor Pendleton's Civil Service Reform bill, or,
in other words, bill ITO regulate and i'm
prove the Civil Service of the United States"
The bill provides for the appointment by the
President of board of civil service commits
sioners, consisting of five persons not more
than three of whom shall be adherents of the
same political party; three of the board
must be civilians, not holding any other fed
eral Office and two of the members must be
experienced officers in the public service in
Washington. The three civilian members
are to receive SO, 800 year each for their
services and the two official members $500 a
year each in addition to their other salaries
The duty of the commission is to devise
proper rules for carrying this act into effect,
which rules, when approved and promulgated
by the President, it is to be the duty of all
civil officers of the United States to obey and
carry out.
Among the rules to be provided for are,
first, for open competitive examinations for
testing the capacity of applicants; second,
that oil offices "shall be flled by selection
from among those graded highest as the re-
suits of such competitive examinations;
third that original appointments shall be
made only to the lowest grade or class;
fourth, that all absolute appointments shall
be preceded by period of probation; fifth,
that promotions from lower to higher grades
shall be upon the basis of merit and compe-
ttion; sixth, that no person in the public
service shall be under any obligation to con-
tribute for political purposes, nor shall re-
fusal so to contribute lead to his removal or
otherwise prejudice his standing in the pub
lie service; seventh, no official shall use his
authority or influence to coerce the political
action of any person or body; eighth, there
shall be non-competitive examinations when
competition may not be found practicable !;
ninth, the commission shall be informed of
appointments made after examination and of
the rejection of any such persons after pro-
baton; and any necessary exceptions from
snid nine fundamental provisions of the rules
shall be set forth in connection with such
rules, and the reasons therefor shall be stated
in the ANNUAL reports of the commission.
The commission is to control all examinations
and report annually through the President
to Congress. Provisions are made for the
creation by the commission of examining
boards at Washington and elsewhere. PEN
alties are provided for the punishment of vio-
lations of the spirit of the act. Within sixty
days after the passage of the act all subordi-
nate civil officers, clerks and employees are to
be arranged into classes by the heads of the
several executive departments, and after the
expiration Of four months from the passage
of the act no civil officer or clerk can be APP
pointed, except under its provisions, provid-
ed that the preference conferred upon per-
sons honorably discharged from the military
and naval service of the United States by
law shall not be taken away. Such, in brief,
are the leading features of the most complete
and thorough going scheme yet suggested
for the reform of the civil service.
On Tuesday Mr.. Pendleton made a very
able speech in the Senate in support OF his
bill. No stronger statement of the evils of
the spoils system has ever been made in Con-
gress. The effect of the dispensation of Off
ces as patronage upon senators and represen-
tatives upon elections and our entire politi-
cal system; the degradation of the service it.
self; the corrupting influence that prevents
the just and honest execution of the laval
these were stated with great vividness and
with convincing force.