Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-07-06
CIVIL SERVICE.
ITS OPERATIONS IN THE BRITISH
EMPIRE.
Abuses and Reforms and Their Bearings
on American PoIitics-eyiIs Of Our Ad.
ministration - Marvellous Re-
suits of the New System.
WHAT IS POSSIBLE FOR THE UNITED
STATES.
Special Correspondence of the Register.

Special Correspondence of the Register.
LONDON, June %.
Within the last ten years the civil ser.
vice OF this country has risen from the
rank OF comparatively unknown insti.
tuition to that OF a profession. Two cir
cumstances have tended to this eleva-
ton; first, the overcrowded state OF the
different profession, which renders ad
vancement nowadays of extreme diff
Guilty; and secondly, the reorganization
OF the Home service under the different
orders in council. Until the year 1855
Admission into the Civil Service
was purely matter of patronage. No
examination, either test or competitive,
was required. A candidate was appoint
ed because he was the younger son OF
peer, or the son OF one who had been
useful in electioneering matters, whilst
the inferior appOintments-such as the
customs, revenue and excise depart
ments-wcre often the perquisites OF re-
spectacle buffers and footmen OF the
sristocracy. In fact, the civil service
was regarded by that influential minor
ity, the Upper Ten Thousand" as
A Comfortable House Of Refuge
supported by the nation for their poor
relations or defendants. The result can
easily be imagined: the condition OF
81 Lap,a Snruina al
as possible. Complaints daily arose OF
the inefiicencv Of the officials. A Gov
ernment Office was regarded by the
public mind as place in which the
officials read the newspapers, wrote
private letters at Her Majesty's ex-
pense, and attended to everything but
what they were paid ior-1heir bus-
ness A sivil servant became byword
OF reeroach. His name WAS
Synonymous with Arrogance,
incivility and gross ignorance. Az long
ago as the reign OF Henry VI. (l422 to
l4cD law was passed to prevent those
iniuuities in the customs service which
have made the New York Custom House
a byword and Kissing throughout the
civilized world. Navy-Iard politics
were first introduced in the reign OF
Queen Elizabeth. The use OF patronage
for merely partisan purposes were car
ried to the highest development under
the first two Georges, and the first
twenty years of the third George.
Every wrong known TO the
United States civil service was
common in England before our youth
full government had being. The Pc
riod between 1900 and 1920 found the
English service in about the condition
OF that in the United States at the pres
ent day. At the last named date the
Demand for Further Reform Became
Clamorous
and could no longer be resisted. Under
George " there was steady improve
ment. Only the vice OF parliamentary
patronage and the indiscriminate admis-
sion OF candidates needed to be correct
ed. The public mind was gradually ed
ucated, and in 1858, a commission was
appointed by parliament chiefly at the
instigation of Sir Charles Trevelyan and
Sir Stafford Northcote, the present lead
er of the conservative party in the House
of Commons, to improve and reorganize
the civil service. The object OF the COM
mission
Was to Institute Examinations
for those appointed to the Junior service
in the civil establishments without de-
tracing from the system OF patronage
then in force. In June, 1856, the first
examination under the civil service COM
missioners took place, and after that
date every candidate nominated had to
undergo an examination previous to his
Office being conferred on him. This
was the thin edge OF the wedge. The
great ogre competition had been hard at
work laying his axe at
The Root Of the Tree Of Patronage.
Haileybury had succumbed, and soon
after the services of the artillery and en-
gineers threw open their portals to all
comers. Why, it was asked, should
not the civil service do the
same? Two parties then existed
one which desired to see the competitive
system, irrespective Of all favoritism,
introduced into the civil service; and
the other, which advocated species OF
limited competition. by which every
vacancy occurring among the junior
clerks should be competed for by not
less than three nominated candidates
and not more than five. The latter was
the plan adopted, and it continued in
force for several years, producing, ac-
cording to the opinion OF many good
judges,
Valuable Results.
1t was, however, eiIectualIy abolished
l.. Al. Ill. & r
June 1, 1870, under which unrestricted
competitive examination has been made
the only door OF entry tG the general
civil service" The practical results OF
the reform have been: That 4 great i'm
pulse has been given to popular eduCa-
tion so that England, of late, has been
compelled to provide elementary schools
which compare iavorably with any in
the world. A better grade OF service, at
less pay, has been obtained. This is
partly due to the superannuation allow.
ances, which have been admirably
arranged, to
Make Assurance of q Comfortable Cid |
Age.
But il is also due, in part, to the better |
class of men now in and coming into |
service. The morale of the service has |
been improved. 1t is deemed an honor |
TO be a member OF Her Majesty's |
civil service and it is not an
thing ior civil servants to |
indicate their occupation on their cards
The abolition OF patronage has lett Par.
lament free to pursue its legitimate bus
mess, unhampered by the vexatiOus re-
quests OF Office seekers, or the need Of
haunting the public offices to procure
places. The equality OF all the people
being recOpniZad In the distrihniinn OF |