Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-11-23
TENURE OF OFFICE.
What the Postmaster General Says
About 1t.

~ nat the postmaster General Saws
About 1t.
Postmaster General James, in his annual re-
port, has this to say on the tenure of Office of
the Post Office clerks and other servants:
'Some method of relief must be provided
from the overwhelming pressure for appoint
ment to clerkships and other subordinate posi-
tons and from the equal pressure for the re-
mOval OF capable and experienced assistants to
make room for those who are not more compe-
tent The public service is public trust to
which every citizen may properly aspire and
the public interest plainly demands that adj
mission to it should not depend upon personal
favor, because such favor cannot well be i'm
partial, and because a system of appointment
by mere influence may be readily per-
verified to the promotion of private interests
and personal ambition. Appointment by inhu-
ence naturally results in making the tenure
of office depend not upon fidelity and efficiency
in the discharge of official duty but upon the
asslduOus cultivation of the favor of patron.
Such a tenure is incompatible with the self
respect OF the incumbent and the service must
necessarily suffer from the decline of its morale
But the evil consequences cannot be limited to
the public service; they effect all political action
the purity and vigOr of the government and
the national character itself The question:
therefore. is one of far higher Importance than
that of the comparative fitness of clerks in the
employment OF the government, and really
concerns the character and success OF republic
can institutions. The first step. in my judg-
ment. toward the relief of the appointing officers
and the promotion Of the greater efficiency and
economy OF the civil service would be method
of minor appointment which should be indie
pendent OF personal or partisan influence. In
some important government Offices of which
have had personal knowledge such system is
already in operation. In those offices minor
appointments are determined solely by proper
qualifications. ascertained by impartial tests
open to all applicants upon equal terms. The
great success which has attended this method of
selection proves its practicability. while the
good results, both in the service and in the char
acter of the officers thus selected. demonstrate
its value. The extension of this method under
uniform conditions is earnestly to be desired,
both to correct familiar evils in the public ser
vice itself and to remove the still graver evils
which spring from them. In my opinion the
same general principles should govern the selec-
ton and retention of employees in this depart
ment The public is best served by honest ex-
perenced and competent officers; and changes.
therefore, should be made carefully and only for
reasons affecting official conduct. MY views
upon this subject are the result of prolonged
official experience. and am persuaded that the
practical application Of these principles would
promote public morality. increase the economy
and efficiency of the public service and assauage
the fury of party spirit against which Wash
ington warned the country as it's chief peril"