Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-07-23

and of very definite and well.considered
kind. The spoils system cannot be thrown
down like the walls of Jericho, by the
blowing of trumpets. 1t must be killed by
substituting for it better system. This
better system, however, has not now to be
searched for. There is no uncertainty
about the right course. The path of re-
form lies straight before us, and if we
are prepared to follow it we have only to
step forward. It is merely necessary to
recognize the obvious truth that the public
business has no proper connection with
politics, but that it stands upon the same
general level as private business. And it
must be understood that civil service re.
form is not an untried experiment Not
to speak of the fact that it has been APP
Piled in the English Government for
twenty. five years with the most satisfac-
tory results, it has also been tested in New
York and at Washington during the past
three years, to the great and signal benefit
of the public service. 1t is not mere
theory, therefore, but proved success, and
as such it must be treated.
The principles upon which the new sys-
tenn rests are simple. The practice of
appointing people to Office on the recon-
mendation of politicians is discarded ab-
solutely. Whoever wants public office
must undergo competitive examination
to test his fitness for it, and must then
take his turn on the list for appointment.
The good effects of this system were thus de-
scribed by the Collector of New York in
1879: GAS the most satisfactory evidence
"that the system secures good men, if not
So the best, is the important fact that the
"appointees underith have by their work and
" conduct during their probationary terms
approved their original selections under
the rules. These examinations, and the
" excellent qualifications of those admitted
"to the service through them, have had a
marked incidental effect upon the
"persons previously in the service, and
particularly upon those aspiring to pro-
Emotion. There has been, upon the part
"of the latter, an increased interest in the
"work and desire to extend acquaintance
with it beyond the particular desk occu-
pied, and thus the general morale of the
"entire service has been raised.
" The service has been directly benefited
"by the high qualifications and example
Z" of the persons admitted under these
"rules, and Indirectly so by the assurance
"to all concerned that efficiency and
character are the sole requirementsfora adj
I" mission, without regard to the merely
personal or partisan wishes of those who
''desire to run the civil service for their
Gown ends"
We could multiply Inducements of this
kind indefinitely, for the truth is that the
merit system, as it has been called, is so
benefcent In its results, 60 rapidly and
greatly raises the character Of the public
service, and so effectually eliminates the
worst of the abuses OF the old system,
that it is impossible even for those heads
of departments who have been brought up
under the spoils plan to deny its advan-
tages. The spoils system not only demon
allies the employees of the Government,
but it deprives the people Of large part
of the services of their representatives.
General Garfield when in Congress declared
in a speech ON one occasion that fully a
third of the time of every Congressman
was taken up in listening to applicants for
appointments, and in trying to secure such
appointments. Since then he has had ex-
perienee of the enormous pressure brought
to bear upon the Executive through the
same system, and it is notorious that he
hardly could find time for the transaction
of any public business, so beset was he by
the swarms of ofiice-beggars.
The competitive system has been applied
practically in the New York Custom
House and Postofice, and in some of the
Departments at Washington. Wherever
it has been tried it has produced marked
and instant changes for the better.
Whatever head of a department has tested
it, is ready to indorse it. In fact, as AIR.
Eaton observes in his recent pamphlet on
civil service reform, " 1t is one of the
"peculiarities of the situation that the
executive officers, from the President
down, who are responsible for good adj
" ministration, and who best know the
abuses and the most effective reasons for
removing them, are in accord in de.
"manding reform and in bearing earnest
testimony to the utility of the methods
" adopted for bringing it about, while the
" only denials of its need or of the
utility of the new system have come
" from officials without responsibility for
administration, whose patronage it would
imperil, or from partisans and Office
seekers whose spoils it would suppress
The reform system in fact is only opposed
by men who have no interest In good and
honest government, or who have direct
interest in bad and dishonest government.
The merit system has therefore undergone
q sufficient test, and stands approved.
There is is no doubt about its excellence
All that is necessary is to adopt it formally
for the whole country.
And here we come face to face with the
greatest difficulty. That difficulty is Con.
gress. Civil Service reform has been
fought by Congress from the first, and it
will be SO fought by Congress to the last.
The reason is plain. Congress is controlled
from without by machine politicians.
Every Congressman owes his place to these