National Republican., 1883-03-21
The c,rn ssrvlos comm,su,nn.

question.
The Civil Service Commission.
THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN must be per.
mitted to express it's hearty approval Of the
views of Judge Thoman, of the civil service
commission, as to the character of tho ex-
aminations which should be made for admis-
sion to the public service. He is reported as
having said that he believed "the examina-
tion should be confined strictly to test the
| capacity and fitness of the personsexamined
to discharge the duties of tho service in
which they seek to be appointed, aud should
be practical in their character" This is in
accordance with the law creating the cord-
mission, thanks to an amendment TO that
effect introduced by Senator Logan. Thebil
as originally offered by Senator Pendleton
contained no such provision. The main
opposition TO what has called itself civil ser-
vico reform has been directed mainly at that
feature of 1t which undoubtedly sought 10
favor class at the expense of the people
The improvement of the public service was
! to be incidental, like protection in revenue
tariff, but the great object sought was to have
machinery erected which should exclude the
common peoples sons from places and give
a monopoly of them to the college
bred darlings of the nation. The civil
service commission was expected by
the promoters of this pretty scheme
to frame questions which should serve as a
filter to exclude oapability when unaccompa-
MED by pedantry in favor of pedantic inca
pacity. That is to say, Mr.. George w. Curtis
and his school undertook, under the guise of
patriotic interest in civil service reform, to
TO the public service The ordinary educa-
tion attainable in the public schools was to
be stigma upon "our boys" and its limita-
tions were to be the dividing line between
them and superior class of beings, to which
the noodle was equally eligible with the
genius if his parents were rich and fond
enough to put him through college," Tho
boy of sixteen, who leaves tho public
high school and earns his living for half
dozen years, cannot hope to answer as many
school-book cpnundrums in the higher
mathematics as the young college graduate of
the same age fresh from the books. There is
no more reason why government clerkship
should be legislated into learned profession
than there is that the selling of dry goods or
the keeping of set of books should be.
The public service should not be given over
to the incompetent henchmen of politicians,
nor has 1t been. Undue pressure there often
is for places for unfit persons, either as lame
ducks" Ito use Mr.. Lincoln's phrase)
or because of the personal service
they have rendered their patron. To
this pressure the appointing power never
need and never should yield. A head OF q
department may be a man of as high respect
ability, as much penetration, and as good
judgment concerning the work intrustod TO
him as any civil service commissioner ap-
| pointed to watch over and superintend him
Indeed since men are but men, and shice
heads of departments and civil service
reform commissioners are both selected
by ono mind, why may not cabinet ministers
be chosen from among tho same superior in
tclligence as are popularity supposed to ami
mate the ideal civil service commissioner {?
There are none so clamorous for places as your
civil service reformer Mr.. Carl Schurz,
while senator, once urged the appointment
of a clerk because he was German and lost
leg in the war, never once saying whether
or not he could read or write. Mr.. George
W. Curtis, when the boss Of his assembly dis
trict, was a post to the New York custom
house with his constant and greedy demands
for "billets" for his henchmen of the prm-
aries.
No good citizen will wish anything short OF
the highest success for the Pendleton act if,
as stated by Judge Thoman, 1t is to be admin
istered in the interest of the government and
not of class. If the commission simply pro-
vides rules for the exclusion of incapables it
will be a most wholesome institution. One
suggestion we make, and one only, and that
is that the competitive examinations be
private. Patient merit may not always have
an equal chance with brass and unworthiness
in public examination. If anything is to
be public let it be the discussion over the
formation OF the rules