The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-03-06
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
First Annual Report of the Commission
President Arthur Endorses the Law and
its Administration. ,te.,:J, ~ ~.


WASHINGTON. February 29.-The
President to-day sent TO- Congress the
first annual. report of the civil service
commission. In his message OF: trans
initial the President says: "Upon the
good results which the civil service law
has already accomplished congratulate
Congress and the people, and I avow my
conviction that it will henceforth prove
to be still more signal benefit to the
public service. I heartily commend the
zeal and fidelity of the commissioners
and their suggestions for further ]egisla.
ton, and I advise the making of such an
appropriation as shall be adequate for
their needs"
+ The report Of the commissioners makes
a volume of si1ty-seven closely printed
pages. After general review of the
Civil Service law and the preliminaries
of the organization of the commission,
the report states that several results,
which appear to be the more direct OBJ
iects of the law and civil service rules, as
understood by the commission, are:
First. That official authority and in
fluence must no longer be used to impair
freedom of elections or to coerce the po-
litical action of citizens.
Second. Extortion from those: in pub
lie service, whether under the form OF
political assessments or otherwise, for
the purpose of paying the expenses OF
parties or candidates, must come to an
end.
Third. Selections for executive service
on the basis Of official favor and partisan
influences must be suppressed by requir-
ing examination and other adequate
tests of character and capacity IS condi.
tions of entering this service.
Fourth. The true responsibility and
independence of the legislative and ex-
ecutive departments under the Constitu-
ton must be restored and preserved.
Rules and 2 of the Civil Service EN-.
body the principles set out under the
first and second heads.
The report says that it is too early to
speak with defnIteness of the effects OF
these rules. The influence of old habits
and theories affects, conduct long after
new standards of duty have been accep.
ted. Although the violation of either
rule is made good cause for removal, the
utility of such rules must in some de.
gree rest in their power as precepts for
obviously only gross forms of their .Vio-
lation can be easily proved.
The first step toward the protection OF
all rights is the distinct recognition OF
them and the public acknowledgment OF
the duty to protect them. That step at
least has been taken. In the face Of
pledges at once formal aud public it
will require more audacity to invade and
there will be reader courage to defend
the freedom which it is the object of the
first two rules to guarantee. No case of
violation of either in the particulars re.
fe-red to has been laid before the COM
mission. Whether in the period since
the civil service rules went into effect
there has not beer diminished tendency
on the part of Federal officers TO med.
die with the political action of citizens
and more vigorous and general condem'
nation of the practice by the public, are
questions to be decided upon careful
observation of the facts, which are as
open to all others as to the members OF
the commission.
Upon the subject of political assess.
ments the report says: An investigation
now being conducted by the commission
tends to show that the twelfth section OF
the Act has been violated by private
citizen from each of two States in the
form of surreptitiously sending or car.
rying circulars into the departments at
Washington by which contributions
were solicited from those in public SER
vice in aid of the political fund of those
States, and one or more of the employees
in those departments appear TO have
assisted in the distribution of those cir
culars, but apparently without knowing
their contents or the purpose OF their
distribution. We are satisfied that but
triAing sums have been secured, and this
illegal practice appears to have ceased
upon public attention being called to 1t.
Inquiries have justified the conclusion,
that the amounts for corresponding peri
DDS collected from the same number of
Federal officers since the Act went into
effect have not been more than from one.
half to one. fourth as much as formerly,
and that while feeling of complete
safety in declining to pay is by no means
attained, this diminution in the amount
collected would otherwise measure the
proportion of the whole amounts before
secured, which was paid by reason OF
fears of removal or hopes of promotion.
The evils of the spoils system are set
out at length, and the defects of the civil
service system practiced during President
Grants administration are pointed out
and its failure explained.
w. J. Whipper is said to be in the
e.. Go,rrouoionol honOrS i'm the