Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-06-01
SELECTING APPoINTEEs.

SELECTING APPOINTEES.
The experience of the Administration
in selecting fit persons to fill various
positions is quite unique. The method OF
determining their fitness has been to take
the recommendations of the different
delegations as to an applicants fitness and
competency and these have generally been
relied upon; and these recommendations
are proving very falacious. Their worth
is much the same as the old style endorse
ments of Senators and Representatives.
The public will recall a number OF nom
nations which were withdrawn by the
President; and these were withdrawn De-
cause of the unftness of the nominees,
which was not discovered until after the
nominations were made. Their subse-
ouent withdrawal clearly showed that the
Administration cared far more for compe-
tency than for consistency. Kentucky
and Colorado seem to have taken the lead
in making endorsements OF bad candi-
dates, and they bid fair to be as famous
for this as Utah once was for illegal dI-
vorces. AS a rule the delegations are
little better than the caucus managers,
and look far more to the interests
of the party than to the IN
terests of the Government. All
recommendations are first made with a
view to a mans capacity as "worker,"
and he is usually to be rewarded because
of election work and the influence he has
had with the voters. 1t is the patronage
system complete in all its details, with
with the same men to run it under new
name. That system is as obnoxious in
principle as well as in practice when
adopted to further the interests OF Demo
Gratis as to further the interests Of Repub-
licans, and should find no favor with
those who believe that the Government
is best served by getting the best and
most competent men into office and re-
tanning them there. A service which is
constantly changing its personnel in the
minor and lesser offices, where the work
to be performed is chiefly of a clerical
nature, or such as is directed by a supe-
rior, can never attain to the same eff
cheney as a service which retains all its
employees so long as they do not neglect
their duties or prove themselves incom-
petent. To obtain such a personnel is
the object of civil service reform. 1t
adopts method which requires that ap-
plicants shall come up TO a certain stand
ard, which standard is made in accord
ance with the needs of the service,
and those who fail to meet its
requirements are dropped out. 1t is a
practical application OF the doctrine of
the survival Of the fittest TO the wants of
government. 1t is a doctrine which ob-
tains in every branch of business, and it
is the doctrine by which our colleges and
universities determine upon the qualif-
cations Of those who make application for
admission to the courses of study there
followed. If they fail to pass the exami-
nations, they are excluded from entering;
and yet no one complains Of their exclu-
sion. The officers for the army and navy
are selected upon this theory, and while
yet cadets, their class standing is deter
mined by examination in the various
studies pursued and when they graduate
they take rank in accordance with their
class standing at the time OF graduating.
When army officers quit the Military
Academy, none are assigned to the
ordnance corps, but are only admitted to
that corps after one or two years in some
other branch of the service, and then
only upon examination. What is the
consequence? The best men in the other
branches of the service 90 into the
ordnance corps. In speaking OF the other
branches, it is not intended to include the
engineer corps. Civil service reform
is nothing more nor less than the
method OF selecting officers for
the army and navy applied
TO the selection of officers for the civil
branch of the Government. If this sys-
tenn prevailed in selecting appointees to
I'LL the various positions under the Gov
ernment, the Administration would not
now be in the dilemma it's in regard to
unfit nominees; and the country would
not see the humiliating spectacle of
United States Senator recommending an
habitual drunkard for appointment in the
internal revenue department. The appli-
cant would have been rejected from the
very firstif the rules Of civil service reform
had been in force in all departments of
the Government. Those rules will event
ually prevail, and as they become univer-
sal, the standard should be raised far
above what it now is. Ii a Democratic
Administration shall make those rules
prevalent and establish higher standard
for admission to all appointments of the
civil service, it will have conferred great
and needed blessing upon the whole
country.
SUICIDE.