The Progress., 1888-08-11


pointments were ma1e from the eligible list.
to the departmental service, 641 to the customs
service, and 8, SS64 to the postal service
Concerning separations from the oiasslla,..ss,
service, the report only informs us OF such
| as have occurred among empioyes in the
public service who had been appointed from
eligible lists under civil service rules When
these rules took effect they did not apply to
persons then In the service, comprising a
full complement Of employees, who obtained
| their positions independently of the new law.
The commission has no record of the separa-
lions IN this numerous class, and the dis.
crepancy apparent in the report between the
number OF appointments made in the re-
spective branches OF the service from the
list OF the commission and the small num-
Der OF separations mentioned, is, to great ex-
tent, accounted for by vacancies of which no
report was made to the commission, occurring
among those who held their places without ex.
animation and certifcation, which vacancies
were filled by appointment from the eligible
lists.
$ In the departmental service there occurred
between the 10th day of January, 1885, and the
3oth day OF June, 1887, among the employees ap-
pointed from the eligible lists, under Civil
service rules, seventeen removals, thirty-six
designations and five deaths. This does not in.
clude fourteen separations in the grade OF
special pension examiners, four by removal,
Ato NY IeSlSudGOn ana nVe Oy death.
In the classified customs and postal ser
vice. the number OF separations among those
VINO receive absolute appointments under civil.
service rules are given for the period between
the 1st day OF January, 1886, and the 3Oth OF
June, 1887. It appears that such prepara-
tlons IN the customs service for the
time mentioned embraced twentyone re.
movals, five deaths, and eighteen designations
and in the postal service 25e removals. SO
deaths, and 469 designations. More than year
has passed since the expiration of the period
covered by the report Of the commits
son. Within the time which has thus
elapsed many important changes have
taken place in furtherance of reform in
our civil service. The rules and regulations
governing the violations of the law upon the
subject have been completely remodeled in
such manner as to render the en-
forcement of the statute more eff
fective and greatly increase its use.
fulness. Among other things, the SCOPE
OF examinations prescribed for those who
seek to enter the classified service has
been better defined and made more practical,
the number OF names to be certified from the
eligible lists to the appointing officers from
which selection is made has been reduced
from four to three, the maximum limitation OF
tne age OF persons seeking entrance to the clas-
slhed service to 45 years has been changed
and reasonable provision has been made for
the transfer OF employees from one department
to another in proper cases. A plan has also
been devised providing for the exa mination OF
applicants for promotion in the service, wkch,
when in full operation, will eliminate all chance
OF favoritism in the advancement of employees,
Dy making promotion reward Of merit ana
faithful discharge OF duty
Until within few weeks there was no uni
form classification Of employees in the different
executive departments OF the Government
A nf ,ic
departments positions could be obtained with
out ciVil-service examination, because they
were not within the classification OF such de.
partment, while in other departments an ex.
animation and certi1cation were necessary to
obtain positions Of the same grade, because
such positions were embraced in the classi.
hcatlons applicable to those departments
me exception OF laborers, watchmen and
messengers from examination and classifca-
ton, gave opportunity in the absence OF any
rule guarding against it, for the employment.
free from civil-service restrictions, OF persons
under these designations, who were immediate.
ly detailed to do clerical work.
All this has been obviated by the applica
ton to all the departments of an extended and
UNIFORM Classification, embracing grades of
employees not heretofore included, and by the
adoption OF rule prohibiting the detail of
laborers, Watchmen or messengers to clerical
dutv
sThe path of CivilService reform has not
at all times been pleasant nor easy, the scope
and purpose Of the reform having been much
m1sapprehended; and this has not only given
rise to strong opposition, but has led to it's
invocation by Its friends to compass objects
not in the least related to it. Thus, parti
sans OF the patronage system have naturally
condemned 1t. Those who do not understand
its meaning either mistrust it, or when disap-
pointed because IN its present stage it is not
applied to every real or imagined ill, ac-
cuse those charged with its enforcement
with faithlessness to Civil-Service reform.
Its Importance has frequently been underosti-
mated, and the support OF good men has thus
Deen lost by their lack OF interest in its success
BESIDES all these dift1culties, those responsible
IN its executive branches have been
and still are often annoyed and irritated by the
alsloyalty to the service, and the insolence of
employees, who remain in place as the bene.
fciaries, and the relics or reminders of the
vicious system of appointment which Civil
Service reform was intended to displace
g u And yet these are but the incidents Of ar
advance movement, which is radical and far.
reaching The people are, notwiib standing, to
be congratulated upon the progress which has
been made, and upon the firm, practical and
sensible foundation upon which this reform
now rests.
:" With continuation of the intelligent
fidelity which has hitherto characterized the
work OF the commission, and with a continue
tion and increase of the favor and liberality
which have lately been evinced by the Con-
gress IN the proper equipment OF the COM
mission for its work, with a firm but con-
servative and reasonable support OF the reform
by all its friends, and with the disappearance
OF opposition which must inevitably follow its
better understanding, the execution of the Civ
il-Service law can not fail to ultimately answer
the hopes in which it had its origin.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
Executive Mansion, July %, 1885,"