Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-12-30
AFTER WANAMAKER.
The Civil Service Commission Replies
to the Postmaster General.
The Present system Of Examinations Better
Than the AppointIva. but Can
Still be Improved.
How Would wanamnker Have 1t:

bcC. SS-4uc "clhpcA
| of the civil service commission have sent
| to the president a letter in reply to GER
| tain statements made by Postmaster
| General Wanamaker on pages 4, 81, SO
and SO Of his last annual report. The
postmaster-g general, in the pages re-
ferrsd to, says that he hopes to see the
| civil service examinations, especially
with reference to the railway mail +,
| improved, and that years OF experience
confirms him in the judgment that the
civil service system as applied to
the postoffice department Is susceptible
of improvement and that the examina-
tions for inspectors Office and for the
railway mail service should be more diff
ticult, in as much as experience shows
that eligibles who have seen public SER
vice are more efficient than those re-
ceived through the civil service.
In reply the commission says that the
utterances of the pOstmaster-general,
which are in the nature of criticism,
having been publicly made, 1t is due to
the commission that the reply should be
as public. The commission says, notwith-
standing repeated opportunities, it has
never received u hint from department
OllclulS IudS us "cTc uOL
proper, and they take it for granted that
the postmaster-general would not thus
publicly comment upon the short comings
of these examinations unless he had
some definite proposition to make look
ing to their improvement. As a matter
of fact, the system of examinations aud
tests applied after appointment, under
which the postmaster general says the
railway service had become the most in-
effective body of OWL servants in the
United States, had been preserved intact
without one iota of change under
the civil service rules, and in
addition an entrance test has been
prescribed In the form of an open COM
petitive examination which takes the
place of the practice in vogue before the
civil service rules were applied to the
service of allowing members OF congress
and others to nominate to the depart
ment persons to be appointed.
In view of the postmaster-general g
statement that the examinations should
be made more difficult, the com mission
calls attention to the fact that the usual
complaint Is that they are
too severe. The commission
calls attention to the postmaster
generals report where, in speaking of
TemONdl5 VI ucu dppOiutcu tu0
preceding administration, he says of
them that "their room was more valua-
BILE than their bungling assistance.
This sentence, says the commission,
refers to the charges made Immediately
after the present administration took
office between March 4, and May 81, the
latter being the date on which the rail-
way mail service was classified. Accord
ing to the only authorities accessible to
to the commission there were some 1900
removals or over during these
eight weeks, at least one-third
and perhaps one-half as many
employees as were removed during
the preceding four years, being removed
during this time. All these had been
appointed under the patronage system.
The postmaster-general,i in speaking Of
their removal, says their room was more
valuable than their bungling assistance.
1t Is clear, then, from the postmaster
general 3 own statement, that under the
patronage system of making appoint
ments q very large proportion, probably
a half of those appointed, are of such
poor quality that even after several years
service they do their work in a manner
so buugling as to render their presence
In the department drawback, not an
SOuI phiiuS Will tu6
results achieved during last year and q
half under the system of open compet-
tive examinations the enormous supe-
riority of the latter is observable at a
glance from the postmaster's own re-
port. Nobody could point out more
forclbly than the postmaster general
has done in the sentence above quoted
the bad character of the appointments
made under the patronage system. Our
records show that but q small fraction
of those appointed under the merit
system has been dismissed. 1t Is there.
fore obvious that under the new system
a much more satisfactory set of ap.
pointees il supplied than under the old.
ldaho's Senators.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 29.-The senate
met at noon. The Independent laid |
before the senate communication from
the governor of Idaho Transmitting the |
credentials OF senators-eiect from that |
state-GeorRe l.. Schoupe and W. J. |
Mcconnell.
The credentials having been read, Mr.. |
Hoar moved that as Mr.. Schoupe was
present the oath OF Office be admins. |
tered to him. Mr.. Vance remarked |
thar the new state of Idaho appeared to
have elected more than its fair share of |
senators, and rs thought that the Gre
dentials should be referred to the COM
mittee Oh privileges and elections.
Mr.. Hoar said as be understood it |
there were only two senators chosen |
from that state. He thought that his
motion took precedence over Mr..
Vancs's.
Mr.. Hoar's motion having been
agreed to, that senator escorted Mr..
Schoups to the clerks desk, where he
took the oath OF ONCE and subscribed /
10 IL. +
Mr. Harris subsequently INQUIRED