Omaha daily bee., 1891-04-01
ON cIvIL sERTICE REFORM.
Merit System of Making Appoint
ments Carefully Considered.
Bu 1heodorc Roosevelt Member National ctrd

rnents Carefully Considered
Bg TheodOro Rooscrcu, Member Ndtiond CirU
SerUice Commits on.
BY reform in the civil service, we mean the
Introduction Of the merit system OF making
appointments in the public service, as OPP
posed TO the old spois or patronage system
The essential difference between the two
systems can be summed up by saying that
the merit system is that which elimina ates
favoritsm, whether political or personal, in
making appointments and aims to fill all the
subordinate Offices Of the government solely
with reference to the capacity OF the appli'
cants to perform the special duties OF the
places which they seek; while the spoils, or
patronage theory Of making appointments,
on the other hand implies that a mans lit
ness for the place to which he is appointed is
purely secondary consideration, and thSt
the first consideration Is his fealty to the
party in power or to some influential politl-
cal chief.
The merit system Is thoroughly American
thoroughly democratic and republican, The
spOils or patronage system, is thoroughly
unAmerican, thoroughly undemocratic and
unrepublican. The spoils system fosters the
growth of a special pri vileged class, that Is,
the class of political workers The merit
system, or system OF civil service reform, pre-
vents the growth of this class, and fills the
public service with people who are really the
servants of the whole public, not the servants
OF any particular individual or particular
party, and who keep their offices only so long
as they serve the public faithfully and well,
without regard to the influence of Their party
bacl1crs or the fate of their party friends
| The spoils system inevitably produces a caste
or class of men who go into politics Tor
livelIhO and who make the bus-
ness of office getting their only
aim. These men care mttle aioa iOr
| up political life. They are only subordi-
| nately interested in protection or free trade
| bimetasm or monOmetalism; what they care
| for is the offices. 1t is matter of breaG and
| butter with them to manage the primaries
| and control the elections, and as they have an
| active personal interest in the matter the
| chances are always in their favor as against
| the mass of honest non-officeholding citizens
| Accordingly under the Spolls system the
| great caste Of officeholders exercise most
| nOxious in tluence on politics. PrODably There
| is no other one in fluenC in American life not
| even the iutiuence Of the rum shops, which
| has produ ced so much degradation in our po-
| litical life as the system of spoils appoint
men tS the theory that to the victOrS in
| political contest belong the spois, for which
| the whole people pay.
| hold that the radical introduction of the
| reform system of lSingappointments would
measurbly improve the pu bic service, and
| would immeasurably improve public life. 1t
| would sound the death knel of a host Of
| cheaper and yiler politicians; and they ma
| turally regard it with peculiar hatred and
| abhorrence. There are of course misguided
| men ofhonesty and ability who are opposed
| to reform, and there are great many good
| people who are Indifferent or hostile through
| sheer ignorance. But nineteen-twentieths Of
its active opponents whether in congress or
| elsewhere, are sure to be men w hose mere
| preSenc in our political life is q curse to the
| country; men of narrow minds and defective
| ConScienceS, who feel a natural and sour hat
| red toward any system that means good gov
| emment and honesty. The immense horde
of ofiiceseekers and of ofichoders under the
| patronage system furnishes these base politi-
cal leaders with mercenary army, compact
ahd well disciplined. Their opposition to the
form system is strenuous and bitter because
| they realize that it strikes at their power.
| On the other hand the average good citi-
| zen has but general interest in its success.
| He has no special interest or concern in the
! matter His interest Is simply that of all
| good citizens, and henceis is less effective than
is the con crete and selfish hostility of the
| spokesman. II is this which accounts for the
| comparative slow progress of the reform.
1t Is noteworthy that the opponents of the
| reform never underary circumstances peaks
| the truth in opposing it or advances single
| argu ment agains I it which is worth refuting
resentation He has no case, and he knows 1t
and therefore takes refuge In mendaclty
One Of his cheapest falsehoods persistently
indulged in, although contin ually exposed, is
| to the effect that the examinations for entry
into civil service are Impractical. The man
| who asserts this either asserts what he
knows TO be false or else he is so ignorant of
the subject that he has no right to speak
aboutl 1t. Our examinations are absolutely
practical, and the questions we ask are abso-
lutely relevant to the duties the various can
didates are expected to perform.
Nineteenth of our positions are
filed from examinations for clerk,
copyist letter carrier, and the like. A clerk
or copylst we examine IN spelling penman-
ship, copying. letter-writing, and simple
arithmetic. These are precisely the subjects
in which man has to possess proficiency il
he wishes to be good copyist or clerk
Similarly, q stenographer is examined in
stenographya a typewriter in type-writing
| railway mail clerk is tested in his lxnowl
edge of the railway mail-systems of his dvi
sion and of the geography OF the United
| States, A letter-carrer is tested as to his
| skill and speed in reading addresses and his
knowledge OF the local delivery of his city
| All our questions are absolutely practical
absolutely relevant, and experience has
shown that they test in the best possible
| manner the capacity of tae candidates The
Off ces wherein the civil service law is bes
observed, are precisely the offices in whict
the public Is best served and the interests o.
the community received most prompt anC
, | intelligent attention, The best postoffices il
the country Ito take a few examples out o.
many, those like the postoftice at Boston
under Mr. Corse; at Brooklyn, under Mr.
) Hendricks; at Philadelphia, under Mr.
| Field; at Indianapolis, under MIR. Wallace
at Chicago, under MIR, Sexton, where tn,
civil service law has been observed in spiri
and letter.
The law is long past It's expert menti
stage. 1t has been tried faithfully for sever
r | wears, and wherever it has had a fair chance
y it has worked admir- ably and has producet
| the greatest improvement over the old sys
tenn. AT present about fourth OF the office
i OF the country are under the law-that is, ar
in the classified service, as it is called. Thu
o nearly thirty two thousand places are with
f drawn from the degrading and demoralizn
O effects of the spoils system. 1t is earnestl
;, to be wished that this system may in the en-
a be extended so as 10 cover the entire publ
: service of the government, excepting the fey
= positions where the duties are really politi
o cal. The thorough elimination of polite
/ from the civil service under the Unite
It States govern ment would be of all reform
/ the most beneficial, and would produce tn
best and most lasting results in purifym
politics throughout the county.
Is Fatal Hotel Fire at Dallas.
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