St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-03-21
1t Is Designed to Exclude
Politics in the Employ
rnent of Laborers.
Some Twenty-One Thousand
Employees Affected by the
Measure,
Under It Appointments Must
Be Made in the Order Of
Application.
Statistics Showing How the
Proposed Method Works
- in Massachusetts,.

WASHINGTON, March 2O.-Represent-
alive Andrew, of Boston, has completed
the report upon his bill "to exclude p0-
litical influence in the employment of
laborers under the authority of the
United States" and will submit it to
the house tomorrow. The bill, accord
ing to the reports he has received, will
affect some $1,000 employees, and will re-
quire that henceforth they shall be ap-
pointed or employed without regard to
political considerations. The report
corrects Misrepresentation which it is
said is held by some army and navy Of
ficers that the system contemplated by
the bill will require eertifi-
cations through the civil sery-
ice commission. The only purpose
of the legislation, Mr.. Andrew points
out, is to compel the appointment of
properly qualified men in the order of
their application, and this purpose can
be carried out by the officers authorized
to give the employment without any
cumbersome machinery. MIR. Andrew
gives table, compiled from recent sta
tistics, showing that the official force of
the government in the executive dc.
partments is 1890, and that of this
number only 9O,726 are actually subject
ort.continues. The bill reported pro-
poses wide extension of the
NOn-Partisan System
by much simpler method and at much
less cost than the extensions which have
already been made. 1t is not proposed
to require competitive examinations of
lab0rers nor subject them to any schol-
astic test. The framing OF the rules by
which they are to be appointed or en-
ployed is LETT TO the wise discretion of
the civil service commission, but it is
intended that these rules shall simply
provide for proper evidence of the
physical fitness and the good character
of applicants. All that is to be required
beyond this is the registration of appli-
cants in the order of their applica-
tions, and this will require, under
proper system of rules, no more
labor on the part of officers in charge of
public works and in the various de-
partmentS than is now required to file
applications or make out lists of en-
ployes. The labor imposed uIOn APP
pointing officers ought to be even less
than at present when the new system
comes to be thoroughly understood, he
cause such officers will be relieved from
the pressure of outside parties and will
have nothing to do but make appoint
nients in the order of applications. 1t
is left by the bill within the discretion
of the civil service commission, with the
approval of the president, 10 provide
tests for
Technical Skill
where it is required, but these tests may
I BE as simple and as practical as they
would be under any conscientious and
Intelligent appointing officer. The COM
mission is also authorized to permit en-
( ployment without any system of regis
tratonl and at the discretion of the en-
pioying officers where the exigencies of
the service seem to require it. The SIM
plicity of this system makes it practi-
cable to extend it to much larger num-
Der of men at small expense than the
system of competitive examinations
could readily be extended to. The
statement showing the number which
will probably be affected by the
proposed bill gives 1868 in the
treasury department, TO- 1877 in the war
department, .12S in the navy depart
ment, and a total, including the other
departments, of 21.188. Mr.. Andrew
states that the method proposed Of ex-
Guiding political influence from the en-
plOyment of laborers is not an untried
experiment, and he quotes the system
inaugurated by Secretary Tracy In the
navy yards, and in force in the cities of
Massachusetts for the past seven years
in proof of this statement. There are OBJ
vi nd LOO N Nh. A ndrayy
in establishing by law. under the pro-
|; lection Of the civil service commission
and applicable to all the departments,
system of
Non-Partisan Appointments
which has already proved so efficient in
improving the service in the municipal
work of the cities of Massachusetts and
i'll the navy yards of the United States.
The system should be established by
law to protect the officials themselves
from importantly to overturn or evade
it. 1t should be established under the
protection of the civil service commits
sion, in order that the commission may
apply the same general system of rules
TO laborers under different departments,
and. where the conditions are the same,
make as nearly uniform as may be
practicable the manner Of applications
and the term of employment. Mr..
Andrew declares, in conclusion, that the
bill proposes to take away from I'M
ScrupulUuS politicians the opportunity
to divert public funds to personal and
party uses by employing public serv-
ants as personal and party tools. 1t
proposes to relieve the people, when
they go to the polls to express their judy
ment upon public questions, from the
interference of thousands of employees,
paid for by taxes upon all the people,
but employed and directed as the tools
of faction or party. 1t proposes to
thus increase the efficiency of the pub
lie service, raise the standard Of Amer
lean politics and place all the working
men of the United States upon an equal
ity in seeking the public service by the
simplest methods and at profit to the
government, resulting from better
service and better work, rather than at
the cost Of needless machinery and new
expenditures.