Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-03-11

Theodore Roosevelt Speaks OF the
Past and the Future.

Theodore Roosevelt In Atlantic Monthly.
In 1883 the civil service law was .stab-
Ished at Washington, and in the larger
post offices and custom houses throughout
the country. taking In total OF some
fourteen thousand employees. The great
extensions since have all taken place dur
ing the last six years, period which hap
pens to include my own term OF service
with the commission so I write OF them
at first hand. In 1889 the railway mail
service was added, in 1893 all the free
delivery post offices, and in 1894 all the
smaller custom houses and the internal
revenue service. Other important but
smaller extensions have been made, and
the larger offices have grown, so that now
about fifty thousand employees are under
the protection Of the law.
There are of course. and there always
must be in a body SO large individual
cases where the law Is evaded. or even
violated, and as yet we do not toucn the
question Of promotions and reductions
But, speaking broadly, and with due al
lowance for such comparatively slight ex-
ceptions, these fifty thousand places ere
now taken out of the political arena. They
can no longer be scrambled for IN strug-
gle as ignoble and brutal as the strife OF
pirates over plumber; they no longer serve
as vast bribery chest with which to de-
bauch the voters of the country. Those
holding them no longer keep their political
life by the frail tenure of service to the
party boss and the party machine: they
stand as American citizens. and are al
lowed the privilege of earning their own
bread without molestation. so long as they
faithfully serve the public.
The classified service, the service in
which the merit system is applied. has
grown fast. 1t is true that the outside
service. where the spells theories are still
applied in all their original nakedness. has
number
offices under the government has increased
very rapidly during the last twenty years.
but the growth of the classified service
has been even more rapid, so that con-
stantly increasing percentage of the whole
is Withdrawn from the degrading grasp Of
the spoils system.
Action of the President.
Now, something like quarter of all the
Offices under the federal government in
point of numbers, representing nearly a
half in point Of salaries, has been put upon
the basis of decency and merit. This has
been done by the action of successive
Presidents under the law of 1888. without
the necessity of action by Congress.
There still remain some things that can
be dore without further legislation. For
instance. the labor force in the Eavy yards
was put on 4 merit basis, and removed
from the domain of politics, under Sec
rotary Tracy. This was done merely by
order of the Secretary of the Navy, which
order could have been reversed by his sue
cessor, Secretary Herbert.
Instead of reversing it, however, Secre-
tary Herbert has zealously lived UP to it's
requirements, and has withstood all pres
sure for the weakening of the system, in
the interests of the local party machines
and bosses. 1t is unsafe to trust to always
having Secretaries of the Navy Ike Messrs
Tracy and Herbert. The civil service COM
mission should be given supervision ever
tile Iaborers who come under the direction
of cabinet officers. Indeed, all the labor
ing force and all the employees of the Dis
.trct Of Columbia employed Icy the federal
government should be put under the COM
mission.
When this has been DONE and when
few other comparatively slight extensions
have been made, all that can be accom-
plished by the unaided action of the
executive will have been accomplished.