The sun., 1895-04-20
Tammany and Civil Service Reform


None of the various controversies which
have grown out of the attempt of the Repub-
licans and Reformers to run a non partisan
administration of this town on a partisan
basis since Jan. l, is more amusing than
the battle over the civil service regulations.
When power was given to Mayor STRONG to
remove the Tammany heads of departments
without statement Of cause or pretext, that
power was recognized as preliminary to a
"clean sweep" which was to carry away all
the Tammany spoilsmen, and to leave the
minor offices to the Republicans and the
Reformers, the Reformers, of course, getting
most of them.
But in his appointments of Civil Service
Commissioners, Mr.. STRONG got into the
hands of what LARRY" GoDK1N calls "the
WHEELER are both members OF the Board.
They proceeded to extend the classified {"
or protected" list. 80 that the latter now
includes nearly every Tammany Hall man
In any Office short of Commissionership.
Regulation 13 Of the "Supervisory Board
OF Commissioners Of the New York Munich
pal Civil Service" contains this provision:
"The persons upon the former eligible list who have
NOT been examined for tho new eligible list shall
unless a period Of one year from tho date of their
original examination has elapsed. be placed respec-
lively upon the eligible list in the position to
which the percentages of their aggregate markings
upon their former examinations would entitle them
hsuch markings had. instead, been given them upon
the new examinations"
The consequence Is that the Republicans
and Reformers are between two horns of a
dilemma; they must either retain their
present Tammany Hall subordinates, the
odious "spoilsmen and heelers," or they
must supersede them with successors who
are likewise Tammany Hall men. The
glorious enterprise Of turning out Tam
manyites is therefore stalled on q side
track, while nothing can be done to relieve
the pressure Of the Republicans and of the
Reformers for paying places.
From the point Of view of the public SER
vice, the complication is not serious. Tam
many Democrats In Office are generally COM
petent, intelligent, and efficient. If the de-
partments are left in their hands or in the
hands Of other Tammany men, the city will
not suffer. Public business will be attended
towith vigor and expedition. Mayor STRONG
has not been slow to perceive this, for in
nearly every department of the city Govern
uCuC uc HhS TtIdlneu dU leaSC one lam many
Hall Commissioner. Col. WAXING has
Tammany assistants almost exclusively
The Sheriff's Office is as much in Tam
many hands as is the Registers or the
County Clerks Office. Mr.. BRooKFIELD is
running the Department Of Public Works
with the aid of appointees of Commissioner
GnRoy and Commissioner DAILY, his prede-
cessors. That is the case generally, and for
that reason there have been fewer scandals
and blunders since Mayor STRONG took
Office on Jan. than would have occurred
otherwise. What errors or delinquencies
there have been, are Enthusiastically charge
able to individual Reformers who have either
been appointed by the Mayor or elected by
the people under some misapprehension.
Perhaps the most amusing feature of this
amusing complication is the fact that the
Tammany Hall subordinates are retained
in all the public departments by the direct
connivance and visible agency of the most
virulent of their opponents, the GoDKIN-
WHEELER civil service reformers