The Wichita daily eagle., 1896-11-27
CIVIL SERVICE HISTORY
How Ofice After Office Has Been Taken
of the Pic Counter


In the thirteen years that the civil service
law has been on the books. president after
president, by successive steps, has succeed
| ed IN taking out of the hands OF the dis
pensers of patronage nearly every office IN
the country. 1t must of course be always
| remembered in speaking of offices that ars
affected by the civil service laws that such
appointments are made by the president
! which go into effect only after confirma tior
by the senate are necessarily exempt from
| the operations of the civil service laws. All
officers appointed "by and with the advice
| and consent of the senate" are outside the
classified service, This is easy TO under
stand, because to place such officers under
| the jurisdiction OF the Civil Service commits
sion would involve conflict of the author
| ity of the senate vested in that body by the
Constitution. There is an apparent eXce9-
ton in this rule in the case of consuls,
| whose salaries range between $1,000 and
s2,500, but that exception will be considered
| later.
| According to the statement furnished to
the Ttmes-Star correspondent At the Office
| of the civil service commission today there
are at present in the departmental service
| of the United States 5000 employees. The
| departmental service includes the clerks in
| the several executive departments in Wash
| ington. the commissions Qike the Inter
| state Commerce commission, the Civil Serv-
| ice commiss.on) and the offices Qike geodet-
ic survey. geological survey in the District
| of Columbia.
| The railway mail service.
The Indian service.
| The several pension agencies.
| The steamboat inspection service.
| The marine hospital service.
| The lighthouse service.
| The life-saving service.
| The several mint and assay offices.
| The revenue cutter service.
| The force employed under custodiars OF
| public buildings.
| The several sub-treasprers.
The engineer department ct large.
Furthermore, it includes all executive Of
| ficers and employees outside of the District
| Of Columbia not covered by the above cla5-
sification, who are clerks, watchmen or
| messengers, physicians. hospital stewards,
| nurses, or who are doing duties of a medi-
| cal nature; draughtsmen, civil engineers,
| computers or firemen. or who are in the SER
| vice of the supervising architects office, as
| superintendents of construction, superin-
| tendents of repairs or foremen, or who al e
| in the service of the treasury department
| in any capacity whatever.
The result of these sweeping laws Is that
out of the $500 employees there are except
ed from the workings of the civil service
law ISL employees. This figure, nearly Geo.
seems at variance with the statement made
above that only a handful remain" for 7S1
offices would. at first glance, seem more
| than a handful. but consider the Offices
which are included in these Isl exceptions.
They are as follows:
First-The president of the United States
and each of his eight cabinet officers is
permitted TO appoint two men without COM
pettive examination. That is TO say, the
president and each secretary of the de-
partment will appoint his own private and
confidential secretary. The confidential sec
retary to the president or to a cabinet Of
hcer has always been a purely personal ap-
pointment. and no man looking for an Of
flee would consider the private secretary
ship legitimate prey. Then each cabinet Of
ficer will probably avail himself of the other
appointment conceded 10 him TO appoint
some other close personal and confidential
follower TO look after the general working
of the department. The last extension of
the civil service law has placed even the
chief clerks of each department within the
classified list. The chief clerk of q depart
ment is the executive officer of the depart
ment 1t is reasonable TO suppose, there
fore, that each cabinet officer VIII exercise
his own discretion in appointing that Of
ficer, for should he not do so. it will avail
him nothing TO call for the resignation of
the present chief clerks of his department
when he takes charge on the 5th day of
March, since he could only fill the office
by promotion or reQu.sit'on from the civil
service. II IS well to ponder on this fact
carefully, for in that statement lies the
most striking instance of what the gradual
growth of the civil service system has ac-
complished. Twenty years ago the patron
age of the secretary of the treasury includ-
ed about 5000 clerks in the department al
Washington and about 50 900 appointments
in the customs and other services which
come under the jurisdiction of the treasury
department throughout the country. The
increase Of the needs of the service has
raised this figure from S5GsD to nearly 50.co0
and yet on the 5th day Of next March when
the new secretary of the treasury calls for
the huge volumes in which are printed the
names OF the 5o.oe0 employees who are under
sis authority, he viii realize for the first
time that his authority extends to only two
names on that Est. the one his confidential
private secretary and the other any appoint
ment he may choose TO make. If his con-
idential secretary is not stenographer ard
the new secretary prefers to bring into tho
department a stenogranher OF his own Sc
lection, then though that stenographer be
only $40 clerk the secretary OF the treas
ury has exhausted all the patronage az his
employ. he has three assistant secretaries.
but these gentlemen are not even permitted
TO appoint their own private confidential
secretaries. For them some stenograpEer
VII be detailed" as long as the assistant
secretary wants him. In word, then, the
combined patronage of Mr.. McKiniey's ell
tire cabinet IS limited to sixteen men. TO
which may be added the two men whom
the president himself may appoint
Outside OF Washington the outlook for
the spokesman IS 10 better. The president
can appoint collector of customs, but the
collector OF customs can only make one ap-
po.ntmsnt. and that appointment is his Own
cashier. As the collector Is under heavy
received in his Office. and as the cashier Is
the man who handles these moneys. and on
whose sterling honesty the collector Is eE-
tirely dependent, IL IS very plain that the Of
flee of the cashier can not be considered
spoils for which any politician, however
earnest his service in the last campaign.
can lay legitimate claim. n the larger Of
fees, where the employees number 80 or
over. the collector may appoint one chef
or principal deputy or assistant collector.
Most collectors viii prefer 10 go outside the
range OF politics and select for this Office
A business man OF recognized executive
ability. But II a collector or customs does
choose TO bestow this office as a reward for
political work. he may do So Here then.
Is the first giearn of comfort IN every large
customs district there is the deputy collect
orship available. So. too. with the post-of-
fees. Every postmaster may appoint his
cashier and an assistant postmaster. and
every collector OF internal revenue may s2-
point a cashier. The deputy collectors OF
the jurisdiction OF the csyl service law
Out OF these exceptions Is composed the
entire lst Of offices available as = reward |
fer political work II is impossible 70 be-
Eeve that the coifecwrS and postmaSts-s
VIII permit the Offices OF cashier 10 be illed |
by Their respective party oEga1ize tons and !
as the work REQUIRED OF the assistant co.. !
iectors ana the assistant posrmasters : II |
every case such as viii demand practical |
business men. L viii be seen that ;ac state !
rnezt Is entirely accurate thar 0-ly a hs-si- |
fGl Of Offices are LEI. IL the treasury ssrv-
ice
This exposition OF the progress Of tse
c.yI service law WI be maze more u,z-s.- /