Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-22
THE PUBLIC OFFICES
Annual Meeting Of Civil Service Be
form Association.
ADDRESSES BY EMINENT ORATORS
Extension of Merit System to the
District Advocated.
MEMORIAL CONGRESS

M u M " N "A II L " w N " N T. . .
The annual meeting of the Civil Service
Reform Association Of the District of CO.
lumbia was held last evening at the CO.
lumbar University, when interesting ad-
dresses were delivered by men distinguish
ed as advocates Of the merit system in
the public service and reports of the years
work were read, showing an encouraging
condition of the organization. In the au-
dience were many people prominent in the
official and business circles of the capital.
Mr.. John Joy Edison, president of the as
ISOLATION opened the meeting, with F. L.
Siddons as secretary. On the platform
were Mr.. r. H. Dana of Cambridge, Mass.
and William Dudley Foulke of Richmond,
Ind, both well known members Of the Ma
tional Civil Service Reform League.
The annual report of the president Of the
association was the first business of the
meeting. and Mr.. Edison read what proved
to be a very interesting review of the
work of the year and an argument In IA
vor of the maintenance and extension OF
civil service reform. The aim of the asso-
ton, he said, was to apply the civil SER
vice law to all public offices in the District
of Columbia and to extend Its scope to
public offices everywhere.
ftcSlStuncc uhu OubtEuctlOhs
The movement in the great reform OF
civil service begun longer ago than is gen.
orally known. The country has witnessed
of late a severe and vicious attack upon
the merit system in the civil service of the
government the attack taking sometimes
the form of resistance to the further ex-
tension. sometimes suggesting movement
backward by modification and sometimes
total repeal. But the citizens engaged in
work of civil service reform with a clear
conception of the remedies needed aud
with their rights and duties well defined,
feel that the present obstacles are but
momentary and will be readily overcome
This movement dates back to the early
years of the republic and its beginnings
felt in the patriotic promptings OF the
great statesmen who were conspicuous IN
shaping the movements Of the govern
ment.
Stages of Progress.
Mr.. Edison reviewed the various stages
Of the progress of civil service reform
since 1920, when the four-year tenure act
was passed by Congress. and showed the
attitude of leading statesmen toward the
spoils system. Statesmen Of all parties. he
said, for many years before the civil serv-
ice act was enacted, favored the total up
roofing of the spoils system, which was
declared to be vicious and menace u
the safety of the republic.
the present session of Congress were also
reviewed by Mr.. Edison.
I'm a recent speech by Mr.. Lands OF
Indiana in Congress-, said MI Edson,
'he made the statement that the reformer
is never supremely happy unless he Is
writing reform philippics on government
paper with the one hand and aff1xing his
signature on the pay roll with the other;
= that he Ohe reformer) was unreal
SCI able, unjust, bigoted, selfish and ma
licious.' Now. as a matter Of fact beyond
dispute. the Civil Service League is in the
main composed of men who neither hold
nor expect to hold Office. Their labors in
this cause are very for removed from the
prim aries, and are very far from Offering
any hope of reward, or from making It
advantageous for any interested follower
to work for them or to vote for them.
1T is difficult to find in all the argu-
ments put forth by the opponents of the
reform any evidence tending to show how
the country at large is to be benefited by
the repeal of the civil service law. If
the people are to be left free to choose
their own representatives 1t liz crtainly
matter by putting into the hands of the
himself
But Few in Opposition.
Mr. Edison reviewed and refuted other
charges made against the civil service law,
and said:
when We contemplate what has been
ooid lhiS ScSSiOH III republican congress
by few republican members. in an attack
upon the integrity Of the merit system
under the civil service laws, in the face Of
the fact that seven national republican con-
ventions and every republican President
from Lincoln to the present date, has pro-
nounced In favor of this reform in the civil
service, We can scarcely comprehend their
motives.
There is great satisfaction in believing
that 1t is confined to but few, and that
there Is SeriOuS RI ba
ed. From republican standpoint, 1t would
seem that these mon have made a serious
mistake, and have thereby endangered the
welfare or the republican party. Although
some have served their country in war and
civil pursuits, they seem to be crowning
their career with inevitable failure.
Life Tenure in Office.
These gentlemen would also have us be-
Heve. and repeatedly avow in their
speeches, that the merit system means a
life tenure In office. We are often inclined
to think that they do not make these state
ments In good faith, and it is not what
they themselves believe or know. In thu
merit system we know, as it is with en-
plcyes In private establishments Of every
Kind, the tenure of Office depends solely
upon the efficiency and fidelity of the en-
ploye. Under the spoils system, as prac-
ticed In practical politics. the tenure Of Of
flee was regardless of qualification or eff
cheney. 1t depended upon political pull"
Concluding, Mr.. Edison said: I'm the pro-
gress Of the establishment of tho merit
system. revolutionizng as 1t does the old,
long-established conditions in the federal
civil service of appointments and dis
charges, necessarily some disturbances and
perhaps some injustice has arisen-for in
stance, as in the recent extenions I'm
doubtedly the last extensions made by
President Cleveland of the classified sery-
ice, caused this last attempt to repeal or
modify the civil service law. 1t may be
admitted, perhaps, that the extension made
could have been made in some way more
gradual. Yet In the end it will prove Of
real benefit.
1--WE firmly believe that the civil service
law and the merit system is safe in the
hands Of the present Congress, and the
Presidents administration and that the
people Will continue to engraft it into their
political platforms and to return to the
national legislature and to the councils of
the nation men who will uphold and firmly
establish the principles Of the civil service
law"
Government of Paris.
Mr.. r. H. Dana of Cambridge, Mass,
was introduced, and reviewed the character
Of the government of Paris, to show what
the merit SySteua can do for y,unfctraltt,,