The sun., 1900-12-15
ROOSEVELT REMINISCENT.
rsTts % rOIffg ArrOiVrwgNs
avn rHOHOTgONs
when Ne ". In wsibsrr, stree, -'s'ho''c
sergeant Hes.mms ndes ~ rro'e"H"
Hi'hop srd Protestant sergeant ~ 'sth'
olic Priests 10 Mske Reform stith'

National tivn SERVICE Reform League ~
tho liotel savoy last evening, and upon hls
arrival. which was late. he Immediately
became the centre Of interest Charles
Bonaparte was speaking when tho Governor
| came IN and he paused vhil" every one IN
the room arose and greeted the Governor
with hearty applause Tho Governor wa"
presenuy introduced by Bishop Potter VII"
presided at the banquet. To- make short
| address, and he said tht he spoke as an old
member Of the organization who for many
years had taken keen interest In IL
lie was inclined to agree. hc said. with the
I cortcntions Of william Dudley Foulke Of
| Indiana. who at the meeting Of the league
| on n" evening before had said that the mem
I bers 81 the league should devote themselves
hereafter TO constructive work rather than
| TO criticism The Governor got his iniorma
tion OF Mr. Foulke's address from such part
! ns he heard Of Mr. Bonapartes speech
I IN this State" the Governor said. In the
| last two years I think we have done great
! amount OF constructive work for civil er-
| vice reform We have got on the statute
books a law which Is in some respects better
| than the national law, and II Is administered
| by three gentlemen who stand, in point or
disinterested devotion 10 law. on as high u
| level as any Civil Service Commissioners,
national or State. as We have ever seen
| am personally acquainted with little that they
! do, but do not disclaim any responsibility
| for what they do. On the contrary. Tor the
acts OF any man over whom have power
insist on accepting the responsibility
more than that the ultimate responsibility
| for what he does and for what he has done
Il am coming TO the end OF my term as
Governor and have every reason to believe
hat f0r tba life Will be
less strenuous tmuch laughter. but l am
going out Of Office feeling that have a right
to come before you to-nightswi.h the knowl-
edge that the State Administration is being
MANAGED on an absolutely c.sSn basis. !
make thls AZ strong as thoughEstated ID a
thesis IN case any one be 80 uh"ise as 70
asseii swo it. tie, hsu,r. q .,,,,o,s,b o, ,sDv
process by which we seek g. acquire good
government one Of our chief aims Is to
take tne Offices which are, properly non, non
written compet tv" examination Is not an
end ~ all, but a me2n~ 20 an end Some
Of civil service reform absolutely: Our
aim was to try TO admit and to promote men
to anything but their ftnes, for public SER
we first thought that we could apply
tons to both the admission and promotion
Of men, We found that while the rys,em
WORKED dliniIHDlN III duIlN~I'llS ~ WI hct
very badly Indeed in promotions We APP
pointed 1000 men II would have been inn
possible to select these otherYise; II We
would have appointed large, number OF
men for Ioitici n II would have ai-
Iointo a f!r rs"r number Il poorer men for
reasons of sympathy. one respected citizen
wanted us to appoint man who couldn't
hold any other lob becauso lie per s!st cd occa-
Our effort TO apply the competitive ex-
animation system 10 promotions was a failure.
Then YOU wanted TO lind out the very quail
ustitiva teet Sergt. Walsh. whom YOU
recommended 70 me, Bishop Potter. and Of
whom l would have known nothing other
wise was recommended by the Bishop, who
at that time had been doing good deal ol
work on he East Side. hecads. he had found
We looked up his record and found II good.
We. Th SIDE wS MST
the Paulist Fathers And was happy to find
thnt II was the Catholics who recommended
sergeant was recommended by the Pro-
testant Bishop. Both these men are Cap
a voice-"where are they?-
They're all right" the Governor answered
with great emphasis wherever they are
or course no stream rises above Its S so,,Hcs, ,ntS
would be glad to do decent work II a show
be given them. but you have got TO have
fectly clean force OF a perfectly rotten force.
just eIacty according to the way the heads
The written competitive system resulted
I'm keeping down some of the best fitted men.
and while allowing a fairly EQUIPPED man 70
N N from reaching the head You might
have competitive eNaninalions. but not writ
ten competitive "Namlna,Ian. .
men for customs inspectors on the Rio Grande
could be had by competitive eNarninauon
but the two cowboy tests he suggested for
exoplip,tiOp pI character that
shocked his colleagues on the National Civil
Service Commission. one OF these tests
fortune of civl eryice reform that that
test had not been applied.
subsequent speaker hnd litte run with
the Governor aud made soruc for the audience
by suggesting that TINT test had an advautase
which should cause il {. be applied In the case
tors should shoot at each other and in that
case not only would there be no question as
to the positive merits of tho successful cam
ddltes but all other candidates would be
e't'it,VA 1"W RSosevelt said that another class Of
nation should not be applied we're the Gnme
Wa-dens in the Adrondacks, for those
Naces bS w9%dn MEN WGr% ns waited ,ha n9
n shot M night could so out and get he deer
and the man who shot T. because the next
examinations. be said afforded no useful test
for rha, kind Of place
You've got to get the bulk Of the people
back uf Won To make reform stick" he said.
If YOU can get the bulk of the leaders sin
cerelv convinced ot the righteousness of a
reform 1t IL nv belief that that Il the wav
to bring it about, but you've cot to get them
70 gee that the reform Will work right In
tho long run Congressman and tho various
leaders will respond 10 effective public opinion.
ono great aim of this ssoCiatiou should ba
to got iubic O. iuion to understand the
practical nature OF the movement in which
We are engaged.
When We can roughly divide the people
Of the community into the excellent people
bn xy,.l I'm d1fI'f tpovr hn,V and
who don mean we'll but do know how to
do things. you've got 0u unhealthy state Of
public opinion IT "A well meaning man hasn't
common sense In him he isn't WORTH knock
ing on the head We need criticism all tho
timc. but also hard constructive work must
h" done, and all on basis Of sound common
sCu>'
WAYNE M'cNeaRh. who had considerable
fun both with Bishop Potter and GOV. Roosa-
welt, William Dudley Fnulkc, Oscar s. Straus.
and Herbert WEIGH of Philadelphia were
among the Others Of n long list OF speakers.
COLONIAL CIVIL SERVICE.