The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-22

ter than the spells system and none bet ter has yet been devised

ter than the spells syst em and none bet
 ter has yet been devised.
 It is objected that these tests of fit-
 ness, commonly called examinations,
 are not practical. The civil service re- form laws require that they shall be and so in substance they are. Archi-
 tectural draughtsmen are not asked | questions on history, but are put to Y work drawing plans on enlarged scale
 from sketches, and in designing eleva- tions, cross sections, etc, from certain
 data. Boolkkeepers are not asked the
 laws and regulations regarding plumb
 ing, not inspectors of plumbing the
 practical details if bookkeeping The
 inspectors of buildings are nit tested in stenography nor would be shorthand
 reporters in the laws regulations, pow
 CTS and duties of inspectors of build | ings and in the details of elevators,
 stairways, building materials etc. Po- ] licemen and firemen have to go
 through competitive tests in the gym nasium and have their eyesight, hear ing and general health examined as
 we'll as to answer suitable mental l questions ii show fitness for their posi- 1 ation, as is sometimes supposed, but as many as there are sorts of employ ment. For example, for the United | States civil service the commission re- ports "46O distinct kinds of examina- 1 into the character of candidates before 1 being eligible and full hearings are 1 given in cases of doubt.
 | Practical as are these examinations, | they are not the final tests. The last and more important test is in the actu- al employment. The selections from 1 the heads of the eligible lists of suc- cessful competitors only give the nom- inees the first chance to be tested h the work of the office for which they have applied. It Is only after six mnths of probationary employment that the appintment can be made final. But it is objected that the head of an office if left to himself can make better selections without all this machinery. The answer to this objection is that un- der the spills system he is not 'left to himself" but must appoint those sent him by the party boss or lose his wn official head.
 As to the practical results numerous government reports show that more
 work is better done at less cost than under the old system. For example in the railway mail service under the re- formed method of appoint tment fore letters are assorted per man and at five
 times the accuracy. Millions of dollars alsa, officially estimated at ten millions
 in the United States sersice alone, are
 yearly saved by abolishing useless r,J Wbi111 10 SNStpn1
 were kept filled solely to give patron | age to members of compress.
 The new system saves the time of both legislative and the executive which they can now devote to more inn
 portant duties instead of listening to the claims and counter claims, pulls and counter-pulls of office seekers and their friends
 As to it's effect on the boss the boss fights the reform with desperation that savors of the last ditch. Where the reform has been broadly applied and honestly and impartially enforced, as in Massachusetts, the boss has ceased to exist, and we used to have bosses in Massachusetts, In New York it is no surprise to find our hopes somewhat blighted when it is known that governors have weakened the rules and boasted in evading and in taking the starch out Of the law. Under the new Roosevelt law better things are hoped for that state. In the United States service about ninety thousand places are under strict com petitive examination and about one | hundred and ten thousand, including | 76,50O postmasters, are not within the | operation of the system.
 It remains to adopt more stringent | rules than now exist in the United | States service and to have those rules | enforced, for which we now have high | hopes, and to extend the reform to | many places now excepted and to have l civil service laws passed in every oth- CT state of the Union, and to these ends public opinion should be enlightened | and aroused. For this latter work wo- mems clubs are specially fitted. They | can see to it that the subject is taught | in the schools, that it's literature is circula ted, that addresses be made and that it is understood by the men and boys at home,
 The reform does not lie on the sur face. It goes to the very foundations of popular government. It secures a better less costly and more honest pub lie service. It saves the time of public men, it defeats the party boss. It frees our political institutions and brings the elective officers in closer touch with the people. It gives a better chance for upright statesmen to take the lead and it raises the moral tone in public af- fairs
 Singing of America by the audience closed the exercises.
 WALLINGFORD.