The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-11
CIVIL SERVICE IS
 TOPIC OF TIE HOUR
National Reform League Begins
 Sessions in Baltimore
NOTABLES ARE PRESENT
Annual Report Says Evils of Spells in Politics Account for Corruption Recently Disclosed In the
 Postoffice Department.

Baltimore, December 10-The national civil service reform league began it's twenty-third annual meeting in this city today and will continue tomorrow even ing. Daniel c. Gilman, president of the league, opened the convention with few appropriate remarks. The morning ses- sion was taken up chiefly with the read ing of reports and discussions upon the same. Among these were the annual re- port of the council and reports from the women's auxiliaries
 Among the notable delegates present were Carl schurz, Edward Wheeler. Ho- mer Folks and Edward Carrie of New York; James R. Garfield and w. E. Cush- ing of Ohio; Richard Henry Dana, John R. Proctor, Charles J. Bonaparte, Charles Richardson, Elliott II. Goodwin, Alfred w. Cooley, Henry F. Green, Henry W. Farnan and William D. Foulles. Many of the delegates are accompanied by their wives After the adjournment of the morning session the delegates were en- tertained at luncheon by the woman's auxiliary to the Maryland Civil Service Reform association.
 The annual report of the council was read by Charles J. Bonaparte. The re- port points to the recent revelation of dis honesty in certain bureaus of the post office department as an illustration of the evils of spells in politics.
 How Appointments Are Made.
 "Of the thirteen public servants" says the report, indicted for alleged crimes revealed by this investigation, not one .-s. a competitive examination. In every in- stance their selection was due to partisan or personal consideration. Ordinarily a man who enters the service as the result of a competitive examination honestly conducted in accordance with the civil service rules, is man of higher moral standards than a man appointed to office because he has placed a politician under obligations to him. There have been more striking or significant than the rev. citations of the postal inquiry"
 The report stated that in the Philippines "the civil service law and rules are faith fully and satisfactorily administered, but that in Porto Rico only a very partial application of the principles of the merit system seems to be contemplated for the moment though a good beginning has been made.
 Critical allusions were made to evasions of the civil service law in custom houses in Philadelphia and New York.
 Richardson Reads Paper.
 Charles Richardson of Philadelphia read a paper on "The needs for greater efforts and more effective methods in ad- vocating the. merit system" in which he advised all those opposed to the spells system to vote only for those pledged to civil service reform.
 Richard Henry Dana of Massachusetts read a paper on the Merit system in the selection of the higher municipal off, cers," in which attention was called to the system in vogue in Paris as one of the best governed cities in the world. Gov ernment in our large cities is. he said, a failure, and the remedy WIS in the ap- plication of the rules of civil service to the heads of departments instead of to the subordinates.
 Alfred w Cooley, member of the Unit ed States civil service commission, fol- lowed with an address. in which he said:
 "Thanks to President Roosevelt, the commission Is stronger today than ever in it's history and never before has the law been as thoroughly and vigorously enforced.'