Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-27
'0A CIVIL SERVICE
Mr.. Foulke Objects to Claims
Of Democrats.
ROOSEVELT'S RECORD
EXTENSIONS OF CLASSIFIED sYs-
TEN PROMPTLY MADE
Long List Of Acts Of the President
for Advancing Reform
Methods.

service commissioner, does not agree Win
| the claims of the democrats in regard to
| civil service reform that are being put
| forward in the campaign. He does not re-
| gard the record of the democratic party as
being In favor Of civil service reform.
THE promises and professions Of po-
| litical platform are rather uncertain In the
best of circumstances unless they have
something behind them." said Mr.. Foulke
to Star reporter. But one Of the pro-
fessions Of the democratic party In the plat
form this year Is particularly unreliable
| because 1t Is accompanied in the very same
paragraph by statements which are absO-
lutely devoid of truth. If man would sell
you a horse and should tell you that the
animal is sound as well as gentle, and the
horse begins to kick viciously while his
owner is sounding his praises. would you
place any great confidence on his repre-
sentation that the horse was sound?
Now the ST. Louis platform says The
democratic party stands committed to the
principle of civil service reform, and we
demand Its honest and just and impartial
enforcement. We Lenounce the republican
party for its continuous and sinister en-
croachments upon the spirit and operation
Of the civil service rules, whereby it has
arbitrarily dispensed with examinations for
Office in the interest of favorites, and en-
ployed all manner of devices to Overreach
and set aside the principles upon which
the civil service was based.
Two Distinct Falsehoods.
'In this paragraph there appeared two
distinct falsehoods. First, that the demo-
cratic party is committed to civil service
reform and second. that the republican
party has employed all manner of devices
to set aside the principles of reform. 1t is
not true that the democratic party stands
committed to the principle of civil service
reform. In 1895 the democratic platform
i111o %
in the public service, except as provided in
the Constitution Now there is no life
tenure in the civil service. Every employe
may be dismissed at will, only he must
know what is the complaint against him
and have opportunity to say his say.
He has no right to his office against the
will of a superior who is dissatisfied with
his conduct. But because there is no fixed
term provided, and because men are not
turned out every four years to make way
for political appointees, the enemies of civil
service reform have called this life tenure,
and the democratic party, yoicing the preju-
dices of the enemies of the civil service
law, declared, We are opposed to life ten
ure in the public service. We favor APP
pointments based on merit. fixed terms of
office and such an administration OF the
civil service laws as will afford equal OPP
portunities to all citizens of an ascertained
fitness.
Fixed Terms of Office.
Fixed terms of office means that the
mass of public employees are to be turned
out every few years whatever their merits.
Equal opportunities to all citizens of ascer-
tanned fitness means, If 1t means anything,
that after pass examination (and mere
pass examinations are utterly worthiess)
the appointing power shall be at liberty TO
choose from any one on the list Under
such rule, places can readily be made
for political henchmen.
Mr.. Bryan, the candidate. defined the
platform. What we oppose in that plank.
he said in his convention speech, is the lie
tenure which is being built up at Wash
ington.' That Is. Mr.. Bryan opposed the
administration Of the civil service law.
In his letter Of acceptance he said: A fixed
term in appointive offices would open the
public service to a larger number Of citi-
zens without impairing its efficiency. The
purpose, then, was to build up an ONCE
seeking class which he would lure to his
be distributed. Terms of office were to be
fixed so that more office seekers could en-
joy the patronage. That was where the
democratic party stood In 1885, In 1900 1t re-
the Chicago platform and nominated the
same candidate to carry those resolutions
into effect.
Sinister Entertainments.
"Yet this falsehood Is no greater than the
one which follows, denouncing the repub-
lican party for its sinister encroachments
on the rules in the interest of favorites and
for employing devices to overreach the law.
The fact is that at no time since the adop-
ton of the law have the spirit and opera
lions of the rules been so consistently ana
uniformly observed as under the admins
tratfon of President Roosevelt. President
Roosevelt was the best civil service commits
sioner this country has ever had and he Is
the best civil service reform President the
country has ever had. Not only has the
system been greatly extended and strength
ened. but 1t has been enforced as 1t was
never enforced before.
Commissioner Proctor, who was MI
Cleveland's appointee and who remained my
colleague when 1 was upon the commission,
said this to me many times; and the men
who have been in the service of the COM
mission during the administrations Of both
parties know 1t perfectly well. Cleveland
was friend of the reform. but Cleveland
had at the head of his important depart
ments men like Carlisle, who set the rules
at defiance. or Hoke Smith. who put great
difficulties in the way of their enforcement,
especially In the first part of his career.
Under Mr.. Roosevelt, however. the men,
bers of the cabinet have co-operated cordial
" in the enforcement of the rules. in times
past Presidents Cleveland. Harrison and Nc
Kinley, where they considered 1t necessary.
excepted from competition hundreds OF
positions which had been competitive.
These exceptions were not In the form
of suspensions of the rules, but they were
made by changes in the rules, but Prest-
dent Roosevelt, on the advice of the civil
service commission, altered the method and
made tia suspension OF the rules in order
to restrict the number of these exceptions
The cases in which the rules were sus-
pended form less than one-twentieth of
per cent of the appointments. less than
one out of two thousand.
Additions to Classified Service.
'The additions made to the classified
service have been more extensive than ever
before. During the year ending June 20
1908. 100000 persons were examined and
900 competitive appointments were made
more than three times as many as In any
previous year. If tree be known by it's
fruits, the administration of President
Roosevelt must be pronounced most pro-
life in regard to civil service reform
Under previous administrations the i'm
portant extensions of the classified system
were generally made just as the admin
istration was going out of power. but I'M
der President Roosevelt we find an admin
istration which made them at the very
beginning of it's official life. Under Presi-
dent Roosevelt for the first time in its his