Norwich bulletin., 1909-12-21
NORWICH MEN ARE REELECTED
Gen. Aiken and Principal Trre Members of Executive Committee of Civil Service Reform Association Prominent Speakers card fter Eanquet-Number Present from this City.

made in the past thirty years and of the opportunity of citizens to work for good government who have not time to take up politics as profession.
 Let these men," President Hadley
 said, "in the first place insist on sep
 aration even more complete than now
 exists between problems of govern
 ment and problems of politics. Let them devise laws which shall effect
 that separation. There is plenty of | room for hard work on these lines. It | Is work which deals with questions so | far independent of party lines and par
 ty differences that no party can afford
 to disregard it's results. This has been | on the whole the experience of our
 civil service reform associations in the
 attempt to take the offices of the na- | tional government out of politics" In closing, the speaker said: '"The problem is one which requires solu- | tion, and which the intelligent Ameri- can citizens as a body have the power
 to solve if they will
 Psesident McAneny of Manhattan. | George McAneny, president of the | borough of Manhattan, was the next
 speaker. He is one of the leaders of
 the civil service reform movement | Mir. McAneny explained the division | of authority between the mayor of New
 York and the president of the borough. The mayor has charge the police, fire | department, schools, docks, etc, while | the president of the borough has the
 power of streets, public buildings; in | fact all that one can see is under the
 management of the borough president, while the policemen firemen and the | like are with the mayor He then eK- plained the method Of general govern
 ment of Gl eater New York. He told
 of MT. Hearst accepting the fusion ticket without the knowledge or con- sent of the candidates on the ticket, and the candidates were elected un- pledged and to do just what was con- sideted right and for the best interests of the people. He gave a general re- view of the work of the civil service
 reform movement of the small nucleus
 and of it's gradual growth and of its
 now bright and brightening prospects.
 although it has been carried from the
 start to the present time by not over
 fifty men. Civil service reform Is re- sponsible for the bettering of local, state and general governments.
 It would not have been thought pos sible 10 years ago Tammany would
 ever go down as it did in the last elec- ton, and Tammany opponents gain
 control of the board of estimates; and
 this present position will be strength
 ened by the work of civil service re- form, which comes in at every point. He spoke of the work beyond, the ma
 chinery of competitive examination, and reaching out to the heads of de- partments, and said merit and fitness should be absolute requisites, and such
 men should be retained and properly paid. The true work of civil reform
 cannot be carried on unless with ten
 ure of office there issalary as adequate as paid in business life. The rule Of
 merit and fitness should prevail in all
 offices, high or low, and the salaries
 should be equal to the responsibility
 and capability of the officers, and they
 should be of the highest grade.
 Mere classification is not an end that
 is worth while, but devote time to the
 machinery of the civil service commits sion is a work for the civil service as-
 sociations. He referred to the ridicu-
 lous forms of examinations and the
 questions MT. McAneny advocated
 that the general principles of civil ser
 vice reform should be injected into and
 become an essential part of politics.
 Ex-Governor Waller.
 Ex-Governor Thomas M. Waller was the next speaker and was in his hap
 piest vein. It was the first civil service reform gathering he ever attended, and
 he was surprised that there was smok- ing permitted and that water flowed as freely as champagne. Thomas Jeffer- son, the patron saint of the party in which the speaker was born, for be ! it known democrats are born, not made, was the founder of civil service reform. He found when he became president that every office was filled by
 members of the opposite party and he removed only forty of the adminlstra- tive officials.
 Then came Andrew Jackson, and as one star differs from another, so these
 great reformers differed, and then Al,- sf.~sa | fIat1 and there was a general cleaning out as matter of politics. Substantially the law of civil service reform of today. which none dare to change, was intro duced by George H. Pendleton, dem
 ocratic senator. The governor, ad- dressing MT. McAneny, said he did not
 go into ancient history for his benefit, for he knew too much of 1t already. He said men could be democrats and good ciivl service reformers, as it was child of their own.
 The present reform was contem- porary of the speaker. He remember ed when George w. Curtis began this modern civil service. Men of his stamp were sneered at as dotrinaires. by politicians of both parties. You see what has become of the sneers against Mr. Curtis by the force of the present civil service reform government. It is now a fixed law and established insti- tuition. The speaker stated he had not been active in civil service reform ef- forts, but has always been a civil ser vice reformer. When he was governor civil service reform prevailed in his office, and when he was consul general at London there was no change in the force of that office except by death. Officers should be elected for character and fitness and without regard to poli- tics or creed.
 General Aiken Heard.
 Gen. William A. Aiken was next in- troduced. He said he did not come to the meeting with expectation to make speech. He said he had followed carefully the work of MT. McAneny in civil service work for years, but he
 never thought he would be the man to down the Tammany tiger, and there fore all civil service reformers should take courage. The bills introduced in congress. he said. were all written by the executive committee of the civil service reform league or to be more specific were written by MT. McAneny as secretary of the national league. He referred in a general way to the work of the movement over tWo-thirds of the off1ceholders in the national gov ernment have been weeded out, and now stand on merit and fitness and this plan will eventually be applied in municipal and state administration. Norwich People Present. Norwich was represented at the meeting by Gen. w. A. Aiken, Dr. H. M. Pollock Frank J. Leayens Frank