Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-06
CENSUS BILL VETOED
Spells System Denounced by
President.
FRAUD UPON THE PUBLIC"
Insists the Examinations for Clerks
Shall Be Competitive.
GIVES OPINIONS OF EXPERTS
Provision Regarding Selection
Without Regard to Political A.
fliations" Misleading.
GIVES OPINIONS OF EXPERTS

The evil effects Of the spoils sys-
tenn and Of the custom of treating ap-
pointments to the public service as
personal perquisites of professional
politicians are peculiarly evident in
the case of a great public work like
the taking Of the census. a work which
should emphatically be done for the
whole people and with an eye single
to their interests"
In these words President Roosevelt
summed up message yesterday to the
House Of Representatives. returning with
out his approval the bill providing for
the taking of the next census because
of the provisions prescribing that ap-
pointments shall be made on the basis of
non-competitive examinations instead Of
through the civil service commission.
AS passed by Congress the bill permitted
representatives and senators to designate
persons for positions after they had I'M
dergone a simple examination.
incidentally, the President referred to
the provision authorizing the printing of
census reports by private concerns. and
laid stress on the point that where work
was SO allotted the eight-hour law should
be applied in effective fashion,
Outside of Ahose matters, the Presi-
dent said, on the whole the bill was sat
isfactory to him and represented an i'm
lot
the subject
| The Presidents message reads:
ITO the House of Representatives:
II herewith return. without approval,
| II. r. 1854, entitled An act to provide
| for the thirteenth and subsequent deem
| NAL censuses.'
II do this with extreme reluctance. be-
cause 1 fully realize the importance Of
| supplying the director of the census at
| as early a date as possible with the force
necessary to the carrying on of his work.
| But it is Of high consequence to the
| country that the statistical work Of the
census shall be conducted with entire &C
| curacy.
This is as important from the stand
| point Of business and industry as from
| the scientific standpoint 1t is therefore,
| in my judgment, essential that the result
| should not be open to the suspicion of
| bias on political and personal grounds;
that 1t should not be open to the reason
able suspicion of being waste Of the
| peoples money and fraud
Section Of the act provides in effect
that appointments to the census shall be
under the spoils system for this is the
real meaning of the provision that they
shall be subject only to nom competitive
examination. The proviso is added that
they shall be selected without regard to
political party affiliations.
But there is only one way to guaran-
antee that they shall be selected without
regard to politics and on merit, and that
is by choosing them after competitive eX-
animation from the lists of eligibles pro-
vided by the civil service commission.
Opinion of Director.
"The present director Of the census in
his last report states the exact fact about
these non-competitive examinations when
he says:
"A non competitive examination means
that every one of the many thousands
who will pass the examinations will have
an equal right to appointment. and that
personal and political pressure must in
the end. as always before. become the
determining factor with regard to the
great body of these temporary employ
ments. l cannot too earnestly urge that
the director OF the census De TellcVcu IIOIH
this unfortunate situation.
ITO provide that the clerks and other
employees shall be appointed after nom
competitive examination. and yet to pro-
vide that they shall be selected without
regard to political party affiliations.
means merely that the appointments shall
be treated as the perauisites Of the poll
ticians OF both parties. instead of as the
perquistes of the politicians of one party.
| do not believe in the doctrine that to
the victor belong the Sn0lS. hllt L. think
even less of the doctrine that the spoils
shall be divided without fight by the
professional politicians on both sides, and
this would be the result of permitting the
bill in its present shape to become a
law.
Both of the last censuses. the eleventh
and the twelfth. were taken under a pro-
vision Of law excluding competition; that
lis. necesSitatlng the appointments being
made under the spells system. Every man
competent to speak with authority be-
cause Of his knowledge of and familiar
ity with the work of those censuses has
stated that the result was to produce eX-
travagance and decentralization.
MIR. Robert P. Porter who took the
census of 1890, states that
Views Of r. P. Porter.
The efficiency of the decennial census
would be greatly improved and its cost
materially, lessened if 1t were provided
that the employees should be selected in
accordance with the terms of the civil
service law
MIR. Frederick III. Wines. the assistant
director of the census Of 1900 states as
follows:
"a mathematic scale was worked out
by which the number of assignments"
to each senator and representative was
determined in advance, so many appoint
mentS to senator, a smaller number to
a representative, half as many to a demo-
crat as republican, and in democratic
states and congressional districts the as
signments were made to the republican
state and district committees
1.-The assignees named in the first in
stance the persons to be examined They
were afterward furnished each with a list
of those named who had passed" and
requested &c name those who they de-
sired to have appointed. Vacancies were
filled in the same manner.
This system was thoroughly Salts
factory to the ma jority OF the politicians
interested though there WEE a few who
refused to have anything to do with Il
The effect upon the bureau was as NAV
readily be imagined, thoroughly demerai-
iZing.
MIR. Carroll ID. Wright, who had
charge Of the census bureau after the
census of 1890 estimates that S. 900 600
and more than years time, would
have been saved if the census force had
been brought into the classified service
and adds:
81 do not hesitate to saw one-third ne