Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-06
CENSUS BUREAU
MUST ELIMINATE
SPOILS SYSTEM
PRESIDENT VETOES DONATION
FOR APPOINTMENTS
POLITICAL GRAFTERs REBUKED
BY CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Roosevelt Warns Congress That APP
proprations for Public Service
Are Not Personal Per-
quisitss Of Bcsses
LBy Associated Press.I

A ASHINGTON, Feb. 5.-"The evil
wv effects of the spoiIs system 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
takingS of a census, a work which
should emphatically be done for the
whole people and with an eye single to
their interest"
In these words President Roosevelt
today summed up a message to the
house returning without his approval a
measure providing for the taking of
the next census, because of a provis-
ion that appointments shall be made
on the basis of non-cOmpetitive exam
nations.
AS passed by congress, the bill per-
mits representatives and senators to
designate persons for positions after
they had undergone a single eXamina-
ton.
The reference of the president to a
division of the spoils, without fight
by the professional politicians on both
sides provoked general laughter.
After providing for a reprint of the
census bill as it passed the house, the
house adjourned, thus postponing ac-
ton on the message.
I4iC pACoA0C1( IlFCSSdSC NClOll6 IlAO
census bill was read just before ad
journment. 1t reached the house short
ly after noon, but it's reading was held
UP for fear that discussion of it might
jeopardiZe the passage of a number of
private bills that were entitled to con-
sideration under special order. At $50
p. IN. the house adjourned.
Why He Vetoes 1t
The president says he vetoes the bill with
extreme reluctance, realizing the value of
time in beginning the census, but declares it
is of high consequence that it shall be
Quoted with extreme accuracy; that 1t shall
not be open to suspicion of bias personal
and political grounds nor to be deemed a waste
Of the peoples money and a fraud.
Section of the act,'' he says, 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 noncompettive examination.
The provision is added that they shall be
lected without regard tc political party affilia-
ticns
But there is only one way to guarantee that
they shall be selected without regard to poll
tics and on merit, and that is by choosing
list Of eligibles provided by the civil service
commission"
Continuing, the message says
''To provide that the clerks and other en-
ployes shall be appointed after non-competitive
examination. and yet to provide that they
shall be selected without regard to political
pointments shall be treated as the perquisites
of the politicians Of both parties, instead Of
the perquisites Of the politicians OF one party.
Il don't believe in the doctrine that to the
victor belongs the spols, but 1 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
Cites Previous Censuses
Both Of the last censuses-the eleventh and
twelfth-were taken under provision of law
excluding competition; that is, necessitating
the appointments being made under the spoils
system.
Every man competent to speak with author
ity because of his knowledge Of and familiarity
Of the work Of those Ger suses, has stated that
the result was to produce extravaganza and
demoralization -
After quoting from official reports in the
support of his position, the president con-
ttEues:
I'm view of the temporary character of the
work it would be well to waive the require
ments of the civil service law regards geo.
graphical apportionments, but the appointees
should be chosen by competitive examination
from the lists provided by the civil service
commission.
THE non-competitive examination in a case
like this is not only vicious but is in effect
a fraud upon the public. No essential change
is effected by providing that it be conducted
by the civil service commission; am to pro-
vide that the employees shall be selected with
out regard to political party affiliations is
empty and misleading, unless. at the same
time, it is made effective in the only way in
which it is possible to make it effective-that
is by providing that the examination shall be
made competitive.
Il also recommend that if provision is made
that the census printing work may be done
outside the government printing office, it shall
be explicitly provided that the government
authorities shall see that the eight hour law
is applied in effective fashion to these outside
offices.
Outside of these matters 1 believe that thea
bill is on the whole satisfactory and represents
an improvement upon previous legislation on
the subject"