Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1909-02-11
PRESIDENT SENDS CENSUS BILL
BACK TO CONGRESS WITH
OUT HIS APPROVAL.
a REBUKE FOR SPOILSMER
!Evii Effects of the System In Connee-
tion With Taking Of the Gen.
sus Pointed Out by Mr..
Roosevelt.


the public service as personal per-
peculiarly evident in the case of
great public work like the taking Of
the census, work which should en-
phatically be done for the whole peo-
pie and with an eye single to their
interest"
In these words President Roosevelt
Friday summed up a message to the
house Of representatives returning
without hts approval the bill provid-
ing for the taking of the next census,
because Of the provision prescribing
that appointments shall be made on
the basis of non-competitive examina-
lions instead of through the civil SER
vice commission. AS passed by con-
gress the bill permitted members and
senators to designate persons for po-
sitions after they had undergone q
simple examination.
Incidentally the president referred
to the provision authorizing the print
ing Of census reports by private con-
Germs and laid stress on the point that
where work was SO allotted the eight
hour law should be applied in eff
fective fashion"
Outside of those matters, the pres
1dent said that on the whole, the bill
was satisfactory to him and represent
ed an Improvement on previous legis-
1at1on on the subject. The house adj
~
sage.
Among other things the president in
his message says:
"I herewith return, without ap-
proval, H. r. 1884 AN act to provide
for the Thirteenth and subsequent de-
.cennial censuses.' / do this with ex-
treme reluctance, because I fully real
1ze the importance of supplying the
director of the census at as early
date as possible with the force neces-
sary to the carrying on Of his work.
But 1t Is of high consequence to the
country that the statistical work Of
the census shall be conducted with
entire accuracy. This is as important
from the standpoint of business and
Industry as from the scientific stand
point. 1t is, therefore, in my judg-
ment, essential that the result should
not be open to the suspicion Of bias
on political and personal grounds;
that it should not be open to the rea.
sonable suspicion of being waste Of
the peoples money and fraud.
Section z of the act provides in eff.
feet that appointments to the census
shall be under the spoils system, for
this Is the real meaning of the pro-
vision that they shall be subject only
TO noncompetitive examination. The
.proviso is added that they shall be
selected without regard to political
party affiliations. But there is only
zone way to guarantee that they shall
be selected without regard to politics
and on merit, and that is by choosing
them after competitive examination
from the lists of eligibles provided by
the civil service commission
ITO provide that the clerks and
sother employees shall be appointed af-
ter noncompetitive examination, and
yet to provide that they shall be Sc
lected without regard to political
party affiliations, means merely that
the appointments shall be treated as
the peIquisites of the politicians OF
both parties, instead of as the per
equisites of the politicians of one party
I do not believe in the doctrine that
to the victor belong the spells; but
think even less OF the doctrine that
the spells shall be divided without a
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
CT the last census, the eleventh and
the twelfth, were taken under a pro
vision of law excluding competition;
that is, necessitating the appoint
ments being made under the spoils
system. Every man competent tt
speak with authority because of his
knowledge of and familiarity with the
work of those censuses has stated tha
the result was to produce exIraya
:gance and Decentralization.
IN view OIL lu6 temporary CHaTdC
ter of the work, it would be well K
waive the requirements of the civil
service law as regards geographical
apportionment, but the appointee!
should be chosen by competitive ex
animation from the lists provided b.
the civil service commission TIL,
noncompetitive examination in a cas-,
like this IS not only vicious, but is il
effect a fraud upon the public. NJ
essential change is Effected by pre-
viding that it be conducted by tn,
civil service commission; and to pro
vide that the employees shall be Sc
lected without regard to pclitica
party affiliations is empty and mis-
leading, unless, lat the same tfme,ii
Is made effective in the only way II
which it is possible to make it ei
fective, that is by providing that tn
examination shall he made connect