Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-06
The Attack on the Merit Principle.

| 1t is urged by advocates of the seven
year tenure proposition now carried in
| the conference report in the legislative
appropriation bill that 1t does not contem-
plate a wholesale dismissal Of clerks and
that the efficient clerk may be reappoint-
ed without being subjected to an exami-
nation in competition with men fresh
from school and college who are better
qualified to meet the tests. Let the text
of the provision be examined. Here 1t is:
| That on and after September first
nineteen hundred and thirteen. all ap-
pointments to positions In the CLASSIFIED
service of the executive departments
| within the District of Columbia provided
for at annual rates of compensation shall
be made. after the probationary period
shall have expired, for terms of seven
appointment the employment of each per-
| son so appointed shall cease and deter
mine; and the employment of all persons
| in the classified service of the executive
departments within the District of Column
bia, at annual rates of compensation, who
were appointed prior to September first.
nineteen hundred and twelve. shall cease
and determine. unless previously separat-
ed from the service. within one year after
the thirty-first day of August. 1919. the
particular date of termination within said
year to be determined by the head of the
department concerned. and on the basis of
the length of service. within the classified
service, of each such person prior to Sep
TENDER first, 1912: Provided, That all per-
sons separated hereunder from the CLASH
fled service shall be eligible for, and may,
in the discretion of the head Of the execu
tive department. be reappointed without
examination for additional periods of seven
years. If at the time of such reappoint-
ment they shall be up to the standard of
efficiency then in force and as hereinbe-
fore set forth, and capable Of rendering
. full mo IF n r, for the
salary of the place to which they may be
appointed: Provided further. That in re-
ducing the force in any of the executive
departments no honorably discharged SOL
dier or sailor whose record in said depart
ment is rated good shall be discharged or
dropped: And provided further, That moth
ing herein shall be construed to prevent
the head Of any department from remov-
ing at any time. in accordance with civil
service rules. for good and sufficient cause.
any employe of his department"
In other words. there are to be two
classes of government employees hence
forth, IL this rule is adopted. those who
are compelled to take an examination for
reappointment at the end of seven years
and those who are to be reappointed with
out examination in the Judgment OF the
head of the executive department. There
Is under this system absolutely no guar
anty against the use Of the public Offices
for political purposes. There Is no assur-
ance OF the maintenance of merit sys-
tenn scrupulOusly separated from political
considerations. There is no safeguard
against favoritism and the use of infiu-
ence to secure for particular employees the
protection of powerful personages. Every
seven years Uncle Sans executive off,
GERS will. according to this plan, separate
his working force according to the tradi-
tional geological classification and drive
into one pen the goats that are destined
for the trial of determination and into
another those who are to be given the pro-
lection of reappointment without test.
Who. knowing the manner In which
place-seekers under the political spells
system even now contrive and maneuver
to work around the civil service law, can
doubt for a moment that this proposed
provision means the breakdown of the
merit principle in the departmental serv-
ice?