The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-09-01
MERIT SYSTEM
IN PRISON RULE
TERMED VITAL
Indiana Must Danish All
Politics, Says Head of
Civil Service Unit.
lContinued From Page Onel

comes a protecting cloak FOR the
politicians.
The abuses that creep into an
enforcement agency that is not
maintained under the civil service
merit system IS best illustrated by
what happened with the prohibition
enforcement unit when u first was
created
Appointments were permitted
without civil service restrictions
Immediately the politicians got
their henchmen in and IL wasn't
long before the unit was filled with
many scoundrels, crooks and
Cheaters.
Because Of the scandals that re-
suited from this system OF spoils
appointments, congress was forced
10 throw out all OF the prohibition
agents and require their positions
10 be filed on a basis Of strict COM
petitive civil service tests.
Mentions New York Success
Both Major Doran and Seymour
Lowman, assistant treasury secre-
tary. have attested to the i'm
provement that resulted in the pro-
hibition enforcement unit through
selection Of trained. competent en-
forcement officers, selected through
the machinery Of the civil service
commission.
Appointments 10 most OF the pO-
lice forces throughout the country
are on a merit basis. The success
Of the New York state police force
and Of New York City's excellent
police department is based almost
entirely on the sound method of Sc
lection of members Of the forces
after civil service tests
ID. Worth Clark. assistant attor-
ney-general. at the Idaho Peace
Officers Association convention in
June. 1884. strongly advocated the
civil service system as essential in
thu -election of a state police force.
To intrust 10 unframed nOviCes
and politicians merely in quest Of a
Job the az ninistration and manage
ment of penal institutions. which
positions require character. educa-
ton and experience. and a proper
4, social viewpoint. is to invite disas-
ter.
Fundamental in Program
Reorganization of our penal sys-
TEN and construction of up-tO-date
jails and correctional institutions is
but a small part Of any constructive
program
The most important element is
the personnel that must man these
institutions. How well managed and
impartially administered these insti-
tutions will be viii depend on the
training and fitness Of the person.
mel That is why the merit system
is so fundamental in any cOnstruc-
tive program.
What happens when employees Of
a penal institution are appointed
without the merit system is best
illustrated by the experience in the
Eastern penitentiary. Lewisburg. Pa.
When arf .ew warden was appointed
in 1926 he found "a majority of the
guards were men who had been
given positions for some political
work that they had done. or who
could not be employed elsewhere,
and a large proportion of them we're
corrupt" There were 10 guards in
that institution when he took charge
and in two months I had to dis
charge ninety-five of them" he said.
That has been the experience of
most Of the penal institutions
throughout the country where ap-
pointmentS have been permitted
without civil service requirements.
McAneny Is President
The state of Indiana never can
hope to divorce its state police force
or its penal institutions from the
baneful influence Of politics unless
IL insists upon the strict application
OF the merit system TO those agen-
cieS."
President OF the National Civil
Service League Is George II. Nc
Aneny. former controller OF New
York City. and long prominent in
civil service reform there. Ogden H.
Hammond is treasurer.
The vice-presidentS include James
r. Angel. Yale university preSi-
dent: Sir Robert L. Borden. William
Cabell Bruce. Robert Catherwood
former Vice President Charles c.
Dawes. William Dudley Foulke. Will
liam Browne Hale. Ogden H. Ham
mond. a. Lawrence Lowell. presi-
dent emeritus Of Harv I'D univer-
sitv Franklin NfaCVearh. Nelson s