The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-08-25
LIVING IN GAY NINETIES, IS COMMENT ON MERIT SYSTEM
 CRITIC

GultOT, WateTpuTy DSllOCEdt'
 Enclosed Is copy of a letter which have just sent to MT. James William FitzPatrick, whose columns appear In your paper. I would ap- preciate very much If you would print this in an early issue of the Democrat.
 Very truly, |,
 LAURENCE c. SMITH.
 Executive Secretary, Conn Merit System Assn. Inc. f August 24, 1887. James William Fitzpatrick,
 Waterbury Democrat,
 Waterbury, Connecticut.
 Dear Mir. FltzPatrick:-- ..
 Judging from the antiquated ideas on the Merit System which appear under your column in the Water bury Democrat Friday, August twentieth, one would not think we were living in the second quarter of the twentieth century. The crit icisms you make might have been Justified fifty years ago. when the civil service idea transplanted from England and Ireland first took root here. You seem to overlook the fact that since then the Merit System has been successfully adopted iIl 487 cities of the United States and that in this year alone five states (Arkansas, Connecticut, Maine, Michigan and Tennessec) have passed civil service laws, an activity which IS unprecedented in the his- tory of our civil service.
 This all means that the public Is fed up" with the old political rack ct as practiced by "spoils" politi- clans, party bosses and patronage seekers. Even flew York City, which for 80 many years has been the stronghold of machine politics, has revolted against this domination by a privileged few and has adopted a civil service system which includes o5 per cent of its civil service em- ployecs.
 So let us come back to your state- ment and see if we can make some sense out Of this garbled boloney. Even that sob story about the poor old fellow who lost his Job Is pretty old stuff, but your giving the date (June 30th) of this mans discharge shows that his claim that 1t had anything to do with the Merit Sys- tenn Is erroneous. Such an error on the part of the man himself is un- dersIandable, but If you are suffi- cicntly informed on public affairs to be the author of column coni- menting on them, you must know that the State Personnel Directory did not even take office until after June thirtieth, and your quoting the letter without pointing this out IS nothing short Of deliberate misrep- resentation. Under your system this same government worker would be kicked out to shift for himself as soon as the politicians had squeezed him dry Of service to the party. Under the Merit System, however, this mans allegiance s not to a party but to the state and as 8 servant of the public Is ac- cordingly protected. No employee cf the state is dismissed without cause; he may be laid of because the po- sition Is abolished but if he is 8 competent worker he goes onto Q preferred unemployment list and Is subject to recall when the first va cancy occurs. It is because of this protection and other provisions give ing the competent civil service em- ployee real rights in his job that organized labor has so strongly sup ported the Merit System In the State. .
 The proposed amendment to Wa terbury's charter contains 8 provi- sion for 6 unemployment list sim liar to that in the, State bill. and also contains provisions specifically giving any employee in the classi- fled service who feels he has been wrongfully dischargedi rights of ap- peal not only to the Civil Service Board, but to the courts. The pro- vision for appeal to the courts IS taken directly from those now n the Charter giving such rights lc policemen and fireineti and asimply N. tlts sta Nt s. <. fss54 fa