of examinations for appointment to the consular service, and, upon motion, it was ordered that the letter be read at the next session. FIFTH SESSION. City Club, Friday afternoon, December 15. AT T 3.00 p. m. the League reconvened. Mr. Moorfield Hon. Charles J. Bonaparte presented the report of the Committee on Resolutions. Upon motion, the report was accepted and the resolutions presented adopted as the resolutions of the League.' Upon motion of Mr. John Joy Edson, the following resolution was unanimously adopted: The League commends the re-establishment by President Taft, on December 9th last, of the civil service rule, requiring that, under all circumstances, an employee in the competitive class be furnished with the reasons for removal, and allowed an opportunity to reply thereto before he can be removed. This rule, first promulgated in July, 1897, gave to employees who acquired their positions on the basis of merit and fitness a proper feeling of security of tenure upon a like basis, and of independence of outside political control, which was measurably impaired by the elimination of the mandatory feature of the rule and other amendments in November, 1905. The League suggested to the President the restoration of the former rule, which after full consideration he did. This action wil in our opinion further increase the stability and efficiency of the public service. Hon. James Creelman, President of the New York City Civil Service Commission, presented a paper entitled Improvements in the Administration of the Merit System in New York City. Hon. Samuel B. Donnelly. United States Public Printer, presented a paper entitled The Relation of Organized Labor to Civil Service Reform." 1 2 Printed in full at page 68; at page 139; at page 145. Hon. William B. Moulton, President of the Illinois. Civil Service Commission, presented a paper entitled The Situation in Illinois under the New State Civil Service Law.' Mr. Robert W. Belcher, Assistant Secretary of the New York Civil Service Reform Association, presented a paper entitled The Spoils Raid in the New York State Service.2 Hon. Clinton Rogers Woodruff, Chairman of the Committee on the Application of the Merit System to the Higher Municipal Officers, presented a paper entitled Competition for the Expert Administrative Positions in City Government." Mr. Ansley Wilcox, Chairman of the Committee on Consular Reform, read a letter from Hon. Philander C. Knox, Secretary of State, in regard to the operation of the system of examinations for appointments in the consular service. Some discussion of this letter followed, participated in by Hon. William Dudley Foulke, Mr. Richard H. Dana, Hon. John C. Black, Hon. Charles J. Bonaparte and Mr. Robert Catherwood. Mr. Ansley Wilcox moved that a vote of sincere thanks be extended to the members of the Pennsylvania. Civil Service Reform Association, the Philadelphia City Club, the University of Pennsylvania, the Central Young Men's Christian Association, the College Club, the Houston Club, the New Century Club, the Union League Club and the University Club for their hospitality. The vote was unanimously adopted. The meeting then adjourned. ELLIOT H. GOODWIN, A banquet to the visiting delegates was tendered by the Philadelphia Association at the Bellevue-Stratford at 8.00 o'clock on Friday evening, December 15. Mr. George Burnham, Jr., presided, and Mr. Frank T. Lewis acted as toastmaster. The speakers included President John C. Black, of the United States Civil Service Commission: Printed in full at page 151; at page 157; at page 166. Judge Martin A. Knapp, Presiding Judge of the United States Commerce Court; Hon. William Dudley Foulke, of Richmond, Ind.; Hon. Frank M. Riter, President of the Philadelphia Civil Service Commission, and Hon. Charles J. Bonaparte, of Baltimore, Md. On December 14 the visiting delegates were tendered a luncheon at the Houston Club by the University of Pennsylvania. On December 15 the visiting delegates were tendered. a luncheon by the ladies of the College Club at their club house, 1300 Spruce Street. Women's Auxiliary of New York. 100 00 Special Committee on Extension of Civil Service Reform Total League Receipts.. Office Expenses.. Special Committee on Extension of Civil Service Reform Total League Disbursements... GOOD GOVERNMENT Disbursements. Balance on hand.. E.&O.E. $9,607 46 .$1,999 92 920 82 125 00 1,188 15 825 00 322 24 79.36 223 71 223 84 209 12 110 49 992 97 $7,220 62 1,350 50 8,571 12 +$1,03634 A. S. FRISSELL, Treasurer. *Of which $134.99 is Special Fund of the Committee on Extension of Civil Service Reform. +Of which $304.50 is Special Fund of the Committee on Extension of Civil Service Reform, and $7.03 is Special Fund for Increasing Membership and Influence. Audited and found correct, January 26, 1912. WILLIAM G. LOW, Committee. REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. TO THE NATIONAL CIVIL SERVICE REFORM LEAGUE: On a review of recent events, the Council is impressed with the need of a better general understanding of the competitive civil service methods employed. These methods test not only knowledge but capacity. Let us give an example of this need:-medical examinations followed by thorough competitive physical tests of candidates for police and fire service have been carried on for twenty-eight years or more in New York and Boston as well as in some other cities by the civil service commissions; and yet a professor of government in a great university in the United States said in a public address entitled "The Limitations of Civil Service Reform," that there was no way of ensuring that the police and firemen who passed the civil service examinations would be strong and well. Little is generally known of the more modern, higher-grade method of ascertaining not only scientific knowledge and training, but executive and organizing ability which has been successfully employed by several commissions. In such cases the ordinary scholastic examination is entirely abandoned. The method consists in an investigation carried on by specialists in the subjects under consideration who inquire into the needed executive capacity, as well as into the education and training undergone by the candidates. These examining experts are appointed by the civil service commission which aids the investigation. The nearest approach to anything like an ordinary written examination is a thesis on organizing and conducting the office in the interests of the government, so as to show originality of design and familiarity with the kind of work to be done. These high-grade tests are so little understood that we are constantly hearing from persons who, for example, appreciate the value of permanent experts in public service, some of them professors, publicists, and experts, that it would be im |