extensive advertisement of examinations. He affirmed and insisted upon the importance of all that had been said regarding the extension of the competitive principle to all higher positions of an administrative character.

Colonel M. G. LaRochelle, of the Canadian Commission, complimented the League on the work which it had accomplished, and in a gracious address urged the League to attend the next annual convention of the Assembly of Civil Service Commissions, which was to be held in Ottawa in the month of June.

THIRD SESSION

4:00 P. M.

AT the third session of the League, which convened at

4:00 P. M., reports from various associations and auxiliaries were completed.

FOURTH SESSION

8:15 P. M.

T

HE fourth session of the League was a public meeting held in the Roof Garden of the Hotel Adelphia. President Dana delivered the president's annual address1 and presided at the session. The other speakers at the session were Mrs. Florence Kelley, secretary of the National Consumers' League, who spoke on "Civil Service Reform from the Point of View of the Enlightened Consumers." Hon. George W. Norris, of Philadelphia, agent of the Federal Reserve Board and formerly head of the Department of Wharves, Docks and Ferries in Philadelphia, spoke on "The Merit System in Philadelphia"; Hon. George W. Norris, United States Senator from Nebraska, spoke on "The Application of the Merit System to Postoffices of the Presidential Class"; and Charles W. Eliot, president emeritus of Harvard University, addressed the meeting, using for his subject "Can the Civil Service of a Democracy be Made Efficient?"" REPORTS OF AUXILIARIES AND ASSOCIATIONS The Massachusetts Auxiliary reported through its at page 45; at page 62; at page 52.

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secretary, Miss Marian C. Nicols, that 65,703 pamphlets had been distributed by the auxiliary during the year. The distribution of these pamphlets formed the most important part of the work of the Massachusetts Auxiliary. It was estimated that through distribution of pamphlets to various schools and colleges throughout the country, the pamphlets reached hundreds of thousands of school children, as they were used for a number of years in the various classes in history and civics. The Auxiliary had arranged for meetings, which had been addressed by George T. Keyes, secretary of the League, and by Mrs. Imogen B. Oakley. Miss Nichols, the secretary of the Women's Auxiliary, had also spoken to various groups of students on civil service reform. The Auxiliary had also done important work in assisting the Massachusetts Association in securing legislation to classify the employees of the Deer Island house of correction.

A report was presented for the Women's Auxiliary of the New York Association by Mrs. Everett P. Wheeler. The New York Auxiliary had sustained a severe loss through the death of Miss Agathe Schurz, its president, who had been a sincere worker for the cause of civil service reform since the death of her father, Carl Schurz. The former secretary of the Auxiliary, Miss Hutchinson, had resigned, and the work had been taken up by Miss Fannie M. Witherspoon. The work of distribution of pamphlets had gone forward under Miss Witherspoon with increased activity. The Auxiliary had also co-operated with the New York Association in legislative action and with the League in urging the adoption by the President of the policy of retaining in office postmasters who had risen in the service through promotion.

Mr. Glenway Maxon, of Milwaukee, presented a report for the Wisconsin Association. Mr. Maxon reviewed. the legislative work of the Wisconsin Association in the 1915 session of the Wisconsin legislature. He indicated that the legislature was not at all friendly to the merit system. One bill had been introduced to amend the civil service law by providing for a minimum eligible list of five persons; that is, that there should be at all times a list of that number, or the appointing officer should be

allowed to make his appointments without regard to the civil service law. Another bill had been introduced making a large number of exemptions in the attorney-general's office. One of the most vicious measures was a bill providing for the certification of an entire eligible list to an appointing officer. A bill providing for an absolute preference for Spanish war venterans had been reported favorably and passed the assembly. The bill had been defeated only after hard work in the senate, after it had come up for final passage. Mr. Maxon quoted part of an interesting dicision handed down by the court of last resort of Wisconsin in a case involving the right of Spanish war veterans to preference in the civil service, as follows:

"Upon the general subject of classification of those who have served their country in arms there has been much of decisions in later years, growing out of the wholly unreasoning attitude of some legislatures toward them. No one denies that to those who have thus sacrificed their comfort, and often their health and vigor, to the public, there is a legitimate and proper feeling of gratitude from the entire community which each member thereof should appreciate; but this does not answer the question whether, by constitutional enactment half a century or more ago, there was conferred upon agents of the public-the legislature-authority to coin this gratitude into all forms of favor, whether by direct donation or by exemption of the duties and burdens resting upon other citizens, after these men have returned from their military service and again become, as they were before, part of the mass of citizenship. The federal government does without question discriminate by direct payment of money by way of pensions. To that end, doubtless, those who serve the government in its wars are a legitimate class, distinct from the rest of the community, by reason of the service which they have rendered; but in many other respects they are not so distinct. and that fact has been emphasized by the various states in many decisions. For the purpose of performing work for a government, the ex-soldier stands upon no different footing from the civilian."

Mr. Maxon called attention to the work of the Wisconsin State Commission particularly with reference to an examination held for assistant attorney. The Commission had determined that the personality of the candidate was important and should be rated in the examination, and an oral test was held in which three out of a total of ten points was accorded to personality. The examination had been a very successful one, and it resulted in an eligible list with which the attorney-general was satisfied. Mr. Maxon also mentioned legislation which had been introduced to provide that the service of Milwaukee County, which has a population of about 430,000, should be under the jurisdiction of a civil service commission. Due mainly to the opposition of the board of supervisors and other elective county officials, the Milwaukee County Act had failed to pass.

Mr. Howard Strong, of Minneapolis, reported on behalf of the Minneapolis Civic and Commerce Association that a sudden attempt had been made in the last legislature by spoilsmen to repeal the Minneapolis civil service law. A repeal bill had passed the house quickly, but had been held up in the senate. A fight was waged around this bill, as it hung in the senate during the entire session, and it was only after extraordinary efforts on the part of friends of civil service reform in the city and other parts of the country that the bill was finally defeated. Mr. Strong said that had it not been for the service of the League, and particularly of the League's secretary, Mr. Keyes, the Minneapolis law would undoubtedly have been repealed.

Professor Henry W. Farnam of New Haven reported for the Connecticut Association that the Connecticut law enacted in 1913 under a Democratic government and a legislature partly Democratic and partly Republican had been amended in 1915 providing that any state officer elected by the people might exempt himself from the operation of the law by a simple declaration of such policy on his part. This attack on the law had been made by a Republican legislature and the amendment had come over the protest of civil service reformers in the state and officers of the League and also over the protest of

ex-President Taft. Professor Farnam pointed out that the attack on the law had not been as extreme as might have been expected. The Hartford Courant had come out openly for the complete repeal of the civil service. law, but Governor Holcomb, while he wished to support the legislature, did not believe in the complete repeal of the law. In view of the serious setback in Connecticut, Professor Farnam believed that it would be an excellent thing for the League to consider holding its next annual meeting in Connecticut.

Hon. William Dudley Foulke presented a report from the Indiana Association, which concerned an investigation which had been made of certain appointments and changes in the rural carrier service. The Indiana Association had appointed Mr. Foulke as a special committee to make this investigation and he had found that some seventeen rural free delivery carriers in Wayne County had been displaced through Postmaster General Burleson's attempt to "motorize" the rural free delivery service. The postmaster at Richmond, Indiana, had been directed by the post office department to discontinue eight rural routes and the department had named the carriers who were to be thus laid off. The majority of these carriers had been in the service for more than five years and had secured their positions through civil service examination. Mr. Foulke criticised the action of the post office. department, particularly in asking the co-operation of Congressmen in selecting new appointees to the newly created motor routes and the Indiana Association had held that this action was "an open violation of section 10 of the civil service law," which "will be the natural precursor of other violations and the reinstatement of spoils politics will be a natural result."

Mr. Samuel Dauchy of Chicago reported for the Chicago and Illinois Associations that the assembly of the previous year had enacted an amendment to the Illinois civil service law which provided that Spanish War veterans and veterans of the Philippine insurrection should be given a preference on civil service eligible lists. The amendment had been secured very largely through the activities of the lieutenant-governor, who was him