VOL. XXXI Official Journal of the National Civil Service Reform League. MONTHLY BULLETIN: CONTENTS AFFAIRS OF THE LEAGUE THE FEDERAL SERVICE NEW YORK, JANUARY, 1914 THE CIVIL SERVICE THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. A THREATENING SITUATION (Editorial)... . . . DEBATE ON THE SPOILS GRAB IN THE CURRENCY BILL.... MONTHLY BULLETIN Affairs of the League Annual Meeting PAGE I 2 4 6 7 The Thirty-third Annual Meeting of the National Civil Service Reform League was held in Boston December 11 and 12, with the Massachusetts Association and the Women's Auxiliary as hosts. On Wednesday evening, December 10, the members of the Council were entertained by the local Association at dinner at the University Club. The regular meeting of the Council, which was devoted to the consideration of the annual report to be presented at the public meeting of the League on the next day and reports from standing and special committees, followed the dinner. The first session of the League was held at the Hotel Vendome at 11:00 a. m. Thursday, with President Charles W. Eliot as the presiding officer. The annual report of the Council, read by Mr. Henry W. Hardon of New York, was a review of the record of the new administration on the civil service. This was followed by reports from the several Women's Auxiliaries and Associations composing the League, which were brief but interesting accounts of the progress of civil service reform in various sections of the country and the part played by the local organizations in support of the merit system. After this session delegates and friends accompanying them were guests of the Massachusetts Women's Auxiliary at a luncheon given at the University Club. At the second session, at 3:00 p. m., Thursday afternoon, held at the Young Men's Christian Association Hall, Miss Marian C. Nichols, Secretary of the Massachusetts Women's Auxiliary, gave an interesting lecture on the merit system, illustrated with lantern and moving picSome of the pictures shown by Miss Nichols included reproductions of the famous Nast cartoons which exerted such a powerful force in destroying the Tweed ring in New York City. At this meeting reports were received from the three Associations of Chicago, Illinois and Pennsylvania. The third session of the League was held in Boston University Hall. President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard University was the presiding officer of this, the only evening meeting, and the speakers included Dr. Charles W. Eliot, who delivered the address of the President of the League, and Governor Simeon E. Baldwin of Connecticut. No. 1 President Eliot's address, which was largely a review of the year, attracted a great deal of attention and comment in the press, due largely to his criticism of the Secretary of State for spoils appointments in the diplomatic service. President Eliot asserted that several of the "appointments of obscure men to diplomatic posts have seemed to the public to be made in payment of political debts; but the public attributes these appointments not to the President, but to the Secretary of State. It must be said with regret that the action of the administration with regard to the appointment of ambassadors and ministers, like much of the action on this subject in all preceding administrations, goes to establish the fact that in the United States there is no such thing as a profession of diplomacy." President Eliot also urged that the "League must continue to occupy itself actively with all means of eradicating from our public administration the large remnants of the patronage or spoils system. Some 9,000 valuable and influential offices in the national service are still party or personal spoils, and these offices are those whose salaries and powers are attractive, and which place a large moneypower in the hands of bosses and politicians. Their salaries and perquisites supply the corruption fund of every boss or patron. The boss is the best patron, because his tenure is longest. The senator is the next best, and the representative in Congress is an efficient third. Governors and mayors can exert evil influences in proportion to the length of their tenure. A political machine stands. next to a boss as a valuable patron, and in some respects is superior to a boss, because it neither dies nor resigns. The American people clearly desires to abolish the entire political patronage system, but does not seem as yet clearly to recognize in all parts of the Union the plain fact that to abolish the spoils system it is essential to adopt throughout all the public services, national, state, and municipal, a democratic and business-like merit system. It is an important function of this League to urge this doctrine on the people at every election and before every legislature." 66 President Lowell, in closing the meeting, made an eloquent plea for a government by experts rather than by amateurs." "We ought," he said, "to try to get the idea into the minds of the country that the higher discretionary officers, all those who are not at the very top of the system, all those who do not decide political questions, must eventually be experts. Not until we do that can we possibly build up a really efficient, strong, vigorous and lasting civil service. And if we cannot do that, let us face boldly the fact that no democracy that has not succeeded in doing it has ever lasted for more than three or four generations." At the fourth session of the League at the Hotel Vendome at 11:00 a. m., Friday, officers of the League were elected for the following year. President Eliot retired from the presidency and was succeeded by Richard Henry Dana of Cambridge, Mass., who for many years was Chairman of the Council. To the list of Vice-Presidents was added the name of Dr. Eliot. All the old members of the Council were re-elected and Mr. Charles L. Capen of Bloomington, Ill., Charles W. Eliot of Cambridge, Albert Smith Faught of Philadelphia, William B. Hale of Chicago, T. Henry Walnut of Philadelphia, and Russell Whitman of Chicago were also included as members of the governing body of the League. The new members from Illinois have long been active in their local associations, while Messrs. Walnut and Faught have both taken part in the work of the Pennsylvania Association. The organization meeting of the Council was held before the fourth session on Friday. Robert D. Jenks of Philadelphia was re-elected Chairman for the coming year and the Council authorized the appointment by the President of the League of a special committee of five members to direct the affairs of the League during the illness of Mr. Jenks. The resolution creating this committee provided that three of the members should include the President of the League, the Chairman of the Council, and the Secretary, while Mr. Dana as President has since added to this committee the names of Mr. Henry W. Hardon and Nelson S. Spencer of New York City. After the election of officers, the report of the Committee on Resolutions, which was read by Mr. Dana, was unanimously adopted. Then followed the report of the Committee on Removals, read by Elliot H. Goodwin, Chairman of the Committee. The report, which was presented to the League for the purpose of discussion, was an argument for the establishment under the direction of the civil service commission of a disciplinary board to regulate all removals from the classified service. In the brief discussion which followed the presentation of this report, Hon. Robert Catherwood of Chicago made a very effective plea that civil service commissions should take on new functions and follow the competitive employee from the day of his appointment until his separation from the service. The report of this committee was, on motion, referred to the next Council for such consideration as it might deem wise. The report of the Committee on Reform. in the Consular and Diplomatic Services was read by the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Ansley Wilcox of Buffalo. This report caused some discussion as to the policy of the League's censure of the administration for spoils appointments in the diplomatic service, but was finally accepted, with the amendment that the League acknowledges that on occasions when there is some definite policy to be carried out in regard to a particular country it may be necessary to remove a diplomat not in sympathy with the policy of the administration. Hon. Garrett Droppers, of the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission, closed the morning session by reading a paper on "The Growing Functions of the State and How They Are to Be Met by the Merit System." At 3:00 p. m. the fifth session of the League convened at the Hotel Vendome. At this session the following papers were read: The Merit System and the Good Roads MovementLogan W. Page, Director of the Bureau of Public Roads, Department of Agriculture. Symposium on the Selection of Higher Municipal Officers. The City Manager Plan-Its Contribution to the Growth of a Non-Political and Efficient Personnel in Municipal Administration-H. S. Gilbertson, Executive Secretary, National Short Ballot Organization. The Choice of Municipal Experts Through Competitive Examinations in Philadelphia-Hon. Lewis Van Dusen of the Philadelphia Civil Service Commission. How the Selection and Retention of Experts Have Taken Contracts out of Politics in Philadelphia-Lieut. James Reed, Assistant Director, Department of Public Works, Philadelphia. Upon the conclusion of the first paper, Mr. B. F. Heidel, division engineer in the bureau of public roads, who had read the paper in the absence of Mr. Page, called attention to the Fourth American Road Congress which will be held in Atlanta in October or November and urged that the National Civil Service Reform League take charge of a session of the Congress devoted solely to civil service reform in road administration. Upon motion of Mr. Bonaparte, the proposal was unanimously referred to the Council, with the recommendation that it be adopted if found practicable. A short discussion followed the reading of the papers on the selection of higher municipal officers, which was led by Hon. Clinton Rogers Woodruff, Secretary of the National Municipal League. On Friday evening a banquet was held at the Hotel Vendome. Rev. George Hodges of Cambridge was toastmaster. The speakers included Dr. Eliot, Hon. Charles J. Bonaparte of Baltimore, Moorfield Storey of Boston, and Richard Henry Dana of Cambridge. The Federal Service Another Congressional attack on merit system.—The latest attempt of the Democrats of the Senate to break down the merit system came on the eve of the passage of the currency bill when Senator Owen for the committee on banking and currency on December 18 offered an amendment directing that the employees of the Federal Reserve Board be appointed without complying with the requirements of the civil service law. Members on the Republican side immediately objected and precipitated a very hot debate, parts of which are printed elsewhere in this issue. Republican Senators asserted that the Owen amendment would result in political appointments, waste and corruption in the administration of the Federal Reserve Board, "just as the other national bank," said Senator Norris, "which was destroyed by Andrew Jackson was brought into disrepute-killed because it got into politics." Senators O'Gorman, Lewis, Owen and Williams came to the defense of the proposal, maintaining that a civil service examination would not furnish persons with the requisite expert qualifications and that the members of the Federal Reserve Board would be of such distinguished character that politics would not be permitted to creep in to the administration of the new banking system. When the vote was taken, the amendment was adopted by a majority of five in a total vote of 63, Senator Lane of Oregon being the only Democrat to support the merit system. On the following day Senator Burton made an effort to prevent what has been condemned as the most contemptible spoils grab in years, by offering an amendment striking out the entire provision relating to the employment of attorneys, experts and employees of the Federal Reserve Board. The Burton proposal was rejected without debate by a vote of 43 to 40, Senator Hitchcock, Democratic member from Nebraska, voting against his colleagues and in support of the civil service plank in his party's platform. Senator Lane was not recorded on this vote. Senator Brandegee of Connecticut then made a second attempt to strike out the spoils item when he called for a vote on an amendment nullifying the Owen provision and providing that in the employment of experts, attorneys and employees of the Federal Reserve Board due "regard shall be had to the provisions" of the civil service law. The vote on this proposal resulted in a tie which was broken by Vice-President Marshall who cast his vote in favor of the spoils rider and against the Brandegee amendment. All the votes in the negative were those of Democrats, while Senators Hitchcock and Lane joined with the Republicans and Progressives in supporting the Brandegee amendment. Senator Jones of Washington then presented an amendment in the form of a proviso to the item introduced by Senator Owen, which provided that "nothing herein shall prevent the President from placing said employees in the classified service." In speaking for his amendment the Senator from Washington stated that the language of the section expressly prohibited the classification by the President of the employees of the Reserve Board and "if we are going to start this new banking institution under the spoils system, I think the President ought to have the right to put it under the civil service at any time that he deems it advisable." The Democratic Senators saw no reason for objecting to this proposal, which was manifestly intended to permit the covering in of the first appointees, and it was adopted by a vote of 63 to 19. This section of the bill, which passed the Senate on December 19, empowers the Federal Reserve Board: To employ such attorneys, experts, assistants, clerks or other employees as may be deemed necessary to conduct the business of the board. All salaries and fees shall be fixed in advance by said board, and shall be paid in the same manner as the salaries of the members of said board. All such attorneys, experts, assistants, clerks and other employees shall be appointed without regard to the provisions of the act of January 16, 1883 (22 R. S., 403), and amendments thereto, or any rule or regulation made in pursuance thereof: Provided, That nothing herein shall prevent the President from placing said employees in the classified service. As soon as the officers of the League were informed of the action of the Senate, telegrams were sent, over the signature of the Secretary of the League, to the President, calling his attention to the dangerous character of the rider, and to Senators Owen and Pomerene and Congressman Glass, members of the conference committee, urging that the item be struck out of the bill. This was followed by a letter to every member of the House asking that the fatal error made by the Senate be disapproved and thus save the new currency and banking system from the corrupting and extravagant influences of the spoils system. After the bill reached the House, formal disagreement was taken, and the measure was sent to the conference committee, where the House Democratic managers accepted the Senate amendment without demur. The bill passed the House on December 22 and was signed by the President late on Tuesday, December 23. The exact meaning of the last clause of the paragraph is not quite clear, but apparently it gives the President power to issue an Executive order for the immediate classification of all places under the Federal Reserve Board. If the section is susceptible of this interpretation, officers of the League will ask the President to take such action and thus secure the classification of the positions before any appointments are made. Bryan and the diplomatic service.-President Eliot's recent criticism of the Secretary of State for breaking down the merit tradition in the diplomatic service was the immediate cause on December 15 of a cold-blooded analysis by the Washington correspondent of the New York Evening Post of the Administration's payment of political and personal debts with ambassadorships and ministerships. In the Evening Post article Mr. Bryan is placed on record as believing that it is a mistake to suppose that experience in the diplomatic service necessarily fits one for a diplomatic appointment. In fact, according to the Secretary of State, "a knowledge of languages, of the etiquette of diplomacy, of formal procedure, do not comprise all of the chief and essential qualifications of a minister." As an indication of the Bryan idea of an "examination" for the diplomatic service the following alleged conversation between the Secretary of State and a minister (appointed through promotion from the secre How many times have you voted? (A pause) Once-I think. Did you vote in a state or a national election? (Another pause) I really can't remember that, either. "thought that in the conversation just recounted the This minister was allowed to resign, as the Secretary thought that in the conversation just recounted the diplomat had shown lack of fitness as a representative of a political party administering the affairs of government." Such a man was too out of sympathy with the Administration to have any value or usefulness as an agent of the United States. Until Congress passed a law placing diplomatic appointments under some system of civil service regulations, Mr. Bryan, according to the Evening Post, "will continue the practice he has begun of appointing such men as he sees fit and as he deems" qualified for ministerships. The Secretary of State "regards as one of the current risks of the business of being a minister the likelihood of being supplanted and let out of office when a new administration comes into power of an opposing political faith and having other conceptions of government." He believes that ministers and ambassadors should be in sympathy with the administration under which they serve and does not approve "the European system" as applied to a republic like this, with a government by parties, and so long as he is not restrained by law, he is putting his belief in practice. The same dispatch assures the country that Secretary Bryan does not intend to disturb the non-competitive system of examinations and promotion on merit in the consular service and in the diplomatic service up to and including secretaries of legation and embassy. The article closes with short biographical statements on all persons appointed and replaced as ministers since March 4. This record shows that of the "ministers deposed and let out of the service, thirteen had had previous diplomatic experience and training." This story, which throws new light on the attitude of the Secretary of State toward the merit principle in the diplomatic service, had already been given to the readers of the Commoner, of which Mr. Bryan is editor and owner, a month before the annual meeting of the League. In reporting on the work of his department, Mr. Bryan's paper stated in part as follows: There is a long standing dispute as to whether ambassadors and ministers should be put under civil service. In most European countries the diplomatic service is a career and men enter with the expectation of remaining in it for life. There are some in this country who favor the adoption of this plan, but they have not thus far been able to alter the system. The President has changed considerably more than half of the ambassadors and ministers, and the appointees will not suffer in comparison with the men whom they succeeded. The criticisms that have been made have not been directed against the character of the appointments; these have not only commended themselves to the American public, but the appointees have been well received abroad. Occasionally some newspaper complains that "experienced men" are being dismissed and that men without diplomatic experience are being substituted. It must be remembered that the Democrats have not had much chance during the last twenty years to secure diplomatic experience, and the fair-minded will not give much weight to the Republican contention that the service suffers when a Democrat takes the place of a Republican. The Democrats who have received appointment have either been journalists or literary men of high standing or men of experience in political If the civil service (sic) were applied to ambassadors and ministers the President would have to take those he found in office and make such use of them as he could, and business life. regardless of their fitness or unfitness for the particular work to be done, whereas, under the appointive system which we now have the President can select men who are especially qualified for the work to be entrusted to them. It is the difference between a ready-made suit and clothes cut to fit. Rumored attempt to repeal classification of assistant postmasters. It is reported in the press that the House Committee on post offices and post roads has fastened on to the post office appropriation bill a rider repealing the Executive order of September 30, 1910. President Taft's order of that date classified 2,000 assistant postmasters and 1,500 clerks. Postmaster-General Burleson, it is stated, is absolutely opposed to such legislation as "detrimental to the public service." This provision cannot possibly be considered, unless a special rule is adopted in order to get around a point of order against the rider. It is interesting to note that approximately a year ago a similar rider, repealing not only the classification of assistant postmasters, but also of fourth-class postmasters, was decisively beaten in the House by a vote of 141 to 107, forty Democrats refusing to vote with the spoilsmen. Spoilsmen preparing to raid the library of Congress. -Several Washington newspapers recently carried stories to the effect that the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have determined to place the administration of the Library of Congress, so far as personnel is concerned, into the hands of the joint congressional library committee. Under the present law the Librarian of Congress, Herbert Putnam, appoints the members of the staff 'solely with reference to their fitness for their particular duties." As Mr. Putnam, according to report, has refused to make appointments for political reasons, some of the job hungry want to provide that no appointments will be valid until the approval of the joint library committee is secured. Such action would open up a rich field for the distribution of patronage, as the appropriation for the Library of Congress for salaries and contingent expenses is about $500,000. At present there are 513 persons employed in the library, many of whom are specialists in their particular fields. The Civil Service Throughout the Country Los Angeles County, Cal. President David Evans of the Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission has been facing charges of political activity filed with the board of supervisors by District Attorney Fredericks, a notorious opponent of the civil service law at least as far as his office is concerned. The district attorney's principal accusation against Mr. Evans is that the president of the Commission took an active part in politics as an executive officer of a political organization within one year preceding his appointment to the Commission in June, 1913. Under the county charter such activity is contrary to law. At a recent hearing before the board of supervisors, Commissioner Evans called witnesses who testified that he had not served as an officer of the Democratic committee within one year of his appointment and that his name had been used on the letter head of its finance committee without his consent. The district attorney, who was called to the stand by the accused, condemned the merit system as applied to his own office, reiterating the old machine rule that when a man leaves office he should take his force with him. Mr. Fredericks also alleged that President Evans was not a proper man for the position of civil service commissioner, as "every examination in which you participate should be under suspicion." Mr. Evans then took the stand in his own defense, alleging that the plans to remove him from office dated from the time the Civil Service Commission refused to exempt positions in the district attorney's office from the operation of the civil service rules. The City Club came to the support of the president of the Commission, adopting a report of its civil service committee to the effect that the friction between the district attorney's office and the County Civil Service Commission "has its foundation in an antagonism to and a desire to evade the civil service laws on the part of the district attorney's office and that its personal nature is, in our opinion, unwarranted, unjustified and undignified." Following the adoption of the report, which was submitted by Dr. Francis B. Kellogg, a member of the Council of the League, the Club unanimously approved a resolution requesting the board of supervisors to sustain Mr. Evans in his administration of the civil service law. The resolution stated that the "attempt to eliminate Mr. Evans from the Commission is on account of his activities in carrying out the intent of the county charter and the civil service rules." The decision of the board of supervisors on the case has not yet been learned. The executive committee of the New Jersey Civil Service Reform Association recently met in the office of Hon. Everett Colby of Newark to consider ways and means for increasing the effectiveness of the work of the organization. A special committee of five was appointed to urge the passage of laws strengthening the civil service act and to guard against attacks on the merit system. It is expected that State Senator Colgate of Essex County, who was present at the meeting, will act as chairman of the legislative committee. The informal proposal of the efficiency and economy commission to replace the four members of the State Civil Service Commission with a single headed department did not meet with the approval of the committee, which took the position that, inasmuch as one of the functions of a civil service commission is to act as a quasi-judicial board, it was highly important to have the merit system administered by a commission rather than by a head of a department. J. Frank Cornelius of Pompton Lakes, who is connected with the office of the National Civil Service Reform League, was placed in charge of the reorganization work of the Association, and Thomas Brown of Jersey City was continued as secretary. · New York State Sheriff Harburger's request for competitive classification denied.-The New York State Civil Service Commission on December 6 denied the application of Julius Harburger, sheriff of New York County, for the transfer of nineteen positions from the exempt to the competitive class. In making his request, Mr. Harburger, who retires from office on December 31, stated that the |