examination was prescribed to guarantee efficiency and not allow unrestricted employment in these cases, when it was found that the salaries were not attractive enough to induce general competition. When the Salary Classification Commission on October 1st raised the salaries of nurses in State charitable institutions from $25 to $35 a month, the State Civil Service Commission, with the approval of the Governor, immediately placed those positions, thirty in number, in the competitive class. The Municipal Service. The inspection of the work of municipal civil service commissions has been carried during the year to the second-class cities, with excellent results. Except in the case of Troy, where, as before stated, unsatisfactory conditions were disclosed and remedied, the administration of the law in those cities was found to be intelligent and efficient, and it was learned that the rule of competition was faithfully observed. Conditions in some of the smaller cities, as disclosed by these inspections or by information obtained from the annual reports of the municipal commissions, were not so satisfactory, but as a whole showed considerable improvement over those of previous years. The cities officially visited during the year by the Commission, or its secretary, or its chief examiner, were as follows: New York, Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, Troy, Hudson, Ithaca, Rome and Yonkers. Complete revisions of the Civil Service rules of the cities of Middletown, Mt. Vernon, Troy and Yonkers have been made during the year. The State Commission has given careful consideration in each case to the new rules, in several instances assisting in drafting them and in others suggesting amendments, and it feels confident that in the form finally approved they embody the best methods of procedure and faithfully express the spirit of the law making merit and fitness as ascertained whenever practicable by competitive examination the sole qualification of candidates for subordinate offices. Pursuant to section 10 of the Civil Service law, requiring favorable action by the State Commission before amendments to municipal rules and regulations become effective, resolutions proposing such amendments have been approved in behalf of the following-named cities: Auburn, Buffalo, Gloversville, Hudson, Kingston, Little Falls, New York, Olean, Rochester, Rome, Utica and Watertown. Resolutions proposing amendments to the Civil Service rules of the cities of Hudson, New York, Olean, Oswego, Rome and Watertown have been returned without approval. Recommendations. The successful application of the Civil Service rules to the four additional counties above mentioned, and the consequent improvement of the public service by its removal from the demoralizing influences of the spoils system, suggests consideration of further extensions of the classification, as the fee system of compensation is replaced and other changes in conditions make it practicable. The looseness of the administration of the law by municipal civil service commissions in some of the third-class cities, as shown by reports of recent visitations by officials of this Commission, leads to the conclusion that the transfer of control of the service in such cities from the local to the State Commission would make for uniformity, efficiency and economy of administration. The county service is successfully managed by the State Commission, and that of the smaller cities could be as well. If this change should not be effected, then at least the experiment suggested in the Commission's report of two years ago might be tried, and the preparation and rating of examination papers and the supervision of examinations be placed in the hands of the principal of the local high school as ex-officio chief examiner for the local commission, and examinations held yearly for all positions in the competitive class at a time and place fixed not less than thirty days in advance of the examination, of which public notice should be given in all the local newspapers. Such a method, it would seem, would ensure adequate competition by candidates for the positions to be filled, something which is often lacking in examinations as now conducted in the cities mentioned. If municipal regulation or ownership of public utilities is to be extended, as now seems to be the tendency, it is important that steps be taken to remove the resulting large increase of public positions from consideration as party spoils and to make the selection and retention of their incumbents solely dependent upon ascertained fitness. Without the safeguards afforded by the Civil Service law, the growing army of employees would have in it possibilities of grave danger. The disposition now in evidence to curb the collection of gigantie campaign funds by political parties and to protect officials and corporations from "assessment" for partisan purposes, suggests that the safeguard of publicity, now applied to candidates for elective office and perhaps to be applied to campaign committees, might be profitably extended so as to include all employees under the State government. This could be attained by an amendment of the Civil Service law requiring the filing by each such employee, with the receipt for the January salary instalment, of a statement setting forth the amount of the contributions, if any, direct or indirect, made for political purposes by said employee during the preceding year. This would operate, not to check voluntary and legitimate contributions to party funds, but to prevent the enforced and unlawful assessment for political ends of persons in the service of the State government. Appendices. In the appendices which follow this report will be found the report of the chief examiner and the statistical tables concerning examinations, appointments, removals, resignations, etc.; also table showing the number of positions classified in each department and institution with the exception of laborers, revised municipal civil service rules, amendments to municipal civil service rules, amendments to the State civil service rules and regulations, special reports, court decisions, rulings of the Commission, and roster of State and county employees. Conclusion. The Commission, in concluding this report, desires to express its appreciation of the assistance it has received from AttorneyGeneral Mayer and his deputy, Mr. Horace McGuire, and also from Mr. Nelson S. Spencer, of the Civil Service Reform Association, in the matter of the litigations herein referred to. It also extends its especial thanks to Dr. James H. Canfield, Librarian of Columbia University, and to Dr. Herbert Putnam, of the Library of Congress at Washington, who cooperated with the Commission's Chief Examiner, Mr. Charles S. Fowler, in passing on the fitness of candidates for appointment to positions in the. State Library. To the newspapers, for their gratuitous advertising of the recurring examinations, it is also indebted. Respectfully submitted. CHARLES F. MILLIKEN, JOHN E. KRAFT, ROSCOE C. E. BROWN, State Civil Service Commission. APPENDICES 1 REPORTS OF THE STATE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSIONERS OF THEIR INQUIRY AS TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE CIVIL SERVICE LAW AND RULES IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK 2 REMOVAL OF MUNICIPAL CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSIONERS OF THE CITY OF TROY AND APPOINTMENT OF THEIR SUCCESSORS 3 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER BROWN TO THE COMMISSION ON THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 10 OF THE CIVIL SERVICE LAW, RELATIVE TO REMOVAL AND AP- |