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city officials from emasculating the merit system, if they were so disposed, and that the main reliance for its enforcement must be upon public sentiment and the character of the officials at the head of the city government, the inquiry here reported has directed attention to faults in rules whose correction would make for directness and efficiency of administration. Upon the Municipal Commission lies the duty of making such corrections. Upon it also lies the duty of inquiring into the fitness of its secre tary and other subordinates and into the efficiency of the organization of its examining department, with a view to replacing incapable or unworthy public servants and of introducing im proved methods. It should find means for expediting the work of holding examinations, rating papers, and establishing eligible lists, in order that there may be no occasion or excuse for extended provisional appointments. It should safeguard the examinations from political or other outside interference, in order that their fairness and integrity may be above suspicion. this end, the classification of ten expert examiners should be abolished and sole reliance be had for this service upon appointees from the eligible lists. Further disregard of the civil service rules by the Municipal Commission itself, as in the employment of these exempt "expert' "examiners in work which could be as well done by appointees from the eligible lists, in the selection of monitors by favor rather than according to the plain provision of the rules, and in the arbitrary rerating of examination papers, would warrant the inference that opportunity is designedly given for the exercise of political or personal favoritism, and would deserve the severest condemnation. The Municipal Commission is called upon, also, to use its power to investigate and

To

correct abuses in the matter of transfers, and in the appointment of laborers under titles not authorized; to discontinue the certifi cation of accounts, such as that of "Foreman of Laborers" Brower, under titles not appropriate to the duties of the positions held; and to enforce upon all departments of the city government faithful observance of the requirement of the constitution, the law, and the rules making merit and fitness the sole qualifications for appointments and promotions to public office.

These recommendations are made with a full appreciation of the difficulties confronting the Municipal Commission in New York city where the service is vast and complex, and where the energy of any Commission, however good its intentions, must be taxed to resist, or even detect, the efforts of large numbers of powerful and astute spoilsmen to circumvent the merit system. While the State Civil Service Commission believes that the Municipal Commission has made serious errors in the interpretation of the law and rules, and has failed to exercise its full powers for the correction of abuses, it is glad to recognize that many of the evils noted in this report were inherited by the present Commission and that it has effected improvements in the rules and their execution as already noted; and the State Commission makes no doubt that it will at once take steps to deal effectively for the protection of the merit system with the matters now brought to its attention.

The State Civil Service Commission, in thus reporting the result of its inquiry into the matters presented by the Civil Service Reform Association, desires to express its appreciation of the aid it has received from that Association and its secretary, Mr. Elliot H. Goodwin, and from Mr. Philip J. McCook, who con

ducted the examination of witnesses for the Commission.

It is

pleased to note also that it has been afforded every courtesy and

facility by the Municipal Civil Service Commission.

Respectfully submitted,

CHARLES F. MILLIKEN,

ROSCOE C. E. BROWN.

Albany, N. Y., September 27, 1905.

Report of Commissioner Kraft

To the Governor of the State of New York:

The testimony adduced at the hearings held by this Commission and the examination by our secretary and chief examiner clearly demonstrate that the Municipal Civil Service Commission of New York City is deserving of commendation rather than blame. The duties of the Municipal Commission are widely diversified and its work is enormous in amount of detail. When it is taken into consideration that on January 1, 1905, there were over 39,000 employees in New York covered by the civil service, of which there were over 15,000 in the labor class and nearly 20,000 in the competitive class, some idea may be formed of the magnitude of the Commission's work. The pay rolls covering all these employees must be verified and properly checked before they can be paid either weekly or monthly as the case may be. Several kinds of examinations must be conducted in order to establish eligible lists for this great service. For the six months from January 1, 1905, to July 1, 1905, the following examinations were held:

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In the Labor Bureau alone, for the same period, there were 5,064 applications filed; the number of applicants cited for physical examination was 8,042; the number of applicants accepted in physical examination was 4,936; the total number of names certified on pay rolls for the same period was 225,572.

These figures give some slight indication of the amount of work for which the Municipal Civil Service Commission is responsible, and it would not be surprising if, in the performance of its duties, in connection with so colossal a task, certain unimportant infractions of the intricate Civil Service law and rules should develop. It would be unreasonable to believe it within the range of possibility that such infractions could be avoided under the circumstances, and the investigation clearly showed that when notices of evasions of law in letter or spirit were brought to the attention of the present Civil Service Commission, steps were immediately taken by it to rectify the abuse.

The comparison shown between the work of the present Commission and former Commissions rebounds entirely to the credit of the present Municipal Commission, and most of the abuses complained of by the Civil Service Reform Association that had heretofore existed have been made impossible by the action of the present Commission.

The charges against Henry Berlinger were, without exception, frivolous and unimportant, and not substantiated. The Municipal Commission showed that they had investigated the charges and acquitted Mr. Berlinger of any wrong doing. One of the specifications was that he had given out an application blank at a political club of which he is a member. He might just as well have mailed the application, and perhaps, as secretary of the Commission, in the light of later developments, it might have been wiser for him to have done so; but there was no moral obliquity on his part either charged or shown by that action; and as this State Commission has, at various times authorized the sending of large numbers of applications to political organiza tions throughout the State, it would not be in good taste to criticize the secretary of the Municipal Commission for doing the same thing. In no single instance was it shown in the charges against Mr. Berlinger that any individual had been injured by any of his acts. It was conclusively shown that all action taken by Mr. Berlinger in the matters complained of was under the direct orders of the Civil Service Commissioners.

In the matter of expert examiners, it was shown that nineteen persons had been designated as expert examiners by the Municipal Commission since January 1, 1905; but it nowhere appears that at any time more than ten expert examiners were employed at the same time. The Municipal Civil Service Commission is allowed by its rules to employ ten expert examiners who are in the exempt class, and in appointing these examiners in the manner in which they were appointed, the Municipal Commission acted entirely within its rights. In reference to the criticism that expert engineering examiners should not have been appointed

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