Merit System to the Higher Municipal Offices. 38, 100 Fourth Session: December 18-Minutes.. PAPERS AND ADDRESSES: Civil Service Reform in the National Service- Hon. Charles J. Bonaparte.. 39, 55 39 39, 115 ANNUAL MEETING OF THE NATIONAL CIVIL SERVICE REFORM LEAGUE. DECEMBER 17 AND 18, 1908. PURSUANT a URSUANT to a call duly issued, the Twentyeighth Annual Meeting of the National Civil Service Reform League was held at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the 17th and 18th of December, 1908. The following delegates from Civil Service Reform Associations and Auxiliaries were in attendance during the several sessions: ALLEGHENY COUNTY: John A. Brashear, W. C. Coffin, E. G. Jenkins, William H. Stevenson, John D. Meyer, A. Leo Weil, Oliver McClintock, George R. Wallace. BUFFALO: Frederic Almy, Ansley Wilcox. CONNECTICUT: Professor Henry W. Farnam, Charles G. Morris. DENVER Henry Van Kleeck. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: John Joy Edson. INDIANA: Hon. W. D. Foulke, Harry J. Milligan, Lucius B. Swift. LUZERNE COUNTY: W. J. Trembath. MARYLAND: Philemon H. Tuck. MASSACHUSETTS: R. H. Dana, S. Y. Nash. PENNSYLVANIA: Hon. V. F. Gable, H. N. Gilkyson, W. W. Kincaid, Robert D. Jenks, Fullerton L. Waldo. NEW JERSEY: E. K. Sumerwell, Hon. Everett Colby. NEW YORK: Hon. Joseph H. Choate, H. W. Hardon, E. H. Goodwin, Charles B. Marble, Albert de Roode. WISCONSIN: John A. Butler, F. W. Burleigh, Irving M. Bean. WOMEN'S AUXILIARY OF MASSACHUSETTS: Marion C. Nichols. Miss In response to invitations issued by the League to municipal reform associations and to other bodies interested in the reform of the civil service, delegates were present from such organizations as follows: CLEVELAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: James A. Ford, Hubert E. Fuller. CINCINNATI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: E. P. Marshall, Will L. Finch. WASHINGTON BOARD OF TRADE: John Joy Edson. CINCINNATI OPTIMIST CLUB: Robert Ramsay, Maurice J. Freiberg, N. H. Davis, Harry M. Levy. MASSACHUSETTS REFORM CLUB: Samuel Y. Nash. NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POSTMASTERS OF THE FOURTH CLASS: A. K. Hoag. INVITED GUESTS: George W. Guthrie, Everett Colby, Henry F. Greene, W. F. Johnson, James R. Mulliken, Gardner Colby, Frank B. Jess, George R. Wallace, Vivian F. Gable. THE MEETINGS OF THE LEAGUE. HE headquarters of the League during the meeting were at the Hotel Schenley, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The proceedings at the sessions of the League, commencing on the afternoon of December 17th, were as follows: TH FIRST SESSION. Hotel Schenley. Thursday Afternoon, December 17th. HE League convened at 3:00 p. m. The Chairman of the Council, Mr. R. H. Dana, presided. The minutes of the last Annual Meeting having been printed and distributed, their reading was omitted. Hon. George W. Guthrie, mayor of Pittsburgh, delivered an address of welcome', to which Hon. Joseph H. Choate, President of the League, made response2, Mr. Choate then took the chair. Mr. Richard H. Dana, Chairman of the Council, then read the report of the Council.3 Upon motion of Mr. Jenks, seconded by Mr. Hoag, the following resolution was unanimously adopted: Resolved, That the President and the Secretary of the League be instructed to send by telegraph to the President the enthusiastic thanks of the National Civil Service Reform League for his recent executive order by which 15,000 fourth-class postmasters were placed under the merit system, and to express to him the confident hope of the League that the results of this order will justify the extension of its scope. The following reports from Associations composing the League and from the Auxiliaries were then read: Mr. W. C. Coffin submitted the report from the Civil Service Association of Allegheny County: Our local Association is a very young branch of the Printed in full 'at page 60; at page 61; at page 43. National League, the organization dating only from July 2nd, 1908. We have a membership of nearly 1,200, made up of about 750 policemen, 350 firemen, and 60 odd civilians. We are expecting quite a large increase in the latter class of members, as the convention should stir up the latent interest that we believe exists and needs only such an educational function to bring out. The heads of our municipal departments have been held to the closest fulfillment of the law, by both the mayor and the commission. So that most of the complaints about the inequitable or illegal enforcement of the law have not reached this Association at all, but have been settled fairly and legally by those in authority. Our secretary has investigated a number of cases, but so far in only one case of discharge was the evidence strong enough to call for reinstatement in the opinion of our attorney, and the man was reinstated on that evidence. This was the case of Jacob Shunk, as painter in the bureau of parks. Only one case of discharge for political reasons has been called to our attention, and that will come up for hearing next week. This case will involve a careful investigation of the methods of government, discipline and discharge followed at the North Side City Home, located at Claremont. Another complaint of a very serious nature has come in recently from the city home at Marshalsea, but is still under investigation. Most of the complaints so far received come from lack of knowledge of the provisions of the law, or of the rules of the commission. Several men of high standing on the lists failed of appointment because they did not know that the appointing officer had the choice of three candidates, or because they did not understand that it was proper for them to have their friends say a kind word in their behalf. The commission has been very lenient in its requirement that an appeal be taken within five days. |