RESOLUTIONS OF THE LEAGUE

I.

The National Civil Service Reform League, assembled in New York City in this, its Twenty-ninth Annual Meeting, congratulates the country upon the steady progress of this most important reform during the past year. This progress has been manifested in:

(1) The growth of the merit system in popular estimation, as shown by the demand for its enactment into law in various sections of the country, and particularly in the general recognition of the fact that it must be made the basis of any successful attempt to rescue municipal governments from their present degraded condition.

(2) The favorable attitude of the new federal administration as a whole and of President Taft in particular, as shown by the cordial support and sympathy given the civil service commission in its work; by the strong stand taken against the attempt to use the needed. increase in the census force as an opportunity for congressional patronage; by the order requiring census supervisors and enumerators to abstain from political activity; and by the more rigid application of the principles of merit and competition to the diplomatic service.

II.

(1) The League, while estimating at its full value the order issued by President Roosevelt prohibiting competitive employees from activity in politics, regards the conditions still existing among the higher officials of the government service, as disclosed in its report on the political activity of federal officials during the last presidential campaign, as a distinct menace to free institutions.

(2) It deplores the antiquated frame of mind of

a majority in both houses of Congress which leads them on the one hand into an unseemly struggle for the possession of minor clerkships in the census bureau as personal patronage and into unjustified criticism of the administration of the civil service law, and on the other hand to deny to the civil service commission the equipment necessary to make its administration thoroughly effective.

(3) It records its unalterable opposition to giving certain favored classes of citizens preferences in appointment to and promotion in the civil service as undemocratic and opposed to the principles upon which the merit system is based and subversive of the best interests of the service. It holds that persons who deserve well of the Republic should be rewarded in another way than at the expense of the efficiency of the public administration.

III.

The League recommends:

(1) The extension by the President to other parts of the country of the competitive classification of fourth class postmasters, in view of the successful operation of the rules during the past year in states north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi.

(2) The extension by the President of the competitive classification to assistant postmasters and also to clerks in non-free delivery postoffices.

(3) Legislation giving the appointment of first, second and third class postmasters to the Postmaster General or to the President alone, without confirmation by the Senate, to the end that the postoffice department-the great business department of the government-may be absolutely divorced from politics.

(4) The extension of the civil service law to the municipal service of the District of Columbia.

(5) The enactment into law of the provisions of the Executive orders issued by President Roosevelt and President Taft applying the principles of the merit system to appointments and promotions in the 'Consular and Diplomatic services.

(6) The extension of the Executive order regulating the political activity of employees so as properly to restrict the political activity of higher and unclassified officials and to put an end to the scandal of officers of the United States using the power and influence obtained through public office in the interest of a particular party, faction or person.

(7) The elimination of the present inadequate and cumbrous removal rule in the federal service and the substitution of a simple provision, which, while retaining full power of removal by responsible officials, will grant to competitive employees, without right to trial or hearing, an opportunity to reply to the reasons for removal before actual separation from the service.

(8) The adoption by all civil service commissions of methods of examination which include an impartial and careful inquiry into the records and deeds of candidates for the higher positions, with a view to reducing the number of positions now excepted from the operation of the civil service laws, and obtaining trained experts in the higher, administrative, nonpolitical, places.

Address of Welcome.

HON. CHARLES H. STRONG, PRESIDENT OF CITY CLUB.

Your accomplished secretary told me he would rather the National Civil Service Reform League would be welcomed to New York by the President of the City Club, of course in his official capacity, than by anybody else. Now, that was very nice. He also intimated that he would not mind if the sweetness of the welcome were prolonged for five full minutes.

Now, in a sense, it seems almost gratuitous for the City Club to welcome formally the National Civil Service Reform League. We are too close for that. It is like welcoming one's own kindred.

Why, a roster of the League, at least, the New York League, reads much like the roll of the Club membership. Now, your secretary might easily, as a member of the Club and until recently chairman of its membership committee, have extended this welcome to himself as a member of the League.

Your distinguished president is a member, actual or honorary, in name or in spirit, of every organization in America that stands for better government.

On these walls hang the portraits of three of your brothers and ours-all ardent souls; Eaton, Potter and Gilder.

Four years after the National Civil Service Reform League first met in the city of New York, the City Club of New York was organized. Many, conspicuous in the organization of the League, were found among the founders of the Club. Little of essential difference exists between the doctrine that efficiency, not favoritism, shall rule in selections for the civil service, and the doctrine stated as the fundamental creed of the City Club. In the constitution of the City Club are to be found these words: "The City Club of New York is formed for the

purpose of securing permanent good government for the city of New York through the election and appointment of honest and able municipal officers."

Ten of the fifteen members of the recent New York city charter revision commission were members of the City Club, and united with the other members of the commission in recommending to Governor Hughes and the members of the legislature in the year 1909, certain amendments to the charter, in which I think you may be interested. I read an extract from the report:

"In aid of the civil service and its divorce from politics, an entirely new subdivision is submitted, which provides that 'no person in the new civil service of the city shall be an officer or member of any political committee, or a delegate or alternate to any political convention.'"

And also: "The provision forbidding certain employees of the city from actively participating in associations organized for the purpose of procuring legislation in their behalf is extended so as to apply to all employees of the city," school teachers and all; and I mention school teachers because that is a subject significant to some of our local conditions. And finally,

"When a subordinate has been removed, not only must there be filed with the municipal civil service commission a copy of the charge and the reason for removal, but also a copy of his defense, if any."

Now, if I may revert for just a moment to even a closer tie between this League and this Club, I may say that your former secretary became our president, and our president, your secretary, Mr. George McAneny, became President-elect of the Borough of Manhattan. I may say in passing that he was elected by a larger majority than that received by any of his colleagues, save two, who enjoyed the opposition of opponents singularly weak.

You will see, at once, how the eye of the public has become focused on the new Borough President as an exemplar of reform, and particularly civil service reform.

The new President of the Borough, then president of the City Club, succeeded in convincing Governor Hughes, after a long and arduous trial at Albany last year, that the then President of the Borough, Ahearn, was