in any such manner was not a fit person to hold public office, but so far their protestations have been in vain. The mayor seems to take the attitude that the prosecution in question was not directed primarily at the criminal act, but at his administration, and that he will not remove the officer until a jury by a verdict sustained by the higher courts has declared the man guilty.

If this action on the part of the director had gone through uncriticized it would have weakened very materially the operation of the civil service law, for it would have given the director unfair advantage over all the men who had been paid. Dishonesty in high places where someone other than the person who is dishonest is the beneficiary, calls for the strongest criticism, and in no way can be justified.

At No. 480 fourth term, 1909, the court of common pleas No. 4 of Allegheny County decided that a city employee who has been discharged contrary to law, and is afterwards reinstated, is entitled to full salary for the period during which he was unjustly deprived of his position. This case has not been reported, but a copy of the opinion can be secured from the secretary of this Association. The decision is in line with the decisions in the state of New York, but takes a somewhat advanced position.

Pittsburgh has been busy cleaning up during the past year, and civil service questions have, of necessity, been given a minor position in the public mind.

The membership of the Association has decreased, but the officers are hopeful that next year will show a very decided change the other way, as the Association is still actively working.

Mr. Ansley Wilcox submitted the report from the Buffalo Civil Service Reform Association:

I did not expect to make a report for the Buffalo Association, because our secretary, Mr. Almy, was here until this morning, when he was called away by serious illness in his family.

In the first place, just a word in regard to the Women's Association in Buffalo, for which I have not been delegated to speak, but I must again record my ap

preciation of its work in aiding the men. They do not call themselves an "auxiliary," they prefer to stand entirely upon their own merit in name as well as fact, and call themselves the Women's Civil Service Reform Association; but they are working with us, and on educational lines they are doing very good work indeed, particularly in spreading literature through our public schools. They are interesting the teachers, and through them the pupils, and occasionally having lectures and treatises on the subject; and once a year their president, Miss Truscott, gives a medal for the best essay from high school pupils. All this is very good work.

As to the general situation in Buffalo, I have already referred to the fact that one important step has been taken in the past year or so, in the way of extending the merit system to a number of high grade positions, particularly in the office of our corporation counsel. The corporation counsel in office up to January 1st thoroughly approved of this and co-operated with us; but the new corporation counsel, Mr. Hammond, strongly objected, and took the matter into court by a mandamus proceeding, seeking to compel the civil service commission to set apart from the civil service classification four legal positions in its office -they are all legal in a sense, but four positions in the office required by law to be filled by lawyers, including two deputies, a managing clerk and a clerk, all of whom must be lawyers and have passed law examinations. He said it was unnecessary for them to pass any further examinations. In addition he sought to exempt three other positions in the office as being confidential-seven or eight in all. His application for a mandamus was opposed by the City Civil Service Commission and by our association. The burden of the fight was upon the city commission, who got a good lawyer, a friend of good government, Mr. Adelbert Moot, to take up the cudgels for them. He rendered very great service, and it is doubtful whether he will ever get any pay for it. He was successful. I represented our association nominally, and went into court with him and assisted somewhat in the oral arguments, but he did the work and should have the credit.

The matter came before Judge Brown, a very good

judge, who denied Hammond's application and sustained the position of the city civil service commission. He delivered a very important opinion, and clearly held that these positions should be left in the competitive class, because there was substantial evidence to show that they could properly be filled by competition, and the city commission had found this to be the fact, although he said that he, Judge Brown, personally did not think so; he disagreed with this conclusion, and if he had been a member of the city commission, would have opposed it. But as a judge he held that it was fairly open to question whether the positions could not be properly filled by competition as the commission had decided, and that it was not in the power of any court to overrule the commission in such a case. This assertion of the power of the commission in cases of this kind, renders this a very important decision, and especially good as coming from a man who did not agree with the conclusion reached. The question was then taken to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, and they dismissed the proceeding, because Mr. Hammond, the corporation counsel, had not joined the state civil service commission in the mandamus proceedings, but had simply brought the proceeding against the city commission, which would not have power to revise the classification without the co-operation of the state commission; but the Appellate Division in their opinion said that they agreed with Judge Brown on the merits of the case, which was very satisfactory. The case was then taken to the Court of Appeals where it was dismissed on the ground of the defect of parties. The Court of Appeals did not pass upon the merits in any way, though they were asked to do so.

This was an important achievement. I should like to repeat here what I have said before that in this matter of the classification of legal positions, we were assisted by the action previously taken by the attorney general of the state, Mr. O'Malley, and also by the two state public service commissions in placing a number of high legal positions in the competitive class. We may presently have a further chance to test the question out, because it is understood that the new attorney general of the state, after January 1st, is going to protest against the classi

fication of his office, and ask to have it reconsidered. If so, it will be time then for our new governor to prove his sincerity as an avowed friend of civil service reform, and the re-organized state commission will have a chance to co-operate.

Our state commission recently has had two Republicans and one Democratic member. One of these Republicans will probably go out, and one Democrat take his place, making a Democratic majority. There will be quite an important series of events following from this change, not only in connection with the Attorney General's office, but in civil service matters in general. I am hoping strongly that Governor Dix will stand fast for the merit system; that he will not weaken the state commission, although he may change its membership, and that he will be able to withstand the hoard of Democratic office seekers who are now urging that the bars be let down.

Let me add a few words in regard to the condition of our Buffalo city civil service commission. We are going through the throes of a re-birth in civil service reform, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that we are trying to throw off the old shell which has been restraining our growth, so that we can grow faster in strength and power. In Buffalo we started our civil service work nearly 30 years ago with a large volunteer commission of fifteen members, who had to do the work of commissioners and clerks and all the work there was. This of course was a bad system, but it was the only system we could adopt to begin with, and we did the best we could with it. We had no appropriation from the city for expenses at the outset, and then after a few years, got a very small one, and finally have got up to about $5,000, which enables our commission to rent some rooms and pay for the services of a secretary and one stenographer and occasional special examiners; but we need at least $15,000 or $20,000 for expenses to enable the work to be done properly. The commissioners have never been paid; they have conducted their own examinations and have largely done their own work which has required them to work evenings and Sundays and holidays in marking examination papers. The number of commissioners was

cut down from fifteen to seven a few years ago. We have repeatedly asked that the number be reduced further to five or to three, and that the commissioners be given some compensation for their work, as well as a more adequate office force, but no attention has been paid to these suggestions until recently.

All the same, the classifications in Buffalo are admirable; the examinations conducted by this method have been highly successful, but a lot of technical work in the office has been very badly done.

The state commission has recently issued a report exposing some of the bad conditions which have resulted from this defective system, and demanding that they be changed. The mayor has expressed himself as in favor of these changes in the main, and sentiment is tending that way. I think it will mean a re-construction of the city commission, cutting it down to five or probably three members, and ultimately paying the commissioners at least something for their work; and the creation of a permanent chief examiner, with suitable provision for occasional assistants, as well as other additions to the office force.

All this now seems to be coming in the near future, and we shall then have, I think, a better working system which will enable Buffalo to maintain its proud position as the Banner City of Civil Service Reform.

Mr. Herbert E. Fleming submitted the report from the Chicago and Illinois Civil Service Reform Associations:

In making our report, I wish to submit to you, briefly, the story of one only of the various activities of our Associations-the one which may be of the most interest to you. It is a story which will, perhaps, fill out the picture suggested by the Chairman of the Council in his report in the general statement about the successful issue of each popular referendum on civil service questions.

Last November the people of Illinois, by a vote of 411,000 to 121,000, advised the next General Assembly to enact comprehensive civil service legislation. Securing this over-whelming majority, pledging candidates for the State Legislature and obtaining unequivocal declara