OF THE NAVY (1897 AND 1898)

From a photograph by Clinedinst, Washington

so intolerable that Secretary Tracy put into effect a system of registration of laborers, almost completely eliminating politics from the laboring force. There had formerly been abuse in the way of employment of labor in the navy yards just before an election, and there was a law prohibiting such employment except in case of urgency. There was, of course, always an urgency. In the Presidential election of 1888, under the old system, there were on September 1st 1,400 employees in the Brooklyn navy yard, November 1st there were 2,500, and by December 1st, the number had shrunk to 1,400. In the next Presidential term the service was classified, registration established, and September 1, 1892, there were 2,200 men employed. November 1st, 150 less were employed. This change was credited to Harrison's term.

When Assistant Secretary Roosevelt took that position in the navy a bill for furniture for the Monitor Terror came to him to pass upon. It was an old bill. The expense had been incurred ten years, and the cost was ten times as much as it should have been, and the work was done at the navy yard. Officials had been reluctant to pass upon this bill. Bureaus cost $400 apiece. Roosevelt refused to pass it; but it was regularly audited in every way, and it had to be passed. Then it was investigated, and the officers did not like to cast reflections upon their predecessors, and their predecessors did not have anything to do with employing the laborers; certain Congressmen were responsible. The Congressmen employed the men, the officers had to accept them, and the cost of bureaus was managed up to $400 apiece. A great lot of voters put in were put to work on furniture. They "could with the least damage to the public service be employed in building furniture," Roosevelt's phrase. He went on to say he had investigated personally the navy yards of New York, League Island, Boston, and Norfolk, and all the officers informed him "That the change for the better had been beyond belief since the navy yard laboring force had been employed without regard to politics;" and in the clerical force the work was done quicker and better. A man had been discharged after being off on an eight-days' spree. The officer said, "Yes, we can get rid of him now. If it were eight years ago he would be back within three days." We quote from Assistant Secretary Roosevelt's memorandum: "For instance, Commodore Erben, the 'man behind the gun' commodore, the author of that speech, the Commandant of the New York Navy Yard, reported in writing that 'the general effect of the system has been to reduce the cost of all work done in the yard during the year about 25 per cent.' It has been a saving of money to the Government of about 25 per cent.

"I have these statements made to me continually. I have usually not kept a record of them. On looking over the letters, I find such a letter as this, for instance, of December 28 last, a month ago, from the pay inspector and

general storekeeper of the Washington yard, Mr. Putnam, recommending certain promotions and saying:

"In the event of the promotions being made as requested above, the vacancy created for a special laborer at $2 per diem need not be filled, as under the system of promotions for merit I am getting a more efficient service.'

"That is just one little instance. We have reduced by one the small force in his office, because when he is allowed to promote men for merit he gets so much more efficient service.

"The Constructor at the navy yard, being asked about his force some little time ago, said he had ten clerks appointed for political reasons, by whose aid he could not quite get his work done, and that if they should ever be turned out and he could have five chosen under the rigid competitive examination system, he would guarantee to get the work done. The ten were turned out and the five appointed, and the work is well done.

"Just recently I had another such case as this, where two vacancies occurred, as under the system of having promotions for merit, they were getting so much better material that there was no need of employing as many men as formerly. We have been introducing the system of promotions for merit, in co-operation with or subordination to the Civil Service Commission, during the last year. It was started toward the end of Secretary Herbert's administration. Secretary Long has promulgated and formulated the rules."

The Assistant Secretary further stated that practically Secretary Tracy classified the laboring force in 1890. Up to that time there had been almost a complete sweep of laborers after each election. The men who were in prominent positions in the labor force almost never survived in their situations a change in the politics of the administration. When Whitney came in they were all turned out, and when Tracy came in they were all turned out. On one occasion in the navy-yard, a Senator and three members of the House, with Roosevelt, spent the better part of two working days "on the earthshaking question, not of armor, not of ships, not of ordnance, but whether or no the commandant had the right to promote a man from a $1,200 to a $1,400 position without consulting the Senators and representatives from that State."

The witness related of the clerks and messengers, who had not been classified under Tracy: "When Secretary Herbert came in, he kept all the labor force, but made an absolutely clean sweep of 'the clerks and messengers' who went out with a jump, and some pretty eerie gentlemen got their places; and now they had been classified. There was no change under the McKinley administration."

The Chairman-"They are still in service.

Assistant Secretary Roosevelt-"They are still in the service-well, not the

eerie gentlemen. They are being weeded out through the semi-annual reports, and their places are being taken by the promotion of men who more often than not were appointed under Secretary Herbert, but appointed through the regular Civil Service examinations. We are weeding out the bad men, but the decent men are kept in.

"Then, there is one point I should like to make. We found the old system in vogue as regards two very small branches of employment. One was the minors under instruction, or apprentices, in the different yards. There were only a few dozen appointed annually. There was not any way that we could appoint them. People say, 'If you did not have the Civil Service examinations the head of the Department could appoint the men to please himself.' I should just like to see that experiment made once to observe the effect of it upon the Senate and the House."

Senator Lodge inquired of Assistant Secretary Roosevelt whether he was still annoyed by Senators and Representatives asking him to make promotions, and the answer was, "It is continually becoming less." When asked when an occurrence took place, Roosevelt said, "I am going to ask you not to request me to give the names." The chairman was satisfied by asking whether an incident given was a recent occurrence. Roosevelt's reply was: "It was a few months ago. They were all first-rate fellows, and I am very fond of them." As to certain persons turned out, Mr. Roosevelt had received a letter asking, "Why have you turned out a worthy man merely because he is a Democrat?" The answer was that the man was not turned out as a Democrat, "but because of the trivial fact that he got drunk." The next letter would probably be to this effect: "An excellent man and a Republican has just been turned out. His leading man has reported against him. But I am creditably informed that that leading man voted for Bryan last year." The case was looked up, and it was ascertained "the worthy Republican slept seven hours inside of a boiler which he was supposed to be mending." And the Assistant Secretary said, as the most glittering of his illustrations "we happened by good luck to strike Jew, Catholic, and Protestants in turning out, and in every instance, people would write to me saying that the men were turned out because they were Jews, or Catholics, or Protestants, as the case might be." As a great principle the Secretary stated, "I have been impressed that it is the men who are least fit who are apt to have the greatest amount of influence brought on their behalf.”

Asked whether in his opinion more weight should be given to the questions that tested practical knowledge, the Assistant Secretary gave the answers to some of the questions, and referred to a scholastic test of certain general questions of United States History, and stated: "We felt that a policeman is an important executive officer, who, to a large percentage of the foreign born population of New York, stands in the place of the constitution