sale return to the spoils system. In California, as the result of a referendum in 1934, the existing State civil-service provisions, formerly only statutory, were included in the State constitution. These organizations are constantly trying to extend civil service, and as a result of their activities movements are now under way in a number of States to substitute modern systems of personnel management in which the principles of civi. service are incorporated in place of the spoils system.

The active interest of numerous civic organizations is one of the most hopeful signs of substantial progress in the direction of the extension of the merit system. The National League of Women Voters is engaged in waging an active and effective campaign in favor of the merit principle in the National, State, and local governments, and the National Civil Service Reform League, which has long been active in this field, is renewing and extending its activities. The National Civil Service Reform League now has field secretaries in various States to assist in reorganizing and giving new life to already existing State and local merit-system associations which had become quiescent. It is preparing data for dissemination to the public and supplying speakers to civic forums and other nonpolitical meetings. In those States where no civil-service law has been adopted the National League assists in the drafting of suitable legislation.

In this connection it is gratifying to call attention to several specific instances pointing toward extension of civil-service principles in the States.

In Kentucky the Governor signed a law effective July 1, 1936, creating in the department of finance à division of personnel efficiency. State employees are now selected after competitive examinations held by the division, a comprehensive classification and salary standardization plan is to be adopted, and employment standards are to be set up.

For about a year an official commission has been at work in Michigan, appointed by the Governor, for the purpose of drafting a comprehensive State law. This draft has been substantially completed and will be presented to the next session of the Michigan Legislature. A strong movement is pushing forward toward a State civil-service law in Indiana, principally under the impulse of the National League of Women Voters. The new public-welfare and unemploymentcompensation-insurance acts provide for the selection of personnel on the basis of examinations. Another movement is under way in Minnesota, in which a number of groups are cooperating with good prospects of success.

In Washington the State Civil Service League, after several successive legislatures have failed to pass a State civil-service bill, is taking steps to obtain by initiative petition a law based on the

National Civil Service Reform League's draft, to be placed on the ballot next November.

In Virginia the legislature recently appropriated $17,000 for a personnel study of the State, preliminary to the possible adoption of a State civil-service law.

In Oklahoma the Governor is urging the passage of a State civilservice law. At the beginning of his administration he complained that his days and nights were broken into by job-hunters, and that he had to use the freight elevator in the capitol to escape the hordes of patronage seekers waiting in the corridors.

In New Hampshire appointments to clerical and field-representative positions under the State unemployment-compensation division of the bureau of labor were filled from eligible lists resulting from a competitive examination system which was set up last January.

In Connecticut the Governor has appointed a survey commission which is studying departmental reorganization. This commission is giving consideration to the advisability of a civil-service law.

A group in North Dakota, aided by the National Civil Service Reform League, which furnished drafts of model civil-service laws, is preparing to have a State civil-service law submitted at the next session of the legislature.

The influence of the United States Department of Labor and of the United States Employment Service is steadily in the direction of higher standards for cooperating State labor agencies. The United States Employment Service has a considerable number of agreements with cooperating States applying the merit principle to State employment agencies. This marks a new and significant development in the field of State labor agencies. The influence of the Social Security Board upon cooperating State agencies is limited to a considerable degree by terms of the Social Security Act with reference to the personnel of State agencies, but within the limits of the act it is to be expected that the influence of the Social Security Board will be in the direction of the application of the merit principle.

Among the organizations which have been particularly active in safeguarding and promoting civil service in the States during the past year should be included the National Civil Service Reform League, the Civil Service Assembly, the National League of Women Voters, the National Consumers' League, the National Federation of Women's Clubs, the Commission of Inquiry on Public Service Personnel, and numerous organizations of civil-service employees such as the National Federation of Government Employees and the Association of State Civil Service Employees of the State of New York. The Consumers' League of Ohio, aided by the Consumers' League of Cincinnati and Toledo, was especially active in combating and publicizing the

attempts of certain groups in Ohio to undermine the civil-service system in that State.

Besides the extension of the merit system to those States which have not as yet adopted civil-service regulations, those interested in civil-service principles should look toward the strengthening and improving of civil-service laws, regulations, and administration in those States which already have the merit system. In some States which have the merit system no provision is made for the sound classification of titles, positions, and salaries, resulting in inequalities among the civil-service personnel. In other States the civil-service regulations allow for numerous loopholes which tend to weaken the merit principle. There is the problem of maintaining morale and efficiency among civil-service workers and of the prompt and proper rewarding of able and efficient workers. All this is connected with the setting up and application of merit rating and correct compensation-classification systems.

In Canada, six of the nine Provinces have civil-service commissioners through whom appointments are made. These Provinces are as follows: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. Three Provinces-namely, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island-have no civil-service commissions. For an admirably careful report on Dominion civil service, with constructive suggestions for improvement, reference is made to an article. in the Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, published in Toronto, August 1936, by R. MacGregor Dawson, professor of political science in the University of Saskatchewan. The criticism of Canadian civil service and the suggestions for betterment in this article are worthy of careful consideration by all members of this association.

The civil-service committee of the association submits the following recommendations for your consideration.

1. That the International Association of Governmental Labor Officials cooperate with the Civil Service Assembly, the National Civil Service Reform League, the National League of Women Voters, the National Consumers' League and with such professional organizations as the American Prison Association, the American Association of Social Workers, the American Engineering Council, and the American Forestry Association, and with the various associations of civilservice employees in their efforts to safeguard, improve, and extend the merit system in State and Federal agencies. Cooperation with similar organizations in Canada should be sought.

2. That this association work for the establishment of sound merit rating and compensation-classification systems for public employees. 3. That the labor bureaus in the various States cooperate with colleges and universities in establishing training courses for public service.

Discussion

Mr. PATTON (New York). This report thoroughly conforms to the resolution regarding civil service which was adopted at the Asheville convention last year, but it does not go to the heart of the problem.

Chairman FLETCHER. The question is now open for discussion. On our program we have Commissioner Frank E. Wenig, of the Department of Labor of Iowa.

Mr. WENIG. In Iowa we have no civil-service law. Our mode of control, which operates under the secretary of state, is on a merit system set up with the cooperation of officials in Washington. Prior to 1932 we had a 40-year reign of the Republican Party in Iowa. In the past 4 years, since the Democrats have been in power, we have had considerable agitation by the Republicans for a civil-service law, but this one has worked out very satisfactorily so far as the people of our department and the wage earners of Iowa are concerned.

The officials of certain departments of State government have only an indirect interest in the people of such States. The treasurer is concerned with monetary problems as monetary problems, and the recording of them. The same is true of the comptroller and the State auditor. The secretary of state is concerned with official acts of the State as an entity. The attorney general is interested in prosecution of law violators and in the interpretation of laws upon which courts have reached no decision. The commissions or bureaus having supervision over railroads, agriculture, State institutions, liquor control, highways, banking, fire control, medical and dental examining, and similar work likewise have only indirect contact with the people of the State as a whole.

On the other hand, certain other commissions, departments, and bureaus such as the board of education, the department or commission of public health, and the labor department all have a contact, and a direct one, with the people. The work is peculiarly general, and it concerns a dealing with the nonpolitical body-the people of the State as a whole.

In these departments of education, labor, and health, the work of the departments is a continuing work, the experience of which is cumulative from year to year.

With reference to labor departments alone, their functions with respect to collection of wage claims, gathering of accident statistics, food-cost data, and enforcement of boiler, safety, inspection, and workshop laws, together with the operation of the public employment service, are so complicated that a change of officials once each 2 or 4 years is conducive to lost motion and a waste of time and efficiency. When a State makes all the positions within a department subject to the wheel of political fortune, the break in continuity in operation, both as to enforcement of laws and collection of information, is so

frequent that the welfare of the workers of the State is apt to suffer, and the gathering of vital information about accident and safety control tends to become so inadequate that no information is available upon which to predicate legislation for the continued betterment of labor, safety, and health conditions within a State. The matters of public health, public education, and betterment of working conditions are so vital to the advancement of the health, safety, and well-being of the public that they should be handled by an organization trained for the job, selected by the civil service, and sufficiently intelligent to keep pace with the progress of the department.

In addition to the regular labor-department functions I have just described, most of the departments or labor commissions have been vested with authority to supervise or accept responsibility for State employment agencies affiliated with the United States Employment Service under the Wagner-Peyser Act.

It is peculiarly necessary in the operation of these State employment offices that they do not become the machinery to foster, encourage, or accomplish political aims and designs. They are established to find jobs for all the unemployed-the men, the women, the juniors of employable age, and the veterans and farm hands. Were these agencies to become involved in the placing of particular workers or wards of politicians, they would soon become discriminatory, bureaucratic, and unfair, and would resolve into the tools of politicians. These employment offices can exist only so long as they serve all of the people fairly, impartially, and without regard to race, affiliation, color, or influence of the applicant.

I believe I can speak for all the States when I say that the staff members of an employment service cannot be released and a new group of workers installed without a great loss of efficiency. In the first place, these State employment agencies must have the cooperation of employers before they will be used by employers. In the second place, the recording of interviews with unemployed applicants is a technical undertaking. The employees in employment offices must build up good public relations with employers over a long period of time. They must understand what the work requirements of the employer are. They must know what kind of machinery he has in his mill, mine, shop, or factory and what kind of men he needs to do his work. They must understand the perils in these occupations, so that careful selections can be made of workers who can bear up under the conditions of employment. These interviewers and workers in the employment office must know the men they have interviewed; where these applicants have worked; and the kind of experience they have had; and must be able to pick out the proper applicant for each job. These interviewers must know about the reporting of statistics, the codification of occupations, and the rules and regulations of the public. employment service with reference to the treatment to be accorded