predecessor of his has left undone, or to undo what others before him have done; to put this man up and that man down, as the system of political rewards and punishments shall seem to him to demand. Instead of the study of great questions of statesmanship, of broad and comprehensive administrative policy, either as it may concern this particular country at home, or the relations of this great nation to the other nations of the earth, he must devote himself to the petty business of weighing in the balance the political considerations that shall determine the claim of this friend or that political supporter to the possession of some office of profit or honor under him.

of the

office.

The office of Chief Magistrate has undergone in practice a The radical change. The President of the Republic created by the perversion Constitution in the beginning, and the Chief Magistrate of to-day, President's are two entirely different public functionaries. There has grown up such a perversion of the duties of that high office, such a prostitution of it to ends unworthy the great idea of its creation, imposing burdens so grievous, and so degrading of all the faculties and functions becoming its occupant, that a change has already come in the character of the government itself, which, if not corrected, will be permanent and disastrous. Thus hampered and beset, the Chief Magistrate of this nation wears out his term and his life in the petty services of party, and in the bestowal of the favors its ascendency commands. He gives daily audience to beggars for place, and sits in judgment upon the party claims of contestants. The Executive Mansion is besieged, if not sacked, and its corri- The nation dors and chambers are crowded each day with the ever-changing, by office but never-ending throng. Every Chief Magistrate, since the evil seckers. has grown to its present proportions, has cried out for deliverance. Physical endurance, even, is taxed beyond its power. More than one President is believed to have lost his life from this cause. The spectacle exhibited of the Chief Magistrate of this great nation, feeding, like a keeper, his flock, the hungry, clamorous, crowding, jostling multitude which daily gathers around the dispenser of patronage, is humiliating to the patriotic citizen interested alone.

humiliated

Congressmen beseiged by placehunters.

The Civil
Service
Commission.

in national progress and grandeur. Each President, whatever may be his political associations, however strong may be his personal characteristics, steps into a current, the force of which is constantly increasing. He can neither stem nor control it, much less direct his own course, as he is buffeted and driven hither and thither by its uncertain and unmanageable forces.

The malign influence of political domination in appointments to office is wide-spread, and reaches out from the President himself to all possible means of approach to the appointing power. It poisons the very air we breathe. No Congressman in accord with the dispenser of power can wholly escape it. It is ever present. When he awakes in the morning it is at his door, and when he retires at night it haunts his chamber. It goes before him, it follows after him, and it meets him on the way. It levies contributions on all the relationships of a Congressman's life, summons kinship and friendship and interest to its aid, and imposes upon him a work which is never finished and from which there is no release. Time is consumed, strength is exhausted, the mind is absorbed, and the vital forces of the legislator, mental, as well as physical, are spent in the never-ending struggle for offices.

84. The Civil Service Act

In order to remove a large number of routine and subordinate offices from the baneful influence of partisanship, Congress passed in 1883 an act authorizing the establishment of a system of examinations testing the fitness of candidates for certain classes of government positions. The clauses showing the general purpose of the act are given here:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President is authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, three persons, not more than two of whom shall be adherents of the same party, as Civil Service Commissioners, and said three Commissioners shall constitute the United States Civil Service Commission. Said Commissioners shall hold no other

official place under the United States. The President may remove any Commissioner; and any vacancy in the position of Commissioner shall be so filled by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, as to conform to said conditions for the first selection of Commissioners. The Commissioners shall each receive a salary of three thousand five hundred dollars a year. And each of said Commissioners shall be paid his necessary traveling expenses incurred in the discharge of his duty as a Commissioner.

SEC. 2. That it shall be the duty of said Commissioners:

of the

Commission.

First. To aid the President, as he may request, in preparing Duties suitable rules for carrying this act into effect, and when said rules shall have been promulgated it shall be the duty of all officers of the United States in the departments and offices to which any such rules may relate to aid, in all proper ways, in carrying said rules, and any modifications thereof, into effect.

Second. And, among other things, said rules shall provide and declare, as nearly as the conditions of good administration will warrant, as follows:

First, for open, competitive examinations for testing the fitness of applicants for the public service now classified or to be classified hereunder. Such examinations shall be practical in their character, and so far as may be shall relate to those matters which will fairly test the relative capacity and fitness of the persons examined to discharge the duties of the service into which they seek to be appointed.

Second, that all the offices, places, and employments so arranged or to be arranged in classes shall be filled by selections according to grade from among those graded highest as the results of such competitive examinations.

Third, appointments to the public service aforesaid in the departments at Washington shall be apportioned among the several States and Territories and the District of Columbia upon the basis of population as ascertained at the last preceding census. Every application for an examination shall contain, among other things,

P

a statement, under oath, setting forth his or her actual bona fide residence at the time of making the application, as well as how long he or she has been a resident of such place.

Fourth, that there shall be a period of probation before any absolute appointment or employment aforesaid.

Fifth, that no person in the public service is for that reason under any obligations to contribute to any political fund, or to render any political service, and that he will not be removed or otherwise prejudiced for refusing to do so.

Sixth, that no person in said service has any right to use his official authority or influence to coerce the political action of any person or body.

Seventh, there shall be noncompetitive examinations in all proper cases before the Commission, when competent persons do not compete, after notice has been given of the existence of the vacancy, under such rules as may be prescribed by the Commissioners as to the manner of giving notice.

Eighth, that notice shall be given in writing by the appointing power to said Commission of the persons selected for appointment or employment from among those who have been examined, of the place of residence of such persons, of the rejection of any such persons after probation, of transfers, resignations, and removals, and of the date thereof, and a record of the same shall be kept by said Commission.

And any necessary exceptions from said eight fundamental provisions of the rules shall be set forth in connection with such rules, and the reasons therefor shall be stated in the annual reports of the Commission.

Third. Said Commission shall, subject to the rules that may be made by the President, make regulations for, and have control of, such examinations, and, through its members or the examiners, it shall supervise and preserve the records of the same; and said Commission shall keep minutes of its own proceedings.

Fourth. Said Commission may make investigations concerning the facts, and may report upon all matters touching the enforce

ment and effects of said rules and regulations, and concerning the action of any examiner or board of examiners hereinafter provided for, and its own subordinates, and those in the public service, in respect to the execution of this act.

Fifth. Said Commission shall make an annual report to the President for transmission to Congress, showing its own action, the rules and regulations and the exceptions thereto in force, the practical effects thereof, and any suggestions it may approve for the more effectual accomplishment of the purposes of this act.

85. President Cleveland and the Place Hunters

Notwithstanding the removal of a large number of offices from the operations of the spoils system, enough political appointments remained to harass the President. Mr. Cleveland shortly after taking office in 1893 issued the following plea for help.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, May 8, 1893.

of endurance reached

It has become apparent after two months' experience that the The limits rules heretofore promulgated regulating interviews with the President have wholly failed in their operation. The time which under these rules was set apart for the reception of Senators and Representatives has been almost entirely spent in listening to applications for office, which have been bewildering in volume, perplexing and exhausting in their iteration, and impossible of remembrance. A due regard for public duty, which must be neglected if present conditions continue, and an observance of the limitations placed upon human endurance oblige me to decline from and after this date all personal interviews with those seeking appointments to office, except as I on my own motion may especially invite them. The same considerations make it impossible for me to receive those who merely desire to pay their respects except on the days and during the hours especially designated for that purpose.

I earnestly request Senators and Representatives to aid me in securing for them uninterrupted interviews by declining to introduce their constituents and friends when visiting the Executive