in the same manner as criminal offences and judgment may be given of dismissal from office and such further punishment as may have been prescribed by law." 1

A sixth method recall on petition of 25 per cent. of the voters was authorized by a constitutional amendment adopted in Oregon in 1908.

The State Civil Service

Very early in our history, state offices, like the offices at Washington, fell under the sway of the spoils system. It became the common practice for any party, on defeating its rival, to oust from the state offices even all the employees whose duties were purely clerical. An official investigation in New York into the methods of appointment and removal prevailing in 1884 led to the conclusion that political considerations controlled almost exclusively all appointments; that the partisan service of the appointee, either past or expectant, was the reason for his appointment; that the public welfare was only a nominal factor in selecting employees; that the most meritorious persons were deterred from entering public service; that the character of the service was lowered by the patronage system; that the public officers having the power to make appointments were burdened and embarrassed by the pressure upon them for spoils; and that public officers imperilled their positions by any independent or non-partisan action.

New York led the way in civil service reform by passing, in 1883, a civil service law providing for a commission authorized to coöperate with the governor in preparing rules, classifying the state civil service, and conducting the examinations for the positions to be filled by competition. Other states were slow to follow the example of New York, even in a tentative way. At the present time Massachusetts and Wisconsin are the only commonwealths besides New York that have adopted the merit system on a large scale for state and local officers. In 1907 the civil service reformers were only able to report that the merit system had made the following principal gains: 3 in New York,

'The constitutions of many states vest in the legislatures the power of providing the methods by which inferior officers may be removed. "This commission made the investigation mentioned above. 3 For municipal civil service, below, p. 597.

Massachusetts, and Wisconsin for the state service; in Illinois for the state charitable institutions; in Indiana for certain public institutions, such as the hospitals for the insane; and in Colorado and some other commonwealths for certain state institutions.1

The state civil service laws follow, in general, the model of the national law. They provide for the division of public offices into two groups: the classified and the unclassified. The unclassified service includes all offices filled by election or by the legislature or by the governor and senate, and certain other specified offices. The classified service comprises all other positions, which are subdivided into three groups: the competitive, the non-competitive, and the exempt. The competitive group includes such officers as clerks, copyists, stenographers, cashiers, civil engineers, bank examiners, expert accountants, and the like. The offices in this group are filled by examinations or promotions and transfers.

The civil service laws require all examinations to be practical in their character and to relate to such matters as will fairly test the relative capacity and fitness of persons examined to discharge the duties of the service which they seek to enter. For the various places requiring technical skill, such as the positions of factory inspector, health officer, civil engineer, chemist, and expert accountants, -special examinations in the respective branches are given; and in no case is reliance placed solely on book knowledge. The persons who are successful in the examinations are grouped according to the services which they seek to enter and arranged in the order of their respective grades. Whenever a vacancy occurs, the appointing officer must choose from the three names highest on the roll of candidates for the particular service.

The non-competitive class includes those minor employees whom it is impracticable to include in the competitive class, such as bakers, carpenters, stone-cutters, and picture-framers. Appointments to the non-competitive class are made after noncompetitive examinations conducted according to rules.

In the exempt class are the deputies of the principal executive officers, the chief clerks, and skilled and unskilled laborers not included in the other classes.

1 Twenty-fourth Report of the United States Civil Service Commission, pp. 163 ff.

The civil service laws, as a rule, provide, furthermore, that removal must not be made for political reasons, but only for incompetence or insubordination. In case of removal, the employee affected usually has the right to be heard in his own behalf.

In the state of New York, the administration of the civil service law is in the hands of a state commission composed of three members, not more than two of whom may be adherents to the same political party, appointed by the governor and the senate. In conjunction with the governor, this commission has devised rules governing the civil service and planned examinations for the different branches of the service. It is the duty of the commission to prescribe and enforce rules for carrying the civil service act into effect, to keep records of its proceedings, make investigations, and report on the state of the civil service and the conduct of officials under the law, and to compel the attendance of witnesses whenever required for an investigation.1

In spite of the desirability of getting rid of the partisan control in filling public offices, there is no doubt that there are some grave objections to the present civil service methods. As Governor Black of New York pointed out, in his message of 1897, experience, character, tact, and even muscle may be of more importance in some cases than a fraction of a per cent in an examination in geography, and, therefore, the discretion of the appointing power should not be entirely subordinated to the merit system. An attempt, however, to carry this idea into effect by a law providing that no more than fifty per cent should be given to merit, and that the remainder of the rate (representing "fitness") should be given by the appointing officer or some persons designated by him- that is, an attempt to make room for experience, character, tact, and even muscle" - led to a disorganization of the civil service and the introduction of the old partisan methods; and it was shortly abandoned on the urgent recommendation of Governor Roosevelt.

The requirement that removal can be made only on definite charges, which the removing officer must substantiate, undoubtedly results in keeping in the public service a large number of incompetent and inefficient employees who would not be

1 In its twenty-fourth Report for the year 1907, pp. 72-75, the commission showed that in the state service there were 9509 employees, of whom 851 were unclassified, 626 exempt, 3092 competitive, and 4940 non-competitive.

retained in similar private employment for a single day. If, however, removals can be made wholesale, the result is the reintroduction of the spoils system, which would bring into the civil service very probably just as many inefficient and incompetent employees.

Another objection to the civil service system is the rule which requires the heads of the different branches of administration to select even important subordinates from the list of persons examined. It is often urged that where a place is somewhat confidential in character or involves fiduciary responsibility, the appointing officer should be allowed to choose some one in whom he has confidence as a result of personal knowledge. Heads of departments, therefore, are generally bringing great pressure to bear upon the civil service commission to secure the exemption of large numbers of employees from the operation of the merit system.

On this point the New York civil service commission observed, in 1906, that the practicability of filling positions of trust and responsibility through competition had been fully demonstrated. While appointing officers feel embarrassment at times in the limitations imposed by the law upon their freedom of choice, they recognize that the results are in the main beneficial, and that the conditions with these restrictions wholly removed would be anything but helpful to the public service.

An inquiry addressed by the president of the New York commission to the several state and county officers as to their experience with appointees selected from the eligible lists "brought frank and interesting replies. None advocate the rescinding of the law or returning to the spoils system; a few criticise the law or its administration, or point out specific instances where competition has failed. Others make suggestions for the improvement of methods, but the great majority bear testimony to the efficiency of the law and to the wholesome effect upon the public service of the enforcement of the rule of competition."' Within recent years the civil service commission of New York has endeavored to improve the public administration in several ways. In 1906, it held a conference of the civil service commissioners of the various localities of the state for the purpose

'Report of the New York Civil Service Commission (1906), p. 10.

of

cultivating an esprit de corps among the officials, promoting a higher degree of efficiency in the administration of the law, and energizing all branches of the civil administration in the state. Delegates from twenty-nine different municipalities and representatives of the national Civil Service Commission, a civil service reform society, and two organizations of civil service employees were present;1 and all manner of concrete problems relating to their particular duties were frankly discussed by experts of large experience. Another plan for improving the state of public service was adopted by the New York commission, in 1905, when it began the practice of making periodical examinations into the work of municipal civil service commissions throughout the commonwealth. These investigations have not only exposed serious abuses but have stimulated local commissions to an improvement of their methods.

The relation of the organizations of civil service employees to the public presents some very complex problems.