itself of its own half, not infrequently succeeds in getting a part of the other as well. You will feel the difficulty under which we labor. In the struggle for reform before your legislatures and city councils, you are dealing upon terms of equality. They are your legislatures and your councils. But we are dealing upon terms of inequality. Civil service reform can never be achieved by the people of the District of Columbia fighting alone. It can be achieved only when they are supported by the country at large. Without your cooperation the local Association is practically powerless, and my excuse for trespassing upon your time is to urge upon you the necessity of bringing to bear upon the members of the national legislature the pressure of a general demand for this reform-not a demand on the part of the citizens of the District of Columbia only, but a demand on the part of the constituencies which those members really represent. SECOND SESSION. AT NEW WILLARD HOTEL, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 8. T 8.15 P. M. the League reconvened at the New Willard Hotel, the President, Dr. Gilman in the chair. Hon. Charles J. Bonaparte, Chairman of the Council read the Annual Report of the Council. 1 Dr. Daniel C. Gilman, President of the League, then delivered an address.2 In the absence of the Hon. Carl Schurz, owing to illness, his address on "The Present State of Civil Service Reform" was read by Elliot H. Goodwin. The Hon. William Dudley Foulke of Indiana, then addressed the meeting. Printed in full 1 2 3 at page 50; at page 75; at page 84. THIRD SESSION. THE NEW WILLARD HOTEL, FRIDAY MORning, December 9. "HE League reconvened at 10 A. M. in the New Willard Hotel, Dr. Gilman presiding. The reading of the reports of the Civil Service Reform Associations composing the League was continued, as follows: Mr. George Burnham, Jr., for the Pennsylvania Association: The past year has been an unusually active one for the Pennsylvania Association. At the time of the last annual meeting of the League, the United States Civil Service Commission was investigating charges framed by the Pennsylvania Association that the Postmaster at Philadelphia, in making assignments of routes, etc., was discriminating among the letter carriers for political reasons. The evidence secured by the examination of witnesses seemed to clearly establish the facts alleged by the Association. The Commission presented a report of the case to the President, who ordered that the carriers who had been discriminated against should be immediately restored to their former routes and impressed vigorously upon the Postmaster the importance of observing the civil service law. During the past summer the Association filed further charges against the Philadelphia Postmaster to the effect that in making appointments from the eligible registers he was choosing only those men who had secured the endorsement of certain ward or division leaders who claimed to be the representatives of the Republican organization. The facts of this case were presented to the President by the Commission, who ordered that all those carriers whose names had been rejected for political reasons should be restored to the eligible register. The President also severely reprimanded the Postmaster for again violating the civil service law and made it clear that in the future political considerations or endorsements were not to be recognized in making appointments to the Post Office. In October the Association received a complaint that one Jacob G. Bunn, a finance clerk in the Philadelphia Post Office, had been concerned in levying a political assessment upon federal employees who resided in the twenty-eighth ward in the city of Philadelphia. Formal charges were preferred against him and, after an extensive investigation by Commissioner Cooley, during which Bunn himself admitted that he had received money from federal employees for political purposes, the case was referred to the President by the Civil Service Commission. The President ordered the immediate dismissal of Mr. Bunn. This vigorous action of the President, which is especially to be commended, has done much to establish the belief in Philadelphia that federal employees, at least, cannot be compelled to pay contributions for political pupposes. In several cases the Association has been successful in limiting the political activity of federal office-holders, although in this matter the results have been far from satisfactory. As is well known, there is no State civil service law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Association has prepared a draft of a civil service act applicable to the State and its municipalities which will be presented to the next Legislature. A vigorous campaign in behalf of this bill will be undertaken if the necessary funds can be secured. In the city of Philadelphia and in the cities of Pittsburg, Scranton and Allegheny local civil service laws are already in existence, but they are so badly framed that it is impossible to secure their adequate enforcement. In Philadelphia, as the result of continued correspondence with the Mayor, the Association has been able to secure a certain amount of publicity with regard to the examinations. It is proposed by the Association during the coming winter to make an especial effort to interest commer cial organizations in the question of civil service reform. As a result of recent meetings the Boards of Trade of Scranton and Reading have already passed strong resolutions commending the merit system and urging the passage of a State civil service act. The Board of Directors of the Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce has taken similar action. Meetings at various colleges are also being arranged in order to impress upon the young men and women of the State the importance of civil service reform as a step towards improving the present political conditions. The membership of the Association is being steadily increased. A decided improvement in the interest of the public in the matter of civil service reform can be noted in Pennsylvania. The Association hopes to be able to report even more substantial progress at the next meeting of the League. Mr. Elliot H Goodwin, for the New York Association: The year past has been one of great activity for the New York Association. It can report not only an increase in the number of its members, but also a stronger influence on public opinion and greater facilities for carrying out the purposes for which it exists. Those to whom the administration of the law has been intrusted have been sometimes favorable, but generally indifferent and not infrequently hostile to to the merit system, but comparing conditions as they existed in the public service twenty years ago with those existing to-day, no one can fail to recognize the vast improvement. The Association therefore feels that it has reason to be gratified at the success of its efforts, and backed by a strong and increasing public sentiment in favor of the merit system, founded to a large degree on the results already accomplished, looks forward to still greater activity and a larger sphere of influence and usefulness. There has been no marked change in the administration of the law in the State Service or the policy of the State Commmission. The real abuse now existing in this service is the unwarrantable number of positions exempted from competitive examination and the use of these positions for purposes of political patronage. The result is demoralizing upon the entire classified service, and as persons holding high competitive positions can not but fear that attempts will be made to induce the State Commission to exempt their positions, they find it necessary to curry favor with influential politicians or to neglect their official duties for political work. Until the number of exempt positions is radically reduced and the Commission is willing to forego the exercise of its discretion in individual cases and act upon set rules when requests for exemptions are made, the civil service law can not fully accomplish the results for which it was established, nor can the system command the confidence from the candidates for positions and the public generally which is essential to its successful working. During the past year every bill introduced in the State legislature was examined at the office of the Association and in all cases of bills which were considered to be dangerous to the merit system, briefs were filed with appropriate committees, or hearings requested. The results of this work were most gratifying. With a very few, relatively unimportant, exceptions all the bills opposed by the Association either failed to pass the legislature or were vetoed by the Mayor or the Governor. Mayor McClellan is particularly to be commended for his vetoes on several bills which, had they become laws, would have seriously affected the service. By far the most interesting and most important events occurring during the past year which the New York Association has to report to the League are the changes in the conditions and the outlook in regard to the merit system in New York City. Judging by experience, the Association had good reason to dread the effect upon the administration of the civil service law of the coming into power of a Tammany administration. Its fears were not allayed when it learned of the Civil Service Commission which Mayor McClellan had appointed. It was composed of four Democrats and two Republicans, no one |