been, some attempts at Washington to apply this method under the new system by soliciting promises that if a particular applicant shall be Tupon a certification, he or she will be selected from the four names it must contain. There are plain reasons why this kind of solicitation can avail little, even if the appointing officers should not do their duty of resenting ito ni zotoqze konis at (15# Laiv9994

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First. The class of persons who are most ready to seek and who most need such a prostitution of official authority to gain a place are generally those least likely to succeed in an open, manly comparison of capacity and character, in a competitive examination,,ift go brotagssa I, Second. An applicant cannot know to which of the eight Departments he or she will be certified. If such a promise should be made by one Department, the chances are seven to one that the certification will be made to another.

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- Third. Even if a promise had been made at every Department, if the members of Congress or other "influences" invoked were ready to urge its fulfillment, and if, when the plan was ripened the applicant's State was one from which a certification must next be made, even then the chances would be against the success of the scheme, since a person graded higher might go upon the register of that State just after the scheme ripened and before the certification; or the request for the certification might be for one of the other sex, or for a person who had passed a different grade of examination, or for one who could speak a particular language, or for a type-writer, stenographer, or draftsman, or for one who had passed any of the five different special examinations.The selection, from whichever of these various classes of appli'cants made, would be charged to the State, and thus throw it back in the order of claim for a certification.

When the uselessness of all such attempts to forestall selections for appointment shall be well understood they will hardly be thought worth the trouble and vexation which they cause. What is certain in the matter is this: That the just claim of every one for an appointment ac "cording to the record of merit which each has made for himself or herself in the application and the examination papers will be alone regarded, and will secure a place as soon as there is any right to claim it, and that each State will, as heretofore, have its due proportion of appointments in due season.

There is no more need of "influence" or of the intervention of third persons for securing the rights of those upon the register than there is for securing an examination, and such intervention is as unjustifiable and unavailing in one case as in the other. The Commission is in duty bound to treat the claims of all persons and of every State with exact Justice and impartiality, irrespective alike of political opinions, of party interests, of influence however formidable, and of solicitation and appeals to favor however pathetically urged. As it is of public interest that

it should be known whether this duty has really been performed, a report of a committee of Congress on the subject is given in the note. *

Tables No. 4 and 5, in the Appendix, show the apportionment of appointments thus far made. The small excess secured by the District of Columbia was inevitable, in the first stage of a new system, mainly by reason of the need of securing well-trained experts in certain offices.

WAITING FOR APPOINTMENTS.

The very fact that the Government seeks and takes first the most competent on the registers implies that the least competent will be last taken, and hence will have the longest to wait, if, indeed, they are taken at all. Every applicant, by the merit or demerit of his answers, makes his own standing on the register, which may be anywhere between 65

*

A committee, consisting of eight Democrats and five Republicans, made a unanimous report to the House of Representatives on the 7th of June last, from which the following are extracts:

"The Select Committee on Reform in the Civil Service, to whom was referred the bills (H. R. 3205 and H. R. 3509) to repeal an act to regulate and improve the civil service in the United States,' beg leave to submit the following report :

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"The committee have diligently investigated into the workings of the Commission appointed to execute the law passed by the Forty-seventh Congress to regulate and improve the civil service of the United States,' and heartily commend it for its intelligent and efficient administration of this important branch of executive power. "The legislation of the Forty-seventh Congress to regulate and improve the civil service of the United States,' was a step in the right direction, securing as it does to the Government, by the application of judicious tests in the examinations provided by the Civil Service Commission organized under it, the opportunity to obtain for the various subordinate positions to be filled the very best intelligence and capacity the country affords, without regard to the party affiliations of the accepted applicant, establishing a high standard of responsibility, both in determining the qualification of the official and in the character of the work guaranteed by the mode of selection while employed in the public service. The standards of examination have been rated high enough to command good service from any applicant holding the certificate of the Commission. And the practice under the system established in every instanceto the present time-has enabled the Government to secure the highest ability as the best fruits of their examinations.

"Since the organization of the Civil Service Commission great good has been accomplished in many directions and a better feeling pervades the dominant public sentiment upon the subject of reform in the civil service, inspiring the hope that at no distant day the benefits of similar laws may extend throughout the several States, and by a harmony and homogeneousness of sentiment and action much of that which now contributes to the bitterness of political contests and the scandal of our free institutions shall be forever eliminated and destroyed, State and National.

"Your committee, entirely satisfied with the thorough, conscientious, and non-partisan work of the Civil Service Commission, are justified in the belief that its continuance, to a large degree, will aid in eradicating the prevalent evils of the civil service of the Government, remove just complaints, and restore public confidence in the work performed by these subordinate officials, and can see no wisdom in the proposed repeal of the law. Your committee unanimously recommend an adverse report upon bills 3205 and 3509 to repeal an act to regulate and improve the civil service of the United States,' approved January 16, 1883, and that they do lie upon the table."

per cent. of complete proficiency, the lowest grade for going on a register and consequently for getting an appointment, and 100, which is the highest grade attainable. It is plain that a certification for appointment will be relatively early or late for each competitor according as his or her marking is near 100 or near 65. The Commission has no discretion in that regard. As the competition for the departmental service is practically between applicants from the same State, obviously the greater the numbers who compete in any State the smaller the chances for an appointment.

It will require more experience under the new system before all those who have little or no chance of success will cease to try the examinations, or the whole number who apply will be duly proportioned to the chances of an appointment; but experience, in countries where the system has been long tried, has shown that this adjustment is sure to be made. The law which tends to adjust supply to demand in due time prevails everywhere.

PROBATION.

We have considered two of the three tests of merit for which the rules make provision: First. The application paper in which it must be shown by statements under oath that the applicant possesses several of the essential qualities for entering the public service, and in which his vouchers must set forth their knowledge that he is a person of good character, habits, and reputation. Second. The examination in which his information and the quickness and accuracy of his mind are made to appear. But there is a third test for ascertaining whether the applicant has good business capacity. That test is a probationary service of six months before an absolute appointment. If at its termination the appointing officer is not so well satisfied as to be willing to make an unconditional appointment, the probationer is absolutely out of the service without any action on the part of the Government. If it should clearly appear during the probationary period that he is seriously lacking in business capacity or fidelity, he may be at once removed; but after passing the examination he is to be presumed worthy of a six months' trial until the contrary shall be decisively proved.

This practical test in actually doing the public work is not only an integral part of the merit system, but originated with it. If these facts were generally understood, they would doubtless be regarded as a full answer to the oft-repeated criticism of that system to the effect that mere information is not proof of business capacity.

Experience, however, has shown, not only under the merit system, but generally in business life, that the best informed are the most successful men of business of every grade. As a rule the best-informed boy in the class has been the most faithful and industrious, and is more likely to succeed in business than the stupid or ignorant. The best-informed mechanic is generally the most trustworthy and success

ful. If it were not so-if, on the other hand, uninstructed men were just as useful to the community-there would seem to be little to say in defense of universal taxation imposed for educating all the children in the very subjects which the civil service examinations cover. The experience of the Commission has shown how great is the majority of those having passed the examination who have proved themselves to be persons of good business capacity. In the departmental service, for example, 109 persons appointed under the rules have served their probationary term. In all of these cases except 2 the appointees have been given a permanent appointment. The significance of this is all the greater in view of the fact that perhaps one-half of those appointed were not adherents of the party controlling the administration, and that very few, if any of them, were protégés of persons of influence who have helped to keep them in their places. The results, indeed, go far toward showing that a probationary term is not essential, though unquestionably useful.

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WOMEN IN THE SERVICE.

The civil service law makes no distinction on account of sex. The examinations under it are open alike to men and women, and if, in, the long run, any inequality shall be found in the numbers appointed to the service, such inequality will arise from the needs and conditions of the service itself, and not from any provisions of the civil service rules or any restrictive action of the Commission. •B*Pq9=

It is now generally recognized that women can successfully perform the duties of many of the subordinate places under the Government. In many cases they have shown eminent fitness for the places they have held and high qualities in their work. There is simple justice in allowing them to compete for the public service, and to receive appointments when, in fair competition, they have shown superior merit.

But the determination of the question whether a woman or a man shall be selected to fill any given vacancy must be left, under the law' as it existed before the civil service act, to the appointing officer, who alone knows the conditions and who is responsible for the successful administration of his office. The Commission can do no more than send the names of the sex asked for. It would be inexcusable to continue to invite to examinations hundreds beyond the needs of the service, and thus to hold out to them hopes that cannot be realized. For example, the appointments which would fall to the female applicants of the State of Maryland within the next six months, supposing the appointments to continue to be made at the rate of the past year and to be equally divided between the sexes, would be only two; but the number of women from, that State who have passed the examinations and now stand on the register of eligibles is 39, or more than 19 times the number of those who can hope for appointment, even if as many women were appointed as men, whereas the female appointees thus far have been less than one-sixth of the number of males.

In November last, the Commission, finding that the registers of some of the States were becoming crowded with a much larger number of eligibles than can hope to be appointed before their names will be dropped, adopted, with the concurrence of the President, the following resolution:

"Resolved. That in order to avoid the examination of numbers of applicants greatly in excess of the needs of the service, and the imposition of useless labor on the boards of examiners, whenever there shall be on the register of any State or Territory more persons of either sex, of any grade or class, than are likely to be required for certification during the next six months, no more applicants of that sex and grade or class will be examined for that State or Territory till such excess has ceased, unless otherwise ordered by the Commission." 702

Under this resolution the Commission has deferred for the present the holding of examinations of both men and women in several of the States in which the eligibles are already largely in excess of the numbers needed for appointment within the next six months.

"

Every provision of law favorable to those who have rendered honorable service in the Army or Navy of the United States is preserved in the civil service act and the rules; and in the latter (see Rule XI) these patriotic privileges have been in the matter of age and otherwise somewhat extended. Every person honorably discharged from such service by reason of disability incurred in the line of duty, if he shall exhibit the measure of capacity found to be essential in the civil service, is allowed a preference in certification for appointment.

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RESIDENCE.

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"In the application paper the residence of all applicants must be stated under oath. The question whether legal or mere temporary residence is intended arises under this law as well as under so many others, but but the Commission assume that legal residence is meant by the If mere present residence should be treated as the intention of the act, an applicant might fix such residence in any State to which he may go perhaps for the very purpose.

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"The custom of officers of the Government retaining for years a legal residence in the States from which they came leads others not in Government employ to suppose that they too may continue to claim a legal residence in the States in which they or their parents formerly lived, though they may long since have established permanent homes here.

It is natural that at the seat of Government a large excess of applicants for the public service shall be found. Under the old system the District of Columbia supplied numbers of clerks greatly disproportioned to its population. The requirement by Congress that new appoint