been good as far as can be judged from their present relative numbers and subordinate positions.

"All have been faithful and diligent, as is shown by the fact of the retention of all of them after the probationary term of six months." Referring to the general effect of the new system, he says: "No material change, the appointments under the civil service act not having yet been in sufficient numbers or sufficiently high grades to immediately impress the service."

He says a rule in regard to assessments similar to the civil service act, had been enforced at his office before its passage, and hence the effect of the law has been small.

"I have no dissatisfaction to express with the effects of the new system. On the contrary, I think the general tendency would be to improve the service, not so much in character and capacity perhaps as in more orderly and business-like habits, which security of tenure will encourage. But this effect will be slowly brought about."

He says persons filling the higher places in his office have been there many years. "In time the appointees under the rules as they are promoted to fill intermediate and higher grades will make their impression, and the results of competitive examinations in securing a better average of original material, and a more general knowledge of business methods in the several stages of promotion, will increase the average efficiency of the whole service."

2. THE APPRAISER says he has never been annoyed by solicitation and pressure for office, because "this department has been practically con. ducted upon a civil service basis." There has been but one appointment made to his office under the rules. For this place he says he got a very good man. He made a special examination of those certified as to their fitness before making the selection from them.

The general effect of the new system in his office has not been visible. He says no man there was ever required to contribute a cent for any political purpose, but more or less political pressure was exerted. He thinks his subordinates have not contributed so liberally since the passage of the civil service act.

"Any opinion I might express," he says, "of the general effects of the civil service act would be of little value."

3. THE SURVEYOR says, on coming to his office, he instituted an examination of the night inspectors with very good results.

He says ten persons have been appointed in his office under the civil service act, all of whom have proven to be efficient officers.

"From my personal experience I have no hesitation in saying that I consider the act of January 16, 1883, a most excellent one, not only in that it relieves heads of departments from the importunities of political managers, and that it allows the question of what is proper political opinion to be one of individual conviction, but that it has removed the dread that political contributions must be paid at the risk of official dis

pleasure-in fact, many abuses by its operation are happily things of the past.

"The most beneficial result has been to impress on subordinates that moral conduct and efficient service are the present requirements, and that their tenure of office and future promotion depends on individual merit and not on the political fortune of their friends."

PORTLAND. THE COLLECTOR says that inasmuch as he entered his office after the civil service act went into effect, he cannot speak comparatively. "I am credibly informed, however, that my predecessors were subject to more solicitation and pressure for office than I have been, and I have no doubt that the law referred to has much to do with the change in this particular.

"The character and capacity of those appointed under the rules have been entirely satisfactory.

"I know of no officer on the force in this district who is not faithful and diligent in the discharge of his duty.

"There has been, to my knowledge, no solicitation of political assessments at this office since I have had the honor of occupying my present position. I have no dissatisfaction to express with the effect of the new system in any particular."

He thinks it desirable to have the status of temporary appointees at his office more carefully defined, as it is an office where many more officials are employed at some seasons of the year than at others.

PORT HURON.—THE COLLECTOR says there has been no appointment under the civil service act in his force, and he has not been relieved from any pressure for office. He cannot say whether there has been any relief from pressure for assessments at his office, because he assumed his duties after the civil service act went into effect.

SAN FRANCISCO.-1. THE COLLECTOR Says there has been a new collector lately appointed at this office. The report is from the former collector. He says: "I was relieved to a great extent from pressure for political assessments. "The character and capacity of those appointed under the rules were generally good. With one or two exceptions all have given satisfaction." He says there has been, as yet, no marked effect upon the moral tone or business efficiency of the office.

He cannot speak as to political assessments at the time of the late elections.

2. THE NAVAL OFFICER says there has been relief from the pressure of office-seekers.

He expresses the opinion that the character and capacity of those appointed under the new law compare very favorably with those appointed under the old system, if they are not superior.

He

"In my office there has been but one appointed under the law. has been faithful and diligent in the discharge of his duties, but no more so than the old clerks,"

He says civil service reform has generally prevailed in the customhouse at San Francisco. "There are a large number of clerks here who have been steadily employed for fifteen or twenty years.

"The effect of the present law has certainly given more confidence in the tenure of office to subordinates, and it has thereby added to the moral tone, and perhaps to the business efficiency of clerks, though there was little complaint on that score previous to the adoption of the present system."

He says that the prohibition of political assessments has made it very hard for committees to collect them, but he thinks the clerks have generally contributed something.

He adds that "while there are some objections to the system, I believe there are few heads of departments who would recommend its abolition. For a new law it has worked admirably, and when perfected it will be very acceptable to the people as well as to the office-holders."

GENERAL RESULTS REACHED.

.In some particulars, the Rules as at first approved, disclosed defects which from time to time have been supplied by amendments. It has required a careful and constant study of their operation and of the needs of the service to bring the new system to its present state of efficiency. Doubtless much remains to be done to secure the best results attainable from it. In a few instances the questions may not have been the most appropriate possible, but more and more, with increased experience, they are being adapted to the needs of the public service. There has been a very small number of cases in which a short delay has occurred in filling vacancies. It was not possible in the outset, when the Commission was compelled to devise and create all forms and methods as it advanced, to anticipate every contingency and be prepared with the best means of doing everything at once. Nevertheless, it can be said that the new methods have been applied so promptly, smoothly, and effectively, that not in a single department or office has there been delay or embarrassment in the steady and timely doing of the public work. Not a complaint of hinderance or obstruction has come from a single officer. It has been, so far as the Commission is informed, only in the misrepresentations or misconceptions of the hostile or ill-informed that any injustice or evil effects from the introduction of the new system have had an existence.

But more than mere negative results have been reached, and they may be summarized as follows:

1. That the partisan and proscriptive tests, long enforced at the gates of the Departments and great offices, may, without loss of any kind, and with increasing support from the people, be rejected, and that in their place tests of character and capacity, irrespective of political or religious opinions, may be substituted.

2. That with the growing approval of Congress itself, shown by in

creased appropriations for the Commission, and with great relief and advantage in the Departments and offices declared by those who preside over them, the old system of Congressional influence and official favor for securing appointments may be arrested if not destroyed.

3. That a system of open, free, public examinations, under a nonpartisan Commission, may be successfully conducted for testing the character and capacity needed in the public service, without extending the examination, except for a small number of special places, beyond the subjects which are deemed so essential to success in private business, and for the discharge of the common duties of citizens, that they are required to be taught at the public expense in the common schools throughout the country.

4. That a merit system of office, of which such examinations are the most important part, even under all the disadvantages attending its first introduction, has proved itself capable of supplying for the public work officers at least as worthy and capable as those secured under any other system, without introducing any evils peculiar to itself.

5. That the new system is rapidly suppressing the old practice under which members of Congress were almost compelled by their constituents to become hunters and agents for places and promotions in the Departments, whereby a steady encroachment was being made by the legislative upon the executive department, if, indeed, the practice was not equally destructive of the independence, of both. But it should be mentioned that patronage and favor on the part of the Executive also are being in equal measure suppressed.

"Under the merit system the consent of no executive officer is needed to give access to the examinations. The mere opportunity of selecting one from four amounts to nothing in the way of patronage. It may fairly be said, therefore, that those thus entering the public service have put themselves into office. The places they fill are not only taken out of the patronage of the party in power, but they are taken out of patronage absolutely. They are made the prizes which merit earns for itself."

Had it not been for the rules, every vacancy in the nearly 14,500 places to which the examinations now extend might have been filled by selections to suit the pleasure or interest of the executive officers of the Government. The 438 appointments made during the past year in the departmental service could have been treated as so much patronage for strengthening the influence of the Executive against Congress. Twice or ten times that number of places, but for the civil service act and rules, might have been secured through removals for the sake of making patronage to be dispensed by the Departments, postmasters, and customs officers, for carrying elections, without any dangerous disregard of a definite policy to which the country was committed. All of those 14,500 classified places, but for that act and what has been done under it, might in the late elections have been promised by both parties alike as the spoils of the victors.

But this is not all. The selection of perhaps one-half of the persons brought into the service during the year was from the party not in the control of the Administration, and was, therefore, not only a surrender of Executive patronage, but of party patronage as well, in the common interests of character, capacity, and justice. On the theory of the spoils system this has been a great sacrifice and loss on the part of the party in power. According to a better theory, however, it was no loss, but a plain and patriotic duty, yet none the less magnanimous and unprecedented, in the administration of the country.

To maintain the new system, now in good working order, it is plain that the same high sense of duty, the same surrender of all mere partisan considerations, and the same fidelity to justice and sound principles must continue to prevail.

PARTISANSHIP IN OFFICE.

There is reason to think that the selection for appointment of those who excel in the examinations, rather than of those who have excelled in partisan zeal and persistent pushing for places, has done something to arrest the proscriptive party spirit which has existed in some at least of the Departments and great offices. When adherents of both parties can secure appointments on merit alone, those vicious associations of public officials under a party test of membership which have for their main object to coerce assessments and work for the party controlling the Administration cannot long survive. They may perhaps give place to other associations devoted to those more appropriate and useful purposes which call for no divisions on political grounds and recognize the true principles of public administration.

The right of such officials to vote and freely express their opinions no one will question; but, in the degree that they become proscriptive partisans, they forget the proprieties of their position and are likely to become poor public servants.

THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE MERIT SYSTEM.

The effective support which the new system is bringing to the cause of popular education should not be overlooked. In no way can a nation do more to advance the dignity and success of the public schools of the people than by making excellence in the good character they develop, and in the studies they teach, as far as possible, the tests for the holding of its official places of honor and profit. The youth of the country will be quick to see that good character which cannot be impeached, an excellence in their studies, which gives a high place on the register for appointment, and not vicious activity in party factions or unmanly subserviency to a great officer or politician are most effective for securing appointments. It is not inappropriate to repro