Proceedings at the Thirty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the National Civil Service Reform League at Springfield, Mass. February 26, 1920 Price, Twenty-five Cents NEW YORK PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL CIVIL SERVICE REFORM LEAGUE 8 WEST 40TH STREET 1920 Morning Session at the Hotel Kimball Richard Henry Dana, President of the League, presided. The annual report of the Council to the League was read by the Secretary, and upon motion was adopted. The report is as follows: The Report of the Council General View In a retrospect of the past year it is important to note that the specific problems raised by the war have absorbed less of the attention of the League, and it has been possible to resume the program of enlarged activities projected in 1916 and almost wholly suspended by the war emergency. Certain legacies of the war remain, it is true, notably the new phase of the question of veteran preference; but for the most part the work of the League has dealt with situations in which the political spoilsman has appeared in his familiar role, and his challenge has been met with the weapons tested in many a past conflict. It has been upon the whole a year of progress. Along with some disappointments there remain to the credit of the League certain positive achievements which contribute to the betterment of administrative processes in federal, state and municipal. government. Vacancy in the Civil Service Commission After a long period of waiting the reorganization of the United States Civil Service Commission was well begun in March, 1919, as recorded in the last report of the Council. Altho the third member has not yet been appointed, President Morrison and Mr. Wales have efficiently carried on the work throughout the year. A special committee of the League wrote to President Wilson under date of November 8, 1919, calling his attention to the type of man the League would like to see appointed to the existing vacancy on the commission and suggesting some names as indicating such type. The Committee suggested that salaries now provided for the members of the federal civil service commission are inadequate to retain the best qualified men. Chief Examiner Not Yet Appointed Since the promotion of Mr. Wales to a commissionership, the Commission has had no chief examiner. In the hope that it might facilitate the filling of that important position. the League through its executive officers on September 10, 1919, urged the President to appoint a special board of three to select a man for the place. The President unfortunately has not acted upon the League's suggestion nor has he taken any steps to fill this vacancy, although the President of the League again on January 15, 1920, called his attention to the situation and the consequent embarrassment to the Commission. Lack of Funds for the Commission The Civil Service Commission is not provided with an adequate examining force and one of its greatest handicaps is its lack of sufficient appropriation to enable it to carry on its business properly. Investigations of Examinations for Postmasters Several attempts were made by Congress to get at the facts of allegations made by Charles M. Galloway at the time of his resignation from the Commission in July, to the effect that the Postmaster General had intimidated the Civil Service Commission in connection with examinations for presidential postmasters. All these attempts were so colored by the political bias of the investigators that no clear judgment of the merits was |