National Civil Service Reform League Proceedings Forty-Fourth Annual Meeting Washington, D. C. December 16, 1924 Price, Twenty-five Cents National Civil Service Reform League 8 West 40th Street New York City PROCEEDINGS The Forty-fourth Annual Meeting of the National Civil Service Reform League was called to order at the Hotel Washington, Washington, D. C., December 16, 1924, by Samuel H. Ordway, the Acting President of the League. At the first session, held in the morning, there was presented the Annual Report of the Council of the League. The resolutions of the League were adopted and the League's officers for the ensuing year were elected. At the afternoon session Colonel Henry M. Waite of New York read a paper on the "City Manager and the Merit System." There was a discussion of Colonel Waite's paper, led by Dr. H. W. Dodds, Secretary of the National Municipal League. Mr. Eugene J. Benge, Manager, Industrial Relations, Atlantic Refining Company, addressed the meeting on "The Present Trend of Methods in Private Employment," and Dr. F. A. Moss, of the Bureau of Public Personnel Administration, outlined the present trend of methods in public employment. The third session of the League was held in the evening in the Hall of Nations, Hotel Washington. Hon. Samuel H. Ordway delivered the annual address of the Acting President of the League; Miss Belle Sherwin, President of The National League of Women Voters, spoke on "The League of Women Voters and the Merit System"; Hon. J. Butler Wright, Assistant Secretary of State, delivered an address on the "United States Foreign Service"; Hon. Takashi Taniguchi, Chancellor of the Japanese Embassy, addressed the meeting on "The Civil Service System in Japan." REPORT OF THE COUNCIL In his first annual message to Congress, delivered on the day of the last annual meeting of the National Civil Service Reform League, President Coolidge said: The maintenance and extension of the classified service is exceedingly important. There are nearly 550,000 persons in the executive civil service drawing about $700,000,000 of yearly compensation. Four-fifths of these are in the classified service. This method of selection of the employes of the United States is especially desirable for the Post Office Department. The Civil Service Commission has recommended that postmasters at first, second and third-class offices be classified. Such action accompanied by a repeal of the four years term of office, would undoubtedly be an improvement. I also recommend that the field service for prohibition enforcement be brought within the classified civil service without covering in the present membership. The best method for selecting public servants is the merit system. In another part of his message the President said: "The foreign service of our government needs to be reorganized and improved." We desire to commend these sincere expressions of approval of the merit system, which are practically identical with the recommendations of the Council in its annual report adopted by the League at its last annual meeting. heartily commend the President for his recent reiteration of these sentiments expressed in his message to Congress on December 3. He said: The merit system has long been recognized as the correct basis for employment in our civil service. I believe that first, second and third class postmasters, and without covering in the present membership the field force of prohibition enforcement, should be brought within the classified service by statute law. Otherwise the Executive order of one administration is changed by the Executive order of another administration, and little real progress is made. Whatever its defects, the merit system is certainly to be preferred to the spoils system. The Rogers Law and the Foreign Service We are glad to report that the Congress in following out the President's message and in accordance with recommendations of the League, which have been urged during the last five years, passed the Rogers bill providing for a reorganization and improvement in administrative methods in the foreign service, and on May 24, 1924, the bill became law by the signature of the President. This law incorporates in the statutes several farreaching reforms specifically recommended in the report of the League's special committee published in 1919. They are: (1) the creation of a single foreign service of the United States government composed of the diplomatic corps and the consular corps, with provision for intertransfers between the two corps; (2) improved salary schedules placing both branches of the foreign service on a common salary basis; (3) provision for post allowances so that persons in the service may live appropriately within the income provided by the government; (4) a superannuation system based upon actuarial analysis of the condition of the service. In carrying out the provisions of the Rogers law the President has issued two executive orders of great importance. These orders provide for putting into effect other recommendations of the League's special committee. They provide for a strengthening of the examination system for original entrance, first, by the creation of an examining board to maintain control over all applications and examinations for entrance and promotion in the service, and, second, by the creation of a foreign service school in the Department of State in Washington. A new foreign service personnel board is created to have control of the foreign service school and of all of the examining work, including the maintenance of service records for all members of the foreign service. The service records are to constitute the chief factor in determining the eligibility of candidates for promotion. |