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system to the police and fire departments was incorporated in two proposed city charters submitted to the people, the last time in the election of 1904. In each instance, however, the new charter failed to receive the necessary number of votes to put it into effect, a result due only remotely, if at all, to the presence of the civil service section. The charters were defeated for quite other reasons. At the fall election of 1906 the charter proposition will undoubtedly be placed before the people again, this time in a more simple form, and there is good reason to believe that it will carry. In that event the city will get at least the privilege of home rule, and it can at subsequent elections make the desired changes in the present charter, in detail, as the necessity demands. I am now inclined to believe that civil service reform will have to come through this somewhat slow and devious process; that the initiative must come from the people, or, at any rate, from agencies outside the City Council. The Board of Aldermen could, of their own volition, formulate rules for a civil service system embracing the departments under their jurisdiction, and put the same into effect. But I do not look for any such outcome; the reform impetus will have to come from some outside source.

Minneapolis has an exaggerated form of centralized. council administration. The power of administration, as well as legislation, in all departments, except the police department, is vested in the City Council. This concentration of administrative power carries with it large patronage privileges, something dearly prized by the average alderman, and which he is not likely to let go of without a mighty protest. Economically the system works for extravagance and inefficiency; politically, it is thoroughly demoralizing.

Happily, Minneapolis has a mayor who, besides being a fearless reformer in other lines of civic activities, has the intelligence to see the absurdity of the present spoils system of management of city affairs, and the independence to point it out. He enunciated strong civil service reform sentiments in his inaugural address in January, 1905; he then made good by promptly putting his principles into practical operation in the departments under his

control, notably the police department. I think I can not do better than quote in part from that message:

In the matter of civil service, as applied to employees of a municipality, it is my purpose to embody the spirit of this unquestioned reform in reorganizing the department under my control. There seems no necessity for any argument to support this purpose, but if any were needed it can be found in a comparison of the efficiency of public servants within and without the lines of civil service protection. The time is not far distant when a fully developed system of civil service will be in force in all the municipalities of this country, as it now is in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and other lesser cities. I know of no better time than now, and no better place than this to begin to lay the foundation of this reform. Two years ago, while I was acting mayor, something was done along this line, but a great deal more lies at hand to do, and while I shall not attempt to outline an elaborate system I shall, as soon as possible, put into operation some simple and practicable civil service rules and regulations, which will provide for a physical examination and a mental test sufficient to ascertain if an applicant knows what his duties are and is reasonably fitted to perform them.

A maximum age limit will be maintained, both with reference to new applications and to retirement from the force. This method will practically eliminate partisan influences from determining appointments, and will give all citizens an equal opportunity to be considered, regardless of their nationality or party affiliations.

Efficient service previously rendered to the city will be accepted as a credit in determining the qualifications of an appli

cant.

A term of probationary service before final appointment will always be required, and no removal will be made without granting the officer to be retired a hearing in his own behalf.

The younger efficient men and officers of the force should be given a chance, and services well and faithfully performed must be rewarded with recognition, through promotion or otherwise, before the age limit is reached. Officers of the active force who are to be retired upon the ground of advanced age, will be fitted into minor positions suitable to their age and physical condition. Until the much needed pension system is provided through a new city charter, or by legislative enactment, this seems to be the only means of honorable retirement of aged employees of the city. The plan is imperfect, and should there be a considerable number of men attaining the maximum age it might prove to be impracticable through lack of vacancies in minor places.

This discussion, and the proposal of the introduction of the merit system into the police department, suggest the query: "Is there any good reason why the City Council should not, in the same spirit, voluntarily promote civil service rules in the Fire

Department of the city, and no longer hamper its efficiency by dictating to the chief appointments and promotions upon the basis of public patronage and influence?

Mayor Jones said no more in the above message than he honestly meant, as is evidenced by his performance. For the first time in the city's history politics and political appointments have been eliminated from the management of the police department. Every man of the force understands that he stands solely on his record of honest and efficient discharge of his duties, that political pull cannot save him. The same standards are made to apply to new appointments. The men understand plainly that so long as they are in the city employ they can do no political work, for the mayor or anybody else, and that any deviation from this rule will be met with summary punishment. Naturally, the results of this policy are plainly seen in the personnel and performance of the other departments. Mayor Jones has applied the same general rule to the other department in which he has large power -the Board of Corrections and Charities.

In the fire department, while new appointments and promotions are almost invariably dictated by the aldermen, few changes in the personnel are made for any other reason than the good of the service. Public sentiment is strong enough and assertive enough in its attitude toward this branch of the local government to keep the spoilsmen within reasonable limits.

Mr. Ansley Wilcox submitted the following report from the Civil Service Reform Association of Buffalo:

There is not much that I can add to the reports which we have presented at the last two or three meetings of the League. Our condition has remained substantially unchanged, though with some slight improvement during the past year. With excellent municipal civil service rules and a good classification of positions in our city government, and with good men on our city commissions doing their best to carry out these rules, the results have not been wholly satisfactory-first, because of lack of hearty support from the mayor; second, because of some dissensions in the city commission itself, and unjust criticism of its work which tended to under

mine public confidence; and, third, because the commission has been handicapped through lack of funds and lack of clerical assistance.

In the year now ending, the old city commission of seven members went out of office, through the resignation of some of its number and the removal of others by the mayor. A new commission was appointed, made up of untried men, but in the main men of high character and good abilities. This new body started in with zeal and vigor, and has been doing better work than its more experienced predecessor, because it has worked harmoniously.

At the recent election a new mayor of Buffalo has been chosen for four years—Mr. Adam, a merchant of wide experience and large means, and a man who for several years has been devoting himself to municipal problems, working in the city councils as a member and in connection with various civic organizations. He is a thorough believer in the merit principle and understands its practical needs. We have confidence that during his term the administration of the civil service law in Buffalo will be improved. We hope that the present commission will in the main be continued, and that they will be furnished with the money and the clerical help required to do their work effectively. If so, there is no reason why we should not be able to report, a year hence and from that time on, that the working of the civil service law and rules in our city is wholly satisfactory.

Miss Ellen C. Sabin read the following report from the Women's Auxiliary to the Civil Service Reform Association of Massachusetts:

The Women's Auxiliary of the Massachusetts Civil Service Reform Association reports that the past year, the fifth of its existence, has been one of opportunity and activity. The chief object of the Auxiliary continues to be the formation of strong public opinion in favor of the merit system, and it works through its branch centres and scattered members, through the clubs of Massachusetts and those of other States, and finally through the schools.

Though no definite statistics can be obtained from our Massachusetts census, yet the experience of those interested in the subject would justify us, surely, in saying that general enlightenment on the meaning of civil service reform among our Massachusetts women is a hundred times greater than five years ago.

Since our last report to the League 115 new members have joined the Auxiliary, raising our numbers to 1,065. A most welcome gain is a ninth branch, recently formed in Springfield, which will give us a hold in the western part of the State.

Our, branches continue to be a great source of strength and satisfaction. Three or four times in the year delegates from the branches are brought into close relation with one another and our State Executive Committee at the meeting of the State Council, and in spite of occasional discouraging reports, the delegates leave with added enthusiasm and a desire to adopt the successful schemes of other branches. To record the general work of the branches from year to year means much repetition, for the same ground must be annually covered; meetings must be held, new members gained, pamphlets introduced into the schools. Last winter the study classes for the members were a special feature in several branches. In Brookline alone there were seven such classes. As a result of a very successful class in Worcester the branch is to publish a carefully prepared "Outline for the Study of Municipal Government in Relation to Civil Service Reform" which will, it is hoped, be the groundwork and incentive to many similar classes.

Our only new publication this year has been the long desired grammar school pamphlet, which we issued jointly with the New York Auxiliary through the courtesy of the latter. This "Primer of the Civil Service and the Merit System," by Miss Elizabeth Luther Cary, has completely satisfied our hope of a really effective explanation for children, and we are very grateful to the author, for we realize the difficulty of the achievement. We began the circulation of this primer chiefly in Massachusetts, and have already distributed 5,725 copies to 200 grammar schools. The demand would have been greater,

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