the Commission, whereupon writs of prohibition were served by the Fiscal Supervisor upon the Commission. stopping it from proceeding further. The matter was thus brought before the courts, where it is now pending. The action of the Fiscal Supervisor in seeking to evade the investigation on a technicality in spite of the opinion of his official legal adviser is to our minds a virtual admission of his guilt, and the Association has appealed to the Governor to continue the investigation himself.

The legislative work of the Association is a most important function. During the last session of the legislature the Association kept close watch over 162 bills and took special action on over one hundred, by briefs to the various committees of the legislature, to the Mayor and to the Governor, and by appearance at hearings. Of about one hundred bills opposed by the Association, only three, not of much importance, became laws. The records of both Mayor McClellan and Governor Higgins in vetoing legislation inimical to the civil service are excellent.

Through its Correspondence Committee the Association is engaged in the effort to establish sub-committees in the various cities throughout the State to keep track of civil service matters in the respective localities. The results so far are encouraging. In many of the smaller cities public sentiment is not sufficiently alert to hold local commissions to a strict performance of their duties, and it is expected that through these committees this condition may be corrected.

Toward the close of 1904 the Civil Service Commission of the City of New York was removed by the Mayor on charges preferred by the Association and a new Commission appointed which the Association had reason to believe would effect marked improvements. The new Commission accomplished an important reform in correcting the abuses existing in the re-rating of examination papers, but President Coler subsequently found it inadvisable to continue as a member of the Commission and resigned. In his place was appointed William F. Baker, not previously known to have any interest in civil service reform. The Commission as thus reorganized displayed

a hostile attitude towards the Association in denying it access to records previously open.

The hostile attitude of the Commission, its retention. in office of a notoriously unfit secretary, against whom serious charges had been filed by the Association, and numerous flagrant violations of the law and rules by the Commission and other city departments, forced the Association to the belief that the civil service law was not being properly administered. Finding the Mayor unwilling to interfere with the administration of his Commission the Association, with considerable reluctance, presented the facts in its possession to the State Commission with a request that it conduct a special investigation into the civil service of New York similar to that conducted in other cities.

The investigation was undertaken, the three Commissioners sat in open session for three days for the examination of witnesses, and the secretary and the chief examiner conducted an examination of records.

The resuit of this investigation was a majority report by the State Commission, upholding the Association in its criticism of the Municipal Commission, and recommending radical changes in administration and the correction of specific abuses. The minority report by the Democratic member of the Commission upheld the Municipal Commission in every particular, found nothing to criticise and recommended no change, a most remarkable finding in view of the extent of the investigation and the undisputed facts disclosed thereby.

The results of the investigation were not immediate or striking, but, all things considered, were more effective than the Association had reason to expect. The majority report, drawn in a temperate and painstaking fashion, showed a thorough comprehension of the conditions in New York City and must have indicated to the Municipal Commission the intention of the State Commission to enforce a proper administration of the civil service law. The publicity given the entire matter was of undoubted benefit and improvement in methods of administration are already noted.

The character of the administration of the civil ser

vice law in New York may best be judged from the finding of the majority report of the State Commission, which states in its conclusion:

"The inquiry here reported has directed attention to faults in rules whose correction would make for directness and efficiency of administration. Upon the Municipal Commission lies the duty of making such corrections. Upon it also lies the duty of inquiring into the fitness of its secretary and other subordinates and into the efficiency of the organization of its examining department, with a view to replacing incapable or unworthy public servants and of introducing improved methods. It should find means for expediting the work of holding examinations, rating papers, and establishing eligible lists, in order that there may be no occasion or excuse for extended provisional appointments. It should safeguard the examinations from political or other outside interference, in order that their fairness and integrity may be above suspicion. * * * * Further disregard of the civil service rules by the Municipal Commission itself, as in the employment of * * * * exempt "expert" examiners in work. which could be as well done by appointees from the eligible lists, in the selection of monitors by favor rather than according to the plain provision of the rules, and in the arbitrary re-rating of examination papers, would warrant the inference that opportunity is designedly given for the exercise of political or personal favoritism, and would deserve the severest condemnation. The Municipal Commission is called upon also to use its power to investigate and correct abuses in the matter of transfers, and in the appointment of laborers under titles not authorized; to discontinue the certification of accounts * * * * under titles not appropriate to the duties of the positions held; and to enforce upon all departments of the city government faithful observance of the requirement of the constitution, the law, and the rules making merit and finess the sole qualification for appointments and promotions to public office."

The enforcement of the civil service law is an accurate index of the general policy of the chief executive of the city administration. In view of the new relation in which

Mayor McClellan stands to the people of New York as the result of his re-election by popular rather than partisan vote, and his consequent freedom from partisan obligations, the Association looks forward to a more satisfactory administration of the civil service law by the Municipal Commission, whether changed in personnel or not, after the first of the year.

Mr. John A. Butler, for the Civil Service Reform Association of Wisconsin:

The Wisconsin Association is only a little over a year old, and modesty requires that very little shall be said. about what it has accomplished, and perhaps too much. should not be said about what it has desired to accomplish. I, however, feel justified in giving a brief outline of the general course of events which led to the establishment of the civil service reform system-the merit system-in this State, and I am very far from claiming for the State Association of Wisconsin the sole credit for that fact.

I believe it happened in the Winter of 1903 that I had the privilege of attending by invitation the Arbitration Conference in Washington. At that conference Mr. Woodruff, of Philadelphia, asked me to stop on my way back to Milwaukee to talk over the matter of a propaganda for State civil service reform in Wisconsin. I stopped over in Philadelphia and Mr. Woodruff was the medium through which the wishes of Mr. Bonaparte, Mr. William Dudley Foulke and Mr. Charles Richardson, of Philadelphia, were made known to me.

They knew that during the existence of the Municipal League in this city, some six or eight years, that organization had given to Milwaukee what is called the City Service Commission, under which all the employees of the Board of Public Works were placed on the merit basis. They accordingly thought that I, having been the president of that league, might be the channel for active work in the new enterprise; and I was told that it was desirable to have a State Civil Service Reform Association organized. I speak of this to indicate where, so far as I am aware, the first thought about civil service reform in Wisconsin originated, and that is in the ranks of the National Civil Service Reform League. I am now speak

ing, of course, in my capacity as a member of the State Civil Service Reform Association. I returned to Milwaukee and got together eight or ten influential gentlemen and we organized informally. Nothing of particular importance was done, except that I wrote to Governor La Follette and asked him if he would give us his support, and he wrote me very cordially and said that he would certainly do so. Considerable publicity was, however, given the undertaking in the newspapers, and the idea was launched.

At the meeting of the National Municipal League at Chicago in the Spring of 1904, Mr. Elliot H. Goodwin was present. Mr. Bonaparte had written me about it in advance suggesting a conference. An informal consultation took place accordingly between the two gentlemen named and myself as to what would be the most opportune time to again take the matter up publicly, and it was decided that it should be done shortly before the session of the last legislature in this State. I see that Professor Sparling is here and I must be as truthful as I know how to be and as an imaginative reformer is capable of being, and I must admit that we demonstrated our complete incapacity to ever follow the career of politicians by publishing very conspicuously in the editorial columns of the Free Press of this city a general outline of what we thought a civil service law should comprise. It is interesting to state that the present law conforms pretty closely to the outlines then made public. A dinner was given at my house, Captain Bean and a large number of other gentlemen being present, and the work was taken up actively. We organized and we shortly found that some of the politicians (and I have nothing but words of praise for the politicians of Wisconsin who are interested in civil service reform) also had the idea of the merit system in their minds; and when we again wrote for co-operation we were told that a bill was in process of formulation. Of course we were very much pleased by that. Such competition was just the thing we wanted, and so we wrote that we would be very glad to escape the labor of preparing a bill ourselves and would turn in gladly with all the support we could secure to promote the passage of