European Countries

EUROPEAN COUNTRIES France.—The number of civil servants in 1921 was 896,000, not including workers on the State railways. These numbers can not be compared with those given for Great Britain, because in France they include judicial and local government officials, and teachers. The organic laws of 1875 empower the president to nominate for all posts in the service, and the rules for entry, etc., are administered finally by the Conseil d'Etat. Examinations are held for most posts, and a university degree is in some cases necessary for entry. In the highly centralized nature of the French administration lies the chief reason for the difference in the general character of the French and British civil services.

The Conseil d'Etat, apart from its functions as court of appeal in cases of administrative law, is a central advisory body of per manent civil servants which the Government is obliged to con sult prior to many kinds of administrative action. The Conseil d'Etat's advice does not necessarily bind the Government, and it is secret.

The cabinet of a minister is a small body of officials chosen by a minister as a private secretariat. These officials need not neces sarily be permanent civil servants. They often exercise a very important control over policy.

A long controversy is connected with the right to trade union organization among civil servants. The problem has been dis cussed in the two chambers on several occasions during the last few years. No definite decision has ever been taken, though a statement made by M. Poincare, when president of the council in 1927 seems to recognize the right of association provided it is not used against the interests of the State. In any case, in prac tice, the Federation des Fonctionnaires is a powerful body. (See H. Barthelemy, Traite elementaire de droit administrati f, loth ed., 1923 ; J. Barthelemy, Le Gouvernement de la France, 1924.) Germany.—The status of German civil servants is defined by Articles 128, 129, 130, 143 and 176 of the Weimar Constitution. An oath of allegiance to the Republican Constitution is obliga tory. Although the railways and the post office have become quasi-private undertakings the number of pensionable civil serv ants has much increased since 1914. Despite recent reductions, federal civil servants numbered 92,722 in 1927, as against 19,200 in 1913. The financial administration alone employs 71,30o of these owing to the transfer of financial administration from the States to the Federal Government. This transfer has not how ever caused a corresponding decrease in the civil departments of the respective States. In Prussia, for instance, there are to-day 141,000 civil servants as against 88,000 in 1913. Women are eligible for all posts of the civil service, the higher judicial ap pointments excluded. Civil service unions are denied the right to strike. (See H. Oppenheimer, The Constitution of the German Republic, 1923.) The League of Nations.—An important development since the war has resulted in the establishment of an international civil service. It is true that ever since the middle of the 19th century, for example in the office of the Universal Postal Union since 187o, there have been small numbers of officials under authorities rep resenting the joint action of sovereign States; but the establish ment of the League of Nations and its International Labour Or ganization has considerably modified the situation. There are now 581 officials of the League in Geneva and elsewhere and 361 offi cials of the Labour Organization. Their work is partly to carry out the decisions of the Assembly and the Council of the League of Nations, the governing body of the Labour Office and other in ternational councils, or committees, and partly to co-ordinate the activities of the Governments of the States in the League. The League civil service thus forms an integral part of the whole machinery of government.

The civil service of each of the fully developed States is now in contact with the relevant services of the other fully developed States, since it is now recognized in practice that the work, for example, of public health organization cannot be effectual unless there is co-operation between States. The League officials, there fore, are a necessary inter-connection of the parts of modern administration. The higher appointments are usually made by selection from those having a previous record in national adminis trative work or other appropriate occupations; the minor are made after competitive examinations. But apart from compe tence, some regard is paid to nationality. In 1928 there were 50 different nationalities in the League secretariat. Of the 581 offi cials 16o are British (including the dominions), 1o1 French, Swiss, 26 Italians, 14 Germans, etc.

See Annual Reports on the budget of the League and of the director of the International Labour Organization. (R. R. S.) Civil service reform began in America in the latter half of the 19th century. Personal and partisan government, with all the entailed evils of the patronage system, culminated in Great Britain during the reign of George III., and was one of the causes of the American Revolution. Trevelyan characterizes the use of patron age to influence legislation, and the giving of colonial positions as sinecures to the privileged classes and personal favourites of the Administration, by saying, "it was a system which, as its one achievement of the first order, brought about the American War, and made England sick, once and for all, of the very name of personal government." It was natural that the founders of the new Government in America, after breaking away from the mother-country, should strive to avoid the evils which had in a measure brought about the revolution. Their intention that the administrative officers of the Government should hold office during good behaviour is manifest, and was given thorough and practical effect by every admin istration during the first 4o years of the life of the Government. The Constitution fixed no term of office in the executive branch of the Government except those of president and vice-president ; and Madison, the expounder of the Constitution, held that the wanton removal of a meritorious officer was an impeachable offence.

The Spoils System.

Not until nine years after the passage of the Four Years' Tenure of Office Act in 182o was there any material departure from this traditional policy of the Government. This act (suggested by an appointing officer who wished to use the power it gave in order to secure his own nomination for the presidency, and passed without debate and apparently without any adequate conception of its full effect) opened the doors of the service to all the evils of the spoils system. The foremost states men of the time were not slow to perceive the baleful possibilities of this legislation, Jefferson, Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Benton and many others being recorded as condemning and deploring it in the strongest terms. The transition to the spoils system was not, however, immediate, and for the next nine years the practice of reappointing all meritorious officers was practically universal ; but in 1829 this practice ceased, and the act of 1820 lent the sanction of law to the system of proscriptions which followed, which was a practical application of the theory that "to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy." In 1836 the provisions of this law, which had at first been con fined mainly to officers connected with the collection of revenue, were extended to include also all postmasters receiving a compen sation of $1,000 per annum or more. It rapidly became the prac tice to regard all these four years' tenure offices as agencies not so much for the transaction of the public business as for the advancement of political ends. The revenue service, which had been used for political purposes merely, came to be used for corrupt purposes as well, with the result that in one administra tion frauds were practised upon the Government to the extent of $7 5,000,000. The corrupting influence permeated the whole body politic. Political retainers were selected for appointment not on account of their ability to do certain work but because they were followers of certain politicians; these "public servants" acknowl edged no obligation except to those politicians, and their public duties, if not entirely disregarded, were negligently and ineffi ciently performed. Thus grew a saturnalia of spoils and corruption which culminated in the assassination of a president.

Acute conditions, not theories, give rise to reforms. In the congressional election of Nov. 1882, following the assassination of President Garfield as an incident in the operation of the spoils system, the voice of the people commanding reform was unmis takable.

The Act of 1883.

Although attempts at reform had been made earlier, the demand became really articulate in New York in 1877 by the formation of the New York Civil Service Reform Association. Other such associations appeared in Boston, New Haven, Philadelphia, Baltimore and other cities. The National Civil Service Reform League was formed by representatives of various of these local associations at a meeting in Newport, R.I., in Aug. I 881. This organization led the fight for the passage of the act of 1 883 and is still active in the effort to extend the merit system in States and cities as well as in the Federal Gov ernment. After the enactment of the Federal civil service law, one of its chief defenders was Theodore Roosevelt.

Congress assembled in Dec. 1882, and during the same month a bill looking to the improvement of the civil service, which had been pending in the Senate for nearly two years, was finally taken up and considered by that body. In the debate upon this bill its advocates declared that it would "vastly improve the whole civil service of the country," which they characterized as being at that time "inefficient, expensive, and extravagant, and in many in stances corrupt." This bill passed the Senate on Dec. 27, 1882, and the House on Jan. 4, 1883, and was signed by the president on Jan. 16, 1883, coming into full operation on July 16, 1883. Now the national civil service law, it was the result of years of effort upon the part of public-spirited men, prominent among whom were Thomas Allen Jenckes, Charles Sumner, George William Curtis, Dorman B. Eaton, Carl Schurz, Everett P. Wheeler and Samuel S. Cox.

The law provides for the observance of the following funda mental principles, "as nearly as the conditions of good administra tion will warrant" (I) selection by competitive examination for all appointments to the classified service, with a period of proba tionary service before absolute appointment; (2) apportionment among the States and Territories, according to population, of all appointments in the departmental service at Washington; (3) freedom of all the employees of the Government from any neces sity to contribute to political campaign funds or to render political services. For putting these principles into effect the civil service commission was created, and penalties were imposed for the solici tation or collection, in a Government building or establishment, from government employees of contributions for political pur poses, and for the use of official positions in coercing political action. The commission, in addition to its regular duties of aiding in the preparation of civil service rules, of regulating and holding examinations, and certifying the results thereof for use in making appointments and of keeping records of all changes in the service, was given authority to investigate and report upon any violations of the act or rules. The classified service to which the act applies has grown, by the action of successive presidents in progressively including various branches of the service within it, and by natural growth of established governmental activities and the creation of new ones, from 13,924 positions in 1883 to some 425,00o in 1928, constituting about 75% of the entire civil service of the Govern ment and including practically all positions above the grade of mere labourer or workman to which appointment is not made directly by the president with the consent of the Senate.

In order to provide registers of eligibles for the various grades of positions in the classified service, the U.S. civil service com mission holds as they are needed about 1,70o different kinds of examinations. In the work of preparing these examinations and of marking the papers of competitors in them the commission is au thorized to avail itself, in addition to its own corps of trained men and women, of the services of the scientific and other experts in the various executive departments, and is provided with a fund from which it may employ special experts, not in the Govern ment service, for short periods as needed. In the work of holding the examinations it is aided by about 4,700 local boards of exam iners, which are its local representatives throughout the country and are located at the principal post offices, custom houses and other Government offices, being composed of three or more Fed eral employees in those offices. About 250,o0o persons annually compete in these examinations, and between 40,00o and so,000 of those who are successful receive appointments through regular certification to fill vacancies caused chiefly by death, resignation, removal, retirement and promotion. Persons thus appointed, how ever, must serve six months, and in some cases a year, on pro bation before their appointment can be made absolute. At the end of or during this probation, if his service has not been satis factory, the appointee is simply dropped.

Benefits.

The effects of the Civil Service Act within the scope of its actual operation have amply justified the hopes and promises of its advocates. After its passage, absentee holders of lucrative appointments were required to report for duty or to sever their connection with the service. Improved methods were adopted in the departments, and superfluous and useless work was no longer devised in order to provide a show of employment and a locus standi for the parasites upon the public service. Individual clerks were required, and by reason of the new conditions were enabled to do more and better work; and this, coupled with the increase in efficiency in the service on account of new blood coming in through the examinations, made possible an actual decrease in the force required in many offices, notwithstanding the natural growth in the amount of work to be done. Experience proves that the desire to create new and unnecessary positions was in direct pro portion to the power to control them, for where the act has taken away this power of control the desire has disappeared naturally. There is no longer any desire on the part of heads of departments to increase unduly the number or salaries of classified positions which would fall by law within the civil service rules and be sub ject to competitive examinations. Thus the promises of improve ment and economy in the service have been fulfilled.

Survivals.—An obstacle to the complete success of the merit system, and one which prevents the carrying forward of the reform to the extent to which it has been carried in Great Britain, is in herent in the civil service act itself. All postmasters at first, second and third class offices, all collectors of customs and col lectors of internal revenue and numerous other administrative officers, are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and are therefore, by express provision of the act, not "required to be classified." The universal practice of treating these 17,000 or more offices as political agencies instead of as administrative business offices is therefore not limited by the act. Such officers are active in political work throughout the country, and their official position adds greatly to their power to affect the political prospects of the leaders in their districts.

Accordingly the Senate, from being, as originally intended, merely a confirming body as to these officers, has become in a large measure, actually if not formally, a nominating body, and holds with tenacity to the power thus acquired by the individual senators. While the civil service commission holds examinations for postmastership at first, sec )nd and third class offices under executive order, the salutary restrictions of the civil service law are not applied, and cannot be except by act of Congress; and politics continues to play an important part in the appointment of postmasters at first, second and third class offices, although the examinations are held impartially.

All postmasters at fourth class offices, the smaller offices, are classified under the civil service law. Thorough civil service re form requires that all these administrative positions be made subject to the merit system, for in them is the real remaining stronghold of the spoils system. Even though all their subordinates be appointed through examination, it will be impossible to carry the reform to ultimate and complete success so long as the officers in charge are appointed mainly for political reasons and are changed with every change of administration. A further obstacle has been a tendency upon the part of Congress in recent years to enact laws expressly exempting certain positions from the opera tion of the civil service law and rules. A notable example of such exemption is an act of Oct. 22, 1913, affecting deputy collectors of internal revenue and deputy marshals.

The purpose of the act to protect the individual employees in the service from the rapacity of the "political barons" has been measurably, if not completely, successful. The power given the civil service commission to investigate and report upon violations of the law has been used to bring to light such abuses as the levy ing of political contributions, and to set the machinery of the law in motion against them. While comparatively few actual prose cutions have been brought about, and although the penalties im posed by the act for this offence have been but seldom inflicted, still the publicity given to all such cases by the commission's investigations has had a wholesome deterrent effect. Before the passage of the act, positions were as a general rule held upon a well-understood lease-tenure, the political contributions for them being as securely and as certainly collected as any rent. Now, how ever, it can be said that these forced contributions have almost entirely disappeared. The efforts which are still made to collect political funds from government employees in evasion of the law are limited in the main to persuasion to make "voluntary" con tributions, and it has been possible so to limit and obstruct these efforts that their practical effect upon the character of the service is now very small.

States and Cities.—The same evils that the Federal civil service act was designed to remedy exist to a large degree in many of the State and municipal governments. The chief, if not the only, test of fitness for office in many cases has been party loyalty—honesty and capacity being seldom more than secondary considerations. The result has been the fostering of dishonesty and extravagance, which have brought weakness and gross cor ruption into the administration of the local governments. In con sequence of this there has been a constantly growing tendency, among the more intelligent class of citizens, to demand that honest business methods be applied to local public service, and that ap pointments be made on the basis of merit and fitness, rather than of party allegiance. those who seek to improve social and economic conditions in States and cities by governmental changes realize that the merit system in the civil service is an essential element to their object. Hence civil service reform is given a leading position in all programmes for the reform of State and municipal governments. This has undoubtedly been due, in the first instance, at least, to the success which attended the ap plication of the merit system to the Federal service. New York was the first State to enact a civil service law, in May, 1883 ; this was soon supplemented by one providing the same system for the larger cities of the State.

The operation of the merit system in the State of New York was such as to enable its supporters to contend successfully in the constitutional convention of 1894 for a clause writing the principle of the merit system into the constitution of the State. The wording of this clause has served as a model for other State constitutional clauses. It is : "Appointments and promotions in the civil service of the State, and of all the civil divisions there of, including cities and villages, shall be according to merit and fitness, to be ascertained, so far as practicable, by examination, which, so far as practicable, shall be competitive." Massachusetts followed the example of New York, enacting in 1884 a civil service law, applicable to cities as well as to the State Government. There followed years of progress in the perfecting of methods of applying the new system of appointments and pro motions, but it was not until 1905 that Wisconsin passed a State law and Illinois made a partial reform, which was extended in 1911. Colorado and Indiana made a beginning in 1907, and New Jersey passed a comprehensive law in 1908. In 1912 Ohio adopted a constitutional amendment in favour of the merit system, and in the following year California adopted a law. Connecticut also in 1913 passed a law, which was later weakened and finally re pealed in 192I-the only instance of a State taking this back ward step. Kansas placed its State service under the merit sys tem in 1916; but since 1918 no commission has been appointed in Kansas. Colorado adopted a strong constitutional amendment in 192o, and in the same year Maryland passed an effective law.

The progress of the merit system in municipalities has been continuous though slow. In certain States the cities are brought under the operation of the State law—for the laws of the ten States now having civil service laws, as briefly enumerated above, differ widely in scope and effectiveness. In New York and Ohio all cities have their own commissions under the State law. In New Jersey the municipalities adopt the provision of the State law subject to a referendum to the voters (and in only one instance has a referendum in New Jersey been lost) . In Massachusetts all cities are under the direct jurisdiction of the State commission. In other States many cities have adopted the merit system by special legislation or charter provision. When the bitter opposition of politicians is considered, it is a distinct cause for encourage ment that more than 35o cities of the United States have adopted some form of civil service control. Of the Ioo largest cities in the country by the census of 192o, no fewer than 72 have adopted the merit system in whole or in part; and this pumber includes the 20 cities of largest population.

The application of the merit system to State and municipal governments has proved successful wherever it has been given a fair trial. As experience has fostered public confidence in the sys tem, and at the same time shown those features of the law which are most vulnerable, and the best means for fortifying them, numerous and important improvements upon the pioneer act applying to the Federal service have been introduced in the more recent legislation. This is particularly true of the acts now in force in New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey. The power of the State commissions to enforce these acts is materially greater than that possessed by the Federal commission. One of the most important powers exercised generally by the local commissions, which the Federal commission cannot exercise, is the provision that the payment of salaries is made dependent upon the certificate of the commission that the appointments of the recipients were made in accordance with the civil service law and rules. Thus these commissions have absolute power to prevent irregular or illegal appointments by refractory appointing officers. Their powers being so much greater than those of the national corn mission, their action can be much more drastic in most cases, and they can go more directly to the heart of an existing abuse, and apply more quickly and effectually the needed remedy to end such irregularities.

Outlying Possessions.

Upon the termination of the Spanish American War, the necessity for the extension of the principles of the merit system to the new territories, the responsibility for whose government the results of this war had thrown upon the United States, was realized. By the act providing for civil government in Porto Rico (April 12, 5900), the provisions of the civil service act and rules were applied to that island. Under this legislation the classification applies to all positions which are analogous to positions in the Federal service, those which correspond to positions in the municipal and State governments being considered as local in character, and not included in the classification. A similar law was passed for Hawaii on April 3o, 1900.

On Sept. 19, 1900 the United States Philippine commission passed an act "for the establishment and maintenance of an effi cient and honest civil service in the Philippine islands." This act, in its general features, is based upon the national civil service law. A just right of preference in local appointments is given to natives. The president of the Philippine commission in intro ducing this bill said : "The purpose of the U.S. Government . . . in these islands is to secure for the Filipino people as honest and as efficient a government as may be possible. . . . It is the hope of the commission to make it possible for one entering the lowest ranks to reach the highest, under a tenure based solely upon merit." Experience leads to the belief that this law is well adapted to accomplish the purpose above stated.

Recent Changes.

The changes in the Federal civil service since the World War are : (a) an increase in the number of em ployees, (b) an increase in the proportion of women employed, (c) the extension of the classified service and (d) changes in the laws and regulations. In June 1913, there were 435.000 em ployees in the Federal civil service, of whom 292,460 had entered by competitive examination. In June 1928, there were 568,715 employees, of whom more than 425,000 were in positions subject to competitive examination under the civil service act. Of the 559,138 employees in 1927 the Post Office department with 3o8, 740 represented 55.22%. The Treasury department employed persons in 1927, and the War and Navy departments 42,292 and 43,425 respectively. The Veterans' Bureau had an employment list of 23,696, the department of Agriculture, 21,702, department of the Interior, 16,350 and department of Commerce, 14,964. Since 1916 there has been a substantial decrease in the department of the interior, but an increase of 5,o61 in the depart ment of Commerce. The number of government employees in the Panama Canal Zone decreased from 19,291 m 1916 to 9,926 in 1927. Since 1916 many new governmental activities have been established, namely, the Shipping Board, Alien Property Cus todian, Tariff Commission, Employees Compensation Commis sion, Federal Board of Vocational Education, General Accounting Office, Veterans' Bureau, Railway Administration, War Finance Corporation, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Board of Tax Appeals and Board of Mediation. An Act of Mar. 3, 1927 also brought into the classified service all positions in the Prohibition Service except that of Commissioner of Prohibi tion. Besides these new activities there has been a substantial in crease in the amount of work of the older establishments which have necessitated added employees. Of the total employees in were located in the District of Columbia.

During the war the number of women was increased, and since 1919 all the examinations under the civil service commission have been open to women. In 1928, about 14% of the employees of the Federal civil service were women. In the District of Columbia of the 61,388 employees were women, while outside that district, 55.293 of the 507,327 employees were women. The branches outside the District of Columbia include many large services in which by their nature women are not employed, such as the mechanical forces at navy yards, arsenals, etc., the railway postal service, the rural delivery service and the city delivery service of the post office department. One member of the civil service commission since 1920 has been a woman.

The number of posts entered by competitive examination has been increased by an act of March 3, 1927, bringing the entire bureau of prohibition under the provisions of the civil service law. There are still about 17,000 positions filled by nomination by the president and confirmation by the Senate, besides several thou sand excluded by law from the classified civil service. The nosi tions of deputy collectors of internal revenue and deputy marshals are still regarded as "spoils" for the victors in political contests: and cases of illegal appointment for political reasons still occur and are dealt with by the commission, but the tendency toward a diminution of "spoils" makes steady progress.

When continued lack of eligibles occurs in some of the more specialized positions it becomes necessary to make temporary appointments. This was necessary in 1927 in the case of nurses, dietitians, medical officers and social workers in the Veterans' Bureau. Temporary appointments are also made for laborers and mechanics in the various field branches of the War department and for Christmas holiday workers in the Post Office department. Appointments for special field activities carried on only in the summer are made in many of the departments.

An act of Congress of July i 1, 1919, provides that preference be given in appointment to persons honorably discharged from the Army, Navy or Marine Corp, to their widows, or to their wives in case the veteran is disabled. This is done by adding five points to the earned rating of the veteran. In case of those dis abled ten points are added.

An effort is being made to have the remaining 15,651 post masterships still subject to presidential appointment also included in the classified service, in order that the efficiency of the service might be increased and also that these offices might be opened as a career for subordinate employees. Most of the Presidents, in cluding President Coolidge, and many of the Postmaster Gen erals have recommended the change.