Such a policy would answer to Webster's statement of the theory of our institutions and to the practice of the early Presidents. Wash ington declared: *In every nomination to office I have endeavored, so far as my own knowledge extended or information could be obtained, to malce fitness of character my primary object.* In the first 39 years of the history of the govern ment the six Presidents made only 112 removals. A few years later, when Webster had to define anew the true theory of the public service, a very different practice had grown up. It was frankly described in that same debate by Mr. Marcy, a senator from New York. He said: °The poli ticians of the United States are not so fastidious as some gentlemen are as to disclosing the prin ciples on which they act. They see nothing wrong in the rule that to the victor belongs the spoils of the enemy.* This theory is plainly the opposite of the true one. Under it elections do not merely settle the policy of the country, as to wlaich parties may unselfishly differ. They become contests for spoils as well and tend to become more and more contests for spoils and less disputes as to principle. The spoils are the offices, the places of trust and these tend to be given not to those best fitted to perform their duties, but to those who have claims on the party. The service is hurt by putting out tried men and putting in untried men and since the untried men are chosen for other reasons than fitness, they are apt to be poorer officers. Since they owe their employment to party favor and do not get it on their merits, they are likely to be less faithful and less honest. They are liable to be turned out at the next election and they are tempted to make all they can from their places. The offices tend to be regarded as created not ((for the public convenience* but *for the benefit of those who fill them.* The service tends to become poorer, less honest, more costly. Any large private business con ducted in this way would surely come to dis aster. So would the business of the government if it had not the pockets of the taxpayers to draw from.
The Spoils The spoils system pre vailed in the- service of the United States gov ernment for about a half-century after 1830. It also prevailed in greater or less degree in the service of the several States and of the larger cities. It was not confined to any one party. All were more or less corrupted by it. The effect on the politics of the country was very bad. The pressure for public employment, al ways strong, became extreme. Probably the election'of 1860 was as largely decided by moral conviction as any in the history of the country. Yet, one month after he took office, President Lincoln groaned under the burden of this pres sure. aI wish," he wrote, in his simple phrase, *I could get time to attend to the Southern question. I think I know what is wanted and believe I could do something toward quieting the rising discontent, but the office-seekers de mand all my time. I am like a man so busy letting rooms in one end of his house that he cannot stop to put out the fire that is burning in the other.* In the crisis of the war for the Union he was visited by a committee of New York politicians, intent on patronage. The chair man opened his address with a reference to the aawful burden of the nation's fate weighin on the president.* °Gentlemen,* interrupted bMr. Lincoln, ((it is not the fate of the nation that worries me most just now ; it is your peslcy post office.* These incidents throw a strong light on the waste of time, of money and of strength imposed by the spoils system. The degradation and pollution of politics were even worse effects. The office-holders, living on the spoils of the place and greedy for more, seized the organization of their party, whichever it happened to be, and made the free exercise of honest preference among the voters difficult and often impossible. The scramble between fac tions in the party in possession became as in tense as between opposing parties. In the cus tom house in New York, five collectors of the same party made 1,878 removals in a period of 1,565 business days and the service grew steadily worse. In 1881, Guiteau, an office-seeker from
New York, where a bitter factional fight had long been raging, half-crazed with disappointed greed, assassinated President Garfield, to whom he charged his failure.
The Merit This proved the turn ing point. At the next session of Congress bills were introduced for the establishment of the merit system and a law was passed in January 1883. It was entitled aAn Act to Regu late and Improve the Civil Service of the United States? The object of the law was 'to secure appointment and promotion in the service for fitness. For this purpose appointments were to be made from those graded highest as the results of open competitive examinations, the appointments being made final only after a period of probation or trial. This system was to be extended throughout the service as fast and as far as the President should direct. When any part of the service was to be brought under the system, it was to be arranged in classes by order of the President ; hence the term ((classi fied service)) means, under the law, the part of the service in which the merit system is applied. Within the classified service, the ex aminations for appointment and for promotion are chiefly competitive; that is to say a list, called an ((eligible list,* is made of all applicants passing a fixed grade, in . the order of their standing, and a selection is made by the ap pointing officer from the three highest on this list. This selection is for the period of proba tion or trial, six months, at the end of which term, if his conduct and capacity are satisfac tory, the probationer is absolutely appointed; if not, he is discharged. Non-competitive exami nations are held according to the rules laid down by the President. In these all applicants passing a fixed grade are elieible to appointment without regard to their relative standing. The rule as to probation is the same as in the other cases. The law requires that all ((examinations shall be practical in their character and as far as may be shall relate to those matters which will fairly test the relative capacity and fitness of the persons examined to discharge the duties of the service to which they seek to be ap pointed.* Close attention is paid to this. re quirement. In the first place, weight is given to the experience of the candidates in the kind of work they seek, when such experience can definitely be known. Then each class is tested as to knowledge and skill particularly needed. For clerks and accountants, weight is given to accuracy and quickness in figures, to. clear ness and rapidity in writing and to familianty with the principles and methods of book keeping. Examinations are generally for en trance to the lower grades of the service and actual excellence in the performance of work counts in promotion. For places requiring special knowledge, trained examiners are em ployed. For instance, the examiners who set the questions and rated the answers in the case of the supervising architect were prominent architects from various parts of the country. They were able, from the records of the candi dates, to test not only professional knowledge, but business capacity. In all cases the ex aminers are selected from those who are well informed as to the work to be done. The ap plication of this law is to be carried out and watched by a commission, known as the United States Civil Service Commission, made up of three members; appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. This commission aids the President in the formation of the rules under the law, and, with the aid of examiners, sets and conducts the examinations. All appointing officers are required to report to it all changes in the classified service, of which the commission keeps a full record, as well as of its own examinations and other proceedings. All officers of the service are required to aid in the performance of the duties of the com mission.