. ferv: V- / . / n‘ 35 \. 6 G4M ICelumiiia Wriirreesilrs in tire ®itrj of Sew Hori. Xibravy GIVEN BY "Pro?. t.'R. K.SetamSTi mi ■r-b - i What Has Been Don&Mrifew. >#drk, And May be Done Elsewhere. ; " : The Civil-Service Reform Association of New York desires to in- vite universal attention to the point now reached in the general move- ment, but, more particularly, to the specific measures enacted in this State, to the means through which they have been secured, and to the certainty that similar means may secure similar measures in every other State in the Union. No national legislation has been added to the Reform Bill of 1883. The President is empowered by that Bill to extend the competitive system to all Government offices with fewer than fifty clerks, and this will doubtless be done when the National Commission judges the time ripe for such appeal to him. The next needful legislative step, — that proclaimed by the National League, and for which this Association has earnestly labored during the past twelvemonth , is the repeal of the obnoxious Four Years’ Term Acts of 1820 and subsequent years, by which Collectors, District Attorneys, Marshals, and Postmasters are in effect discharged just when their services have become most valuable to the Government. The House of Representatives at the present session refused to suspend the rules in order to pass the bill repealing these Acts, which bill was unanimously recommended by the Committee on Civil Service, but it will be pressed upon Congress next winter, and to secure its enactment is the special task of Reformers in the sphere of national legislation. While thus much remains to be achieved at Washington, the New York Association congratulates all friends of the cause upon the victories gained in New York for State and Municipal Reform. A majority of members in both Senate and Assembly was indifferent or hostile; yet the most sympathetic Legislature could have conceded little more to reform demands, the highest hopes of the most enthusiastic having been surpassed. The history is briefly this : — The Act creating a Commission, adopting the competitive system in tiye Sf/it&;sfS'yich, aqunnaking it optional for the Mayors of cities with 5o{ocxf lfi 3 iahftanP%^-d*thV» Police, Fire, Educational, and Law depart- ments passed last year. Our Association prepared tiffs winter Pan, pmcnclaaory /bill making the system compulsory upon these; Mayors, pnd *a .friendly Assemblyman secured a lowering of the population limit' fcdaScfoob. To ridicule the reform and to imperil the bill, a spoilsman moved to strike out all limitation, and in this form the Act was passed. After subsequent changes in each House and the later action of a Conference Committee, the Police, Fire, and Law depart- ments were refused exemption, and soldiers and sailors in the civil war were given precedence over competitors of equal merit. Another Act provides additional facilities for the work of the State Commission, and the section forbidding even voluntary political sub- scriptions by officers was modified so as to forbid only assessments and solicitations. The Civil Service laws of this State are now almost complete, some few modifications, probably procurable next year, alone being needed. Their character and scope will be seen from the following resume of their main provisions. STATE SERVICE. 1. The State Commission classifies the service, prescribes the rules, and presides over the examinations. It is empowered to inquire into the nature, tenure, and salary of all offices; to subpoena witnesses and order the production of books and papers ; and to recommend any needed legislation. 2. All admissions to the State service are through the competitive system, with the exception of elected officers, those confirmed by the Senate, and laborers, and of 52 special cases added by the Commission for reasons ample and fully stated. CITY SERVICE. i. The law applies to every incorporated city in the State. Of these there are 23, viz. Albany, Auburn, Binghamton, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Cohoes, Elmira, Kingston, Lockport, Long Island City, Newburg, New York, Ogdensburg, Oswego, Poughkeepsie, Rochester, Rome, Schenectady, Syracuse, Troy, Utica, Watertown, and Yonkers. 2. The Mayor of each is required to carry out the reformed system. 3. Admissions to the city service are through the competitive system, the only exceptions being elected officers, subordinates to superiors financially responsible for them, officers in charge of and accounta- ble for public moneys, those in the Educational Department, and (possibly) election officers. 4. The rules or changes promulgated by any Mayor are subjected to the approval of the State Commission. GENERAL PROVISIONS CONTROLLING BOTH STATE AND CITY SERVICE. t. No recommendation or certificate, except as to character or residence, can be received from any member of the Legislature, officer con- firmed by the Senate, or Judge. 2. All assessments and solicitations of every kind are prohibited. 3. Political opinions or affiliations may not be inquired into. 4. Officials and candidates for office are forbidden to use or promise in- fluence towards securing office as a reward for votes or influence. This, as well as the use of threats, is defined and punished as “ bribery.” 5. Honorably discharged soldiers and sailors are preferred over other competitors of equal merit. The specific object of this circular is to impress upon reformers in each State the hopefulness of a like reform impelled by like methods. In New York the difficulties have been peculiarly great. The Custom House, the Post Office, and the Municipal Service are the largest in the country ; and the long abuse of executive power in them all had almost reduced them to the condition of the Scotch Town-Councils in the x8th century, so graphically described by Cockburn : — “ Sinks of political and municipal iniquity, steeped in the baseness which they propagated, and types and causes of the corruption that surrounded them.” Nowhere has the spoils-system been so general, so aggressive, and so defiant. Federal law, indeed, ended that system in the Custom House and Post jOffice, but it was in full operation in State and Municipal affairs until the .passage of the recent Acts. Now in the face of all these difficulties Sthe Acts were passed, passed against men hostile to reform. Why ? 'Because the public will, aided by the public press, raised so persistent a 1 277271 . — — demand. But that very will was largely the creation of the Reform Associations. It was they who excited, guided, and enforced the ap- peal. Perhaps in no Legislature is reform spontaneous. It must be initiated through outside pressure, and that pressure is to be secured, as experience shows, through voluntary Associations composed of citizens from each political party, united for the single and unpartisan purpose of purging civil administration from the “spoils” element and placing it upon the basis of merit only. It is to the formation of such Associations for this purpose, stimu- lated by the spectacle of our struggle and our success, that we invite the effort of every honest citizen in each State. We do not ask him to merely smile upon the attempts of others, but to take a personal initia- tive in consultation with neighbors and in preparation for public meet- ings, for organization, and for work. This is as true of small as of large towns, for wherever there is a member of the Legislature to be elected, there are two candidates to be questioned and one victor to be watched and warned. With thorough organization throughout the State soon comes a Legislature pledged to reform, and then the Acts which stay the current of bribery, corruption, abuse, extravagance, and fraud. This Association will be pleased to answer communications, impart information, and distribute documents. EVERETT P. WHEELER, Chairman Executive Com. WM. POTTS, Secretary. Office of the Civil-Service Reform Association, 4 Pine st., New York City. i ■ j ■ ■ \ June, 1884. W-v ;>-WVY P- . Analogous Bills were passed in Massachusetts and defeated in Penn- sylvania, failed in New Jersey, and are under consideration in Cali-, fornia and Maryland. —