CIVIL SERVICE REFORM IN AMERICA.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 410, 20 January 1909, Page 6

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM IN AMERICA.

... Some weeks ago reference was -made in these columns to an;, important deereo by , which President RoosEra/r. has sought to crown, prior to his ;retiremerit, the campaign of. Civil : Service reform : which he has carried on throughout his presidency. Fuller information received by mail only emphasises the importance of the President's action. \ It appears that proportion i of: the Goyerninehfc employees, ' whioh Mn. EoosevEtT . haa ■ been steadily reducing since-ho went to the White House, is not;included in the regular classified lißt of 'Civil"Servants,- arid thie'wetion Jiae in the past boen Ehamelcßely. used for

political ends. Positions in this portion" of the service have been in the gift and , at the mercy of unscrupulous members of Congress, and the political appointments made have been of great advantago to the ruling party, at the' various conventions. No class of these, officers had rendered greater service-to the cause' of political jobbary than the small postmasters,:. who long remained immune from Mr. Roosevelt's successive"attacks upon the system. Now the President has decreed that all fourth-class- postmasters'in the States cast.of the Mississippi River and north of the, Ohio River shall be placed immediately in the, classi.fied Civil. Service.. Appointments:. of , these officers will in future be mad? only after they have passed a competitive. ex* animation, and their positions will bo outside the reach of political control. Out of 55,318 fourth-class postmasters in the Union, no fewer than 15,488 come under the new decree,, arid it is expected that the. order will be extended to : other States as soon as the classification of , these men is,complete. The reform is a ■specially far-reaching on'o, in that the opportunities of the small postmaster to be of political service to his party were unique' and.. various. Often he Was thej only employee in his town,, and in'the district, county and State conventions he used his'influence to the ■full,' It is generally admitted that the classified Civil Service took no improper part in the latest Presidential election, but the old instrument of the irregular service was. doubtless used.. .to good '■ & feet. It is assumed that Me.'Taet f had given his concurrence to this edict which will rob him of so much; imnortarjt "pat-? ronage" future. . The Presidents elect, as well as Mr," Roosevelt, has fie, quently declared his devotion ,to. ; the principle of removing the Civil Service from political control. The.. retiring President, it'is said, has done more , in seveti. years -to '-accomplish., this. /result than was dpne'by his immediate pred?: cessors in 18 years.•• The principle which Messrs.; Taft, and Roosevelt can ■ port at a large-.sacrifice is quite ide'sorving of consideration in thie country, where, if political manipulation of the Service is not' so general as' iji. America, it is yet far from non-eisistent. The advocates of a Public Service Board for New Zealand should keep their ob' jeciprpminently to the fore. :; ;