The president then announced the order of miscellaneous business.

The application of the Civil Service Reform Club of Yale University for admission to the League was submitted by the club's representative, Mr. Lanier McKee. The president stated that without the formality of a vote he might assure the new organization of cordial reception to membership.

The report of the Committee on Resolutions was then taken up, and after having been considered, section by section, was adopted unanimously in the following form:

The past year has witnessed a continued and remarkable progress in the Civil Service Reform. It is attested not only by the large extensions made by the President to the classified service, but by the approbation with which those extensions have been received by the people. The testimony of the heads of Departments and Departmental divisions as to the operation of the Reform system in the conduct of the public service, is concurrent and more than ever favorable, and the press, with few exceptions, has given to the movement a support which indicates that in its judgment the experimental period has passed. There are unmistakable indications also that at last the character of the Civil Service Reform is being recognized in the great cities of the country, and that any attempt to remedy the evils which afflict, and to remove the scandals which disgrace municipal life must be futile so long as its public service is in the hands of spoilsmen. The magnificent popular victory in Chicago for Civil Service Reform is the herald of like victories in all the other great cities of the country. The adoption by the State of New York of a constitutional amendment giving to the competitive system the sanction and security of the organic law has been followed by a marked improvement in the administration of the Civil Service law in that State. Only an honest recognition by appointing officers of their plain duty under the Constitution in the appointment and retention of suitable officials seems now to be necessary, in order to give that great State, with its numerous cities, a thorough and harmoniously working system of appointment to office upon the ground of merit and fitness alone.

The League congratulates the country upon the promulgation of the recent plan of the President and the Postmaster-General to consolidate with the principal post-offices the smaller ones surrounding them, so as to make the latter mere branch offices, and on the recent order to place all persons employed therein, including the postmasters of these branch offices, within the classified service. We trust that this plan may be carried out with energy and courage, so that it may receive a prompt and general application.

The League commends the order of President Cleveland of September 20, 1895, concerning the mode of appointing Consular officers, as an ef

fort to promote the efficiency of the service, and as a recognition of the principle that fitness and qualification should control such appointments and promotion. The League recommends that this order be extended to all purely Consular officers whose compensation exceeds $2,500, and that it also include subordinate officers in the Diplomatic service. The League further recommends, in order that the reform be enduring, and that this executive order may not meet the same fate as the similar executive orders of 1866, 1872 and 1873, that a suitable law be enacted by Congress embodying these reforms; and also that such law provide so far as possible for competitive examinations to be conducted by members of the Civil Service Commission.

The League commends the order of the Postmaster-General requiring that no letter-carrier shall be removed except for cause and upon written charges, and it urges the application of a similar rule to other branches of the classified service.

The League renews it demand for the repeal of the law limiting to four years the terms of certain administrative officers as unjust, impolitic, a prolific source of demoralization and mischief to the public service and to our whole political life, and especially calculated to impair the beneficent effects of recent reforms. "Merit appointments must logically be

accompanied by merit tenure."

The League recommends that the present law against soliciting contributions for political purposes from federal employees be so amended as to prohibit such solicitations in any manner or place, and that the Civil Service Commission be given the power to compel the attendance of witnesses, and to put them upon oath or affirmation.

The reforms in the federal and State service already made are in the highest degree important and gratifying, but they are only a part of the work to be done, Municipal maladministration is the deepest disgrace, and one of the gravest dangers of the present time. The great spoilsmen of to-day are plundering our cities. Their power to do so lies in their control of the offices; their overthrow would be the substitution for political influence of the merit system as the test of appointment to office. All Municipal Reform must be based upon Civil Service Reform. We therefore urge upon all seeking good government for our cities the paramount importance of securing the adoption therein of the merit system of appointment.

And we respectfully urge upon Congress the extension of this system by law to the District of Columbia.

Mr. Rogers, for the Committee on Resolutions, reported the resolution offered by Dr. Gallaudet, in the following form:

Resolved, That it is of the utmost importance to establish and maintain the principle of permanent tenure of office during good behavior in

schools for the education of deafmutes and of the blind, and in charitable, humane, educational and penal institutions. The League indignantly protests against the interference of spoils politics in the management of such schools and institutions, and it urgently demands that the shameful and disastrous abuses now existing be peremptorily forbidden by legislation.

The resolution was adopted unanimously.

The secretary reported for the Publication Committee that in accordance with the direction of the Executive Committee a plan for the future publication of Good Government, in connection with the office of the League, in New York City, had been agreed upon. The plan provided, briefly, that the management of the paper be assumed by the secretary, the more active members of the League to assist in the preparation of purely editorial material, and the news columns to contain information concerning the progress of the civil service reform movement similar to that given heretofore in the abstract of the monthly report of the New York Association. The usual departments would be maintained, with special regard to reports from local associations, municipal reform organizations, the College Civil Service Reform League and other bodies. The Washington office would be continued and regular Washington correpondence furnished. The size of the paper would probably be reduced, but every effort would be made to maintain its character as a journal and as the organ of the League.

On motion of Mr. Wyman, the plan submitted was approved, and the arrangement of further details was referred to a committee consisting of Mr. Cary, Mr. Collins and the secretary.

Mr. Davis, of Cincinnati, referring to a suggestion previously made by Mr. Estes, moved that the members of any local association paying annually a stated sum for the purpose, receive Good Government without further subscription. Mr. Bonaparte moved, as an amendment, that the plan proposed be referred with power to the Publication Committee. The amendment was accepted and the motion carried.

The secretary read letters from the Round Table Club, and the Old Oak Club, of Nashville, Tenn., inviting the League

to hold its sixteenth annual meeting in that city. This invitation was endorsed in very cordial terms in a communication signed by the Mayor of Nashville, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, and the president of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition Company.

Mr. Charles P. Noyes stated that he had been commissioned by the Civil Service Reform Association and the Civic Federation of St. Paul, Minn., to invite the League, on their behalf, to hold its next meeting in that city.

Mr. Justi expressed the hope that Nashville would be selected, and assured the League a hearty welcome.

On motion the invitations were referred to the Executive Committee, and the secretary was directed, in acknowledging them, to express the sense of cordial appreciation in which they had been received.

A communication from the Committee on Civil Service of the National Association of Post-Office Clerks, asking that the League recommend to Congress legislation embodying and extending to all branches of the classified postal service the provisions of Postal Order 235, regulating removals, was read by the secretary. On motion the matter was referred to the Committee on Legislation with power to make the recommendation proposed.

A communication from Dr. C. W. Zaremba, suggesting that the League consider the advisability of the establishment by Congress of a National Academy for the preparation of candidates for the higher branches of the Civil Service, was read, and, on motion, referred to the Executive Committee.

On motion of Mr. Reynolds it was unanimously voted that the president be requested to express, on behalf of the League, a grateful appreciation of the hearty reception and generous entertainment it has received at the hands of the Civil Service Reform Association of the District of Columbia.

On motion of Mr. Foulke the thanks of the League were tendered also to the officers and members of the Cosmos Club for the use of the club's headquarters, and to Rev. Dr. Alex. Mackay-Smith and Hon. W. G. Rice, for the hospitality extended by them to the League.

Mr. Thorp moved that the League express its high appreciation of the eloquent and inspiring address delivered pub

licly by the president, and that the thanks of the League be tendered him. The motion was carried unanimously.

The League then adjourned.
Attest:

GEORGE MCANENY,

Secretary.

On the evening of the 13th a reception was tendered by the Civil Service Reform Association, of the District of Columbia, to the visiting delegates, at the Arlington Hotel. Interesting addresses were made in the course of the evening by Rev. Dr. Alexander Mackay-Smith, who presided, HonCarl Schurz, Hon. J. Sterling Morton, Secretary of Agriculture, Charles J. Bonaparte, Hon. Sherman S. Rogers, Hon. Everett P. Wheeler, Hon. Wm. Dudley Foulke, Hon. J. H. Eckels, Comptroller of the Currency, and Rt. Rev. John F. Hurst.

The delegates were entertained at luncheon on the 12th, by the Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Mackay-Smith, and on the 13th by Hon. Wm. G. Rice, meeting on the latter occasion, Mr. Rice's associate Civil Service Commissioners, Hon. John R. Procter and Hon. J. B. Harlow, the Postmaster-General, Hon. William L. Wilson, the Secretary of the Interior, Hon. Hoke Smith, and the Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. Morton.