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examination system, lacking as it does the competitive element, has proven to be practically no barrier to the removal of competent officers, or the appointment of those lacking in personal fitness. The examinations, conducted by the State Department, are private; none of the papers pertaining to them are public, as in the case of examinations under the Civil Service Commission. While in some respects the treatment of the service has been more orderly than has at times been the case, the need of radical reform in methods of appointment, as well as in tenure, is as apparent as heretofore.

On motion the report was received.

A paper:

"Civil Service Reform in Municipal Government," prepared by Dr. Albert Shaw, of New York, was then read by Mr. Welsh, of Philadelphia.*

The Secretary presented a paper prepared by Mr. Horace E. Deming, of New York, treating certain phases of the same subject.f

On motion the League then adjourned.

COLLEGE HALL,

December 17, 1898; 10.30 A. M.

The League re-convened at half-past ten o'clock.

The business in order being the annual election of officers, the President called Mr. Rogers, of Buffalo, to the Chair.

Mr. Woodruff, of Pennsylvania, nominated Carl Schurz for President of the League for the ensuing year. The nomination was seconded by various gentlemen, and Mr. Schurz was unanimously elected. In a brief address he thanked the League for the continued confidence it had manifested, and resumed the chair.

On motion of Mr. Wilby, of Cincinnati, the Secretary was directed to cast one ballot for the re-election for one year of the gentlemen now serving as Vice-presidents, as follows: Charles Francis Adams, Boston; Henry Hitchcock, St. Louis; Henry Charles Lea, Philadelphia; Augustus R. Macdonough, New York; Franklin MacVeagh, Chicago; J. Hall Pleasants, Baltimore; Rt. Rev. Henry C. Potter, New York; William Potts, New York: Rt. Rev. P. J. Ryan, Philadelphia.

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The Secretary cast the ballot, and the gentlemen named were declared elected.

Mr. Siddons for the Auditing Committee appointed by the Executive Committee, submitted the following report:

To the National Civil Service Reform League:

December 17, '97.

The undersigned, constituting the Auditing Committee, respectfully report that we have examined the accounts of the Treasurer,* comparing them with the vouchers. We find them correct, and that the amount in the treasury at this date is $366.13.

JOHN W. ELA,
FRED'K. L. SIDDONS.

On motion the report was accepted and ordered filed.

Mr. Bonaparte, for the Committee on Resolutions, read the resolutions prepared and submitted them for the action of the League.

Mr. Foulke, of Indiana, moved that the resolutions be considered and acted on seriatim, and the motion was carried.

The resolutions were then re-read, and after some discussion, were adopted unanimously in the following form:

(1) The National Civil Service Reform League, assembled in this, its seventeenth annual meeting, reminds the country of the specific and emphatic pledges of the last Republican National Convention thoroughly and honestly to enforce the present Federal Civil Service Law, and to extend its operation wherever practicable. The League confidently expects from the President, and demands from every Republican Senator and Representative, a faithful fulfillment of this distinct and solemn pledge.

(2) The League denounces any attempt on the part of Republican members of either House or Congress, to repeal the law or embarrass its administration, or in any way to modify of its provisions, except to the end that the merit system of selection for public officers and employees may be extended, and personal or partisan favoritism in their choice more thoroughly eradicated; and declares such attempts, not only unpatriotic and unwise, but gross and shameful breaches of party faith, of which no man of honor would be guilty.

(3) The League recognizes in the order of President McKinley forbidding removals in the classified service unless for good cause and after due notice to the person accused, a wise and just measure, fully endorsed by an enlightened public opinion, and it demands for this order a fair

*Page 45.

construction and a practical enforcement, with adequate punishment for any officials who disobey or seek to evade its provisions.

(4) The League respectfully urges upon the President and upon those members of his Cabinet and of either House of Congress who also desire to preserve and extend the merit system of appointment in the Federal service, the importance of an unflinching resistance to the impudent demands of men who wish its destruction. The least concession to demands inspired by such motives will greatly encourage these men and increase their greedy clamor, while making resistance to such pressure more difficult in the future.

(5) The League calls attention to the fact that in those states where the party now dominant in the Federal government has sought in the resolutions of its State Conventions to qualify or evade the unequivocal utterance of its National platform as to civil service reform, the results of the late elections have clearly indicated the disapproval of honest and patriotic citizens. The League further recognizes with pleasure the steady and rapid growth of sympathy with its principles and purposes among enlightened and conscientious Americans of all classes.

(6) The League indignantly stigmatizes the mendacity with which the enemies of good government and pure politics, both in and out of Congress, have misrepresented the practical working of the merit system, and their persistent repetition of gross and ridiculous falsehoods, clearly and frequently exposed, as insults at once to the intelligence and the conscience of the American people.

(7) The League demands that the employees of the Census Bureau be selected for merit and fitness, to be determined by fair, practical and thorough competitive examinations under the direction of the Civil Service Commission. With the warning example of the last census before its eyes, it protests against any enactment which may prevent or impede such selection, as involving a scandalous waste of money and a sacrifice of the country's interest. It were better to have no census at all in 1900 than one taken by incompetent or untrustworthy political proteges, selected according to the well-known methods of so-called practical politics.

(8) The League renews its previous declarations in favor of the repeal of the law prescribing four year terms for many Federal offices, the extension of the merit system to the Consular Service and the municipal civil service of the District of Columbia, and the consolidation of outlying with central post offices. It expressly disclaims any advocacy of civil service pensions as a part of the merit system, which contemplates such pensions no more than did the system of appointment and removal by favor, prevailing before the merit system was introduced; on the contrary the protection which an assured tenure during efficiency affords to public servants, should enable them by the exercise of the frugality and forethought displayed by all prudent persons, to provide out of their current earnings for the ordinary contingencies of age and infirmity.

Mr. Swift, of Indiana, called the attention of the League to the desirability of giving the widest possible circulation to the address delivered by the President on the evening of the 16th inst.

Mr. Wilby, of Cincinnati, moved that a special Committee, of which the Secretary shall be a member ex-officio, be appointed and charged with the printing and circulation of the address in question. The motion was carried unanimously.

On motion of Mr. Richmond, of Buffalo, it was voted that the Resolutions adopted by the League be also printed and circulated as widely as practicable.

A paper: "The Legal Situation-The Right to Compete for Public Employment," was then read by Mr. Edwin Burritt Smith, of Chicago.*

Mr. Wilby announced that the Women's Club of Cincinnati would entertain the visiting delegates at luncheon, and extended the invitation of the Club to all present. On motion the League then adjonrned.

COLLEGE HALL,

December 17, 1898, 2.30 P. M.

The League reconvened at half past two o'clock.

The President called Mr. Rogers, of Buffalo, to the chair,

and the following papers were read:

"The Municipal Situation in Ohio." Cincinnati.t

"The Republican Party and Civil

Henry Hitchcock, of St. Louis.‡

Rufus B. Smith, of

Service Reform."

"Do the American People Want Civil Service Reform." Charles J. Bonaparte, of Baltimore.||

A paper prepared by Mr. Moorfield Storey, of Boston: "The Democratic Party and Civil Service Reform,", was presented by Mr. Charles Warren.§

At the conclusion of the reading of papers, Mr. Welsh, of Pennsylvania, moved that the grateful thanks of the League be tendered to the Civil Service Reform Association of Cincinnati, and to the Women's Club, for the courteous and

*Page 104. †Page 138. *Page 46. Page 83.

$Page 70.

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On the evening of the 17th, the visiting delegates were entertained by the Civil Service Reform Association of Cincinnati at a banquet given at the Hotel St. Nicholas. Justice William R. Taft, President of the Cincinnati Association, presided, and addresses were made by Carl Schurz; Senator James R. Garfield, of Cleveland; Gustav Tafel, Mayor of Cincinnati; Herbert Welsh, of Philadelphia; Col. John E. Ela, of Chicago; Lucius B. Swift, of Indiana; Lewis R. Gunckel, of Dayton, and Charles J. Bonaparte, of Balti

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