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brary. Competitive essays on civil service reform were written by the pupils in the civics classes of 5 grammar schools and the 6 successful competitors were awarded bronze medals.

The Cambridge Branch held two meetings for members, one addressed by Dr. Henry Van Dyke, the other by Mrs. Cabot; at a third open meeting the speaker was Mr. Henry Loomis Nelson. Besides its executive committee the branch has an advisory council which meets bi-monthly and helps extend interest in the work. A class of members has been studying with enthusiasm municipal government. The branch has interested itself. in the introduction in the grammar schools of the "School City." This new scheme for applying the methods of city administration to self government for school children should be of practical value in teaching them the advantages of the merit system and the contrasting evils of the spoils system. A prize of $10 offered to the Young Women's Christian Association for the best civil service reform essay attracted more competitors than in the two previous years.

The Lowell Branch has met once to hear Mr. Charles Warren and Mrs. Cabot who suggested ideas for awakening more local interest in the cause.

The Lynn Branch has come together four times to complete Mrs. Rice's "Outline for the Study of Civil Service Reform" and then to take up city government. Committees have been appointed to visit the Lynn City Home and Police Station and the Salem Jail. Medals for prize essays have been awarded to two pupils, one in the English, the other in the Classical High School.

The Salem Branch held a meeting with men as guests addressed by Mr. Brooks. It circulated petitions to be presented to the Legislature and felt that these excited much interest in our cause, especially among some young boys who aided in carrying about the petition. In the spring a course of talks was given by Mrs. May Alden Ward on current events in which the subject of civil service reform was introduced.

The first regular meeting of the new Springfield

Branch was held last February when Mrs. Maynard, one of the members, read an interesting paper on "The growth and development of Civil Service Laws in the cities and towns of Massachusetts." This autumn a large and enthusiastic audience was addressed at a public meeting by their fellow citizen and our national champion of civil service reform, Congressman Gillett, who began by stating that he supposed most of his fellow members would smile when they heard he had been talking about civil service to a gathering of women, but that it was his idea they had a very vital influence on public opinion.

The Waltham Branch has met monthly to study municipal government. Papers have been prepared by the members and discussions have followed,

The Worcester Branch has introduced literature into high and grammar schools and also in class work of the Young Men's Christian Association. It likewise arranged for a series of talks at the Boys' Club. A medal was offered to the pupils of senior classes in the three high schools for the best essay upon "What are the aims of Civil Service Reform and what has it accomplished? As a preliminary to the preparation of the papers Mr. Brooks spoke to the students and a meeting with appropriate addresses and exercises was held upon the occasion of the presentation of the medal. The branch has arranged that notices of Federal and State examinations shall be posted at the two colleges and the normal school in Worcester. Two meetings for members took place and a class for them was conducted which used the outline prepared and published by the branch for the study of "Municipal Government and its relation to Civil Service Reform."

This Outline as well as the one by Mrs. Rice previously published by the Worcester Branch have proven most valuable as inspiration and guide to other study classes and the Auxiliary is deeply indebted to the branch for these two valuable and helpful publications. The study of municipal government is arranged to include the investigation of the machinery of the home city's administration and the consequent visits and queries have

proven a source of enlightenment to the men as well as to the women.

In addition to the meetings recorded by our branches the Auxiliary held its own annual meeting when there was an unusually large gathering to hear the reports and an address by Mr. Richard H. Dana on "Overturning the Political Bosses of Philadelphia." Our Auxiliary has also helped on many occasions to provide speakers for women's clubs in Massachusetts.

The bronze school medal designed by Miss Frances Grimes in the studio of Mr. Augustus Saint-Gaudens has proved an unqualified success. Besides the 9 awarded by our branches medals have been given by the Attleboro Pierian Club, the Fitchburg Woman's Club and the Framingham Woman's Club. Any club or association may purchase the medal from us at the cost of $5 to offer as the reward for competitive school essays on some civil service reform subject. The Missouri Federation Civil Service Reform Committee has distributed to the women's clubs in the State a circular giving an account and an illustration of the medal. The public exercises usually accompanying the presentation of the medals are found an excellent means for increasing general interest in the merit system. In some cases the successful essays are published in the local papers. The boys' and girls' appreciation of the beauty and meaning of the medal was well illustrated on one occasion when the children rejected the proposal to substitute a book and insisted on competing for the medal.

Our most wide-spread educational work continues to be the publication and distribution of civil service reform literature. Except for our 5th Annual Report no new pamphlet has been published this year but we have re-issued under the title of "Criticism of the Examination System Answered by Roosevelt," a document previously reprinted from GOOD GOVERNMENT by the New York and Massachusetts Auxiliaries. We now keep on hand for distribution in large numbers ten of our own pamphlets besides a small stock of the publications of the League and of other Associations. Frequent requests for help

in preparing essays come from schools and women's clubs. We again asked the educational journals throughout the country to publish a notice of our offer of free literature. The magazine most successful as an advertising medium was a Sunday School Journal which brought us about 50 applications. A new feature in our work was the sending of sets of our pamphlets to 438 libraries, in the State.

The total number of pamphlets distributed during the past five years in our school work now exceeds 125,000 with a record of their adoption in 1800 schools and colleges scattered throughout every State and territory. Since our last report to the League 10,000 pamphlets have been distributed at meetings or to libraries, clubs and individuals. Ten thousand one hundred and thirteen copies of Miss Cary's excellent Primer have been used in 292 grammar schools, while 10,000 of our pamphlets by Mr. Cary and Mr. Woodruff have gone to 180 high and normal schools and colleges. A good proportion of the pamphlets were sent to schools in Massachusetts while outside our efforts were directed especially to Colorado, Ohio and Pennsylvania, states with civil service bills before their legislatures.

All bills in the Massachusetts Legislature affecting for weal or woe our civil service are watched by us with great interest. Last winter we worked in favor of the new bill introduced by the Massachusetts Civil Service Reform Association for the inclusion under the Civil Service Law of the higher municipal offices. The Auxiliary was represented at the hearing on this bill and presented 3180 signatures from 70 different cities and towns. Seventeen hundred and forty-three of these names were secured through the help of 68 women's clubs. Our time for circulating the petition was brief; otherwise the returns would have been much larger. For a wholly new and rather puzzling object, sure to be opposed in many homes, we feel that this was a most encouraging response and one showing real and growing interest in the merit system. One factor largely contributing to our success was Mr. Dana's willingness to

give an afternoon for the purpose of explaining to various workers the real meaning of the bill and of arming them with answers to criticisms likely to arise and impossible to overcome without adequate knowledge.

Though the higher municipal officers' bill was rejected, another point urged in our petition was successfully carried, namely a law providing for greater publicity for the Massachusetts Civil Service examinations. On account of the need for candidates the Massachusetts Commission asked our help in bringing to the attention of the public the examination for Visitors for the charitable and reformatory institutions of the State and of Boston. As this examination was of especial interest to women, we again called to our aid our branches and the women's clubs and the large number of applicants last June was partly due to the notices circulated by us among them and published through their help in the papers.

The most progressive Civil Service Reform legislation in Massachusetts last winter was enacted by the Boston School Board. The new committee, a body reduced in 1906 from 24 to 5 members, has among other radical improvements in school administration adopted a merit system for the appointment and promotion of teachers. Previously any person who had passed the required examination might be appointed, consequently friendly or political pulling strings were too often needed for obtaining entrance to the teaching force. An appointment must now be made from the highest three on the eligible list willing to take the place. Moreover advancement in position and salary are dependent on success in teaching and any one failing within a given time to show increased efficiency will not be retained in the service. Finally a pension scheme is in preparation.

Before the agitation of these Civil Service Reform measures by the Boston School Board the executive committee of the Auxiliary was considering the question of advocating stronger merit principles in the appointment of Massachusetts public school teachers. At the request of one member of the School Board, the chief promoter of the scheme, the Auxiliary prepared and presented a

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