CIVIL SERVICE REFORM AND THE “BLACK ACT”[1]
Governor:—We appear here with the respectful request that you will not permit the bill now before you, known as the civil service bill, to become a law.
As citizens living under a constitutional government we are all in duty bound to uphold the fundamental law of the State. The higher the officer of the State, the more weighty becomes the obligation he assumes when taking this oath: “I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the State of New York, according to the best of my ability.”
The constitution of the State of New York contains this clause: “Appointments and promotions in the civil service of the State, and of all the civil divisions thereof, including cities and villages, shall be made according to merit and fitness, to be ascertained, so far as practicable, by examination, which, so far as practicable, shall be competitive.” The true intent and meaning of this provision is that the civil service system existing by law in this State should stand under the safeguard of a constitutional mandate—not, indeed, as to every detail of its mechanism, but at least as to its fundamental principles and essential features. This is no mere surmise. It is a view repeatedly and emphatically confirmed by judicial decisions. Permit me to quote one of them as a specimen:
The rule as to open competitive examinations, and the manner of its operation and effect, were well known to the people of the State when the constitution was submitted to
- ↑ An address on behalf of the Civil Service Reform Association of New York, at a hearing given at the executive chamber, Albany, May 6, 1897, on the pending bill to amend the civil service laws of the State, commonly known as the “Black Act.”
