Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/896

CIVIL-SEKVICE REFOBM. 790 CIVIL-SEKVICE refoiim:. new and more enduring vitalitj-. It is to the excessive and vit-ious development of the party system in its earlier stages that we owe this condition of affairs. Human nature is much the same under all forms of government; and it is, therefore, not to be wondered at that great party leaders, like Bolingbroke and A'alp<)le, liaving great patronage at their command, should employ it to consolidate their power or that of llieir party. The 'spoils system,' as it is called in the United States, had its inception with the real be- ginning of jiopular government, in the reign of William 111. William III. was himself a great administrator, and his first efforts were directed to a reform in the public service. But the only permanent 'reform' effected was the substitution of Parliament for the Crown as the source of otEce and official corruption. At the accession of Anne in 1702, the party system had envelo])cd the whole civil service of Great Britain. All of the offices of State and all employments under them, from the liighest to the meanest, were the assets of the party in power and were available for party purjioses. The results of the system were in the highest degi'ee demoralizing to the public administration and to the public spirit of the nation. As has been well said of this period in England, "the partisan system of appointments and promotions aggravated the evils of Parlia- mentary patronage, made administration costly and feeble, spread corruption from the depart- ments to cities, boroughs, and elections, while it disgusted the better class of citizens, alarmed statesmen, and exasperated and debased all po- litical contests." ^Matters grew steadily worse through the early part of George III.'s long reign, the eti'orts of Rockingham, Burke, Pitt, and other patriots to stay the tide of corrupt practices being neutralized by the stubborn resistance of the King. The tide turned, however, with the coming in of the second Rockingham ilinistry in 17S2, and when George IV. ascended the throne, in 1820. though the partisan system still existed, its worst abuses had been driven cut by the growth of a better public sentiment. The great Reform movement which culminated in IS.'52 had no direct concern with adminis- tration and produced no immediate effect on the movement for administrative reform ; but the 'merit system' of selecting candidates for office was tried on a small scale as early as 1834, and slowly but steadily made its way. It was probably the demoralization of the Indian service which opened the eyes of British statesmen to the necessit}- for more sweeping methods of reform ; and after securing the passage of the India Act of ISo."!, the Govern- ment of Lord .l)erdcen appointed a commission, consisting of Sir StalToYd Xorlhcote and Sir Charles Trcvclyan. to make an inquiry into the condition of the public service and to suggest im- provements therein. This conmiission having in the same year reported, recommending a unifonn system of competitive examinations to test per- sonal fitness for the ])ublic service, in 18.^5 such a system was established by the Ministry of Lord Palmerston, through an order of the Queen in Council. This sweeping reform, which has proved to be as permanent as it has been salutary, was brought about by the wisdom and experience of the administration, in the face of a hostile majority in Parliament and an apathetic public opinion. The beneficial effects of the new sys- tem quickly became apparent, and in the ex- tremely short space of four years had roused a, strong public sentiment in its favor and won the unanimous support of Parliament, and in 1859 was fully legalized by statute. The last step in the reform of the British civil sei"vice was taken in 1870, when the competition, previously somewhat restricted, was thrown open by an Order in Council to all persons of requisite age, health, and character. The 'spoils system' and its reform have had a shorter and a more recent history in the United States. It was instituted by President Jackson in 1829, as an incident of his bitter and proscriptive campaign for the Presidency, at a time when it was already on the wane in Great Britain. The doctrine enunciated in the notorious declaration of Senator ilarcy, that "to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy," rap- idly became the aceeiited principle of political action in this country, and represents a more thoroughgoing and vicious form of the system than ever existed in England. There, as here, office was the reward of party service; but the principle of the 'dean sweep,' whereby an in- coming administration makes room for its sup- porters by the wholesale removal of the incum- bents of the public service, was the exclusive possession of the American Republic. So well adapted did this principle prove itself to the American party system, that it spread rapidly from the national Government to the several States until it permeated the entire public life of the country. So firmly did it become in- trenched in the civic life of the American peo- ple, that it has been affectionately described and defended by its supporters as the 'American system.' Its essentially artificial character is evidenced by the fact that in the forty years from the beginning of Washington's administra- tion to that of Jackson, not a single subordi- nate officer of the Government was removed without cause, while in Jackson's first term the number of such removals rose to thousands. This was not accomplished without jirotest, however. The new principle was vigorously combated in the Senate of the United States by (Jlay, Webster, Calhoun, and other leaders — the first of whom denounced it as "a detesUilile sys- tem, drawn from the worst periods of the Roman Republic." But nothing availed to stay the tide, and for forty years more no President raised his voice against the system or failed to act upon it. But the sentiment in favor of reform was slowly gathering force, and in 18fi7 it found its first effective expression in a report to the House of Representatives, made by Jlr. Tliomas A. Jenekes of Rhode Island, recommending the estjiblisliment of a merit system. Iiascd upon competitive examinations. A second rcjiort, rec- ommending similar action, was made by Mr. Jenekes the next year, but it was not until 1871 that the growing force of public opinion compelled Congress to take action upon the .sub- ject. In that year a clause in the general a])i)ro- priation bill authorized the President to prescrilie rules for admission to the civil service, and to appoint a commission for that purpose. Presi- dent Grant thereupon appointed the first Civil Service Commission, with George William Cur- tis as chairman, and in December of the same year the Commission reported, reconimendinot a set of rules and regulations. This report waS