Requisites to a Reform of the Civil Service. 89 



EEQUISITES TO A REFORM OP THE CIVIL 



SERVICE. 



BY DR. J. W. HOYT, PRESIDENT OP THE ACADEMY. 



If it be true, as asserted by the civil service commission of 

 the United States, that tine present system of the civil service 

 '■'■ violates the fundamental principles of thrift and economy ; 

 fosters personal and political corruption ; paralyzes legislative 

 honor and vigilance ; weakens and degrades official conduct; 

 tempts dangerous ambition; and, by poisoning the springs of 

 moral action, vitiates the character of the people and endan- 

 gers the national prosperity and permanence," then is it a 

 matter of the most vital importance to the nation, and to the 

 republican principles upon which the government is based, 

 that we accept it as truth and devote our best thoughts and 

 energies to the reformation of that service. 



Unhappil}', there is nothing in the results of inquiries insti- 

 tuted by the civil service commission, nor yet in the facts 

 recently brought to light by the investigations of committees 

 formed by the state and national legislatures, that is calculated 

 to disprove these grave charges. It is true that the civil war, 

 through which the nation has so recently passed, mr.y be held 

 responsible, in large measure, for the corrupting influences 

 which have so infected the body politic and tainted the polit- 

 ical atmosphere of the country. This is one of the le 'mate 

 fruits of all wars, one of the terrible penalties a peopK lust 

 suffer for yielding to the impulse of passion instead of hold- 

 ing themselves bravelv to the demands ot reason. But far 

 more of this political demoralization is chargeable against our 

 system of the civil service. And if, on the one hand, we & 

 filled with alarm at the revelations made from time to time 

 of the extent to which these corrupting agencies have done 

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