CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



179 



trict of Columbia. Their report, which is not j*et com- 

 pleted, "will be in due course submitted to Congress. 



The report of the commissioners of the District is 

 herewith transmitted, and the attention of Congress is 

 called to the suggestions contained therein. 



The proposition to observe the four hundredth an- 

 niversary of the discovery of America by the opening 

 of a world's fair or exposition in some one of our great 

 cities will be presented for the consideration of Con- 

 gress. The value and interest of such an exposition 

 may well claim the promotion of the General Govern- 

 ment. 



On the 4th of March last the Civil Service Commis- 

 sion had but a single member. The vacancies were 

 filled on the 7th day of May, 'and since then the com- 

 missioners have been industriously, though with an 

 inadequate force, engaged in executing the law. They 

 were assured by me that a cordial support would be 

 given them in the faithful and impartial enforcement 

 of the statute and of the rules and regulations adopted 

 in aid of it. 



Heretofore the book of eligibles has been closed to 

 every one, except as certifications were made upon the 

 requisition of the appointing officers. This secrecy 

 was the source of much suspicion, and of many charges 

 of favoritism in the administration of the law. What 

 is secret is always suspected ; what is open can be 

 judged. The commission, with the full approval of all 

 its members, has now opened the list of eligibles to 

 the public. The eligible lists for the classified post- 

 offices and custom houses are now publicly posted in 

 the respective offices, as are also the certifications for 

 appointments. The purpose of the civil-service law 

 was absolutely to exclude any other consideration in 

 connection with appointments under it than that of 

 merife as tested by the examinations. The business 

 proceeds upon the theory that both the examining 

 boards and the appointing officers are absolutely igno- 

 rant as to the political views and associations of all 

 persons on the civil-service lists. It is not too much 

 r, however, that some recent congressional in- 



eatisfactory advance until the present law and its 

 equal administration are well established in the con- 

 fidence of the people. It will be my pleasure, as it is 

 my duty, to see that the law is executed with firmness 

 and impartiality. If some of its provisions have been 

 fraudulently evaded by appointing officers, our resent- 

 ment should not suggest the repeal of the law, but re- 

 form in its administration. We should have one view 

 of the matter, and hold it with a sincerity that is not 

 affected by the consideration that the party to which 

 we belong is for the time in power. 



My predecessor, on the 4th day of January, 1889, by 

 an Executive order to take effect March 15, brought 

 the railway mail service under the operation of the 

 civil- service law. Provision was made that the order 

 should take effect sooner in any State where an eligi- 

 ble list was sooner obtained. On the llth day of 

 March, Mr. Lyman, then the only member of the 

 commission, reported to me in writing that it would 

 not be possible to have the list of eligibles ready be- 

 fore May 1, and requested that the taking effect of the 

 order be postponed until that time, which was clone, 

 subject to the same provision contained in the original 

 order as to States in which an eligible list was sooner 

 obtained. 



As a result of the revision of the rules of the new 

 classification and of the inclusion of the railway mail 

 service, the work of the commission has been greatly 

 increased, and the present clerical force is found to be 

 inadequate. I recommend that the additional clerks 

 asked by the commission be appropriated for. 



The duty of appointment is devolved by the Consti- 

 ution or by the law, and the appointing" officers are 

 properly held to a high responsibility in its exercise. 

 The growth of the country and the consequent in- 

 crease of the civil list have magnified this function of 

 the Executive disproportionally. It can not be de- 



nied, however, that the labor connected with this 

 necessary work is increased, often to the point of act- 

 ual distress, by the sudden and excessive demands 

 that are made upon an incoming Administration tor 

 removals and appointments. But, on the other hand, 

 it is not true that incumbency is a conclusive argument 

 for a continuance in office. Impartiality, moderation, 

 fidelity to public duty, and a good attainment in the 

 discharge of it must be added before the argument is 

 complete. When those holding administrative of- 

 fices so conduct themselves as to convince just politi- 

 cal opponents that no party consideration or bias af- 

 fects in any way the discharge of their public duties 

 we can more easily stay the demand for removals. 



I am satisfied that both in and out of the classified 

 service great benefit would accrue from the adoption 

 of some system by which the officer would receive the 

 distinction and benefit that in all private employ- 

 ments comes from exceptional faithfulness and effi- 

 ciency in the performance of duty. 



I have suggested to the heads of the executive de- 

 partments that they consider whether a record might 

 not be kept in each bureau of all those elements that 

 are covered by the terms "faithfulness" and "effi- 

 ciency," and a rating made showing the relative mer- 

 its or the clerks of each class, this rating to be re- 

 garded as a test of merit in making promotions. 



I have also suggested to the Postmaster-General 

 that he adopt some plan by which he can, upon the 

 basis of the reports to the department and of fre- 

 quent inspections, indicate the relative merit of post- 

 masters of each class. They will be appropriately in- 

 dicated in the official register and in the report of the 

 department. That a great stimulus would thus be 

 given to the whole service I do not doubt, and such a 

 record would be the best defense against inconsiderate 

 removals from office. 



The interest of the General Government in the edu- 

 cation of the people found an early expression not 

 only in the thoughtful and sometimes warning utter- 

 ance of our ablest statesmen, but in liberal appropri- 

 ations from the common resources for the support of 

 education in the new States. No one will deny that 

 it is of the gravest national concern that those who 

 hold the ultimate control of all public affairs should 

 have the necessary intelligence wisely to direct and 

 determine them. 'National aid to education has here- 

 tofore taken the form of land grants, and in that 

 form the constitutional power of Congress to promote 

 the education of the people is not seriously questioned. 

 I do not think it can be successfully questioned when 

 the form is changed to that of a direct grant of money 

 from the public Treasury. 



Such aid should be, as it always has been, suggested 

 by some exceptional conditions. The sudden emanci- 

 pation of the slaves of the South, the bestowal of the 

 suffrage, which soon followed, and the impairment of 

 the ability of the States where these new citizens 

 were chiefly found to adequately provide educational 

 facilities presented not only exceptional but unexam- 

 pled conditions. That the situation has been much 

 ameliorated there is no doubt. The ability and inter- 

 est of the States have happily increased. 



But a great work remains to be done, and I think 

 the General Government should lend its aid. As the 

 suggestion of a national grant in aid of education 

 grows chiefly out of the condition and needs of the 

 emancipated slave and his descendants, the relief 

 should, as far as possible, while necessarily proceed- 

 ing upon some general lines, be applied to the need 

 that suggested it. It is essential, if much good is to 

 be aomplished, that the sympathy and active inter- 

 est of the people of the States should be enlisted, and 

 that the methods adopted should be such as to stim- 

 ulate and not to supplant local taxation for school pur- 

 poses. 



As one Congress can not bind a succeeding one in 

 such a case, and as the effort must, in some degree, be 

 experimental, I recommend that any appropriation 

 made for this purpose be so limited in annual amount 

 and as to the time over which it is to extend as will, 



