PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



785 



navigation of the Mississippi River justifies a special 

 allusion to that subject. I suggest the adoption of 

 some measure for the removal of obstructions which 

 now impede the navigation of that great channel of 

 commerce. 



In my letter accepting the nomination for the vice- 

 presidency, I stated that, in my judgment, " no man 

 should be the incumbent of an office, the duties of 

 which he is, for any cause, unfit to perform ; who is 

 lacking in the ability, fidelity, or integrity which a 

 proper administration of such office demands. This 

 sentiment would doubtless meet with general acqui- 

 escence, but opinion has been widely divided upon the 

 wisdom and practicability of the various reformatory 

 schemes which have been suggested, and of certain 

 proposed regulations governing appointments to pub- 

 lic office. 



" The efficiency of such regulations has been dis- 

 trusted, mainly because they have seemed to exalt 

 mere educational and abstract tests above general 

 business capacity^, and even special fitness lor the 

 particular work in hand. It seems to me that the 

 rules which should be applied to the management of 

 the public service may properly conform in the main 

 to such as regulate th'e conduct of successful private 

 business : 



" Original appointments should be based upon as- 

 certainect fitness. 



" The tenure of office should be stable. 



" Positions of responsibility should, so far as prac- 

 ticable, be filled by the promotion of worthy and effi- 

 cient officers. 



" The investigation of all complaints and the pun- 

 ishment of all official misconduct should be prompt 

 and thorough." 



The views expressed in the foregoing letter are those 

 which will govern my administration of the Executive 

 office. They are doubtless shared by all intelligent 

 and patriotic citizens, however divergent in their 

 opinions as to the best methods of putting them into 

 practical operation. 



For example, the assertion that " original appoint- 

 ments should be based upon ascertained fitness" is 

 not open to dispute. 



But the question, how in practice such fitness can 

 be most effectually ascertained, is one which has for 

 years excited interest and discussion. The. measure, 

 which, with slight variations in its details, has lately 

 been urged upon the attention of Congress and the 

 Executive, has, as its principal feature, the scheme of 

 competitive examination. Save for certain exceptions, 

 which need not here be specified, this plan would 

 allow admission to the service only in its lowest grade, 

 and would accordingly demand that all vacancies in 

 higher positions should be filled by promotion alone. 

 In these particulars it is in conformity with the exist- 

 ing civil-service system of Great Bntain. And, in- 

 deed, the success which has attended that system 

 in the country of its birth is the strongest argument 

 Which has been urged for its adoption here. 



The fact should not, however, be overlooked that 

 there are certain features of the English svstem which 

 have not generally been received with favor in this 

 country, even among the foremost advocates of civil- . 

 service reform. 



Among them are : 



1. A tenure of office which is substantially a life- 

 tenure. 



2. A limitation of the maximum age at which an 

 applicant can enter the service, whereby all men in 

 middle life, or older, are, with some exceptions, rigidly 

 exclnded. 



3. A retiring allowance upon going out of office. 

 These three elements are as important factors of the 



oroblem as any of the others. To eliminate them 

 from the English system would effect a most radical 

 change in its theory and practice. 



The avowed purpose or that system is to induce the 

 educated young men of the country to devote their 

 lives to public employment by an assurance that hav- 



VOL. xxi. 50 A 



ing once entered upon it they need never leave it, and 

 that after voluntary retirement they shall be the recip- 

 ients of an annual pension. That* this system as an 

 entirety has proved very successful in G'reat Britain 

 seems to be generally conceded even by those who 

 once opposed its adoption. 



To a statute which should incorporate all its essen- 

 tial features, I should feel bound to give my approval. 

 But whether it would be for the best interests of the 

 public to fix upon an expedient for immediate and ex- 

 tensive application, which embraces certain features 

 of the English system, but excludes or ignores others 

 of equal importance, may be seriously doubted, even 

 by those who are impressed, as I am myself^ with the 

 grave importance of correcting the evils which inhere 

 in the present methods of appointment. 



If, for example, the English rule which shuts out 

 persons above the age ot twenty-five years from a 

 large number of public employments is not to be made 

 an essential part of our own system, it is questionable 

 whether the attainment of the highest number of 

 marks at a competitive examination should be the cri- 

 terion by which all applications for appointment 

 should be put to test. And under similar conditions, 

 it may also be questioned whether admission to the 

 service should be strictly limited to its lowest ranks. 



There are very many characteristics which go to 

 make a model civil servant. Prominent among them 

 are probity, industry, good sense, good habits, good 

 temper, patience, order, courtesy, tact, self-reliance, 

 manly deference to superior officers, and manly con- 

 sideration for inferiors. The absence of these traits 

 is not supplied by wide knowledge of books or by 

 promptitude in answering questions, or by any other 

 quality likely to be brought to light by competitive 

 examination. 



To make success in such a contest, therefore, an 

 indispensable condition of public employment, would 

 very likely result in the practical exclusion of the 

 older applicants, even though they might possess 

 qualifications far superior to their younger and more 

 brilliant competitors. 



These suggestions must not be regarded as evincing 

 any spirit of opposition to the competitive plan, 

 which has been to some extent successfully employ ea 

 already, and which may hereafter vindicate the claim 

 of its most earnest supporters. But it ought to be 

 seriously considered whether the application of the 

 same educational standard to persons of mature years 

 and to young men fresh from school and college 

 would not be likely to exalt mere intellectual profi- 

 ciency above other qualities of equal or greater im- 

 portance. 



Another feature of the proposed svstcm is the selec- 

 tion by promotion of all officers of* the Government 

 above" the lowest grade, except such as would fairly 

 be regarded as exponents of the policy of the Execu- 

 tive, and the principles of the dominant party. 



To afford encouragement to faithful public sen-ants 

 by exciting in their minds the hope or promotion, if 

 thev are found to merit it, is much to be desired. 



B"ut would it be wise to adopt a rule so rigid as to 

 permit no other mode of supplying the intermediate 

 walks of the service i 



There are many persons who fill subordinate posi- 

 tions with great credit, but lack those qualities which 

 are requisite for higher posts of duty ; and, besides, 

 the modes of thought and action of one whose serv- 

 ice in a governmental bureau has been long continued 

 are often so cramped by routine procedure as almost 

 to disqualify him from instituting changes required 

 by the public interests. An infusion of new blood, 

 from time to time, into the middle ranks of the serv- 

 ice might be very beneficial in its results. 



The subject under discussion is one of grave im- 

 portance. The evils which are complained of can not 

 be eradicated at once ; the work must be gradual. 



The present English system is a growth of years, 

 and was not created by a single stroke of executive or 

 legislative action. 



