180 Civil Service Reform 



tition of the offence. As a consequence, while there 

 have been plenty of violations and evasions of the 

 law, yet their proportion was really very small, tak- 

 ing into account the extent of the service. In the 

 aggregate it is doubtful if one per cent of all the 

 employees have been dismissed for political reasons. 

 In other words, where under the spoils system a hun- 

 dred men would have been turned out, under the 

 Civil Service Law, as administered under our super- 

 vision, ninety-nine men were kept in. 



In the administration of the law very much de- 

 pends upon the Commission. Good heads of depart- 

 ments and bureaus will administer it well anyhow; 

 but not only the bad men, but also the large class 

 of men who are weak rather than bad, are sure to 

 administer the law poorly unless kept well up to the 

 mark. The public should exercise a most careful 

 scrutiny over the appointment and over the acts of 

 Civil Service Commissioners, for there is no office 

 the effectiveness of which depends so much upon the 

 way in which the man himself chooses to construe 

 his duties. A Commissioner can keep within the 

 letter of the law and do his routine work and yet ac- 

 complish absolutely nothing in the way of securing 

 the observance of the law. The Commission, to do 

 useful work, must be fearless and vigilant. It must 

 actively interfere whenever wrong is done, and must 

 take all the steps that can be taken to secure the pun- 

 ishment of the wrong-doer and to protect the em- 

 ployee threatened with molestation. 



This course was consistently followed by the Com- 



