644 Presidential Addresses 



grounds to advocate the Government's doing any 

 work which can with propriety be left in private 

 hands. 







Gratifying progress has been made during the 

 year in the extension of the merit system of making 

 appointments in the Government service. It should 

 be extended by law to the District of Columbia. It 

 is much to be desired that our consular system be 

 established by law on a basis providing for appoint- 

 ment and promotion only in consequence of proved 

 fitness. 



Through a wise provision of the Congress at its 

 last session, the White House, which had become 

 disfigured by incongruous additions and changes, 

 has now been restored to what it was planned to be 

 by Washington. In making the restorations the 

 utmost care has been exercised to come as near as 

 possible to the early plans and to supplement these 

 plans by a careful study of such buildings as that of 

 the University of Virginia, which was built by Jef- 

 ferson. The White House is the property of the 

 Nation, and so far as is compatible with living there- 

 in it should be kept as it originally was, for the same 

 reasons that we keep Mount Vernon as it originally 

 was. The stately simplicity of its architecture is 

 an expression of the character of the period in which 

 it was built, and is in accord with the purposes it was 

 designed to serve. It is a good thing to preserve 

 such buildings as historic monuments which keep 



