46 
FIGHTING THE SPOILS HUNTERS AND RASCALS 
ination routes, he revised it, cutting out the districts represented by the 
men who had voted against the grant. He explained through the 
newspapers that, since some districts must be sacrificed through lack 
of money, it was only just that those members who had voted against 
the necessary appropriation should be the ones to lose its benefit. 
There was talk of “impeachment/’ “removal,” etc., but nothing was 
done, and the Commission got its money after that. 
Before the Roosevelt period the Commission did its work in 
secret. But secrecy is alien to the Roosevelt instincts. The new 
Commissioner was a man who liked to be in the open air and did not 
fancy hiding his arts behind a veil. Hence, upon his entrance into the 
Civil Service Commission, its doors, for the first time in its existence, 
were thrown open to all comers. No one could say now, as had been 
said before, that there was any mystery connected with its workings. 
Afterwards, if any member of Congress showed himself ignorant of 
the conditions of the merit system, he would be cordially invited by 
the next mail to explore the whole work of the Commission to his 
heart’s content. The newspaper correspondents were made welcome, 
and furnished with any information that could properly be given out. 
During Roosevelt’s six years on the Commission things were 
done. Of course we cannot give him the credit for all these things. 
He was not the Commission, but only one of its members. But another 
member, Mr. John H. Procter, has said this about his activity. 
“Every day I went to the office as to an entertainment. I knew 
something was sure to turn up to make it worth my while, with him 
there. When he went away, I had heart in it no longer.” 
And President Cleveland wrote this to Roosevelt when he regret¬ 
fully accepted his resignation to engage in a new line of work: 
“You are certainly to be congratulated upon the extent and per¬ 
manence of Civil Service Reform methods which you have so substan¬ 
tially aided in bringing about.” 
What had taken place may be expressed in figures as follows: 
When he entered the Commission there were 14,000 officers under 
Civil Service rules. When he left there were 40,000. And the work 
had been put on a solid foundation which has never since given way. 
The spoils system has largely passed away; the merit system has taken 
its place. 
