lSPEECH HON. THOMAS A. JENCKES, OF RHODE ISLAND, THE BILL TO REGULATE THE CIVIL SERVICE OF TnE UNITED STATES AND PRO- MOTE THE EFFICIENCY THEREOF ; DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 11, 1868. WASHINGTON: F. & J. RIVES & GEO. A. BAILEY. REPORTERS AXD PRINTERS OK T!!K DEB ATM OF CON'ORESS. 18C 'V Aavaari escd SPEECH. Mr. Jenckes, from the joint select Com- mittee on Retrenchment, reported the follow- ing bill : A bill to regulate the civil service of the United States and promote the efficiency thereof. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the Unit d States of America in Congress assem- bled, That from and after the passage of this act there shall be created a new department of the Gov- ernment of the United States, to be called the depart- ment of the civil service; that the head of said department shall bo the Vice President of theUnitcd States, or in case of a vacancy in said office, the President of the Senate for the time being, who shall be a member and president of the board of commis- sioners hereinafter created, and shall perform all the duties pertaining thereto. BBC. -. .1/''' I" it farther enacted. That hereafter all appointments of civil officers in the several Depart- ments of the service of the United States, except postmasters and gnch officers as are or may be by law required to be appointed by the President by and with [vice and consent, of the Senate, shall be made from those persons who shall have been found best qualified for the performance of the duties of the offices to which such appointments are to be made, in open .and competitive examinations, to be con- ducted as herein prescribed. Sko.3. Andbeit further enacted, That there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a board of four commis- sioners, who shall hold their offices for the term of five years, to bo called the civil service examination board, among whoso duties shall be the following: Fit l the qualifications requisite for nn appointment into each branch and grade of the civil service of the United States, having regard to the fitness of each candidate in respect to age, health, character, knowledge, and ability for the branch of into which he seeks to enter. Second. To provide for the examinations and prp riods and conditions of probation of all persons eli- gible under this act who may present themselves for admission into the civil service. Third. To establish rules governing the applica- tions of Buch persons, the times and places of their examinations, the subjects upon which such exam- inations shall be had. with other incidents thereof, and the mode of conducting the same, ami the man- ner of keeping and preserving the records thereof, and of perpetuating the evidence of such applica- tions, qualifications, examinations, probations, and their result, as they shall think expedient. Such rules shall be so framed as to keep the branches of the civil service and the different grades of each bran eh, as also the records applicable to each branch, distinct and separate. The said board shall divide the country into territorial districts for the purpose of holding examinations of applicants resident therein and others, and shall designate some convenient and ible place in each district where examinations shall beheld. Fourth. To examine personally, or by persons by them specially designated, the applicants for ap- pointment into the civil service of the United States. Fifth. To make report of all rules and regulations established by them, and of a summary of their pro- ceedings, including an abstract of their examina- tions for tho different branches of the service, annu- ally, to Congress at the opening of each session. Skc. 4. And be it further enacted. That all appoint- ments to the civil service provided for in this act shall be made from those who have passed the re- quired examinations and probations in the following order and manner: First. The applicant who stands highest in order of merit on the list of those who have passed tbo examination and probation for any particular branch and grade of the civil service shall have the prefer- ence in appointment to that branch and grade, and so on, in the order of precedence in examinations and merit during probation to the minimum degree of merit lixed by the board for such grade. Second. Whenever any vacancy shall occur in any grade of tho civil service above the lowest, in any branch, the senior in the next lower grade may be appointed to nil the same, or a new examination for that particular vacancy may bo ordered, under the direction of thedepartment, of those in the next^ lower grade, and the person found best qualified shall be entitled to the appointment to till such vacancy : Provided, Thatno person now in office shall be promoted or transferred from a lower to a higher grade unless he shall have passed at least one ex- amination under this act. Third. The right of seniority shall be determined by the rank of merit assigned by the board upon the examinations, having regard also to seniority in ser- bul it shall at all times be in the power of the beads of Departments to order new examinations, which shall he conducted by tho board, upon duo notice, and according to fixed rules, and which shall (let ermine seniority with regard to the persons ordered examined, or in the particular branch and grade oftheservice to which such examinations shall apply. //. Said hoard shall have power to establish rules for such special examinations, and also rules by which any persons exhibiting particularmeritin any branch of the civil service may be advanced one or more points in their respective grades; and one- fourth of the promotions may be madeon account of merit, irrespective of seniority in service, such merit to be ascertained by special examinations, or by ad- vancement for meritorious services and Special fitn< ss for the particular branch of service, according to rule-; to he established as aforesaid. , i. And be it further enacted. That said board vrer to prescribe a fee. not exce< 1- ing five dollars, to be paid by each applicant for ex- amination, and also a fee not exceeding ten dolla: -, to be paid by each person who shall receive a certifi- cate of recommendation for appointment or for pro- motion, or of seniority, which foes shall be first paid to the collector of internal revenue in the district where the applicant or officer resides or may be ex- amined, to be accounted for and paid into the Treas- ury of the United States by such collector; and the certificates of payment of fees to collectors shall be fii- warded quarterly by the commissioners to the Treasury Department. 8kc. 0. And be it further enacted, That said board shall have power to prescribe, by general rules, what misconduct or inefficiency shall be sufficient for the removal or suspension of all officers who come within the provisions of this act, and- also to establish rules for the mannerof preferring charges for such miscon- duct or inefficiency, and for the trial of the accused, and for determining his position pending such trial. Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That any one of said commissioners may conduct or superintend any examinations, and the board may call to their assist- ance in such examinations such men of learning and high character as they may think fit, or, in their dis- cretion, such officers in the civil, military, or naval gervice of the United States, as maybe designated from time to time, on application of the board, as assistants to said board, by the President or heads of Departments; and in special cases, to be fixed by rules or by resolutions of the board, they may dele- gate examinations to such persons, to be attended and presided over by one member of said board, or by some person specially designated to preside. Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That the said board may also, upon reasonable notice to the person accused, hear and determine any case of alleged mis- conduct or inefficiency, under the general rules herein provided for, and in such case shall report to the head of the proper Department their finding in the matter, and may recommend the suspension or dis- missal from office of any person found guilty of such misconduct or inefficiency; and such person shall be forthwith suspended or dismissed by the head of such Department pursuant to such recommendation, and from the filing of such report shall receive no com- pensation for official service except from and after tho expiration of any term of suspension recom- mended by such report. Sec. 9. And be it further enacted. That the salary of each of said commissioners, and tho additional salary of the Vice President for performing the duties required of him by this act shall be $5,000 a year, and the said board may appoint a clerk at a salary of $2,500 a year, and a messenger at a salary of $900 4 a year, and these sums and the necessary traveling expenses of the commissioners, clerk, and messenger to be accounted for in detail and verified by affidavit, shall be paid from any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. The necessary expenses of any person employed by said commissioners, as as- sistants, to be accountedfor and verified in likeman- ner, and certified by the board, shall also be paid in like manner. Sec. 10. And be it further enacted. That any officer in the civil service of the United States, at the date of the passage of this act, other than those excepted in the second sect ion of this act, may be required by the head of the Department in which he serves to appear before said board, and if found not qualified for the place he occupies he shall be reported for dismissal, and be dismissed in the manner hereinbefore pro- vided, and the vacancy shall be filled in manner aforesaid from those who may be found qualified for such grade of office after such examination. Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That all citizens' of the United States shall be eligible to examination and appointment under the provisions of this act, and the heads of the several Departments may, in their discretion, designate the offices in the several branches of the civil s-rvice the dutiesof which may be performed by females as well as males, and for all such offices females as well as malesshall be eligible, and may mike application therefor and be exam- ined, recommended, appointed, tried, suspended, and dismissed in manner aforesaid; and the names of those recommended by the examiners shall be placed upon the lists for appointment and promotion in the order of their merit and seniority, and with- out distinction, other than as aforesaid, from those of male applicants or officers. Sec. 12. And be it further enacted. That the Presi- dent, and also'the Senate, may require any person applying for or recommended for any office which requires confirmation by the Senate to appear before said board and be examined as to his qualifications, either before or after being commissioned; and the result of such examination shall be reported to the President and to the Senate. Sec. 13. And be it further enacted, That until the confirmation by the Senate of the commissioners authorized to be appointed by this act, the head of said Department is hereby authorized to appoint persons to perform the duties of commissioners tem- porarily, with the same powers and at the same rate of compensation as hereinbefore provided. Mr. JENCKES said: The proposition sub- mitted to the House by the bill now reported is, in effect, that the Government shall adopt better means than it now uses for obtaining the services, in its subordinate offices, of the best talent it can obtain for the money it pays. The number of persons now employed by the Government in its civil service as officers ex- ceeds not only the whole number of officers in the military and naval service, but also the total of the rank and file of both the warlike services. To these persons is intrusted the entire administrative business of the Govern- ment; they are the eyes and the hands of every branch of the service ; they constitute the whole clerical force of the executive and ad- ministrative departments, the agencies through which the public lands are disposed of and the Indian affairs are managed; the commercial intercourse with foreign nations regulated ; the execution of the postal system conducted. They control the issuing of pensions, patents, and land warrants ; the examination and allow- ance or rejection of all accounts or claims against the Government; the collection and disbursement of all the revenues and public moneys. There are responsible heads to all these Departments, and chiefs of bureaus and of divisions responsible to the heads of Depart- ments; but the work is done by the "inferior officers," and the responsible heads and chiefs seldom do more than adopt the acts and ratify the examinations and conclusions of their sub- ordinates. SCOPE OP THE MEASURE. When we consider the great number of these officers, the magnitude of the affairs intrusted to their care, the importance of the faithful performance of their duties, and become aware that the life of the Republic depends upon the honesty, fidelity, integrity, and ability with which these servants of the people transact their business, we at once inquire why is it that some system has not been devised and put in operation by which the people can obtain the best talent in their service for the money appropriated for it? These administrative offices are the nervous system of the Republic, and through them its vital energies must be made known. Every one who has studied the political history of this country and of that from which its laws and customs have been derived can furnish his own answer to the question just stated. Howevereach answer might bephrased, they would all concur in the great fact, that for the money it pays there is no Government in the world more poorly served than ours. With- out elaborating the matter, the evidence taken by the committee proves, what every one be- lieves, that these subordinate officers are ap- pointed in the main from political or personal Considerations) to which the qualilications of merit, integrity, skill, fidelity, and patriotism are compelled to yield. If any one were to undertake to devise a system by which the greatest amount of inexperience and incom- petency should be brought into the public ser- vice, he could not invent one which would supersede the present in that bad eminence. SUCCESS IN OTHER COUNTRIES. This subject attracted the attention of thought- ful men long before it was acted upon in any of the western civilized nations. Boswell, in his life of Johnson, records the following con- versation a hundred years ago: "Sir Alexander [Macdonald] observed that the chancellors in Eastland are chosen from views much inferior to the oflice, being chosen from temporary political views. Why, sir. in such aGovernraent as ours no man is appointed to an ollice because he is the fittest for it; nor hardly in any other Government, because I here are so many connections and depend- 9 to be studied. A despotic Power may choose a man to an office merely because be is thefittest lor it. The king of Prussia may do it." This result has been achieved not only in Prussia, but, so far as regards the minor offices, in England also; and the success in these Gov- ernments is so great and so beneficial as to encourage the attempt to obtain the same end in our own. The science of government is progressive; and statesmen should not over- look the fact that great discoveries have been made in the laws that govern nations, as well as in those of nature, and that improvement and development are common to both. LEADING FEATURES OF TIIE BILL. As the evil which the bill now reported is designed to remove is of such great magni- tude, so the remedy for it is thoroughly radical, in the best sense of that word. It does away with all personal influence ; bribery of all kinds, either by personal recommendation or polit- ical reward, becomes impossible. It destroys all political or personal patronage. Zeal in pushing the claims of a friendly politician is not admitted to be evidence of fitness for an appraiser's place in a custom-house. Activity at primary meetings or in party conventions is not to be considered conclusive evidence of fitness for handling the people's money. Skill in using money at elections is not to be deemed the best proof of capacity for collecting the revenues. Vigilance in canvassing registra- tion or alertness in challenging voters at the polls will not weigh much in favor of an appli- cant for a clerkship in the Pension Bureau or in the Quartermaster General's department. In short, the bill proposes a means of discov- ering the absolute fitness of the person desir- ing to enter the public service for the particu- lar branch of the service to which he wishes to devote himself. The bill does not exclude or interfere with the constitutional power of the heads of* Departments to make appointments to their subordinate offices. It limits that power to selections from a class of persons whose fit- ness for such employment shall be decisively ascertained. In the Army and Navy such questioning is had, not only at the outset, but at each stage of the novitiate's career; and the beneficial result is shown in the great names that have illustrated each branch of the warlike service. But what renown has ever blazoned the name of any person who has entered and continued in the subordinate civil service of the Government? Vital as the effi- ciency of that service is to the conduct of the Government, who seeks employment in it from motives of patriotism, who enters upon it as a career, who, when once engaged in it, feels that his place is as sure as his merit? G PEESENT VICIOUS MODE OP APPOINTMENT. I might multiply these questions, to which none but disheartening answers could be given. To make the subject more glear take a single custom-house as an example. Each consid- erable custom-house has three officers of pres- idential appointment, the collector, the naval officer, and the surveyor. Each of these must receive confirmation from the Senate. We will admit that none but competent persons can pass that ordeal. But in the great ma- jority of cases the men who receive these ap- pointments have not received the education, and have not had the experience to qualify them for the performance of the duties of their offices. But suppose them to be capable of learning and to have learned the duties of their offices, for the performance of all these duties they are entirely dependent upon their subor- dinates ; and each and all of them are, under the law, to be appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury or by the collector of the port. It may be assumed that both the Secretary and the collector are politicians, and prefer to have their political friends in office; and that under the custom that has prevailed since. President Jackson's time, they will strain some points in favor of their friends. The result is that the collector is an autocrat, so far as concerns the appointment of all his subordinates. A very pleasant thing for the partisans of an Administration in power; but how does the Government fare under such a system ? How are the revenues collected by which the more direct taxes upon the people are lightened? Let us see. ITS EVILS ILLUSTRATED. In the theory of the revenue laws every ship entering any one of our ports is, with her cargo, in the custody of the revenue officers until the duties upon all dutiable goods in her cargo are paid or secured according to law. The surveyor of the port and his subordinates first take possession of the ship and cargo and hold possession or supervision of them till the duties are paid'or the goods are deposited in the bonded warehouses. All the dutiable goods that enter the ports of the United States are for at least twenty-four hours in the charge of these subordinates of the surveyors of the cus- toms. And the evidence which the committee has taker, shows that these subordinates are the creatures of the collector, almost uniformly politicians of the lowest grade, appointed to these posts hf inspectors and night watchmen for their political services at ward or primary meetings, and too often from their relation- ship to prominent politicians, and that, with here and there a rare exception, they have no peculiar fitness for the duties they undertake or skill in the performance of them. They are liable to be removed and persons wholly inex- perienced appointed in their places at any moment. So prevalent has been the propensity to make changes within the last two years that some surveyors testify that they do not know at the close of one day what men their force will be composed of for the performance of their duties on the next. During every night, in every port and at every wharf in the United States, every cargo of dutiable goods is, theo- retically, in the charge of these inspectors and, night watchmen. Imagine a steamship with a cargo which ought to pay a million in duties lying at a wharf patrolled by one of these inspectors just appointed for his merito- rious services in some local election where money had been freely used to control votes ; or a fraudulent invoice submitted to the scru- tiny of a clerk who had obtained his office as a reward for his skill in disposing of the same corruption fund. Why should smuggling be resorted to at out-of-the-way places when it can be accomplished at little risk or cost by some gentle persuasion upon these vigilant servants of the country? Now and then the really vigilant revenue officers make a seizure of some smuggler's goods among the bays and inlets of the intricate sea-coast of Maine, or along the northern frontier, or the vast coast line of the Gulf; but in the great ports a steamer's cargo can be run through in safety ; not the entire cargo of any one ship, but enough of the cargoes of all the steamships in port to make the cargo for one. It was tes- tified before the committee that on two occa- sions of inspection less than half of the inspect- ors and watchmen on the Hudson river side of New York were at their posts, and that when roundsmen were appointed to look more closely after these delinquents, one was waylaid and mortally beaten after he had made reports of their absence from their stations, and another by a similar assault was made a cripple for life. HOW TIIE GREAT FRAUDS ARE ACCOMPLISHED. The bold operator in contraband goods chargeable with high duties does not use. the low schooner,-or many oared boat of the tra- ditional smuggler, but sails or steams boldly into the large ports, and watches for or buys his opportunity for landing them. When the slave trade was profitable the slavers were fitted out in the port of New York. The great highway robbers of the present day do not waylay travelers on barren heaths or along lonely highways as in the olden time, but they pounce upon their game amid the crowds that throng Wall street, or at the bank counters and in brokers' offices in that neighborhood, where people, with money in their hands or pockets, are constantly going and coming. The whisky excise is not materially diminished by the pro- duct of small stills in unfrequented places, in the swamps or among mountains, but the great illicit distilleries are found intrenched in the compact portions of large cities, and they have recently been found so strongly fortified in some places in and near the city of New York, and so well defended, that they have had to be taken by assault. So, the great frauds and thefts upon the customs' revenue are accomplished in the great ports ; and now that the importation of certain articles which are charged with high duties has fallen almost altogether into the hands of foreigners, who never intend to be- come citizens of the United States, and who owe no allegiance to and have no respect for our Government, but consider it a legitimate object of plunder, the wonder is that we collect as much revenue as we do. on that class of ar- ticles. The ingenuity of this class of smug- glers almost surpasses belief; but the great fact of the existence of this smuggling, which causes a loss of millions annually to the* Gov- ernment, is fully proved. And the evidence warrants my saying that this great amount of smuggling could not be accomplished without connivance on the part of some of the officers nf the Government. EVIL EFFECT OF THIS SYSTEM ON EMPLOYES. The report will show some of the curiosi- ties of the business. We do not seek to disguise the cause of the inefficiency (to use the mildest term) of these officers. They are all appointed upon political or personal grounds, and as their tenure of office is insecure, and they may be removed at any time without previous notice and without cause, they do the least they can to earn their salaries. To use a favorite phrase with them, they " make the most of their time.'' Indeed, if anyone should prove faithful and vigilant, and not only see that persons dealing with the Government act fairly, but also report any delinquencies of their fellows, their tenure of office would be more insecure, and any repe- tition .of such fidelity to the Government would be the occasion of their removal. One of the worst, if not the very worst, feature in the pres- ent condition of the service is that good and faithful officers are unwilling to testify as to what they know of the "irregularities" (to use the fashionably mild term) of their associates. For there are many good and faithful servants who do the work of these unfaithful politicians. Men of character, of families, of long service, who have been unwilling to have their names go upon the record as witnesses to the faults of their associates, lest they should be imme- diately dismissed by their superiors, or lest their places should be made so uncomfortable by their "irregular" associates, that they would be compelled to resign. Nothing has impressed me more with the rottenness and corruption of our present want of system than the tears of these old and faithful servants, who begged that they might not be placed upon the record as witnesses to the faithlessness of their asso- ciates, and that it might not even be known that they had been called to be witnesses. Nothing but the assurance of secrecy and the protection given by law to persons giving such testimony, could procure us evidence of how the people were being plundered instead of being served. The testimony with regard to the inefficiency of the internal revenue service comes from so many other sources that, it is not necessary to state the substance of the evidence taken by this committee. The report collates it into a clear result. NO ENCOURAGEMENT FOR FIDELITY. Under the present practice all of these inferior officers, many thousands in number, are ap- 8 pointed by some superior officer,- and their tenure of office, as well as their appointment, depends entirely on his will and pleasure. With few exceptions all these officers are well paid for the services they render, but with rare exceptions they do not render the services of which they are capable. One report says of these politicians who are quartered upon our customs that they consider the custom- houses as "eleemosynary institutions where the faithful can be at rest." Another speaks of a clerk in one of the Departments, (ap- pointed upon the urgent solicitation of a mem- ber of Congress,) who was reminded from day to day that his work was not an equivalent for his salary. "Work," said he; "I worked to get here ; you surely do not expect me to work any longer." All speak of the inefficiency of persons so nominated. And all of this vast army of persons in the civil service, more than twenty thousand, excluding postmasters, live and perform the semblance of working, under that anomaly, that great solecism in our repub- lican institutions, that curse upon him that gives and him that partakes, partisan patronage. It works not only a blight upon those who become bound by its toils, but it repels the ingenuous youth, who would, if the field were open, gladly compete for places in the public service. A person who gains a place under this practice has no inducement to excel in the performance of his duties. His place may be taken to-morrow for some more powerfully-backed competitor ; nay, his very excellence may be a reason why his less industrious companions should urge his removal. But all, the excellent — and there are many of them — the incompetent, the lazy, the vicious, the unworthy — for such are to be found in the service — all work or pretend to work under the blighting influence of favor and pat- ronage. To those who in arms serve the Repub- lic a glorious career and great rewards are open ; they serve in the eyes of their superiors and of the nation, and when success crowns their skill and daring, some ray of glory falls upon their swords and some reward or the sure promise of it makes lightsome their arduous services. Their exploits are the theme of the orator's eloquence, and their names the people delight to honor. But to the poor drudge in the civil service there never comes one ray of hope ; glory and honor are never named to him ; fame and fortune do not lure him to his daily toil: and he is not even sure of the daily toil which will bring to him and his family daily bread. He is but a hanger-on upon fortune and favor ; no career is open to him ; no incentive to noble or even faithful action. He may at any mo- ment be disgraced without cause, and with the highest merit be turned adrift to starve. No service that he can perform is distinguished by public notice; no report ever gives his name to be honored by his countrymen ; his lifetime is a dreary routine of drudgery; his career un- known to fame, his death unnoticed. How, then, can we expect virtue and fidelity among our civil servants? We may well apply th» indignant query of the Roman satirist : Quis mint virtutem amplectitur ipsam, Praemia si tollis ? What hope of faithful service if it is to be without honor or reward ? It is not to be denied that this disease has penetrated every part of our political system. Unless it is thoroughly eradicated it must end in political death. This Government cannot be carried on so long as those who receive the people's money are studying how little they can render for what they receive, instead of giving the most they are capable of to the people's service. And it is doubtful whether this Gov- ernment can endure many changes of admin- istration when fifty thousand persons, more than the entire personnel of the Army and Navy, are liable to be dismissed from the public service for mere opinion's sake. Such shocks are like the repeated explosions of ordnance, which must, sooner or later, end in the disrup- tion of the firmest metal. NECESSITY FOR JIAKIXG THE CIVIL SERVICE RESPECT- ABLE. Every law requiring service originates in some necessity of the Government, and it must be so framed as to provide sufficient motive power for its execution. No such energizing element is infused into any of our statutes gov- erning the civil service. Not even the quality of respectability is bestowed upon our civil ser- vants. A certain degree of suspicion, of dis- trust, of depreciation, even though it be born of prejudice, is suffered to remain over all of them. There is not sufficient requirement of 9 discipline, or encouragement of emulation, to create an esprit dc corps, in any department of this service. Indeed, it would seem that by a b stem of studied depreciation of each other, the officers of each branch and grade of the civil service were striving to cultivate their own dis- honor. They congregate or separate accord- ing to their partisan affinities, and cultivate no patriotic feeling in common as servants of the Republic. Social standing and consideration by reason of such employment is not thought of by any one of them. The Administration is always saying, in effect, to each of its civil servants, ''Your skill, your experience, your long and faithful service are as nothing to us ; we can discharge you to-morrow, and at once find a hundred others who will answer our pur- poses as well." Each one thus suffers a stand- ing discredit. His place is due to accident, and gives him no title to respect. It implies, rather, a damaged reputation and a character that can be tampered with. A tide-waiter can be nothing more, nor is he sure of even being that, although he proves to be the most faithful and capable of tide-waiters. If he does not bury his talent himself, it is buried for him, and his possible skill in making usance by it can avail him noth- ing. No grades, no promotions, no hopes, no honors, no rewards, are open to the most faithful, diligent and honest officer, and while the incen- tive to excellence in service which these might give is wholly lost, his office itself gives him no character or social position. But if by merit and'fidelity the tide-waiter can win the higher places in the cusioms, his place, himself, and the service itself, acquire respectability. The cadet of either of the warlike services has a prestige in this regard over even the higher grades of the civil service. All doors may be open to him, for his uniform is evidence of his education, character, and of an opening career. Although the lowest subaltern, he may become a general or an admiral. A lieutenant or an ensign has a standing in society, by virtue of his being in the service of the Government, but there is no element of respectability in the service of a clerk, inspector, or special agent, which would entitle him to be recognized, even by a member of Congress. I cannot believe that the reason of this is that the civil service is in itself less worthy of respect than the military, but is it not because the element of honor, which is inherent in the one, has not hitherto been added to the other ? All serve alike under the flag, and while the glory cannot be equal, no discredit should be cast on either class of public servants by reason of their service. We propose to lay to the root of this great corruption not only the ax but the spade, and to leave neither seed nor succulent root of these vicious practices. As a general rule it maybe stated that very few candidates for the public service have presented themselves who have succeeded in other business. Not that this rule is universal, or, if universal, that it has not provided the Government with many good officers; but every one knows that men who prosper in the active business pursuits of life are seldom candidates for Government offices. If any young man in a family of influential political connections has not shown sufficient talent to justify the belief that he can earn a living in business, or in any of the learned pro- fessions, or if any one who has not succeeded in the career which he may have chosen, hap- pens to have political friends, we are quite sure to find his name mentioned as being a suitable person to fill some Government office. The appointing power has too often yielded to such solicitations. Men of this negative reputation for talent, whose indolence, indecision, and want of character, or whom even positive vice, have disqualified for success in the open com- petition of life, seek and obtain shelter under Governmental patronage. EETTEE RECRUITS TO BE OBTAINED FOR THE SERVICE. While giving credit to the ability, the integ- rity, and the patriotism of many whom we find in the public service, how can we prevent the ingress of the ignorant, the incompetent, the indolent, the corrupt, the vicious, and the posi- tively criminal ? IIow can we dislodge those of these classes who have already secured places in the service ? They seem to feel them- selves safely intrenched, so as to defy attack. The pressure of the investigations author::: rl by this bill will dislodge many, but the certainty of the remedy is in its future application. The new system will not admit of recruits to the public service from any of those classes of per- sons. The service is to be supplied from the educated, earnest, patriotic, and ingenuous 10 youths among the American people. We pro- pose to cleanse' the stalls of political corrup- tion, as the stable of the Grecian king was said to have been cleansed of old. The pure, fresh stream of a river turned from its course washed away the unclean accumulations of a genera- tion ; and we now propose to turn into our Augean stable the vigorous, uncorrupted life of the youth of America, and, when the cor- ruptions are swept away, to open to it a career in which the patriotic heart can take pride. We cannot expect this proposed change of system to become at once a perfect success. Many will become stained in contact with the existing corruptions and fall di'shonored and disgraced ; many more will become appalled and disheartened at the task they have under- taken, but their places will be filled with better and braver men, whose final triumph will be assured and certain. Many who listen to me have seen our brave youths by hundreds fall in their assaults upon the fortresses within which the enemies of the Republic have stood intrenched. And so in the renovation of the public service many will go down and perish morally in the attempts to overcome by as- sault the Vicksburgs, the Port Hudsons, the Fort Fishers of our customs and revenue departments, where the thieves and their asso- ciates now sit intrenched and feel secure. But this stream of vigorous, honest man- hood will soon cleanse and reinvigorate the service of the Republic. The intelligent and patriotic youth who have aspired to serve their country have never yet had a fair chance. The class of men who seek these offices, and the mode by which they attain them, is well known to us. And one of the great vices of the pres- ent practice is that few besides persons of such exceptional description can hope to gain these appointments. There must be some political associations, some service rendered by the ap- plicant or his friends to the party of the Admin- istration, and perhaps some personal and social relations combined with the political to enable the applicant to obtain even a hearing. Every one of us knows the characteristics of these men- dicants for office. It is not necessary to picture them by description. It is enough' to know that it is not with such persons that the busi- ness of the world is to be accomplished. Never have the young men of the country or the faith- ful and deserving soldiers had an opportunity to have their merits for the public service con- sidered. What chance has the intelligent son of a mechanic who has shown signs of prom- ise at the free schools, or of a farmer in Illi- nois or Kentucky, who has gained a knowledge of business in the intervals of toil, to get into the rmblic service? None whatever, unless he consents to learn and perform all a politician's tricks, or to seek the aid of those accomplished in such arts. He must in some degree lose or seem to disregard a character for integrity, straightforwardness, and manly, upright con- duct before he can be acknowledged as a suit- able candidate for office. All the qualities that would make a good officer he must in some way have seemed to have lost. Perhaps not an inapt training for the melancholy service they enter upon, but it, is not one that is sure to produce good public servants. It is proposed to change all this. The en- trance to the public service is to be thrown open to all. The intelligent son of the mechanic, the hopeful child of the family of the farmer, the young soldier, the youth of talent from any sphere of life, and from every part of the country, may boldly and freely enter the pres- ence of the examining officers and' require them to test his fitness for the Government ser- vice. Personal, social, or political influence, patronage in all its corrupting forms, can no longer introduce their favorites and push back the poor and worthy, unknown and uribe- friended, at the doorways. Qualification and merit, equal and exact justice to all, are what we are to seek and to do. Palmam qui meruit ferat should be, and I hope I may be able to say shall be, the motto of our service. Let every smart boy in the country know that he has a fair chance for employment under the Government and we shall soon have a different class of servants from those into whose hands the public business has now fallen. Under the proposed system the interest of the Gov- ernment will be identical with that of its ser- vants; its protection and assurance of em- ployment will cause its service to be one of pleasure and not of pain and anxiety; its honors and rewards will make it a service of love and not of unappreciated toil. He will hold an 11 assured position under the Government, which his superiors must recognize with the Fame respect that he yields to the experience and ability by which they hold their higher places. PROPOSED REFORM DESTROYS BUREAUOCRACY AND PATRONAGE. It has been most strangely objected to this salutary reform that it is in its tendency bureaucratic, exclusive, aristocratic, and that the system was formed under monarchic institu- tions. Nothing could be said more calumnious. It is our present system that is borrowed from that of monarchies, and gives us the will and choice of the person having the appointing power, and not merit, as the passport to office, as under monarchies the king is the fountain of honor and the giver of employment. No measure could be more republican than that which we now present. The gates of the avenues to the public service are thrown open to all. Merit only can enter, and merit only can keep its place. No head of a bureau or even of a Department can protect his favorites or keep his friends or partisans in comfortable sinecures; no collector of the customs can play the autocrat in his little demesne. The whole service will be alive to its responsibilities. It will be part of the duty of an officer to see that every other performs his. No customary dere- lictions will be permitted to demoralize the service, and no local peculiarities to interfere with the unity of performance of duty. In monarchical Governments, with hereditary aristocracies, where allegiance is due to the crown, and the great houses are the bulwarks of the throne, patronage, through which alone the children of the people can enter the public service, is a natural if not a necessary element of administration. In the theory of those Gov- ernments everything depends from the throne, descending through every social and political relation, until the chain ends before the people are reached. No one can ascend within the charmed circle except through the influence or patronage of some one of the privileged classes, and the gratitude of those who receive these favors, and the hopes- of those who expect them, tend to strengthen the Government amid all changes of administration. Those who have attained official position feel secure, while those wiio seek it continue to cultivate the favor of the reigning favorites and governing families. But here, where the Government is of the people and for the people, and the ad- ministration should always endeavor to carry into effect their will, as expressed at the polls and through the laws, in the best and most effectual manner, this«system of patronage is not a mere solecism, but a positive evil. It reverses the whole theory of popular govern- ment. That Government should be adminis- tered for the benefit of the whole, with the instruments, at the least expense, without re- gard to the interests of any classes or class, or of persons or partisans. Yet we see at every change of administration over fifty thousand persons removed from office to make way for others of a different partisan creed, every one of whom will owe his appointment to some- thing other than personal merit. And again all these are liable to be removed, and a similar class of successors appointed at the next change of party. If patriotism ever prompted the desire for office such a system would tend to eradicate that sentiment. It tends to weaken all the obligations of society for the purpose of strengthening a mere party; it elevates pri- vate interests above the welfare of the State; it tends to disintegrate the political fabric ; and at last, as we have felt in our bitter experience, it destroys allegiance itself. That element which invigorates a monarchy corrupts the life of a republic. TUE NEW DEPARTMENT TO BE MADE FIRM AND STABLE BY HAVING TIIE VICE PRESIDENT AS CHIEF. But I hear the question that arises in the minds of all that listen to me : how can the result you promise be accomplished with such machinery as Congress can create? How can a mere board of commissioners, a bureau, stand at the door of all the Departments and say who are sufficiently qualified to enter into the pub- lic service therein? How can a combination of the appointing officers be presented which would crush such a subordinate, though inde- pendent, bureau ? What is to prevent your statute from becoming as dead a letter as the provisions of the act of 1853 requiring the examination of all candidates for clerkships? The objection is a grave one, and has de- served and received serious deliberation. It has been met bj the proposition contained in 12 the bill as reported, to create a new and inde- pendent administrative department which shall have charge of the business of selecting the can- didates for these offices, whose head shall be the Vice President of the United States. So grave, so important, and yet so delicate are the duties of those charged with this selection, that it has been deemed best to place them under the protection and sanction of this great office. No Department can feel humiliated at receiv- ing its novitiates with certificates from the ordeal of a trial department of which their superior is the chief. And it is time, and we believe that this is the occasion for causing this officer to perform some useful functions in this Government. The presidency of the Senate, as the sole duty of this officer, is rather by way of diversion and ornament than of usefulness ; and no man's self-respect is heightened by feel- ing that his only importance in the Government is, that while he holds the second office in the Republic, his single title to respect is in the fact that by fatal accideut to the first officer he will accede to the first place A distinguished citizen, the grandson of a Vice President and President, and the son of a President, and him- self once, and perhaps hereafter again a candi- date for the office of Vice President, has writ- ten that no office could be so easily lopped off and dispensed with in our Government as that of the Vice Presidency. Madison called it an "unprofitable dignity;" and Jefferson, when he accepted the place, did not attempt to dis- ) guise his contempt for its insignificance in every respect except that of being the stepping- stone to the first place in the Republic. Once when President Washington started upon his tour through the southern States in 1791, he requested the Vice President to attend and to preside at the Cabinet meetings that might be held in his absence, and this was the first and has been the last recognition of the Vice President as a possible adviser of the President, or of having any right to take part in theAdministration. Although elected upon the same ticket as the President, and thuscom,- mitted to the policy of the presidential admin- istration, and in case of the succession, pre- sumed to intend to carry it out, he has been excluded hitherto from all voice in shaping that policy, and except in the instance cited has never been admitted to the council board. We have had sufficiently severe lessons of the impolicy and injustice of this course ; and although this bill does not give him the right to a seat in the Cabinet, yet it adds weight to the reasons why he should be invited to become a member of that council. It will also have another important effect. It imposes upon the incumbent of that office some of the gravest and most delicate duties in the administration of this Government. The people, and their representatives in the nominating conventions, will be careful to whom they offer the chance of election to this high office. They will not throw it away, as at many times hitherto, to a mere chief of a faction, whose disaffection the party may desire to conciliate ; nor to a neophyte, nor to a renegade, nor to an apostate, whose nomination may divide the adversary. But they will find it to their interest to nom- inate a person qualified not only to administer the mild rules of the Senate, but also to preside in trials for impeachment, and have the learn- ing and experience in administration which will qualify him to be the chief of the department of the civil service, and not only to select the best candidates for that service, but also to try with justice and impartiality all the cases that may arise whereby any of these subordin- ates may lose their places. Not the least of the advantages of the proposed measure is that the people may obtain candidates for the Vice Presidency of a higher grade of talent and character than many that they have been compelled to vote for or against heretofore. ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS FOR THIS REFORM. But the economic considerations for this measure are the main grounds upon which it is urged by the Committee of Retrenchment. What has been said is but the repetition of axioms. All will agree that good servants in office are more desirable than poor ones ; that the good are more likely to be obtained by care in the selection; that a wise choice and judicious approval will secure the fit and reject the unfit; that such means of choice with beneficial results are attainable ; and that a system thus constructed and operated is bet- ter than the no system which we now have. But, every one will ask*, how about the cost of it? Will not the expense increase with the 13 admitted benefit, and the proportion be the same in the end? To these questions we are prepared to give explicit answers. And these answers are based not upon conjecture, or inference, or concurrence of opinion, but upon the direct and positive testimony of the greater number of the chief oflicers in the civil service. The preponderance of evidence in favor of the proposed reform is so great that there can hardly be said to be a minority. The committee have received reports from four hundred and forty-six (446) officers con- firmed by the Senate, in all branches of the civil service, whose subordinates within the opera- tion of this act number twelve thousand eight hundred and nineteen, (12,819;) and of these officers, three hundred and sixty-two, (362,) having eleverrthousand five hundred and sixty- one (11,561) subordinates, express themselves decidedly in favor of the proposed reform. Of the residue, twelve (12) officers, having one hundred and forty-three (143) subordinates, express a decided opposition to it, and'the re- mainder either do not answer the vital ques- tions at all, or answer them evasively, or ex- i8 the opinion that the proposed measure would be either inapplicable or ineffectual in their districts. This minority consists chiefly of postmasters in small towns and collectors in decayed ports or in internal revenue dis- tricts which yield an insignificant revenue. Wherever the business of the Government is large there is a call for active, energetic, in- telligent men for these subordinate offices, and the measure is favorably considered. It is a pleasure, also, to recognize in their reports the uniform and unqualified testimony in favor of the female employes of the Govern- ment. This bill proposes to give them an as- sured position in the service, and all who tes- tify upon the subject agree that their numbers may be increased under the proposed system with profit to the Government. These reports show that they are diligent in the performance of their duties, and that they are not peculators or thieves. In the grades of offices to which they have been assigned, as an experiment and upon sufferance hitherto, there are no more honest, faithful, and capable persons in the service. The answers to the questions submitted by the committee support the propositions in every view, and especially in the economic. We can state the result of this evidence in the brief proposition, that by adopting this system the Government can obtain double the amount of the present service at two thirds of the present expense. The immediate cost of the staff of the new department is but a trifle to the great saving to be achieved by the proper performance of their duties. The losses by defalcations which this system would prevent have been -annually hitherto more than tenfold the proposed cost of the entire department. Besides, the fees pre- scribed for examinations and certificates will make this department nearly, if not quite, self- sustaining. But the great saving will be in the increase of the collections. If this Govern- ment had its dues the national debt would soon be extinguished. Why is there a deficit of tens of millions in the tax on spirits? Why is it that whole cargoes elude the customs? Why is it that smugglers are the chief importers on our extended frontier? It may as well be admitted and stated in sharp popular phrase ; the smug- glers are too smart for the revenue officers. I omit here designedly the element of corruption, and assume that honesty is a quality of all the servants of the Government. But talent does not necessarily prefer unlawful courses to the lawful ; and the design of this measure is to secure it on the side of the Government. It has been announced here by the highest authority, the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, that there are few frauds upon the in- ternal revenue which are accomplished without the connivance of some official, and we now seek to make it the interest as well as the duty of every official to refuse such connivance, and to become wholly devoted to the service of the Government. Finance and reveuue are being developed into a science, and the fiscal service should becomeaprofession. When competent men shall be trained to the assessment and col- lection of taxes and customs, and when it shall be made their duty to report the results of their experience to their departments and to Con- gress, the burdens of taxation may be more wisely apportioned : and, if not actually light- ened, may be so distributed as to be less severely felt. ' THE EEI'OEM PRACTICABLE. I do not fail to hear the scoffs of the ene- 14 mics of this Government at the statement of these propositions. They affect to believe that virtue in the public service cannot exist. They are continually declaiming that the Government cannot collect the taxes on whisky and tobacco, nor the duties on articles of luxury. Their reason for their pretended belief, freely offered, is that the infirmity of human nature is such that it cannot resist the temptations to dere- liction of duty offered by those whose interest it is to defraud the revenue. Oaths, they say, will not prevent this corruption ; bonds will not furnish sufficient obligation or security; and this defiant boast has been almost warranted by the history of our civil service. Many have been the defalcations, and few the recoveries from sureties. Many have been the omis- sions to collect the Government dues, and few the removals in consequence. Thousands are now drawing their salaries from the Treasury who know that their delinquencies have cost that Treasury a hundredfold the amount they are paid. But is it so with the other branches of the public service? Who ever loads his declamations with cases of peculation among the officers of the Army and Navy? Who ever charges them with connivance at stealing? Who thinks of exacting bonds of an admiral, or sureties from the commander of a depart- ment? And why? Because their honor and the good of the service are one. The admiral of a fleet may disburse more than the collector of a port receives ; but how different is the position of each in the national service ! I de- sire to see the collector of a port or of a dis- trict raised to an equal position to that of a general or a commodore, but it can only be by introducing into the civil service the same esprit de corps, and the same element ofhonor, that dignifies and secures from reproach the service of arms. In all revolutions, revolts, and civil com- motions, from the most ancient times to the present, historians have remarked that the chief causes of these evils were to be found in the civil administration, and that the soldiers stood aloof until the necessities of the State required them to intervene. The cause for this has been found not so much in their dis- cipline as in their patriotism; the State had made their service honorable, and their honor became a bulwark to the State. Even the im- perial historian of our times has recorded that in the tumultuous period that preceded the fall of the liberties of Rome, as in those that pre- ceded his own reign, honor and patriotism had fled from the civil service and were only to be found under the flag. I have such faith in the intelligence and pa- triotism of the American people that I believe the result can be attained in the service and arts of peace as well as in those of war ; and under the instructions of the committee I urge this measure as one great step to that desired end. When I say that we estimate the saving in the expense of the collection of the revenues at one half of the present cost, the total of which is fifteen millions annually, and that the ad- ditional amount that can be collected from the subjects of taxation proposed to be retained by the Committee of Ways and Means is at least fifty millions in the internal revenue and twenty-five millions in the customs, and that we have the evidence io show that our esti- mates are within the mark, it will need no figures of speech in addition to these figures of arithmetic to commend to our heavily- taxed constituents the merits of the measure we propose. To insure complete and immediate success it would be necessary to expel all the thieves at once from the public service. This must be a work of time. The thieves infest every de- partment. They are to be found in the small post offices as well as in the great custom- houses. They are like the trichina? in the ani- mal system, not only injurious when first intro- duced, but capable of infinite reproduction to the danger of fatal results. There is no branch of the service where they are not to be found, and their example is so contagious that hon- esty becomes the exception instead of the rule. There is no cure but one for such a disease. No new pests must be introduced. Those who have effected a lodgment may be killed or ex- cised. The honest and intelligent young men who will enter the service will soon drive out many who are lazy and corrupt, by exposure of their delinquencies. We may not even be without the hope that some of the thieves may be transferred from the custom-houses to the penitentiaries. But prevention is the only sure 15 cause of cure. While the doorways are thrown open to all comers, let the preliminary ordeals and the subsequent probations be such that the incompetent and unworthy shall all be turned back. When that result can be accomplished e^ery citizen will feel that his property, and even his liberty andhis life, willbe more secure. TIIE MEASURE ENTIRELY IN HARMONY WITH REPUB- LICAN INSTITUTIONS. In short, Mr. Speaker, this measure is in- tended to complete and perfect the great idea of the Republic. Before the people, for every elective office in which conformance to the policy of an Administration is a qualification, there is always an open competition. The peo- ple judge of the qualifications of every can- didate for political office, and decide, for the time being, peremptorily. The officers so elected by the people are accountable to the people, and their supervision is constant, se- vere, and, in the main, accurate. But, with regard to administrative officers, the aids of the people's servants, there is no such criti- cism, accountability, or judgment. It is pro- posed to create a tribunal which shall accom- plish all that could be attained from the wisest popularjudgment. When this shall be done the idea of the Republic will be complete; the people will elect to political office those with whom they are best satisfied, and will secure in the administrative offices the services of the best talent and the highest integrity and patriotism they can obtain. Certainly the re- sult is to be desired ; and the proposed meas- ure may prove to be the means of securing its accomplishment. NOT OF A TEMPORARY OR PARTISAN CHARACTER. It is not urged as a measure of temporary expediency, or to promote any partisan inter- est ; its purpose is to place the administrative departments of this Government in the hands of skillful and honest men, and thus to renew the health and life of the Republic. Above all others, it is a measure ad firmandam rem- publicam. The structure of our Government is satisfactory to all, and whatever difference of opinion there may be about the first prop- osition in the well-known couplet respecting the forms of government, we can all agree, granting us the Republic, upon that expressed in its last line : "That which is best administered is best." I now move to postpone the further consid- eration of the bill till Wednesday, the 3d day of June, after the morning hour. The motion was agreed to. 'S3 ■