the system of competitive examinations was begun
so late in the nineteenth century, the beginning of the twentieth
found it well established. The annual report of the Civil
Service Commission for 1899-1900 showed 90,000 classified
positions, and 100,000 unclassified, in the national service; but the
salaries of the first amounted to about $75,000,000, while those
of the latter amounted to only about $30,000,000. From 1883
to 1900, 78,791 officials had been appointed because of their
standing in examinations. In the year 1900, 34,437 took the
examinations offered, 22,985 received pass marks, and 9889
were appointed to some position. The appointing officers
showed a growing tendency to select, from the three candidates
certified to them by the commission as eligible, the one
whose mark was highest; in about three-fourths of the cases
this was done. That the extension of the system has not reached
its limit is indicated by the inclusion of the rural delivery system
within the rules in the year 1903.
In the meantime, some states and cities followed the lead
of the national government. New York, where the first reform
association was formed, adopted, in 1883, a statute resembling
that of the nation; Massachusetts, prolific of reform literature, followed in 1884; then, after an interval, the system received some degree of recognition from Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana in 1895, from Louisiana in 1896, and from Connecticut in 1897. Various cities forestalled the action of their state legislature — as Philadelphia in 1885 and Denver in 1896; while in many
other places the efforts, though unsuccessful as yet, have been
persistent.
The two most notable exceptions to the national classification
at present are the fourth-class postmasters and the
consular service. For fifteen years efforts have been continuous
to apply the merit system to the first of these. March 3, 1890, Henry Cabot Lodge, then a member of the House of Representatives, introduced a bill to bring about this result; this was followed by one prepared by Sherman Hoar of Massachusetts; and the question was presented to Congress by President Cleveland in his message of December 7, 1896. No action has yet been taken, however, except that some minor post-offices have been consolidated with larger ones, and thereby brought within the civil service rules.
The effort to provide for a trained consulate, as has been
shown, dates farther back than the movement for competitive
examinations. The small force of thirteen consular clerks has
been long in existence, but has had no perceptible influence on
the service. Nearly every Congress for fifteen years has had
before it some measure intended to provide for a comprehensive
reorganization; and in this movement, as in that to take the
fourth-class postmasters out of politics, Senator Lodge has
taken the lead. Unlike the interest in the latter agitation, however, that in the consular service has grown in the last few years, owing to our increased foreign trade and imperialistic proclivities. In 1900 the Cleveland chamber of commerce drew up a particularly good bill, which was presented to the House by Mr. Burton of that city. Action having been earnestly recommended by President Roosevelt, the matter was much debated in the first session of the fifty-seventh Congress; and, although nothing was decided, it may be said, in the congressional phraseology, to have been “ passed over without prejudice.”
Meantime something had been done by the executive. President
Cleveland issued rules classifying candidates, and providing
for examinations, promotions, and the reinstatement of
former consuls in preference to new appointments. In March, 1896, it was reported that since September 20, 1895, four had been promoted, four reinstated, four had passed examinations, and four had been rejected. President McKinley announced that this system would be continued. In July, 1899, it was stated that, of 112 candidates examined, 111 passed; but who can say whether this indicates that the original selections were particularly excellent, or that the examinations had been devitalized?