The spoils system one of the most evil influences in American life. It perverts political life. It debases the party. It creates the boss and the machine. It makes the officeholder a party slave. It usurps the constitutional appointing power. victorious party, may without extravagance of language be called one of the greatest criminals in our history, if not the greatest. In the whole catalogue of our ills there is none more dangerous to the vitality of our free institutions. It tends to divert our whole political life from its true aims. It teaches men to seek something else in politics than the public good. It puts mercenary selfishness as the motive power for political action in the place of public spirit, and organizes that selfishness into a dominant political force. It attracts to active party politics the worst elements of our population, and with them crowds out the best. It transforms political parties from associations of patriotic citizens, formed to serve a public cause, into bands of mercenaries using a cause to serve them. It perverts party contests from contentions of opinion into scrambles for plunder. By stimulating the mercenary spirit it promotes the corrupt use of money in party contests and in elections. It takes the leadership of political organizations out of the hands of men fit to be leaders of opinion and workers for high aims, and turns it over to the organizers and leaders of bands of political marauders. It creates the boss and the machine, putting the boss into the place of the statesman, and the despotism of the machine in the place of an organized public opinion. It converts the public office-holder, who should be the servant of the people, into the servant of a party or of an influential politician, extorting from him time and work which should belong to the public, and money which he receives from the public for public service. It corrupts his sense of duty by making him understand that his obligation to his party or his political patron is equal if not superior to his obligation to the public interest, and that his continuance in office does not depend on his fidelity to duty. It debauches his honesty by seducing him to use the opportunities of his office to indemnify himself for the burdens forced upon him as a party slave. . . . It falsifies our constitutional system. It leads to the usurpation, in a large measure, of the executive power of appointment by members of the legislative branch. . . . It subjects those who exercise the appointing power, from the President of the United States down, to the intrusion of hordes of office hunters and their patrons, who rob them of the time and strength they should devote to the public interest. . . . It keeps in high political places, to the exclusion of better men, It substitutes the persons whose only ability consists in holding a personal following politician by adroit manipulation of the patronage. It has thus sadly lowered for the the standard of statesmanship in public position, compared with statesman. the high order of ability displayed in all other walks of life. It does more than anything else to turn our large municipalities It throws doubt upon into sinks of corruption, to render Tammany Halls possible, and to the practimake of the police force here and there a protector of crime and a cability of democratic terror to those whose safety it is to guard. It exposes us, by the scaninstitutions. dalous spectacle of its periodical spoils carnivals, to the ridicule and contempt of civilized mankind, promoting among our own people the growth of serious doubts as to the practicability of democratic institutions on a great scale. 202. The Civil Service Act of 1883 1 Congress passed a Civil The evils which Mr. Schurz outlined in 1894 have since been re- In 1883, duced by state and Federal legislation. A pioneer law was the Civil Service Act passed by Congress as early as 1883, for the purpose of removing from partisan control a large number of routine and subordinate offices in the national administration. portant clauses of this act are as follows: The more im Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President is authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, three persons, not more than two of whom shall be adherents of the same party, as Civil Service Commissioners, and said three Commissioners shall constitute the United States Civil Service Commission. Said Commissioners shall hold no other official place under the United States. The President may remove any Commissioner, and any vacancy in the position of Commissioner shall be so filled by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, as to conform to said conditions for the first selection of Commissioners. 1 From the Statutes of the United States, Civil Service Act of 1883. Preamble and Section 2. Service Act. A Civil Commission Duty of the Eight fundamental rules laid down. SEC. 2. That it shall be the duty of said Commissioners: First. To aid the President, as he may request, in preparing suitable rules for carrying this act into effect, and when said rules shall have been promulgated it shall be the duty of all officers of the United States in the departments and offices to which any such rules may relate to aid, in all proper ways, in carrying said rules, and any modifications thereof, into effect. Second. And, among other things, said rules shall provide and declare, as nearly as the conditions of good administration will warrant, as follows: (a) For open, competitive examinations for testing the fitness of applicants for the public service now classified or to be classified hereunder. Such examinations shall be practical in their character, and so far as may be shall relate to those matters which will fairly test the relative capacity and fitness of the persons examined to discharge the duties of the service into which they seek to be appointed. (b) That all the offices, places, and employments so arranged or to be arranged in classes shall be filled by selections according to grade from among those graded highest as the results of such competitive examinations. (c) Appointments to the public service aforesaid in the departments at Washington shall be apportioned among the several states and territories and the District of Columbia upon the basis of population as ascertained at the last preceding census. Every application for an examination shall contain, among other things, a statement, under oath, setting forth his or her actual bona fide residence at the time of making the application, as well as how long he or she has been a resident of such place. (d) That there shall be a period of probation before any absolute appointment or employment aforesaid. (e) That no person in the public service is for that reason under any obligations to contribute to any political fund, or to render any political service, and that he will not be removed or otherwise prejudiced for refusing to do so. (f) That no person in said service has any right to use his official authority or influence to coerce the political action of any person or body. (g) There shall be noncompetitive examinations in all proper cases before the Commission, when competent persons do not compete, after notice has been given of the existence of the vacancy, under such rules as may be prescribed by the Commissioners as to the manner of giving notice. (h) That notice shall be given in writing by the appointing power to said Commission of the persons selected for appointment or employment from among those who have been examined, of the place of residence of such persons, of the rejection of any such persons after probation, of transfers, resignations, and removals, and of the date thereof, and a record of the same shall be kept by said Commission. And any necessary exception from said eight fundamental pro- Exceptions visions of the rules shall be set forth in connection with such rules, and the reasons therefor shall be stated in the annual reports of the Commission. 203. Legal regulation of campaign contributions 1 to the the cam paign fund has led to regulative legislation. A few decades ago it was the custom of political parties not only Misuse of to accept large sums of money from special interests, but actually to demand substantial contributions from railroad and other corporations on pain of unfriendly legislation when the party got into power. In many cases gambling houses and other illegal businesses contributed heavily to the campaign fund, with the understanding that the party so supported would, if placed in power, favor the contributing interests. The abuse of the privilege of contributing to the campaign fund has recently led to more and more legislation regulating the financial activities of the party. The following description of the election laws of New York and Wisconsin will give an idea of this type of legislation: York law [The New York law, enacted 1890 and amended in 1906 and 1907]: The New [The law] defines political committees and provides that any governing person who, to promote the election or defeat of a candidate, con- contributions tributes or expends money other than through the agency of a poto the campaign litical committee or candidate, shall file the statement required of fund of political committees. 1 From Senate Documents, Sixtieth Congress, First Session, 1907-1908. No. 337. Publicity of Election Contributions and Expenditures; pp. 12-13, 17-18. political parties. Every political committee is required to have a treasurer who. shall keep detailed accounts of its contributions and expenditures. No money may be received by or on behalf of such committee until it shall have chosen a treasurer. Within five days after the choice of such treasurer there must be filed a statement of his address signed by three members of the committee. Whoever receives any money on behalf of a political committee must give to the treasurer of the committee a detailed account of the same. Every payment in excess of $5 must be vouched for by a receipted bill and every voucher must be kept fifteen months. Statement Treasurers of committees must within twenty days after election of receipts file a detailed statement of the receipts and expenditures of the comand expenditures. mittee. In each case it shall include the amount received, the name of the person or committee from whom received, the date of its receipt, the amount of every expenditure or disbursement exceeding five dollars, the name of the person or committee to whom it was made, and the date thereof; and unless such expenditure or disbursement shall have been made to another political committee it shall state clearly the purpose of such expenditure or disbursement. Penalties. Important provisions of the Wisconsin law. No person is permitted to contribute to a political committee in any name other than his own, nor can such committee knowingly receive any contributions under fictitious names. All statements must be filed and preserved for fifteen months in the office of the secretary of state, who must provide blanks. . . . Failure to file a statement or the making of a false or incomplete statement with "wilful intent to defeat the provisions" of the act is punishable by a fine of not exceeding $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than one year or both. . . . [The Wisconsin law, enacted 1897, and amended in 1905 and 1907]: This Act, which is one of the best-considered measures upon the subject, provides that the election expenses of candidates shall be filed in detail thirty days after the election, the purposes and amount of each expenditure being stated. All statements so filed must be kept open for public inspection for a year. The penalty for violation of this provision is a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $500. Political committees are defined and required to maintain a |