McKinley High School - Nugget Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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THE CARNATION pure food and water supply health and samtary condltlons, transporta tlon fac1l1t1es, care of the dependent people? Smce one comes m con tact wmth the local government da1ly, were It not well to become acqua1nted with 1ts work? Since the success of a government depends largely on the 0fflClalS dlrectmg lt, were xt not well to choose able oHic1alsP All these questlons and many more are embodled ln com mumty c1v1cs Our newspapers and magazmes take on new mterest after a course in CIVICS, words and phrases prevlously obscure are explamed we read artlcles whxch before seemed uninteresting, and our field of readmg has been broadened, llkewxse, our reasonmg powers are strengthened, we are able to weigh arguments carefully to look on both sides of a question before arriving at a dec1s1on Wxth th1s new conception of C1v1cs, lt becomes not a dry fiat sub ject, but one wide awake, mterestmg and really entertammg a truly lxve subject' gf, 5, mf. The Best Shall Serve the'State CCIVII Servlce J HE first six Presidents of the Unlted States were tramed statesmen of wide experlence and broad vlews who trled dlsmterestedly to serve the lnterests of all classes The seventh, Andrew ackson, was a hard lighter 1n prlvate as well as polltlcal life, and a bltter partlsan He mtroduced the spolls system To the vlctor belong the spolls Thls was the pI'1I'1ClplC of anclent and medlaeval tlmes when a soldler fought for the booty he mlght take from h1s captlves Many d1s honest and 1ncompetent men were placed 1n the government servlce men who showed extraordxnary sk1ll IH concealmg any fitness for the oilices rhey held They were not afrald to spend money freely on electlons, for they hoped thereby to get thelr own or the1r frxends hands 1nto the natlons pocketbook From Washmgtons admlmstra non to Jacksons scarcely anyone had been removed from oflice be cause of h1s pOl1t1Cal creed nn Jackson s iirst term many thousands of trimed publlc servants who had been appomted by Washlngton or Jefferson were dlscharged to make room for Jackson s adherents The 1n1ust1ce to the faithful and efliclent men thus thrown out of employ ment was not the greatest part of the catastrophe The business of the government was badly dernorallzed Why? Because offices all over the country were filled wlth men entrrely new to the work and often s1gnally uniit for the1r posxtlons It seems dxflicult to the modern hcusewlfe to tram even one new mald but at that t1me there were thou sands of government servants to learn thelr routme many of whom vc-re less teachable than the average mald and were concerned chlefiy itx lmgx , - 1 1 . . . . . . U 1 . ,, . . . . . ' 1 . F i. . ' , . A t , . . . L, . . ,, . . . . . . - 1 U . . . . . 11 - . . . . , . . , . , . . .- , 7 . . . . . , 1 1 ' 1 , - ' ' 1 ' . . ' 1 Tww-y I - 5' -1 1

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THE CARNATION Chadro spent days and nights in the forest and at last he conceived a br1ll1ant 1dea whereby he hoped to gam the secret One day mother Bunny left her lrttle ones for a short tlme and whnle she was gone Chadro managed cleverly to catch them ln a wrre net He fastened the net to the ground and then sat back and watched When poor mother Bunny came back she was very sad She walked round and round the net that enclosed her crylng httle ones Suddenly Bunny s face grew brrght and she ran away as qu1ck as the wmd Soon Bunnys lxthe body was seen commg cautxously toward the net In her mouth she carrxed a long blade of grass Chadro watchmg from behmd a tree smlled Hrs plan had been good Poor unfortunate Bunny' She came to the net dropped the blade of grass on that xron prnson and the next lnstant the w1re had broken 1nto a hundred blts and Bunny was klssmg her dear babes Chadro rushed to the scene and he looked for that blade of grass far lnto the mght I have heard people say that durxng some dark mghts they have seen an old man wlth a long whlte beard that hung to the ground hunt and hunt untxl the grey llght of mornlng frlghtened hmm away And so you see Chadro never won the pr1ze and was very cruelly pumshed The forest and the Fa1r1es and Bunny st1ll keep therr secret and that IS why the Fa1r1es can get 1nto your room when you are so weary and whxsper 1nto your ears and brmg you such beautiful dreams K Hutter CIVICS Perhaps the subject least thought of and least understood the sub ject 1n whlch fewest people are mterested the one whlch has the whole natlonal good for 1ts Held and because of xts scope the subject most drfhcult to grasp 1S C1v1cs CIVICS ln 1ts newer sense not the old 1dea of memory work const1tut1onal documents learned thoroughly but wxth no regard to thelr applrcatxon but the newer C1v1cs the Crvxcs of the locallty the natxon Community C1v1cs And what IS embodled ln the subject communrty CIVICS7 What xs 1ts Held 1ts pr1nc1ples 1ts purpose? Wlth what does It deal It deals prrmarxly wzth practxcal problems tts field IS not narrowed to a locallty though lt may center 1ts lnterest there but embraces the nation xts pur pose IS to make good and mtelllgent c1t1zens of students C1v1cs IS essentlally practrcal The fundamental prrncrples are learned only to make one understand the actual operatlon of them What could be more practical than a thorough understandmg of one s clty country or state government a knowledge of provxsrons for publlc welfare T nt wn 9 7 n y ' , . , . . . , . . . . . , , . . , , v ! , 9 ' ! , . v - I 7 ! 7 9 ! 7 9 1 - - 7 7 9 s ' . . , . 1 , .- we 5'-Sw ' i-

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THE CARNATION 1n drawmg thelr salarxes Thxs cond1t1on preva1led after every elect1on 1f the party ln power was defeated Corruptmon and abuse of power xncreased 1n natlonal pohtxcs unt1l Pres1dent Garfield was murdered ln a brutal conflxct over the spo11s of ofhce In 1883 after many years of hard and unt1r1ng labor by a few broad men the Act to Regulate and Improve the ClVll Servlce of the Unlted States was passed by Congress and sxgned by Pres1dent Arthur There was great oppos1t1on to the movement by pol1t1c1ans who resented belng shut off from the pork barrel much as a small boy would object to h1s mother s lockxng up the jam They were not ardent bel1evers 1n the sweet bye and bye they wanted the sweet now Perhaps they had small hopes of a re ward m heaven Those who had worked for the bill were greatly d1s appomted at the law as passed But a system whose very keynote IS efhclency was begun and 1S gradually replaclng that of m1ght makes rzght The C1V11 SCFVICC of a government mcludes all persons servlng it except soldlers and sallors The Pendleton act made prov1s1on for the appo1ntment of a commlssxon to frame rules and regulat1ons for the c1v1l servlce and gave the pres1dent power to lssue an order placlng certaxn classes of publlc servants under these regulatlons Durmg Pres1dent Arthur s adm1n1strat1on the number of oH 1cers appomted un der the new law was 15500 In thlrty three years that number has dent voluntarlly curtalllng h1s pol1t1ca1 power by lessenmg the pat ronage at h1S dxsposal S1x states and over two hundred C1t1CS 1n the Unlon have adopted the mer1t system for thelr local affalrs The New York const1tut1on of 1894 prov1ded that all the C1t1CS ln the State must adopt c1v1l serv1ce reform By a law of Massachusetts passed ln 1885 the reform may be appl1ed to any Clty wh1ch so deslres Most of the CltlCS 1n Massachusetts have accepted It A s1m1lar statute was passed 1n Ill1no1s ln 1895 and It was lmmedlately adopted by Chlcago M1ssour1 IS one of the states whxch has not adopted It St Louls IS trymg the CHTCICUCY system under her new charter, but IS encounter 1ng much oppos1t1on from pol1t1c1ans, and the EEICICDCY Board IS ln danger of belng dlscontmued because of lack of funds The EHKCICHCY Board consxsts of three members appomted by the mayor whose duty lt IS to make 1nvest1gat1ons and keep data concernlng the enforcement and effect of the efhclency laws It 1S certa1nly reasonable to belleve that a person selected for a posltxon by exam1nat1on IS better qualliied than one selected because of hxs pol1t1ca1 bel1ef An appl1cant for entrance 1nto the ClVll servlce has to take an exam 1nat1on partly oral and partly wrltten If hns grade 15 satlsfactory he Tss ents Wm . . . ' , . . H 7 . . . . ,, . . . v . 65 1, ' ' Y ' . . . ,, ,,. ' 7 ,. - . . . ,, . ' 77 ' ' il !! ' ' 7 . , . . . . 9 ' ' ' grown to 5oo,ooo. President Taft put in more than any other presi- Y - . , . 9 7 Y ' U ', '-. ' e