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

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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

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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 IS put on the waltlng llst and sooner or later recelves a posltlon Th salarles are regulated by a classlflcatlon on the b3S1S of dutles performed and there IS a regular system of promotlons There has always been a controversy over the respectlve merlts of the scholastlc and the practlcal tests The spollsmen were fond of saylng that a mall carrler dld not need to be versed IH astronomy hls tory or forelgn affalrs Grantlng the truth of thls he needs lntelllgence behlnd hls ablllty to read and wrlte shoulder a bag of mall and rmg door bells, and hls examlnatlon proves the presence or absence of thls commodlty At first the lmportance of the scholastlc tests was exaggerated It was Mr Roosevelt who checked thls tendency Whlle he was clvll servlce commlssloner a collector of customs ln Texas declared that he preferred one cow puncher to ten college graduates who could not brlng ln or brlng down the lawbreaker they were after To h1s amaze ment Commlssloner Roosevelt assented and proposed a test whlch Jould prove the appllcants ablllty to saddle and rlde an unbroken mustang shoot on the gallop, read cattle brands Cl3SSlfy llVC stock accordlng to age and condltlon speak enough Spanlsh for ordlnary ouestlons and answers and follow dlmCl.llt tralls The law provldes for the dlsmlssal of employes from publlc SCFVICC obedlence, and under no clrcumstances for polltlcal or rellglous aflilla tlons A person removed from clvll servlce IS furnlshed wlth a state ment of the cause and IS glven tlme to reply The merlt system has reduced the cost of admlnlsterlng the govern ment and has helghtened the degree of competency The workmg eHi clency of the postal mall clerks IS QQ per cent Under thls system the presldent and hlgher OH'iCl3lS of the country have much more tlme to spend on the natlon s affalrs because they are relleved of many vexlng appolntlve duties In theory and practlce then the merlt system IS shown to have splendld effects and, ln tlme, lt wlll become unlversal Not fallure but low alm IS crlme The hlgh alm of the C1Vll SCYVICC system IS The best shall serve the State Paullne E Annln Thls paper won first place ln the essay contest on ClV1l Servlce and consequently the name of Paullne Annln who served so admlrably .ls 3SSOClatC edltor of The Carnatlon last year wlll be tl'e first on the bronze tablet glven to the school by the Federatlon of Womens Clubs and placed ln our first Floor corrldor ThlTfY Y , . e ! , . ' 9 7 3 , . . , . 2' . , . . . , , . . , . y . . 1 ! ' only for misconduct, incapacity, inefficiency, insubordination or dis- 'r 7 . , , . . , , . , . . . ,, . . . . . . I 66 W! D . . . , . A