Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 2.djvu/184

164 The Chief Clerk read as follows:

8. And be it further enacted, That all officers in the civil service of the United States at the time when this civil service board shall commence their examinations, except those whose appointment and promotion is regulated in section three of this act, and those specially designated as exceptions in section twenty-one of this act, shall hold their offices for the term of five years from the date of their commissions, respectively, unless sooner removed in accordance with the provisions of this act: Provided, however, That the discontinuance of an office shall in every case discharge the person holding it from the service.

9. And be it further enacted, That all appointments in the civil service of the United States made after this act shall have taken effect and in pursuance of its provisions, except those whose appointment and promotion is regulated in section three of this act, and those who are specially designated as exceptions in section twenty-one of this act, shall be made for the term of eight years, unless sooner terminated by the death, disability or resignation of the occupant, or by his removal as hereinafter provided; and that, when before the expiration of such term a vacancy occurs in any such office, the officer selected in pursuance of the provisions of this act to fill such vacancy shall be appointed, not merely for the balance of the unexpired term of his predecessor, but for a new term of eight years from the date of his commission.

The object of these two sections is twofold: in the first place, to relieve the Administration at its commencement of the pressure which we now witness; and secondly, to take the partisan character from the civil service. Section eight throws the expiration of the term of those now in office at least one year beyond the commencement of the next Administration, when the new President, as well as the new members of the Cabinet, will be well versed in the exigencies of the service.