Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 5.djvu/409

Rh wholly oral and leave no trace behind it except the verdict. And that verdict, absolutely unrestrained as it is, and utterly arbitrary and unjust as it may be, is to stand unimpeachable, and is to weigh as much as the examination held by an independent and impartial board. And this is called an impartial machinery for competitive examination.

The consequences, if this bill becomes a law, are easily foreseen. No sooner will it be known that the appointing officers have the power to shape the examinations for “fitness” as they please, than the pressure of the aristocracy of influence will again be upon them in full force, cajoling, urging, bullying them into compliance with its behests. And how many of the appointing officers will be strong or virtuous enough to resist? We are told that, when we predict the return of the spoils abuses as the result of such a law, we are reasoning upon the assumption that the appointing officers will not do their duty. Why, sir, we do not reason upon any mere assumption at all! We reason upon the universal experience that whenever appointing officers had such discretionary power, they, in nine cases out of ten, were cajoled, urged, bullied into compliance with the pressure of influence. There is no assumption, no guesswork about it. We reason upon the basis of indisputable fact. There were examinations conducted under the control of the appointing officers in the Federal Departments for many, many years before the introduction of the competitive system. These examinations soon degenerated into the veriest farce. They never offered the slightest obstacle to the bestowal of place as spoil or favor. They may have served sometimes to turn away a candidate without backing; but they never served to keep out of place any one whom the appointing officer or the influence ruling him really desired to appoint.

Is it objected that the examinations for “fitness”