Page:The Present State of Civil Service Reform p92.jpg

 its questionable recommendations, and petitions, and appeals and intrigues.

It is easy to see that the practice of suspending the rules the more it spreads the more it will, by the frequency of arbitrary appointments, be liable to strike at the vitality of the principle of open competition, which is the very foundation stone of the merit system. In any event, it will fatally weaken the confidence of the people in the impartial administration of that system, and thus immensely hurt the cause of civil service reform in public opinion. The President may be ever so scrupulous in scrutinizing the reasons for suspending, in behalf of any individual, a rule which is recognized as just and necessary, yet a single case in which the suspension of the rule was not unavoidable in the interest of the service, will throw suspicion on the whole practice, and the charge of favoritism, personal or political, will not only be made, but it will be very widely believed. This is inevitable. But if it were not certain—if it were only probable or only possible, it would be a risk involving the whole moral credit of the civil service reform cause—a risk which should be taken only under the pressure of the most imperative necessity—certainly not lightly.

I have heard it said that when a person is to be found for a certain office standing under the competitive rule, and the competitive rule can, for some reason, at the time not be complied with, it is better to suspend the rule as to that particular case, than to exempt the office itself altogether form the application of the rule. This is not the only alternative. I have already observed that while the competition system furnishes the best average results, it may sometimes fail to present for appointment the person particularly desired by the appointing power or their superior officers, or it may cause delays or other temporary inconveniences. Under such circumstances we have to console ourselves with the reflection that nothing human is absolutely perfect, and that it will generally be better to bear such imperfections and to seek proper remedies with patience than precipitately to resort to medicines, the effect of which will be far worse than the