the English term for the account in which are contained all the expenses
immediately applicable to the support of the British sovereign's
household and the honour and dignity of the crown. An annual sum is
settled by the British parliament at the beginning of the reign on the
sovereign, and is charged on the consolidated fund. But it is only from
the reign of William IV. that the sum thus voted has been restricted
solely to the personal expenses of the crown. Before his accession many
charges properly belonging to the ordinary expenses of government had
been placed on the civil list. The history of the civil list dates from
the reign of William and Mary. Before the Revolution no distinction had
been made between the expenses of government in time of peace and the
expenses relating to the personal dignity and support of the sovereign.
The ordinary revenues derived from the hereditary revenues of the crown,
and from certain taxes voted for life to the king at the beginning of
each reign, were supposed to provide for the support of the sovereign's
dignity and the civil government, as well as for the public defence in
time of peace. Any saving made by the king in the expenditure touching
the government of the country or its defence would go to swell his privy
purse. But with the Revolution a step forward was made towards the
establishment of the principle that the expenses relating to the support
of the crown should be separated from the ordinary expenses of the
state. The evils of the old system under which no appropriation was made
of the ordinary revenue granted to the crown for life had been made
manifest in the reigns of Charles II. and James II.; it was their
control of these large revenues that made them so independent of
parliament. Moreover, while the civil government and the defences
suffered, the king could use these revenues as he liked. The parliament
of William and Mary fixed the revenue of the crown in time of peace at
L1,200,000 per annum; of this sum about L700,000 was appropriated
towards the "civil list." But from this the sovereign was to defray the
expenses of the civil service and the payment of pensions, as well as
the cost of the support of the royal household and his own personal
expenses. It was from this that the term "civil list" arose, to
distinguish it from the statement of military and naval charges. The
revenue voted to meet the civil list consisted of the hereditary
revenues of the crown and a part of the excise duties. Certain changes
and additions were made in the sources of revenue thus appropriated
between the reign of William and Mary and the accession of George III.,
when a different system was adopted. Generally speaking, however, the
sources of revenue remained as settled at the Revolution.
Anne, George I. and George II.
George III.
Anne had the same civil list, estimated to produce an annual income of
L700,000. During her reign a debt of L1,200,000 was incurred. This debt
was paid by parliament and charged on the civil list itself. George I.
enjoyed the same revenue by parliamentary grant, in addition to an
annual sum of L120,000 on the aggregate fund. A debt of L1,000,000 was
incurred, and discharged by parliament in the same manner as Anne's debt
had been. To George II. a civil list of L800,000 as a minimum was
granted, parliament undertaking to make up any deficiency if the sources
of income appropriated to its service fell short of that sum. Thus in
1746 a debt of L456,000 was paid by parliament on the civil list. On the
accession of George III. a change was made in the system of the civil
list. Hitherto the sources of revenue appropriated to the service of the
civil list had been settled on the crown. If these revenues exceeded the
sum they were computed to produce annually, the surplus went to the
king. George III., however, surrendered the life-interest in the
hereditary revenues and the excise duties hitherto voted to defray the
civil list expenditure, and any claim to a surplus for a fixed amount.
The king still retained other large sources of revenue which were not
included in the civil list, and were free from the control of
parliament. The revenues from which the civil list had been defrayed
were henceforward to be carried into, and made part of, the aggregate
fund. In their place a fixed civil list was granted--at first of
L723,000 per annum, to be increased to L800,000 on the falling in of
certain annuities to members of the royal family. From this L800,000 the
king's household and the honour and dignity of the crown were to be
supported, as well as the civil service offices, pensions and other
charges still laid on the list.
Indebtedness of civil list.
During the reign of George III. the civil list played an important part
in the history of the struggle on the part of the king to establish the
royal ascendancy. From the revenue appropriated to its service came a
large portion of the money employed by the king in creating places and
pensions for his supporters in parliament, and, under the colour of the
royal bounty, bribery was practised on a large scale. No limit was set
to the amount applicable to the pensions charged on the civil list, so
long as the sum granted could meet the demand; and there was no
principle on which the grant was regulated. Secret pensions at the
king's pleasure were paid out of it, and in every way the independence
of parliament was menaced; and though the more legitimate expenses of
the royal household were diminished by the king's penurious style of
living, and though many charges not directly connected with the king's
personal expenditure were removed, the amount was constantly exceeded,
and applications were made from time to time to parliament to pay off
debts incurred; and thus opportunity was given for criticism. In 1769 a
debt of L513,511 was paid off in arrears; and in spite of the demand for
accounts and for an inquiry into the cause of the debt, the ministry
succeeded in securing this vote without granting such information. All
attempts to investigate the civil list were successfully resisted,
though Lord Chatham went so far as to declare himself convinced that the
funds were expended in corrupting members of parliament. Again, in 1777,
an application was made to parliament to pay off L618,340 of debts; and
in view of the growing discontent Lord North no longer dared to withhold
accounts. Yet, in spite of strong opposition and free criticism, not
only was the amount voted, but also a further L100,000 per annum, thus
raising the civil list to an annual sum of L900,000.
In 1779, at a time when the expenditure of the country and the national
debt had been enormously increased by the American War, the general
dissatisfaction found voice in parliament, and the abuses of the civil
list were specially singled out for attack. Many petitions were
presented to the House of Commons praying for its reduction, and a
motion was made in the House of Lords in the same sense, though it was
rejected. In 1780 Burke brought forward his scheme of economic reform,
but his name was already associated with the growing desire to remedy
the evils of the civil list by the publication in 1769 of his pamphlet
on "The Causes of the Present Discontent." In this scheme Burke freely
animadverts on the profusion and abuse of the civil list, criticizing
the useless and obsolete offices and the offices performed by deputy. In
every department he discovers jobbery, waste and peculation. His
proposal was that the many offices should be reduced and consolidated,
that the pension list should be brought down to a fixed sum of L60,000
per annum, and that pensions should be conferred only to reward merit or
fulfil real public charity. All pensions were to be paid at the
exchequer. He proposed also that the civil list should be divided into
classes, an arrangement which later was carried into effect. In 1780
Burke succeeded in bringing in his Establishment Bill; but though at
first it met with considerable support, and was even read a second time,
Lord North's government defeated it in committee. The next year the bill
was again introduced into the House of Commons, and Pitt made his first
speech in its favour. The bill was, however, lost on the second reading.
Civil List Act 1782.
In 1782 the Rockingham ministry, pledged to economic reform, came into
power; and the Civil List Act 1782 was introduced and carried with the
express object of limiting the patronage and influence of ministers, or,
in other words, the ascendancy of the crown over parliament. Not only
did the act effect the abolition of a number of useless offices, but it
also imposed restraints on the issue of secret service money, and made
provision for a more effectual supervision of the royal expenditure. As
to the pension list, the annual amount was to be limited to L95,000; no
pension to any one person was to exceed L1200, and all pensions were to
be paid at the exchequer, thus putting a stop to the secret pensions
payable during pleasure. Moreover, pensions were only to be bestowed in
the way of royal bounty for persons in distress or as a reward for
merit. Another very important change was made by this act: the civil
list was divided into classes, and a fixed amount was to be appropriated
to each class. The following were the classes:--
1. Pensions and allowances of the royal family.
2. Payment of salaries of lord chancellor, speaker and judges.
3. Salaries of ministers to foreign courts resident at the same.
4. Approved bills of tradesmen, artificers and labourers for any
article supplied and work done for His Majesty's service.
5. Menial servants of the household.
6. Pension list.
7. Salaries of all other places payable out of the civil list revenues.
8. Salaries and pensions of treasurer or commissioners of the
treasury and of the chancellor of the exchequer.
Yet debt was still the condition of the civil list down to the end of
the reign, in spite of the reforms established by the Rockingham
ministry, and notwithstanding the removal from the list of many charges
unconnected with the king's personal expenses. The debts discharged by
parliament between 1782, the date of the passing of the Civil List Act,
and the end of George III.'s reign, amounted to L2,300,000. In all,
during his reign L3,398,061 of debt owing by the civil list was paid
off.
With the regency the civil list was increased by L70,000 per annum, and
a special grant of L100,000 was settled on the prince regent. In 1816
the annual amount was settled at L1,083,727, including the establishment
of the king, now insane; though the civil list was relieved from some
annuities payable to the royal family. Nevertheless, the fund still
continued charged with such civil expenses as the salaries of judges,
ambassadors and officers of state, and with pensions granted for public
services. Other reforms were made as regards the definition of the
several classes of expenditure, while the expenses of the royal
household were henceforth to be audited by a treasury official--the
auditor of the civil list. On the accession of George IV. the civil
list, freed from the expenses of the late king, was settled at L845,727.
On William IV. coming to the throne a sum of L510,000 per annum was
fixed for the service of the civil list. The king at the same time
surrendered all the sources of revenue enjoyed by his predecessors,
apart from the civil list, represented by the hereditary revenues of
Scotland--the Irish civil list, the droits of the crown and admiralty,
the 41/2% duties, the West India duties, and other casual revenues
hitherto vested in the crown, and independent of parliament. The
revenues of the duchy of Lancaster were still retained by the crown. In
return for this surrender and the diminished sum voted, the civil list
was relieved from all the charges relating rather to the civil
government than to the support of the dignity of the crown and the royal
household. The future expenditure was divided into five classes, and a
fixed annual sum was appropriated to each class. The pension list was
reduced to L75,000. The king resisted an attempt on the part of the
select committee to reduce the salaries of the officers of state on the
grounds that this touched his prerogative, and the ministry of Earl Grey
yielded to his remonstrance.
Queen Victoria's civil list.
The civil list of Queen Victoria was settled on the same principles as
that of William IV. A considerable reduction was made in the aggregate
annual sum voted, from L510,000 to L385,000, and the pension list was
separated from the ordinary civil list. The civil list proper was
divided into the following five classes, with a fixed sum appropriated
to each:--
Privy purse L60,000
Salaries of household 131,260
Expenses of household 172,500
Royal bounty, &c. 13,200
Unappropriated 8,040
In addition the queen might, on the advice of her ministers, grant
pensions up to L1200 per annum, in accordance with a resolution of the
House of Commons of February 18th, 1834, "to such persons as have just
claims on the royal beneficence or who, by their personal services to
the crown, by the performance of duties to the public, or by their
useful discoveries in science and attainments in literature and art,
have merited the gracious consideration of the sovereign and the
gratitude of their country." The service of these pensions increased the
annual sum devoted to support the dignity of the crown and the expenses
of the household to about L409,000. The list of pensions must be laid
before parliament within thirty days of 20th June. Thus the civil list
was reduced in amount, and relieved from the very charges which gave it
its name as distinct from the statement of military and naval charges.
It now really only dealt with the support of the dignity and honour of
the crown and the royal household. The arrangement was most successful,
and during the last three reigns there was no application to parliament
for the discharge of debts incurred on the civil list.
Civil List Act 1901.
The death of Queen Victoria rendered it necessary that a renewed
provision should be made for the civil list; and King Edward VII.,
following former precedents, placed unreservedly at the disposal of
parliament his hereditary revenues. A select committee of the House of
Commons was appointed to consider the provisions of the civil list for
the crown, and to report also on the question of grants for the
honourable support and maintenance of Her Majesty the Queen and the
members of the royal family. The committee in their conclusions were
guided to a considerable extent by the actual civil list expenditure
during the last ten years of the last reign, and made certain
recommendations which, without undue interference with the sovereign's
personal arrangements, tended towards increased efficiency and economy
in the support of the sovereign's household and the honour and dignity
of the crown. On their report was based the Civil List Act 1901, which
established the new civil list. The system that the hereditary revenues
should as before be paid into the exchequer and be part of the
consolidated fund was maintained. The amount payable for the civil list
was increased from L385,000 to L470,000. In the application of this sum
the number of classes of expenditure to which separate amounts were to
be appropriated was increased from five to six. The following was the
new arrangement of classes:--1st class, Their Majesties' privy purse,
L110,000; 2nd class, salaries of His Majesty's household and retired
allowances, L125,800; 3rd class, expenses of His Majesty's household,
L193,000; 4th class, works (the interior repair and decoration of
Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle), L20,000; 5th class, royal bounty,
alms and special services, L13,200; 6th class, unappropriated, L8000.
The system relating to civil list pensions, established by the Civil
List Act 1837, continued to apply, but the pensions were not regarded as
chargeable on the sum paid for the civil list. The committee also
advised that the mastership of the Buckhounds should not be continued;
and the king, on the advice of his ministers, agreed to accept their
recommendation. The maintenance of the royal hunt thus ceased to be a
charge on the civil list. The annuities of L20,000 to the prince of
Wales, of L10,000 to the princess of Wales, and of L18,000 to His
Majesty's three daughters, were not included in the civil list, though
they were conferred by the same act. Other grants made by special acts
of parliament to members of the royal family were also excluded from it;
these were L6000 to the princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, L6000
to the princess Louise (duchess of Argyll), L25,000 to the duke of
Connaught, L6000 to the duchess of Albany, L6000 to the princess
Beatrice (Henry of Battenberg), and L3000 to the duchess of
Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
Figures in other countries.
It may be interesting to compare with the British civil list the
corresponding figures in other countries. These are as follows, the
figures being those, for convenience, of 1905. Spain, L280,000,
exclusive of allowances to members of the royal family; Portugal,
L97,333, in addition to L1333 to the queen-consort--total grant to the
royal family, L116,700; Italy, L602,000, from which was deducted
L16,000 for the children of the deceased Prince Amedeo, duke of Aosta,
L16,000 to Prince Tommaso, duke of Genoa, and L40,000 to Queen
Margherita; Belgium, L140,000; Netherlands, L50,000, with, in
addition, L4000 for the maintenance of the royal palaces; Germany,
L770,500 (_Krondotations Rente_), the sovereign also possessing large
private property (_Kronfideikommiss und Schatullgueter_), the revenue
from which contributed to the expenditure of the court and the members
of the royal family; Denmark, L55,500, in addition to L6600 to the
heir-apparent; Norway, L38,888; Sweden, L72,700; Greece, L52,000,
which included L4000 each from Great Britain, France and Russia;
Austria-Hungary, L941,666, made up of L387,500 as emperor of Austria
out of the revenues of Austria, and L554,166 as king of Hungary out of
the revenues of Hungary; Japan, L300,000; Rumania, L47,000, in
addition to revenues from certain crown lands; Servia, L48,000;
Bulgaria, L40,000, besides L30,000 for maintenance of palaces, &c.;
Montenegro, L8300; Russia had no civil list, the sovereign having all
the revenue from the crown domains (actual amount unknown, but
supposed to amount to over L4,000,000); the president of the French
Republic had a salary of L24,000 a year, with a further L24,000 for
expenses; and the president of the United States had a salary of
$50,000 (from 1909, $75,000).
CIVIL SERVICE, the generic name given to the aggregate of all the public
servants, or paid civil administrators and clerks, of a state. It is the
machinery by which the executive, through the various administrations,
carries on the central government of the country.
_British Empire._--The appointments to the civil service until the year
1855 were made by nomination, with an examination not sufficient to form
an intellectual or even a physical test. It was only after much
consideration and almost years of discussion that the nomination system
was abandoned. Various commissions reported on the civil service, and
orders in council were issued. Finally in 1855 a qualifying examination
of a stringent character was instituted, and in 1870 the principle of
open competition was adopted as a general rule. On the report of the
Playfair Commission (1876), an order in council was issued dividing the
civil service into an upper and lower division. The order in council
directed that a lower division should be constituted, and men and boy
clerks holding permanent positions replaced the temporary assistants and
writers. The "temporary" assistant was not found to be advantageous to
the service. In December 1886 a new class of assistant clerks was formed
to replace the men copyists. In 1887 the Ridley Commission reported on
the civil service establishment. In 1890 two orders in council were
issued based on the reports of the Ridley Commission, which sat from
1886 to 1890. The first order constituted what is now known as the
second division of the civil service. The second order in council
concerned the officers of the 1st class; and provision was made for the
possible promotion of the second division clerks to the first division
after eight years' service.
The whole system is under the administration of the civil service
commissioners, and power is given to them, with the approval of the
treasury, to prescribe the subjects of examination, limits of age, &c.
The age is fixed for compulsory retirement at sixty-five. In exceptional
cases a prolongation of five years is within the powers of the civil
service commissioners. The examination for 1st class clerkships is held
concurrently with that of the civil service of India and Eastern
cadetships in the colonial service. Candidates can compete for all three
or for two. In addition to the intellectual test the candidate must
fulfil the conditions of age (22 to 24), must present recommendations as
to character, and pass a medical examination. This examination
approximates closely to the university type of education. Indeed, there
is little chance of success except for candidates who have had a
successful university career, and frequently, in addition, special
preparation by a private teacher. The subjects include the language and
literature of England, France, Germany, Italy, ancient Greece and Rome,
Sanskrit and Arabic, mathematics (pure and applied), natural science
(chemistry, physics, zoology, &c.), history (English, Greek, Roman and
general modern), political economy and economic history, mental and
moral philosophy, Roman and English law and political science. The
candidate is obliged to reach a certain standard of knowledge in each
subject before any marks at all are allowed him. This rule was made to
prevent success by mere cramming, and to ensure competent knowledge on
the basis of real study.
The maximum scale of the salaries of clerks of Class I. is as
follows:--3rd class, L200 a year, increasing by L20 a year to L500; 2nd
class, L600, increasing by L25 a year to L800; 1st class, L850,
increasing by L50 a year to L1000. Their pensions are fixed by the
Superannuation Act 1859, 22 Vict. c. 26:--
"To any person who shall have served ten years and upwards, and under
eleven years, an annual allowance of ten-sixtieths of the annual
salary and emoluments of his office:
"For eleven years and under twelve years, an annual allowance of
eleven-sixtieths of such salary and emoluments:
"And in like manner a further addition to the annual allowance of
one-sixtieth in respect of each additional year of such service, until
the completion of a period of service of forty years, when the annual
allowance of forty-sixtieths may be granted; and no additions shall be
made in respect of any service beyond forty years."
The "ordinary annual holidays allowed to officers" (1st class) "shall
not exceed thirty-six week-days during each of their first ten years
of service and forty-eight week-days thereafter." Order in Council,
15th August 1890.
"Within that maximum heads of departments have now, as they have
hitherto had, an absolute discretion in fixing the annual leave."
Sick leave can be granted on full salary for not more than six months,
on half-salary for another six months.
The scale of salary for 2nd division clerks begins at L70 a year,
increasing by L5 to L100; then L100 a year, increasing by L7, 10s. to
L190; and then L190 a year, increasing by L10 to L250. The highest is
L300 to L500. Advancement in the 2nd division to the higher ranks
depends on merit, not seniority. The ordinary annual holiday of the 2nd
division clerks is 14 working days for the first five years, and 21
working days afterwards. They can be allowed sick leave for six months
on full pay and six months on half-pay. The subjects of their
examination are: (1) handwriting and orthography, including copying MS.;
(2) arithmetic; (3) English composition; (4) precis, including indexing
and digest of returns; (5) book-keeping and shorthand writing; (6)
geography and English history; (7) Latin; (8) French; (9) German; (10)
elementary mathematics; (11) inorganic chemistry with elements of
physics. Not more than four of the subjects (4) to (11) can be taken.
The candidate must be between the ages of 17 and 20. A certain number of
the places in the 2nd division were reserved for the candidates from the
boy clerks appointed under the old system. The competition is severe,
only about one out of every ten candidates being successful. Candidates
are allowed a choice of departments subject to the exigencies of the
services.
There is also a class of boy copyists who are almost entirely employed
in London, a few in Dublin and Edinburgh, and, very seldom, in some
provincial towns. The subjects of their examination are:
_Obligatory_--handwriting and orthography, arithmetic and English
composition. _Optional_--(any two of the following): (1) copying MS.;
(2) geography; (3) English history; (4) translation from one of the
following languages--Latin, French or German; (5) Euclid, bk. i. and
ii., and algebra, up to and including simple equations; (6) rudiments
of chemistry and physics. Candidates must be between the ages of 15
and 18. They have no claims to superannuation or compensation
allowance. Boy copyists are not retained after the age of 20.
Candidates for the civil service of India take the same examination as
for 1st class clerkships. Candidates successful in the examination must
subsequently spend one year in England. They receive for that year L150
if they elect to live at one of the universities or colleges approved by
the secretary of state for India. They are submitted to a final
examination in the following subjects--Indian Penal Code and the Code
of Criminal Procedure, the principal vernacular language of the province
to which they are assigned, the Indian Evidence Act (these three
subjects are compulsory), either Hindu and Mahommedan Law, or Sanskrit,
Arabic or Persian, Burmese (for Burma only). A candidate may not take
Arabic or Sanskrit both in the first examination and in the final. They
must also pass a thorough examination in riding. On reaching India
their salary begins at 400 rupees a month. They may take, as leave,
one-fourth of the time on active service in periods strictly limited by
regulation. After 25 years' service (of which 21 must be active service)
they can retire on a pension of L1000 a year. The unit of administration
is the district. At the head of the district is an executive officer
called either collector-magistrate or deputy-commissioner. In most
provinces he is responsible to the commissioner, who corresponds
directly with the provincial government. The Indian civilian after four
years' probation in both branches of the service is called upon to elect
whether he will enter the revenue or judicial department, and this
choice as a rule is held to be final for his future work.
Candidates for the Indian Forest Service have to pass a competitive
examination, one of the compulsory subjects being German or French.
They have also to pass a severe medical examination, especially in
their powers of vision and hearing. They must be between the ages of
18 and 22. Successful candidates are required to pass a three years'
course, with a final examination, seven terms of the course at an
approved school of forestry, the rest of the time receiving practical
instruction in continental European forests. On reaching India they
start as assistant conservators at 380 rupees a month. The highest
salary, that of inspector-general of forests, in the Indian Forest
Service is 2650 rupees a month.
The Indian Police Service is entered by a competitive examination of
very much the same kind as for the forest service, except that special
subjects such as German and botany are not included. The candidates
are limited in age to 19 and 21. They must pass a riding examination.
A free passage out is given them. They are allotted as probationers,
their wishes being consulted as far as possible as to their province.
A probationer receives 300 rupees a month. A district superintendent
can rise to 1200 rupees a month, while there are a few posts with a
salary of 3000 rupees a month in the police service. The leave and
pension in both these departments follow the general rules for Indian
services.
The civil service also includes student interpreterships for China,
Japan and Siam, and for the Ottoman dominions, Persia, Greece and
Morocco. Both these classes of student interpreters are selected by open
competition. Their object is to supply the consular service in the
above-named countries with persons having a thorough knowledge of the
language of the country in which they serve.
In the first case, China, Japan, &c., they learn their language in the
country itself, receiving L200 as probationers. Then they become
assistants in a consulate. The highest post is that of consul-general.
In the case of student interpreters for the Ottoman dominions, Persia,
Greece and Morocco, the successful candidates learn their languages at
Oxford. Turkish is taught gratuitously, but they pay the usual fees
for other languages. At Oxford they receive L200 a year for two years.
On leaving Oxford they become assistants under the embassy at
Constantinople, the legations at Teheran, Athens or Morocco, or at one
of H.B.M. consulates. As assistants they receive L300 a year. The
consuls, the highest post to which they can reach, receive in the
Levant from L500 to L1600 a year. The civil services of Ceylon,
Hong-Kong, the Straits Settlements, and the Malay Peninsula are
supplied by the Eastern cadetships. The limits of age for the
examination are 18 and 24. The cadets are required to learn the native
language of the colony or dependency to which they are assigned. In
the case of the Straits Settlements and Malay cadets they may have to
learn Chinese or Tamil, as well as the native language. The salaries
are: passed cadets, 3500 rupees per annum, gradually increasing until
first-class officers receive from 12,000 to 18,000 rupees per annum.
They are allowed three months' vacation on full pay in two years, and
leave of absence on half-pay after six years' service, or before that
if urgently needed. They can retire for ill-health after ten years
with fifteen-sixtieths of their annual salary. Otherwise they can add
one-sixtieth of their annual salary to their pension for every
additional year's service up to thirty-five years' service.
In spite of the general rule of open competition, there are still a few
departments where the system of _nomination_ obtains, accompanied by a
severe test of knowledge, either active or implied. Such are the foreign
office, British Museum, and board of education.
The employment of women in the civil service has been principally
developed in the post office. Women are employed in the post office as
female clerks, counter clerks, telegraphists, returners, sorters and
post-mistresses all over the United Kingdom. The board of agriculture,
the customs and the India office employ women. The department of
agriculture, the board of education generally, the local government
board, all to a certain extent employ women, whilst in the home office
there are an increasing number of women inspectors of workshops and
factories.
In 1881 the postmaster-general took a decided step in favour of female
employment, and with the consent of the treasury instituted female
clerkships. Female clerks do not come in contact with the public.
Their duties are purely clerical, and entirely in the
accountant-general's department at the savings bank. Their leave is
one month per annum; their pension is on the ordinary civil service
scale. The examination is competitive; the subjects are handwriting
and spelling, arithmetic, English composition, geography, English
history, French or German. Candidates must be between the ages of 18
and 20. Whether unmarried or widows they must resign on marriage. The
class of girl clerks take the same subjects in a competitive
examination. They must be between the ages of 16 and 18; they serve
only in the Savings Bank department. If competent they can pass on
later to female clerkships. The salaries of the female clerkships
range from L200 to L500 in the higher grade, L55 to L190 in the 2nd
class, whilst girl clerks are paid from L35 to L40, with the chance of
advancement to higher posts.
The "spoils system".
_United States._--Civil service reform, like other great administrative
reforms, began in America in the latter half of the 19th century.
Personal and partisan government, with all the entailed evils of the
patronage system, culminated in Great Britain during the reign of George
III., and was one of the efficient causes of the American revolution.
Trevelyan characterizes the use of patronage to influence legislation,
and the giving of colonial positions as sinecures to the privileged
classes and personal favourites of the administration, by saying, "It
was a system which, as its one achievement of the first order, brought
about the American War, and made England sick, once and for all, of the
very name of personal government." It was natural that the founders of
the new government in America, after breaking away from the
mother-country, should strive to avoid the evils which had in a measure
brought about the revolution. Their intention that the administrative
officers of the government should hold office during good behaviour is
manifest, and was given thorough and practical effect by every
administration during the first forty years of the life of the
government. The constitution fixed no term of office in the executive
branch of the government except those of president and vice-president;
and Madison, the expounder of the constitution, held that the wanton
removal of a meritorious officer was an impeachable offence. Not until
nine years after the passage of the Four Years' Tenure of Office Act in
1820 was there any material departure from this traditional policy of
the government. This act (suggested by an appointing officer who wished
to use the power it gave in order to secure his own nomination for the
presidency, and passed without debate and apparently without any
adequate conception of its full effect) opened the doors of the service
to all the evils of the "spoils system." The foremost statesmen of the
time were not slow to perceive the baleful possibilities of this
legislation, Jefferson,[1] Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Benton and many
others being recorded as condemning and deploring it in the strongest
terms. The transition to the "spoils system" was not, however,
immediate, and for the next nine years the practice of reappointing all
meritorious officers was practically universal; but in 1829 this
practice ceased, and the act of 1820 lent the sanction of law to the
system of proscriptions which followed, which was a practical
application of the theory that "to the victor belong the spoils of the
enemy." In 1836 the provisions of this law, which had at first been
confined mainly to officers connected with the collection of revenue,
were extended to include also all postmasters receiving a compensation
of $1000 per annum or more. It rapidly became the practice to regard all
these four years' tenure offices as agencies not so much for the
transaction of the public business as for the advancement of political
ends. The revenue service from being used for political purposes merely
came to be used for corrupt purposes as well, with the result that in
one administration frauds were practised upon the government to the
extent of $75,000,000. The corrupting influences permeated the whole
body politic. Political retainers were selected for appointment not on
account of their ability to do certain work but because they were
followers of certain politicians; these "public servants" acknowledged
no obligation except to those politicians, and their public duties, if
not entirely disregarded, were negligently and inefficiently performed.
Thus grew a saturnalia of spoils and corruption which culminated in the
assassination of a president.
Law of 1883.
Acute conditions, not theories, give rise to reforms. In the
congressional election of November 1882, following the assassination of
President Garfield as an incident in the operation of the spoils system,
the voice of the people commanding reform was unmistakable. Congress
assembled in December 1882, and during the same month a bill looking to
the improvement of the civil service, which had been pending in the
Senate for nearly two years, was finally taken up and considered by that
body. In the debate upon this bill its advocates declared that it would
"vastly improve the whole civil service of the country," which they
characterized as being at that time "inefficient, expensive and
extravagant, and in many instances corrupt."[2] This bill passed the
Senate on the 27th of December 1882, and the House on the 4th of January
1883, and was signed by the president on the 16th of January 1883,
coming into full operation on the 16th of July 1883. It is now the
national civil service law. The fundamental principles of this law
are:--(1) selection by competitive examination for all appointments to
the "classified service," with a period of probationary service before
absolute appointment; (2) apportionment among the states and
territories, according to population, of all appointments in the
departmental service at Washington; (3) freedom of all the employees of
the government from any necessity to contribute to political campaign
funds or to render political services. For putting these principles into
effect the Civil Service Commission was created, and penalties were
imposed for the solicitation or collection from government employees of
contributions for political purposes, and for the use of official
positions in coercing political action. The commission, in addition to
its regular duties of aiding in the preparation of civil service rules,
of regulating and holding examinations, and certifying the results
thereof for use in making appointments, and of keeping records of all
changes in the service, was given authority to investigate and report
upon any violations of the act or rules. The "classified" service to
which the act applies has grown, by the action of successive presidents
in progressively including various branches of tne service within it,
from 13,924 positions in 1883 to some 80,000 (in round numbers) in 1900,
constituting about 40% of the entire civil service of the government and
including practically all positions above the grade of mere labourer or
workman to which appointment is _not_ made directly by the president
with the consent of the Senate.[3] A very large class to which the act
is expressly applicable, and which has been partly brought within its
provisions by executive action, is that of fourth-class postmasters, of
whom there are between 70,000 and 80,000 (about 15,000 classified in
1909).
In order to provide registers of eligibles for the various grades of
positions in the classified service, the United States Civil Service
Commission holds annually throughout the country about 300 different
kinds of examinations. In the work of preparing these examinations and
of marking the papers of competitors in them the commission is
authorized by law to avail itself, in addition to its own corps of
trained men, of the services of the scientific and other experts in the
various executive departments. In the work of holding the examinations
it is aided by about 1300 local boards of examiners, which are its local
representatives throughout the country and are located at the principal
post offices, custom houses and other government offices, being composed
of three or more Federal employees in those offices. About 50,000
persons annually compete in these examinations, and about 10,000 of
those who are successful receive appointments through regular
certification. Persons thus appointed, however, must serve six months
"on probation" before their appointment can be made absolute. At the end
of this probation, if his service has not been satisfactory, the
appointee is simply dropped; and the fact that less than 1% of those
appointed prove thus deficient on trial is high testimony to the
practical nature of the examinations held by the commission, and to
their aptness for securing persons qualified for all classes of
positions.
The effects of the Civil Service Act within the scope of its actual
operation have amply justified the hopes and promises of its advocates.
After its passage, absentee holders of lucrative appointments were
required to report for duty or to sever their connexion with the
service. Improved methods were adopted in the departments, and
superfluous and useless work was no longer devised in order to provide a
show of employment and a _locus standi_ for the parasites upon the
public service. Individual clerks were required, and by reason of the
new conditions were enabled, to do more and better work; and this,
coupled with the increase in efficiency in the service on account of new
blood coming in through the examinations, made possible an actual
decrease in the force required in many offices, notwithstanding the
natural growth in the amount of work to be done.[4] Experience proves
that the desire to create new and unnecessary positions was in direct
proportion to the power to control them, for where the act has taken
away this power of control the desire had disappeared naturally. There
is no longer any desire on the part of heads of departments to increase
the number or salaries of classified positions which would fall by law
within the civil service rules and be subject to competitive
examinations. Thus the promises of improvement and economy in the
service have been fulfilled.
The chief drawback to the full success of the act within its intended
scope of operation has been the withholding of certain positions in the
service from the application of the vital principle of competition. The
Civil Service Act contemplated no exceptions, within the limits to which
it was made applicable, to the general principle of competition upon
merit for entrance to the service. In framing the first civil service
rules, however, in 1883, the president, yielding to the pressure of the
heads of some of the departments, and against the urgent protest of the
Civil Service Commission, excepted from the requirement of examination
large numbers of positions in the higher grades of the service, chiefly
fiduciary and administrative positions such as cashiers, chief clerks
and chiefs of division. These positions being thus continued under the
absolute control of the appointing officer, the effect of their
exception from examination was to retain just that much of the old or
"spoils" system within the nominal jurisdiction of the new or "merit"
system. Even more: under the old system, while appointments from the
outside had been made regardless of fitness, still those appointments
had been made in the lower grades, the higher positions being filled by
promotion within the service, usually of the most competent, but under
the new system with its exceptions, while appointments to the lower
grades were filled on the basis of merit, the pressure for spoils at
each change of administration forced inexperienced, political or
personal favourites in at the top. This blocked promotions and
demoralized the service. Thus, while the general effect of the act was
to limit very greatly the number of vicious appointments, at the same
time the effect of these exceptions was to confine them to the upper
grades, where the demoralizing effect of each upon the service would be
a maximum. By constant efforts the Civil Service Commission succeeded in
having position after position withdrawn from this excepted class, until
by the action of the president, on the 6th of May 1896, it was finally
reduced almost to a minimum. By subsequent presidential action,
however, on the 29th of May 1899, the excepted class was again greatly
extended.[5]
A further obstacle to the complete success of the merit system, and one
which prevents the carrying forward of the reform to the extent to which
it has been carried in Great Britain, is inherent in the Civil Service
Act itself. All postmasters who receive compensation of $1000 or more
per annum, and all collectors of customs and collectors of internal
revenue, are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and
are therefore, by express provision of the act, not "required to be
classified." The universal practice of treating these offices as
political agencies instead of as administrative business offices is
therefore not limited by the act. Such officers are active in political
work throughout the country, and their official position adds greatly to
their power to affect the political prospects of the leaders in their
districts. Accordingly the Senate, from being, as originally intended,
merely a confirming body as to these officers, has become in a large
measure, actually if not formally, a nominating body, and holds with
tenacity to the power thus acquired by the individual senators. Thorough
civil service reform requires that these positions also, and all those
of fourth-class postmasters (partly classified by order of 1st Dec.
1908), be made subject to the merit system, for in them is the real
remaining stronghold of the spoils system. Even though all their
subordinates be appointed through examination, it will be impossible to
carry the reform to ultimate and complete success so long as the
officers in charge are appointed mainly for political reasons and are
changed with every change of administration.
The purpose of the act to protect the individual employees in the
service from the rapacity of the "political barons" has been measurably,
if not completely, successful. The power given the Civil Service
Commission, to investigate and report upon violations of the law, has
been used to bring to light such abuses as the levying of political
contributions, and to set the machinery of the law in motion against
them. While comparatively few actual prosecutions have been brought
about, and although the penalties imposed by the act for this offence
have been but seldom inflicted, still the publicity given to all such
cases by the commission's investigations has had a wholesome deterrent
effect. Before the passage of the act, positions were as a general rule
held upon a well-understood lease-tenure, the political contributions
for them being as securely and as certainly collected as any rent. Now,
however, it can be said that these forced contributions have almost
entirely disappeared. The efforts which are still made to collect
political funds from government employees in evasion of the law are
limited in the main to persuasion to make "voluntary" contributions, and
it has been possible so to limit and obstruct these efforts that their
practical effect upon the character of the service is now very small.
State examination.
The same evils that the Federal Civil Service Act was designed to remedy
exist to a large degree in many of the state governments, and are
especially aggravated in the administration of the local governments of
some of the larger cities. The chief, if not the only, test of fitness
for office in many cases has been party loyalty, honesty and capacity
being seldom more than secondary considerations. The result has been the
fostering of dishonesty and extravagance, which have brought weakness
and gross corruption into the administration of the local governments.
In consequence of this there has been a constantly growing tendency,
among the more intelligent class of citizens, to demand that honest
business methods be applied to local public service, and that
appointments be made on the basis of intelligence and capacity, rather
than of party allegiance. The movement for the reform of the civil
service of cities is going hand in hand with the movement for general
municipal reform, those reformers regarding the merit system of
appointments as not merely the necessary and only safe bulwark to
preserve the results of their labours, but also as the most efficient
means for bringing about other reforms. Hence civil service reform is
given a leading position in all programmes for the reform of state and
municipal governments. This has undoubtedly been due, in the first
instance, at least, to the success which attended the application of the
merit system to the Federal service, municipal and state legislation
following in the wake of the national civil service law. In New York an
act similar to the Federal Civil Service Act was passed on the 4th of
May 1883, and in 1894 the principles of the merit system were introduced
by an amendment into the state constitution, and made applicable to
cities and villages as well. In Massachusetts an act was passed on the
3rd of June 1884 which in its general features was based upon the
Federal act and the New York act. Similar laws were passed in Illinois
and Wisconsin in 1895, and in New Jersey in 1908; the laws provide for
the adoption of the merit system in state and municipal government. In
New Orleans, La., and in Seattle, Wash., the merit system was introduced
by an amendment to the city charter in 1896. The same result was
accomplished by New Haven, Conn., in 1897, and by San Francisco, Cal.,
in 1899. In still other cities the principles of the merit system have
been enacted into law, in some cases applying to the entire service and
in others to only a part of it.
The application of the merit system to state and municipal governments
has proved successful wherever it has been given a fair trial.[6] As
experience has fostered public confidence in the system, and at the same
time shown those features of the law which are most vulnerable, and the
best means for fortifying them, numerous and important improvements upon
the pioneer act applying to the Federal service have been introduced in
the more recent legislation. This is particularly true of the acts now
in force in New York (passed in 1899) and in Chicago. The power of the
commission to enforce these acts is materially greater than the power
possessed by the Federal commission. In making investigations they are
not confined to taking the testimony of voluntary witnesses, but may
administer oaths, and compel testimony and the production of books and
papers where necessary; and in taking action they are not confined to
the making of a report of the findings in their investigations, but may
themselves, in many cases, take final judicial action. Further than
this, the payment of salaries is made dependent upon the certificate of
the commission that the appointments of the recipients were made in
accordance with the civil service law and rules. Thus these commissions
have absolute power to prevent irregular or illegal appointments by
refractory appointing officers. Their powers being so much greater than
those of the national commission, their action can be much more drastic
in most cases, and they can go more directly to the heart of an existing
abuse, and apply more quickly and effectually the needed remedy.
Upon the termination of the Spanish-American War, the necessity for the
extension of the principles of the merit system to the new territories,
the responsibility for whose government the results of this war had
thrown upon the United States, was realized. By the acts providing for
civil government in Porto Rico (April 12th, 1900) and Hawaii (April
30th, 1900), the provisions of the Civil Service Act and Rules were
applied to those islands. Under this legislation the classification
applies to all positions which are analogous to positions in the Federal
service, those which correspond to positions in the municipal and state
governments being considered as local in character, and not included in
the classification.
On the 19th of September 1900 the United States Philippine Commission
passed an act "for the establishment and maintenance of an efficient and
honest civil service in the Philippine Islands." This act, in its
general features, is based upon the national civil service law, but
includes also a number of the stronger points to be found in the state
and municipal law mentioned above. Among these are the power given the
civil service board to administer oaths, summon witnesses, and require
the production of official records; and the power to stop payment of
salaries to persons illegally appointed. Promotions are determined by
competitive examinations, and are made throughout the service, as there
are no excepted positions. A just right of preference in local
appointments is given to natives. The president of the Philippine
commission in introducing this bill said: "The purpose of the United
States government ... in these islands is to secure for the Filipino
people as honest and as efficient a government as may be possible.... It
is the hope of the commission to make it possible for one entering the
lowest ranks to reach the highest, under a tenure based solely upon
merit." Judging by past experience it is believed that this law is well
adapted to accomplish the purpose above stated.
For fuller information upon the details of the present workings of the
merit system in the Federal service, recourse should be had to the
publications of the U.S. Civil Service Commission, which are to be
found in the public libraries in all the principal cities in the
United States, or which may be had free of charge upon application to
the commission. The _Manual of Examinations_, published semi-annually,
gives full information as to the character of the examinations held by
the commission, together with the schedule of dates and places for the
holding of those examinations. The _Annual Reports_ of the commission
contain full statistics of the results of its work, together with
comprehensive statements as to the difficulties encountered in
enforcing the law, and the means used to overcome them. In the
_Fifteenth Report_, pp. 443-485, will be found a very valuable
historical compilation from original sources, upon the "practice of
the presidents in appointments and removals in the executive civil
service, from 1789 to 1883." In the same report, pp. 511-517, is a
somewhat comprehensive bibliography of "civil service" in periodical
literature in the 19th century, brought down to the end of 1898. See
also C.R. Fish, _The Civil Service and the Patronage_ (New York,
1905).
In most European countries the civil service is recruited on much the
same lines as in the United Kingdom and the United States, that is,
either by examination or by nomination or by both. In some cases the
examination is purely competitive, in other cases, as in France,
holders of university degrees get special privileges, such as being
put at the head of the list, or going up a certain number of places;
or, as in Germany, many departmental posts are filled by nomination,
combined with the results of general examinations, either at school or
university. In the publications of the United States Department of
Labour and Commerce for 1904-1905 will be found brief details of the
systems adopted by the various foreign countries for appointing their
civil service employees.