doing some things merely to benefit their own
particular party or friends. Politicians of the old sort, who wanted
everything they could lay hands on, fought civil service bitterly, and
even those who might have been expected to help often held back, fearing
they would lose their own popularity. Yet on the other hand, some
members of Congress upheld the Commission nobly, and when President
Garfield was assassinated by a half-crazy office-seeker many more came
forward and clamored to put public offices on the merit system by all
means.

Part of the work of the Commission was to prosecute the head of any
bureau or department where an employee had been discharged or had
suffered without just cause. Such cases came up in large numbers and
were prosecuted with all the vigor of which the Commission were capable.

"We were not always successful in these trials," says Mr. Roosevelt.
"But we won out in the majority of cases, and we gave the wrong-doing
such a wide publicity that those who were guilty hesitated to repeat
their actions." And he goes on to add that during his term of service
not over one per cent. of those who worked for Uncle Sam were dismissed
purely for political reasons. This was certainly an excellent record,
and our government will do well to maintain such a high standard in the
future.

To give a further idea of the work required in the way of examinations
for positions under our government, let me state that during the year
from July 1, 1890, to July 1, 1891, 5251 applicants were examined for
the departments service, 1579 for the customs service, 8538 for the
postal service, 3706 for the railway mail service, making a total of
nearly 20,000, of which about 13,000 passed and the balance failed.
Since our war with Spain, the work of the government has been vastly
increased, and the places to be filled every year run up into figures
that are startling.

One of the best and wisest acts of the Commission was to place the
colored employees of the government on an equal footing with the white
employees. In the past the colored employees had occupied their places
merely through the whim or goodwill of those over them. Now this was
changed, and any colored man who could pass the examination, and who was
willing to attend strictly to his labor, was as safe in his situation as
anybody.

CHAPTER IX

A TRIP TO THE SHOSHONE MOUNTAINS--CAUGHT IN A DRIVING SNOWSTORM--BACK TO
WORK--RESIGNATION AS CIVIL SERVIC