r financial history in a quarter of
a century.

The reform of the Civil Service has been a subject of public attention
especially since 1867. The public service of the United States is
divided into three branches, the civil, military, and naval. By the
civil service we mean that which is neither military nor naval, and it
comprises all the offices by which the civil administration is carried
on. The struggle for Civil Service Reform has been an effort to
substitute what is known as the "Merit System" for what is known as the
"Spoils System"; to require that appointment to public office should
depend, not upon the applicant's having rendered a party service, but
upon his fitness to render a public service. It would seem that the
establishment in public practice of so obvious a principle should
require no contest or agitation; and that the civil service should ever
have been perverted and that a long struggle should be necessary to
reform it, are to be explained only in connection with a modern party
organization and a party machinery and usage which were entirely
unforeseen by the framers of the Constitution. The practice of the
early administrations was reasonable and natural. Washington required of
applicants for places in the civil service proofs of ability, integrity,
and fitness. "Beyond this," he said, "nothing with me is necessary
or will be of any avail." Washington did not dream that party service
should be considered as a reason for a public appointment. John Adams
followed the example of Washington. Jefferson came into power at the
head of a victorious party which had displaced its opponent after a
bitter struggle. The pressure for places was strong, but Jefferson
resisted it, and he declared in a famous utterance that "the only
questions concerning a candidate shall be, Is he honest? is he capable?
is he faithful to the Constitution?" Madison, Monroe, and John
Quincy Adams followed in the same practice so faithfully that a joint
Congressional Committee was led to say in 1868 that, having consulted
all accessible means of information, they had not learned of a single
removal of a subordinate officer except for cause, from the beginning of
Washington's administration to the close of that of John Quincy Adams.

The change came in 1829 with the accession of Jackson. The Spoils System
was formally proclaimed in 1832. In that year Martin Van Buren was
nominated Minister to England, and, in advocating his confirm