of reform appeared in the
House, Thomas A. Jenckes, a prominent lawyer of Rhode Island. A bill
which he introduced in December, 1865, received no hearing. But in the
following year a select joint committee was charged to examine the
whole question of appointments, dismissals, and patronage. Mr. Jenckes
presented an elaborate report in May, 1868, explaining the civil service
of other countries. This report, which is the corner stone of American
civil service reform, provided the material for congressional debate and
threw the whole subject into the public arena. Jenckes in the House and
Carl Schurz in the Senate saw to it that ardent and convincing defense
of reform was not wanting. In compliance with President Grant's request
for a law to "govern not the tenure, but the manner of making all
appointments," a rider was attached to the appropriation bill in 1870,
asking the President "to prescribe such rules and regulations" as he saw
fit, and "to employ suitable persons to conduct" inquiries into the best
method for admitting persons into the civil service. A commission of
which George William Curtis was chairman made recommendations, but they
were not adopted and Curtis resigned. The New York Civil Service Reform
Association was organized in 1877; and the National League, organized
in 1881, soon had flourishing branches in most of the large cities. The
battle was largely between the President and Congress. Each succeeding
President signified his adherence to reform, but neutralized his words
by sanctioning vast changes in the service. Finally, under circumstances
already described, on January 16, 1883, the Civil Service Act was
passed.

This law had a stimulating effect upon state and municipal civil
service. New York passed a law the same year, patterned after the
federal act. Massachusetts followed in 1884, and within a few years many
of the States had adopted some sort of civil service reform, and the
large cities were experimenting with the merit system. It was not,
however, until the rapid expansion of the functions of government and
the consequent transformation in the nature of public duties that civil
service reform made notable headway. When the Government assumed the
duties of health officer, forester, statistician, and numerous other
highly specialized functions, the presence of the scientific expert
became imperative; and vast undertakings, like the building of the
Panama Canal and the enormous irrigation pr