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required by the public interests. An infusion of new blood from time to
time into the middle ranks of the service might be very beneficial in
its results.

The subject under discussion is one of grave importance. The evils which
are complained of can not be eradicated at once; the work must be
gradual.

The present English system is a growth of years, and was not created by
a single stroke of executive or legislative action.

Its beginnings are found in an order in council promulgated in 1855, and
it was after patient and cautious scrutiny of its workings that fifteen
years later it took its present shape.

Five years after the issuance of the order in council, and at a time
when resort had been had to competitive examinations as an experiment
much more extensively than has yet been the case in this country, a
select committee of the House of Commons made a report to that House
which, declaring its approval of the competitive plan, deprecated,
nevertheless, any precipitancy in its general adoption as likely to
endanger its ultimate success.

During this tentative period the results of the two methods of pass
examination and competitive examination were closely watched and
compared. It may be that before we confine ourselves upon this important
question within the stringent bounds of statutory enactment we may
profitably await the result of further inquiry and experiment.

The submission of a portion of the nominations to a central board of
examiners selected solely for testing the qualifications of applicants
may perhaps, without resort to the competitive test, put an end to the
mischiefs which attend the present system of appointment, and it may be
feasible to vest in such a board a wide discretion to ascertain the
characteristics and attainments of candidates in those particulars which
I have already referred to as being no less important than mere
intellectual attainment.

If Congress should deem it advisable at the present session to establish
competitive tests for admission to the service, no doubts such as have
been suggested shall deter me from giving the measure my earnest
support.

And I urgently recommend, should there be a failure to pass any other
act upon this subject, that an appropriation of $25,000 per year may be
made for the enforcement of section 1753 of the Revised Statutes.

With the aid thus afforded me I shall strive to execute the provisions
of that law according to its letter and s