They saw the
chief office in their gift a mere pawn in the game of
place-seekers, the time and energy of their President wasted in
bickerings with congressmen over petty appointments, and the
machinery of their Government dominated by the machinery of the
party for ignoble or selfish ends.
At last the advocates of reform found their opportunity. In 1883
the Civil Service Act was passed, taking from the President about
14,000 appointments. Since then nearly every President, towards
the end of his term, especially his second term, has added to the
numbers, until nearly two-thirds of the federal offices are now
filled by examination. President Cleveland during his second term
made sweeping additions. President Roosevelt found about 100,000
in the classified service and left 200,000. President Taft,
before his retirement, placed in the classified service assistant
postmasters and clerks in first and second-class postoffices,
about 42,000 rural delivery carriers, and over 20,000 skilled
workers in the navy yards.
The appointing power of the President, however, still remains the
principal point of his contact with the machine. He has, of
course, other means of showing partizan favors. Tariff laws, laws
regulating interstate commerce, reciprocity treaties, "pork
barrels," pensions, financial policies, are all pregnant with
political possibilities.
The second official unit in the national political hierarchy is
the House of Representatives, controlling the pursestrings, which
have been the deadly noose of many executive measures.
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