Chapter XIV: Preface: To the Seventh Volume (13)

CHRISTENSEN, Jens Christian.

See (in this Volume)
DENMARK: A. D. 1901, and 1905-1909.

CHRISTIAN IX., King of Denmark:
Death.

See (in this Volume)
DENMARK: A. D. 1906.

CHRISTIAN MISSIONS.

See (in this Volume)
MISSIONS, CHRISTIAN.

CHUN, Prince:
Regent of China.

See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1908 (NOVEMBER).

CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
Act of Parliament authorizing change of the Formula of
Subscription required from its ministers.

See (in this Volume and Volume 4.)
SCOTLAND: A. D. 1904-1905.

CHURCH, Roman Catholic.

See (in this Volume and Volume 4.)
PAPACY.

CHURCH AND STATE:
The French Separation Law and its execution.

See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1905-1906, 1906, and 1907;
also, PAPACY.

CHURCH AND STATE:
Russia: Emancipation of the Church urged by M. Witte.

See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905 (APRIL-AUGUST).

CHURCH SCHOOL CONTROVERSIES.

See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1903;
ENGLAND: A. D. 1902, and 1906;
CANADA: A. D. 1905.

CHURCHILL, Winston L.:
Under Secretary for the Colonies.

See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1905-1906.

CHURCHILL, Winston L.:
President of the Board of Trade.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1908 (April).

CHURCHILL, Winston L.:
To the British Suffragettes.

See (in this Volume)
ELECTIVE FRANCHISE: WOMAN SUFFRAGE.

CHURCHILL, Winston L.:
On the Budget of 1909 and the House of Lords.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1909 (APRIL-DECEMBER).

CITIZENSHIP, American:
Principles of Naturalization defined.
The New Law.

See (in this Volume)
NATURALIZATION.

CITY GOVERNMENT.

See (in this Volume)
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.

CITY PLANNING.

See (in this Volume)
SOCIAL BETTERMENT;
also, CHICAGO: A. D. 1909.

CIVIC FEDERATION, The National.

See (in this Volume)
SOCIAL BETTERMENT: UNITED STATES;
also, NATIONAL CIVIC FEDERATION.

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CIVIL SERVICE REFORM: CANADA: A. D. 1908.
Introduction of Competitive Examinations and the Merit
System of appointment and promotion.

An "Act to Amend the Civil Service Act," which came into force
September 1, 1908, divides the Civil Service of the Dominion
into the Inside Service and the Outside Service, the former
embracing "that part of the public service in or under the
several departments of the Executive Government of Canada and
in the offices of the Auditor General, the Clerk of the Privy
Council, and the Governor-General’s Secretary, employed at the
City of Ottawa, or at the Experimental Farm Station or the
Dominion Astronomical Observatory near Ottawa." The employés
of this Inside Service are required to be classified according
to their salaries, in three divisions, and all appointments to
positions in it are (except as otherwise provided in the Act)
to "be by competitive examination, which shall be of such a
nature as will determine the qualifications of candidates for
the particular positions to which they are to be appointed,
and shall be held by the Commission from time to time in
accordance with the regulations made by it and approved by the
Governor in Council."

For the administration of the Act a Civil Service Commission
is created, consisting of two members appointed by the
Governor in Council, who are to have no other office or
employment, and who may employ necessary assistance for the
examinations they conduct. The following are provisions of the
Act:

"No person shall be admitted to such an examination unless he
is a natural-born or naturalized British subject, and has been
a resident of Canada for at least three years, and is, at the
time of the examination, of the full age of eighteen years and
not more than thirty-five years, and presents the required
certificates as to health, character and habits.

"Before holding any such examination the Commission shall
require each head of a department to furnish it with the
number of additional permanent officers or clerks likely to be
required in his department within the next six months.

"On this basis, and having regard also to the requirement of
the several departments for temporary services, a computation
shall be made by the Commission of the number of competitors
to be selected at the next ensuing examination.

"If there remain from a previous examination successful
competitors who have not received appointments, their number
shall be deducted in making the computation, and their names,
in the order of merit, shall be placed at [the top of the
list] to be prepared in accordance with section 17 of this
Act.

"Thereupon due notice of the examination shall be given by the
Commission, stating the character and number of the positions
to be competed for.

"Immediately after the examination the Commission shall make
out a list of the successful competitors thereat for each
position, in the order of merit, up to the number computed in
accordance with Section 15.

"From the said list the Commission, on the application of the
deputy head, with the approval of the head, of any department,
shall supply the required clerks, whether for permanent or
temporary duty. …

"The selections shall be, so far as practicable, in the order
of the names on the list, but the Commission may select any
person who in his examination shows special qualifications for
any particular subject. …

"The cause of the rejection shall be reported by the deputy
head to the Commission, who shall thereupon select another
person to take the place of the one rejected, and decide
whether the latter shall be struck off the list or allowed a
trial in another department.

"After a person so selected has served a probationary term of
six months, [he shall be deemed] to be permanently accepted
for the service. …

"The head of the department, on the report in writing of the
deputy head, may, at any time after two months from the date
of assignment, and before the expiration of six months, reject
any person assigned to his department. …

"Promotion, other than from the third to the second division,
shall be made for merit by the Governor in Council upon the
recommendation of the head of the department, based on the
report in writing of the deputy head and accompanied by a
certificate of qualification by the Commission to be given
with or without examination, as is determined by the
regulations of the Commission.

"Except as herein otherwise provided, vacancies in the first
division shall be filled by promotions from the second
division."

Regulations prepared by the Civil Service Commission appointed
under the Act require fees, ranging from $2 to $10 to be paid
by the candidates for examination.

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM: United States: A. D. 1901-1909.
Progress of reform under President Roosevelt.

At the close of the administration of President Roosevelt, the
journal published by the National Civil Service Reform League,
entitled _Good Government_, bore the following testimony
to the fidelity with which the principles of the reform had
been upheld and promoted by the retiring executive:

"One of the first acts of President Roosevelt was the
reorganization of the civil service commission, which, under
the administration of President McKinley, had become lax and
ineffective. Since then the enforcement of the law and rules
by the commission has been sincere, vigorous and impartial.
Particularly strict has been the enforcement of the
prohibition against political assessments. Twice in the midst
of political campaigns has the President ordered the removal
of prominent officials for levying assessments on their
subordinates.

"During his administration President Roosevelt has extended
the scope of competition to many new and important offices.
Notable among these extensions have been the restoration of
the field service of the War Department (withdrawn by
President McKinley) and the classification of the rural free
delivery service (now numbering some 40,000), the forestry
service, deputy collectors of internal revenue, deputy
collectors of customs, deputy naval officers, and cashiers and
finance clerks in post offices. Prevented by the civil service
law from ‘classifying’ unskilled laborers, President
Roosevelt, under general executive authority, has prescribed a
system of examination for laborers in Washington and the
principal cities. By executive order of June 27, 1906, he
provided a system of examination and promotion for the
consular service which has done away with the more flagrant
evils of that service. His latest and most striking extension
has been the classification of over 15,000 fourth-class
postmasters, thereby taking them out of politics.

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"He has prohibited the participation of competitive officials
in politics further than to vote as they please and to express
privately their opinions, and has made this prohibition
effective by incorporating it in the civil service rules, thus
giving to the commission the power to investigate. He has by
vetoing the Crumpacker census bill defeated the attempt by
Congress to obtain as spoils some 4,000 clerkships for the
next census.

"This is a brief record of President Roosevelt’s service to
civil service reform during his administration. In considering
the criticisms of his course which have been made from time to
time by the League and the press, this service should be kept
in mind and carefully weighed. For instance, against this
record of constant advancement, the suspension of the rules in
individual cases—in all about 370—although in our opinion
arbitrary and dangerous as precedents, are of comparatively
minor importance. A few have been made for political reasons;
the far greater number, however, were acts of charity or
personal impulse, and President Roosevelt himself realized the
danger in this practice and took steps to curtail it.

"In passing on the justice of the other criticisms of
President Roosevelt’s course regarding the civil service one
should keep in mind the distinction which he has so sharply
drawn between the classified and the unclassified service.
This is clearly set forth in a reply to a letter from the
civil service commission calling his attention to the omission
from the postal regulations of President Cleveland’s
‘pernicious activity’ order, and quoting a passage from the
11th report of the commission. President Roosevelt said:

‘I personally drew the paragraph which you quote. The
paragraph was drawn with a view to making a sharp line between
the activity allowed to public servants within the classified
service and those without the classified service—the latter
under our system are as a rule chosen largely with reference
to political considerations, and as a rule are, and expect to
be, changed with the change of parties. … It seemed to me at
the time, and I still think, that the line thus drawn was wise
and proper.’

"In considering such appointments to positions in the
unclassified service as that of James C. Clarkson as surveyor
of the Port of New York for instance, a just analysis must
take into account these frankly expressed views. President
Roosevelt drew a line between the classified and unclassified
service, and as to the latter recognized and availed himself
to some extent of existing conditions. He believed that so
long as positions remained in the unclassified service it was
impractical to eliminate political considerations and that any
attempt to do so led to hypocrisy. His remedy was to place the
positions in the classified service, wherever practicable. And
he has extended the line of the classified service higher than
ever before. The League does not believe this theory is ideal,
but in carrying it out the President has certainly not set the
reform back. Criticism based only on the fact that one who has
rendered great service to a cause has not accomplished all
that its ardent supporters wish to accomplish can be properly
set down as captious.

"In performing its duty to the public, the League has at
various times during his administration frankly criticised
certain acts of President Roosevelt, which in its opinion were
not in line with the best interests of the service. But this
does not prevent us from recognizing that during his entire
administration President Roosevelt has been loyal to the
reform with which he has been so prominently identified. We do
not believe that any act of his was intended to injure the
reform. Wherever he has thought it practicable to extend the
reform he has done so. A President less devoted to the reform
would not have been criticised for what President Roosevelt
has failed to do."

_Good Government,
March, 1909._

The following exhibit of the whole progress in civil service
reform, from its beginning to the end of 1908, was made in the
annual report of the Council of the National Civil Service
Reform League, presented at the meeting of the League, on the
17th of December in that year:

"The whole United States civil service, in 1883, consisted of
110,000 persons, and of these 14,000 were put under the civil
service law. Now the federal civil service has grown to
352,000 positions, and, including the last extension, those
under the competitive system have increased from 14,000 to
about 222,000. Not only in numbers but in proportion to the
total has the competitive service increased from 12.7% in 1883
to 63% now."

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM: A. D. 1902-1903.
Extension of classification to the Rural Free Delivery Service.
Order concerning unclassified laborers.

"During the year ended June 30 [1903], 25,566 persons were
appointed through competitive examinations under the
civil-service rules. This was 12,672 more than during the
preceding year, and 40 per cent of those who passed the
examinations. This abnormal growth was largely occasioned by
the extension of classification to the rural free-delivery
service and the appointment last year of over 9,000 rural
carriers. A revision of the civil-service rules took effect on
April 15 last, which has greatly improved their operation. …
Executive orders of July 3, 1902; March 26, 1903, and July 8,
1903, require that appointments of all unclassified laborers,
both in the Departments at Washington and in the field
service, shall be made with the assistance of the United
States Civil Service Commission, under a system of
registration to test the relative fitness of applicants for
appointment or employment. This system is competitive, and is
open to all citizens of the United States qualified in respect
to age, physical ability, moral character, industry, and
adaptability for manual labor: except that in case of veterans
of the civil war the element of age is omitted. This system of
appointment is distinct from the classified service and does
not classify positions of mere laborer under the civil-service
act and rules. Regulations in aid thereof have been put in
operation in several of the Departments and are being
gradually extended in other parts of the service. The results
have been very satisfactory, as extravagance has been checked
by decreasing the number of unnecessary positions and by
increasing the efficiency of the employees remaining."

_President’s Message,
December 7, 1903._

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CIVIL SERVICE REFORM: A. D. 1906.
Excellent legislation in Pennsylvania.

See (in this Volume)
PENNSYLVANIA.

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM: A. D. 1906-1909.
The Reform of the Consular Service.

A great and greatly needed reformation of the consular service
of the United States was begun in 1906, by the passage of an
Act of Congress, approved April 5, which provided for the
reorganization of the service, primarily by the classifying
and grading of the consuls-general and the consuls, and the
fixing of salaries in each class. Consuls-general were placed
by the Act in seven classes, with salaries as follows:

Class one, twelve thousand dollars.
London, Paris.

Class two, eight thousand dollars.
Berlin, Habana, Hongkong, Hamburg, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai.

Class three, six thousand dollars.
Calcutta, Cape Town, Constantinople, Mexico City,
Montreal, Ottawa, Vienna, Yokohama.

Class four, five thousand five hundred dollars.
Antwerp, Barcelona, Brussels, Canton, Frankfort, Marseilles,
Melbourne, Panama, Saint Petersburg, Seoul, Tientsin.

Class five, four thousand five hundred dollars.
Auckland, Beirut, Buenos Ayres, Callao, Chefoo, Coburg,
Dresden, Guayaquil, Halifax, Hankau, Mukden, Munich,
Niuchwang, Rome, Rotterdam, Saint Gall, Singapore.

Class six, three thousand five hundred dollars.
Adis Ababa, Bogota, Budapest, Guatemala, Lisbon, Monterey,
San Salvador, Stockholm, Tangier.

Class seven, three thousand dollars.
Athens, Christiania, Copenhagen.

Consuls were divided among nine classes, receiving salaries
that range from $8000 in the first class and $6000 in the
second, down to $2000 in the ninth. The first and second
classes hold but one incumbent each, at Liverpool and
Manchester, respectively. There are eight places in the third
class, twelve in the fourth, and then the numbers mount
rapidly, up to the sixty-nine included in the ninth class.

All fees allowed to be collected for services rendered in
connection with the duties of the consular office (which the
President may prescribe) are directed by the Act to be
accounted for thereafter and paid into the Treasury of the
United States. All consular officers whose salaries exceed
$1000 are forbidden to be interested in or to transact any
business as a merchant, factor, broker, or other trader, or a
clerk or other agent of one, or to practice as a lawyer for
compensation, or to be interested in the fees or compensation
of any lawyer. The whole service is placed under inspection by
five inspectors, to be appointed from the members of the
consular service; and each consular office must be inspected
at least once in every two years.

In June following this important enactment, the Secretary of
State, Mr. Root, submitted to President Roosevelt the draft of
a recommended executive order, which prescribed new rules to
be followed in filling the consular offices, as classified by
the recent Act. In doing so, the Secretary made this
explanation: "The main features of the order were embodied in
the early forms of the Consular Reorganization Bill passed at
this session of Congress, but they were dropped out, largely
for the reason that their enactment by Congress would appear
to be an infringement upon the President’s constitutional
power to appoint consuls. Your adoption of these rules by
executive order will be free from that objection, and judging
from the very positive commendation which many members of both
Houses have expressed for the proposed change in the method of
appointing consuls, I do not doubt that the new system will
receive the hearty approval of the Senate and of Congress
whenever occasion may arise for an expression upon the
subject."

The recommended order was approved and issued by the
President. "Subject to the advice and consent of the Senate,"
it declared in substance as follows:

(1) Vacancies in the office of Consul-General and in the
office of Consul above class 8 (salary, $2500) shall be filled
by promotion from the lower grades of the service, based upon
"ability and efficiency, as shown in the service";

(2) vacancies in the office of Consul of these two remaining
classes, 8 and 9, are to be filled

(a) by promotion, "on the basis of ability and efficiency, as
shown in the service," of consular clerks, vice-consuls, and
consular agents, and

(b) by new appointments from candidates who have passed an
examination;

(3) officials in the service of the Department of State, with
salaries of $2000 or upward, shall be eligible for promotion,
always on the basis of ability and efficiency, as shown in the
service, to any grade of the consular service above the eighth
class;

(4) the board of examiners for admission to the service shall
consist of the Secretary of State (or such other officer of
the department as the President shall designate), the chief of
the Consular Bureau, and the chief examiner of the Civil
Service Commission (or such other officer, as this commission
shall designate);

(5) this board of examiners shall formulate the rules for
examinations;

(6) among the compulsory subjects shall be at least one modern
language other than English, the natural industrial and
commercial resources and commerce of the United States,
political economy, and the elements of international,
commercial, and maritime law;

(7) 80 per cent. shall be necessary for eligibility;

(8) candidates must be over twenty-one and under fifty years
of age, citizens of the United States, and of good character
and physique. They must also have been specially designated by
the President for examination.

Other significant provisions of the order are to the effect
that no promotion shall be made except for efficiency and
conduct, that "neither in the designation for examination or
certification or appointment will the political affiliations
of the candidate be considered"; and that "due regard should
be had to the rule that, as between candidates of equal merit,
appointments should be made so as to secure in the service
proportional representation of all the States and
Territories."

The first examination of candidates for appointment under this
order was held on the 14th and 15th of March, 1907, since
which time no one has entered the consular service of the
United States without satisfying that test.

In June, 1908, Secretary Root announced the promotion or
transfer of nearly sixty consular offices, setting in motion
the desirable advancement of these officials from post to
post, to make the best use of their proved capacity and
acquired experience. About a year later, Mr. Root’s successor,
Secretary Knox, made public the promotion of twenty-seven
incumbents of consular office, and the appointment of
twenty-three new recruits to the service from his eligible
list. So the long striven-for reform of the American consular
service may safely be said to have arrived.

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A bill introduced in the Senate, providing for a permanent
consular service, based on competitive examinations, was
decided by the Committee on Foreign Relations to be
unconstitutional, for the reason that the Constitution itself
confers the power of appointment of consular officers upon the
President, and that Congress has no right to limit this power
in any way. President Taft, by an executive order, has
practically put the scope of the proposed bill into effect,
thereby, in part, limiting the power conferred upon himself.
This, in the opinion of the Senators, is all that can be done
legally.

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM: A. D. 1908.
Extension of the Merit System to nearly one-third of the
Fourth Class Postmasters of the country.

In the Annual Report of the Council of the National Civil
Service Reform League, presented at the annual meeting of the
League in December, 1908, it was said:

"The great event of the year, which so aptly commemorates the
25th anniversary of the passage of the Pendleton bill, is the
extension of the competitive system to all fourth class
postmasters in the part of the country north of the Ohio and
east of the Mississippi, that is, in the New England States,
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Wisconsin, and Michigan. This is an extension covering more
positions than suggested by the civil service commission. It
is an extension large enough to be of present advantage, is
made in the more thickly settled portions of the country,
where it is easiest to carry it out, and yet it is not on so
large a scale as to invite mistakes or perhaps partial
failure. This extension covers about 15,000 positions. The
order of President Cleveland of May 26, 1896, covered about
31,000 places; and yet, from the point of political
significance, this present extension is the most important, we
believe, in the history of civil service reform since January
16, 1883, and when its purpose is fully carried out it will
include some 53,000 places."

_See, in Volume VI. of this work,
Civil Service Reform: United States._

The report then reviewed the efforts that had been in progress
since 1889, with the support of Presidents Cleveland and
Roosevelt, to bring about the inclusion of this class of
postmasters, at the least, under the rule of appointment
subject to competitive examination. President Roosevelt, in
his annual Message of 1907, had said:

"The fourth-class postmasters’ convention has passed a very
strong resolution in favor of placing the fourth-class
postmasters under the civil-service law. The Administration
has already put into effect the policy of refusing to remove
any fourth-class postmasters save for reasons connected with
the good of the service; and it is endeavoring so far as
possible to remove them from the domain of partisan politics.
It would be a most desirable thing to put the fourth-class
postmasters in the classified service. It is possible that
this might be done without Congressional action, but, as the
matter is debatable, I earnestly recommend that the Congress
enact a law providing that they be included under the
civil-service law and put in the classified service."

Congress refused the desired legislation. The law committee of
the League was unanimous in the opinion that the President
held authority already to make the change by Executive Order,
and Mr. Roosevelt gave a hearing on the subject to Messrs.
McIlhenny and Greene, of the National Civil Service
Commission, and the Honorable Richard Henry Dana, Chairman of
the Council of the League. Evidently he became persuaded that
his authority was sufficient, and was prepared to act
accordingly. About the middle of November, 1908, the National
League of Postmasters of the United States, which had been
organized in 1905, sent a Committee, with its President, Mr.
A. K. Hoag, of Orchard Park, New York, to present to the
authorities at Washington their claim to a footing of
non-political appointment under civil service rules. By good
fortune they met at Washington Mr. Dana and Mr. Goodrich, of
the National C. S. R. League, who were visiting the Capital on
the same errand, and the doubled appeal had quick success. In
an interview with President Roosevelt, the Committee of the
Postmasters’ League received assurances that he would issue an
order on the subject, provided that the President-elect, Mr.
Taft, would approve his taking that step. The Committee went
at once to the Hot Springs in Virginia, where the
President-elect was then sojourning, received his ready
endorsement of the plan, and conveyed it to the President in
power. A fortnight later, on the 1st day of December, the
memorable order was proclaimed. On the 1st of the following
February a plan of filling vacancies was put into effect.

It was wise, no doubt, to apply the extension of the reform in
post-office appointments to one large and important section of
the country, and obtain a showing of practical results, before
attempting to overturn the old system as a whole. That more
will follow in due time is reasonably sure. Mr. Hoag, the
President of the National League of Postmasters, in a private
note, remarks:

"It is already evident that the change is to redound to a
better service. Scores of new buildings, new quarters and new
equipments are being installed by the emancipated postmasters;
which shows that postmasters of this class dare, for the first
time, to invest their money in better equipment, feeling that
they are likely to remain postmasters long enough to make the
investment a paying one, now that their tenure of office does
not depend upon their relations to a political faction or
boss."

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM: A. D. 1909.
The Census Bill.
Inveteracy of Spoils-seeking in Congress.
Veto of the bill in its first form by the President.
The Amended Bill which became law.

The greatness of the advance of civil service reform in the
United States, within the quarter century since its beginning,
is one of the most hopefully inspiring facts in recent
American history. But, by the side of it stands the warning
and shaming fact, that it has been achieved, from first to
last, by forces outside of Congress, and outside of all other
legislative bodies which supposedly represent the political
will of the people. Every measure of legislation that has
promoted it has been wrung from unwilling majorities in those
bodies,—yielded only when they feared to refuse. That
Congress, in both Houses, would wreck with eagerness, to-day,
if it dared, the bettered public service of the nation, to
recover for its members and their party henchmen the old
"spoils" of office and place, was shown unmistakably, within
the last year of this record, by its action on the bill to
provide for the taking of the Census of 1910.

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The President, and every responsible official connected with
the Census Bureau, had borne testimony to the inefficiency and
wasteful costliness of previous census-taking under the old
system of appointment, and had besought Congress to provide in
the bill for an effective test of qualification for the
employment by competitive examination. Considerable majorities
in both House and Senate turned an equally deaf ear to all
considerations of public interest in the matter, and passed a
bill which enabled Senators and Representatives to parcel out
between themselves the large number of appointments to be
made.

President Roosevelt did not hesitate to veto the bill, and
gave it a thorough dissection in the Message which explained
his disapproval. In part, his comments on the Act offered to
him were as follows:

"Section 7 of the act provides in effect that appointments to
the census shall be under the spoils system, for this is the
real meaning of the provision that they shall be subject only
to non-competitive examination. The proviso is added that they
shall be selected without regard to political party
affiliations. But there is only one way to guarantee that they
shall be selected without regard to politics and on merit, and
that is by choosing them after competitive examination from
the lists of eligibles provided by the Civil Service
Commission. The present Director of the Census in his last
report states the exact fact about these non-competitive
examinations when he says:

‘A non-competitive examination means that every one of the
many thousands who will pass the examinations will have an
equal right to appointment, and that personal and political
pressure must in the end, as always before, become the
determining factor with regard to the great body of these
temporary employments. I cannot too earnestly urge that the
Director of the Census be relieved from this unfortunate
situation.’

"To provide that the clerks and other employés shall be
appointed after non-competitive examination, and yet to
provide that they shall be selected without regard to
political party affiliations, means merely that the
appointments shall be treated as the perquisites of the
politicians of both parties, instead of as the perquisites of
the politicians of one party. I do not believe in the doctrine
that to the victor belongs the spoils; but I think even less
of the doctrine that the spoils shall be divided without a
fight by the professional politicians on both sides; and this
would be the result of permitting the bill in its present
shape to become a law. Both of the last censuses, the eleventh
and the twelfth, were taken under a provision of law excluding
competition; that is, necessitating the appointments being
made under the spoils system. Every man competent to speak
with authority because of his knowledge of and familiarity
with the work of those censuses has stated that the result was
to produce extravagance and demoralization."

The veto went to Congress on the 5th of February, 1909, one
month before the expiration of President Roosevelt’s term of
office. His successor-to-be was well known to be in sympathy
with his views of the public service, and no attempt was made
either to pass the bill over the veto, or to proffer its
spoils-seeking provisions to the new occupant of the
Presidency when he came in. Congress was compelled, in this
case, as in many before, to surrender its cherished spoils of
salaried public employment to civil service reform, simply
because public interests and public sentiment are better
represented, as a rule, in the White House than in the
Capitol, which is not a pleasing fact.

During the extra session that was called by President Taft, in
March, an amended bill was passed which came near to
satisfying the demands of reform. It kept a little opening for
political favoritism, in a proviso, that the director of the
Census may, "when the exigencies of the service require," make
his selections from the list of eligibles, not by the
candidates’ rating, but on the ground of "immediate
availability" or previous experience in census work; but this
was so small a loophole that the President’s signing of the
bill was generally approved. "The act empowers the director of
the census to appoint special agents to whom will be assigned
principally the work of obtaining statistics from
manufacturing establishments, mines and quarries. While no
qualifying test is required by law for the appointment of
these agents, Director Durand has nevertheless provided for
their selection subject to a carefully worked out scheme of
_competitive_ examinations, to be conducted by the United
States civil service commission. In rating the candidates the
experience declaration and practical test are to be given
equal credit. All candidates who receive a combined rating of
70 will be placed on an eligible list, from which selection
will be made as the needs of the service require. Eligibility,
according to the instructions, ‘is not of itself a guarantee
of appointment, but selection will be made solely with
reference to equipment and availability for appointment.’"

_Good Government,
October, 1909._

CIVIL VETO, in Papal Elections.

See (in this Volume)
PAPACY: A. D. 1904.

CIVILISTAS, The.

See (in this Volume).
PERU.

CLANRICARDE ESTATE, Evicted tenants of the.

See (in this Volume)
IRELAND: A. D. 1907.

CLARION FELLOWSHIP.

See (in this Volume)
SOCIALISM: ENGLAND: A. D. 1909.

CLARK, Edgar E.:
On the Anthracite Coal Strike Arbitration Commission.

See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1902-1903.

CLEMENCEAU, Eugene:
In the Sarrien-Clemenceau Ministry, and as Prime Minister.

See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1906, and after.

CLEMENCEAU, Eugene:
Disclaims for France the desire to revenge the German
conquest of Alsace.

See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907-1908.

CLEMENCEAU, Eugene:
Triumph in the senatorial elections of 1909.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1909 (JANUARY).

CLEMENCEAU, Eugene:
His downfall from Premiership produced by an
intemperate speech.

See (in this Volume)
FRANCE. A. D. 1909 (JULY).

CLERICAL PARTY.

See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1903;
BELGIUM: A. D. 1904;
GERMANY: A. D. 1906-1907.

CLEVELAND, Grover:
Trustee of stock controlling the
Equitable Life Assurance Society.

See (in this Volume)
INSURANCE, LIFE.

{109}

CLEVELAND, Ohio: A. D. 1901-1908.
The Farm Colony Experiment.

See (in this Volume)
CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY, PROBLEMS OF.

COAL, Wasteful mining and use of.

See (in this Volume)
Conservation of Natural Resources.

COAL AND COKE CARTELS.

See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL (IN GERMANY).

COAL COMBINATION, Alleged Anthracite:
Proceedings of Government against it.

See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1907-1909,
AND RAILWAYS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1906-1909.

COAL MINES EIGHT HOURS ACT.

See (in this Volume)
LABOR PROTECTION: HOURS OF LABOR: ENGLAND.

COAL MINING STRIKES.

See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION.

COBALT SILVER MINES.

See (in this Volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1903, and 1906-1907.

COLLECTIVISM.

See (in this Volume)
SOCIALISM.

COLLEGES.

See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION.

COLOGNE:
Insurance against unemployment.

See (in this Volume)
POVERTY, PROBLEMS OF: UNEMPLOYMENT.

COLOMBIA: A. D. 1898-1902.
Castro, of Venezuela, and the Liberals (Yellows) of Colombia.
How they helped one another.

The following passages are from an article in the _American
Review of Reviews_ on "South American War Issues," by Edwin
Emerson, Jr., who spent some time with the Colombian
insurgents in 1902 and acquired a good knowledge of the
troubled political conditions in that republic and its near
neighbors. It adds something to what is told in Volume VI. of
this work concerning the revolt started in 1899 by Rafael
Uribe-Uribe, and about its relation to the beginnings of the
career of Cipriano Castro, in Venezuela

See, in Volume VI,
COLOMBIA, and VENEZUELA).

"At the time when Spain was losing Cuba, the last Congress of
Colombia sat in Bogota. The Liberal party had but one
spokesman in the Congress—to wit, Rafael Uribe-Uribe. The
government majority championed the cause of Spain. Many of the
more ardent Liberals were fighting in the field for ‘Cuba
Libre.’ Uribe-Uribe was the only man in the Congress who spoke
for America as against Spain. He was hissed down. Next, the
Panama Canal question came up. The French concession was to be
extended for ten years. Again Uribe-Uribe spoke for America as
against France. The project was voted down. The Congress was
dissolved. President San Clemente, on his own motion, extended
the French concession. For this he is said to have received one
million dollars, cash. Then the revolution broke out, and
Uribe-Uribe took the field, in Santander, the richest
coffee-growing state of Colombia. He fell upon the town of
Cúcuta and took it, only to be driven out again after a
disastrous rout at Palo Negro. To make things worse for the
rebels, the Bishop of Santander ordered the excommunication of
those who would not renounce liberalism or all connection with
Liberals. It was a crushing blow, aimed at the wives and
daughters of the fighting insurgents.

"While affairs were thus disturbed in Santander, Cipriano
Castro, a Venezuelan exile living in Cúcuta, profited by the
occasion to lead a small band of Colombian Liberals into
Venezuela. They dashed across the border by night, and fell
into Castro’s native town, Capachio Viejo. Castro’s father and
five brothers, with other townsfolk, joined his standard and
helped him win his first battle over a small detachment of
Venezuelan government troops. Now the number of his adherents
grew, especially as he won battle after battle or bought over
his rival leaders. After a crushing defeat at Valencia,
President Andrade fled the country, and Castro entered Caracas
in triumph. His early Colombian adherents got Venezuelan
government jobs.

"All went well for a while, especially after the prompt
suppression of a counter-revolution, until Castro’s sympathies
with the Colombian Liberals in the field began to tell on his
foreign policy. Uribe-Uribe had been badly beaten in Colombia.
He was made welcome by Castro in Venezuela, and was intrusted
with the command of a division on the Colombian frontier. The
command was recruited from Colombians across the border. At
the same time, Castro arbitrarily stopped all navigation on
the Zulia and Catacumbo rivers, running from Colombian
Cordillera to the Lake of Maracaibo, in Venezuela. This was a
death-blow to the coffee industry of the Colombian state of
Santander, which has no other outlet to the sea. Cúcuta was
ruined. A German house failed for half a million dollars, an
American hacienda lost $200,000, and other foreign merchants
suffered in proportion. All commerce in Cúcuta and Maracaibo
coffee almost came to a standstill. Then it was that the
government forces in Santander, to bring relief to the
stricken district, tried to open the closed rivers by a sudden
armed invasion into that region. For the sake of appearances,
they were led by Ranjel Garbiras, a Venezuelan revolutionist.
They made for the prosperous town of San Cristobal, but
Uribe-Uribe had managed to gather his corps of insurgents, and
beat off the attack in a three days’ battle. Some two thousand
men fell on both sides. Uribe-Uribe promptly prepared a
counter invasion. He was aided in this by Castro, who
practically put all Venezuelan forces in the Cordillera at his
disposal.

"President Castro, who was furious at so overt an act of war
on the part of his old enemies, the Colombian Clericals,
furthermore sent another expedition across the Goajira desert
to aid his Colombian insurgent friends in that peninsula to
take the Colombian port of Rio Hacha. Venezuelan gunboats
appeared before Rio Hacha to do their part in the capture.
Unfortunately for the Liberal cause, the Venezuelan army in
the Goajira was taken unawares while on the march, and was all
but annihilated. The gunboats chose to retire without firing a
shot. Castro never recovered from this reverse. The expenses
of his various armed expeditions ate up all his ready
finances. When he could no longer maintain Uribe-Uribe’s
troops, Uribe cut loose and recrossed the border, to join
forces with other insurgent leaders in the interior of
Colombia. Uribe’s cousin proceeded to Panama, and the civil
war there broke out with fresh vigor. By their recent
brilliant stroke in the harbor of Panama, the Colombian
Liberals have won the command of the sea on the Pacific side.
To assist them in doing the same on the Atlantic side, Castro
has now supplied them with a torpedo-boat and a small
gunboat."

{110}

These last mentioned successes of Uribe-Uribe had no permanent
effectiveness, for his surrender, with 1300 men and 10 pieces
of artillery, was announced presently as having occurred on
the 25th of October, 1902. It seemed unfortunate that he did
not succeed in overthrowing the Conservatives, or "Blues," who
held the government, since most accounts of their rule
represented it as hopelessly bad; but a change for the better
came without revolution after no long time.

The state of civil war was closed by a treaty of peace, signed
on board the United States battleship Wisconsin, November 21.

COLUMBIA: A. D. 1901-1906.
Participation in Second and Third International Conferences
of American Republics, at Rio de Janeiro.

See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.

COLUMBIA: A. D. 1903.
Rejection of Treaty with the United States for the
building of the Panama Canal.
Revolt and independence of Panama.

See (in this Volume )
PANAMA CANAL.

COLUMBIA: A. D. 1903-1906.
Feeling toward the United States.

Of the feeling in Colombia toward the United States,
consequent on what occurred in Panama, Mr. Barrett, American
Minister at Bogota, reported in 1906 as follows:

"The question is continually asked me: What is the attitude of
the Colombian Government and people toward Americans and
American interests on account of the Panama affair? Without
entering upon any political discussion, I wish, in answering
this pertinent inquiry, to take advantage of the opportunity
to pay a just and frank tribute to Colombia. Speaking in the
first place for myself as minister, I can truthfully say that,
ever since my arrival here seven months ago, I have been
treated with a generous kindness and sincere hospitality that
have made a deep impression on me and increased my respect for
Colombians in particular and Latin Americans in general. The
United States minister has been extended invitations official
and personal, and the United States legation in turn has been
continually frequented by leading men of all parties, as if
nothing had ever happened to mar the _entente cordiale_
of the two countries.

"In the granting of concessions and in the hearing of claims
the Government has treated Americans with as much
consideration as Europeans. During my stay here, and up to
this writing, there has not been one complaint lodged by
Americans in this legation of unkind treatment by Colombians
due to any political anti-American feeling. In my own travels
in various parts of the country, officials and peons alike
have everywhere accorded me polite and even gracious
attention. To let it be known that I was United States
minister has always led to extra courtesies rather than to any
lack of them.

"I could not, however, have it understood abroad that there is
not still strong feeling against the United States. It does
exist, but the passing of years, and generous, fair treatment
of Colombia and Colombians by the United States and its
citizens, in international relations and friendly social and
commercial intercourse, can effect its gradual disappearance.
Such feeling does not take the attitude of personal enmity
toward Americans. The Colombians, high and low, are too polite
and sensible for that. It is a feeling in the minds and
hearts, based on high political and patriotic grounds, which,
however, with commendable philosophy, recognizes the
inevitable and now turns to the future to bring blessings that
will counterbalance the losses and sorrows of the past. The
very courage and nobility of this attitude of Colombia is one
of the chief reasons why I predict for her a magnificent
future. Already this policy—if I may call it a policy—is
bearing fruit in the development of a greater and more
friendly and sympathetic interest throughout the United States
in Colombia, which is destined to lead to a mutually favorable
understanding and settlement of all differences in the near
future."

COLUMBIA: A. D. 1904.
Arbitration of boundary dispute with Equador.

A treaty for the arbitration of boundary questions with
Equador was concluded November 4, 1904 .

COLUMBIA: A. D. 1905.
Arbitration Treaties with Peru.

See (in this Volume)
PERU: A. D. 1905.

COLUMBIA: A. D. 1905-1906.
A New Era, under President Reyes.

"The New Era in Colombia" is the title of an article in the
_American Review of Reviews_, May, 1906, by Francis P.
Savinien, writing from the country in question.

"By judicious, if not generous, action," says the writer,
"President Rafael Reyes [who became President in the previous
year] has succeeded in harmonizing nearly all elements of the
population. His administration is neither Liberal nor
Conservative. It is Nationalist. Placed in power by
Conservatives and sustained by Liberals, his favors to the
former preserve order in the center of the country, and his
implicit trust in the latter insures peace on the frontiers.
He has made General Uribe-Uribe minister to Chile, Argentina,
and Brazil, and General Herrera commander along the Venezuelan
border, thus bestowing the highest diplomatic and military
honors on Liberals. From Conservatives he chose all his
ministers (except Dr. Modesto Garees, of the Department of
Public Works), the governor of the capital district, and other
high officials for the center of government. His government is
like that of Panama, the secession of which made a policy of
reconciliation predominant in both countries. … The Colombian
army has become a body of laborers. Troops are converted into
sappers and employed in building or improving ways of
communication. Idleness, as well as agitation, is beginning to
receive general condemnation. It is true that there is little
liberty. There is, however, less persecution than formerly.
Journals are abject and individuals mute. There is no free
speech or press. But there are few persons in prison or exile
for political reasons. The policy of the government has become
that of abstention rather than restraint."

General Reyes had represented Colombia at the Pan-American
Conference in the City of Mexico, in 1902, and had made a most
favorable impression on the delegates from the United States.
Referring to the occasion long afterwards, Mr. Sylvester
Baxter said of him: "It is notable that in that Conference
Colombia was represented by General Rafael Reyes, a high type
of man—gentleman by birth and education, of scientific
attainments, a natural leader, one of the strong characters of
Spanish America; a man whose existence makes things seem
hopeful when else they might look hopeless; a
soldier-statesman in whom many see the potentialities of a
second Diaz."

{111}

A similar expression of admiration appears in an interesting
special report, entitled "Colombia, a Land of Great
Possibilities," made in June, 1906, by the Honorable John
Barrett, then American Minister to Colombia, more recently the
Director of the International Bureau of American Republics.
"Great credit," wrote Mr. Barrett, "is due to General Rafael
Reyes, President of this Republic, for his untiring efforts to
restore the prosperity of his country to the position it
occupied before the last civil war and the loss of Panama. If
he succeeds, he will deserve a place in history like that of
President Diaz in Mexico. He has so far effectually stopped
revolutions, and, if his life and health are spared, Colombia
would seem to be assured of peace at least during his
administration."

COLUMBIA: A. D. 1905-1909.
Troubles with Venezuela over the navigation of rivers flowing
through both countries.

The arbitrary action begun by the ill-tempered and arrogant
Castro, of Venezuela, in 1902, when he stopped navigation on
the rivers which flow from Colombia to Lake Maracaibo, in
Venezuela, and thus open communication to the sea (see above),
was continued or resumed in subsequent years, and was a
distressing trouble to his Colombian neighbors.

In July, 1905, the Colombian Government appealed to that of
the United States for its good offices in maintaining the
principle of free navigation on rivers that are common to
neighboring countries. "From the time of the award which
decided the boundary dispute between the two countries," said
the Colombian Minister to the United States, in a
communication to the American Secretary of State, "the policy
of Venezuela in matters relating to the transit trade of
Colombia and the navigation of the common rivers, has been
marked by a conspicuous spirit of hostility. … Neither logical
arguments nor historic precedents, such as those submitted by
the Colombian chancellery to the Government of Venezuela for
the recognition by the latter of the principle of free trade
over the natural waterways placed by God at the disposal of
all nations, have availed."

The writer then reviewed at considerable length the arguments
with which the Government of the United States had contended
in the past with Spain and Great Britain for the free
navigation of the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, and said
in conclusion: "It would be desirable, and I would ask that it
be done if this note were favorably received by the Government
of the United States, that the American minister at Caracas be
appropriately instructed in the sense of declaring on behalf
of the commercial interests of the citizens of the United
States his desire that the Government of Venezuela make the
navigation of the Zulia and Orinoco rivers free, and urging,
by persuasion, that the principle be solemnly consecrated in
its public treaties. My Government will join in such an
action, which comes within its traditional policy in the
matter, and will interpose no obstacle or delay to the meeting
of an international mixed commission for the framing of
regulations concerning the use of the above-named rivers
without detriment to the legitimate interests of the countries
through which they flow."

To this request the then Acting Secretary of State, Mr. Adee,
made a favorable reply, August 5, saying:

"The principle of the free navigation of rivers has been
advocated by the United States and maintained in its relations
with its neighbors for many years. This government is ready,
therefore, to use its good offices in the sense requested, and
Mr. Russell has been instructed upon arriving at his new post
in Venezuela to take advantage of fitting occasion to express
to the minister for foreign affairs the great satisfaction
with which the United States would view the adoption and
proclamation by Venezuela of the general principle of the free
navigation of rivers and fluvial arteries of communication
common to neighboring countries.

"It is of course to be understood that in touching upon this
matter this government does not seek to intervene or mediate
in any way in the relations between Colombia and Venezuela,
but is merely interested in the universal recognition of a
policy beneficial to the commerce of the world."

In the following December, the endeavor seemed promising; for
the American Minister to Colombia was able to report the
signing, at Bogota, of a protocol, preparatory to a new treaty
of amity, commerce, and navigation, to be concluded at
Caracas. Four months later, on the 27th of April, 1906,
Minister Russell, at Caracas, announced the arrival there of
the Colombian plenipotentiary, General Benjamin Herrera,
appointed for the negotiation of the treaty agreed upon, but
reported further that the Venezuelan Government had refused to
receive him, demanding that somebody else be sent. No
settlement of the matter could be obtained while Castro
controlled Venezuela. Since his elimination it has been
reported that President Gomez, his successor, has annulled his
decrees of hostility to Colombian commerce.

COLUMBIA: A. D. 1906-1909.
Efficient but arbitrary Government produces discontent.
Opposition to treaty with Panama and the United States.
Vacation of President Reyes which ends in resignation.
Revolt.
Elections.

While the Government organized under President Reyes was
undoubtedly efficient and effective in restoring order and
prosperity to the country, it was not satisfactory to the
people; and perhaps it speaks well for them that they showed
discontent. It was not a representative government, the
existing Congress not being an elective body, but a
provisional legislature made up by appointment. As admitted in
the quotation above from a friendly Colombian writer, the
citizens under it were tongue-tied subjects, having no free
speech or Press. The political situation and the differing
states of feeling produced by it were discussed in April,
1909, by a special correspondent of the New York Evening Post,
who wrote from Bogotá:

"It seems to be confessed by the great majority of the people
here that the country has not entered on that stage of
political development in which the people can govern
themselves by parliamentary methods. The history of their
nearly one hundred years of independent national life has been
that of almost continual civil strife, and of frequent civil
wars, which have interrupted and almost destroyed all efforts
at self-government; so that the present system of government
by executive decrees, to be ratified by an appointed
‘Constitutional and Legislative Assembly,’ is about the only
one that can preserve the peace and direct the country into
the line of prosperity and progress.

{112}

"Under this system of government the country has enjoyed
almost perfect internal peace during the year. This is the
political theory that is most widely accepted at the present
time in Colombia. Of course, there are those who do not agree
with this theory, which they consider as the natural action of
men who are more anxious to preserve order than they are to
establish truth and justice, and there are not lacking those
who say that in the long run it will be found to be a foolish
system.

"It is pointed out that the idea that grievances can be done
away with by forbidding men to complain, or that the
criticisms can be met by excommunicating the critics, or that
changes can be prevented by putting the troublers to silence,
is contradicted by the experience of the rest of the world.
The kind of effort that is being made in Colombia to prevent
the liberty of the press, of public speech, and of personal
opinion, is like the effort to prevent the escape of steam by
the safety valve, and is very likely to result in an
explosion."