Public Employees and the Merit System

Abstract

IN THIS day when governmentnational, state, and local-is our greatest business, a business which directly affects the personal welfare of every citizen, it is an anomaly that so large a percentage of its employees should be selected and dismissed not on the basis of their qualifications for administration but on that of strictly party or personal considerations. The evils inherent in this practice have been frequently emphasized, but to an alarming extent, particularly in state and local governments, administrative services are still subordinated to the exigencies of party and factional strife. To the victor belong the spoils may not represent the political ideal of the American people, but to a considerable degree it does represent a political practice which they condone and suffer. The fundamental fallacies which lie at the root of our failure to insist on a satisfactory administrative career service in our governments have recently been succinctly stated by the Commission of Inquiry on Public Service Personnel.1 They are: the notion that a victorious party is justified in ousting employees in the administrative services to make room for its own party workers; the belief that governmental work is after all so simple that any one with average ability can perform it satisfactorily; that the pay roll should be used to help those who need jobs;