County probation officers, sealers of weights and measures, superintendents of REPORT To the Governor: ALBANY, N. Y., February 1, 1916 As required by the Civil Service Law, we submit our report for the year 1915. The present Civil Service Commissioners were appointed in February, 1915, as follows: Samuel H. Ordway, New York City, for a term of six years from February 1, 1915, to succeed James A. Lavery, whose term of office had expired; William Gorham Rice, Albany, for a term of four years from February 1, 1915, to succeed Jacob Neu, resigned; Willard D. McKinstry, Watertown, for a term of two years from February 1, 1915, to succeed Meyer Wolff, resigned. The first meeting was held at Albany, February 4, 1915, at which time Commissioner Ordway was elected President. During the year the Commission held 101 meetings, as follows: At Albany, 66; at New York, 23; at other places, 12. In addition, one or more of the Commissioners has been in almost daily attendance at the office. Policy of the Commission In your message to the Legislature of the year 1915, and in public addresses, you have set a high standard for the merit. system in this State. Article V, section 9, of the Constitution. of the State of New York provides as follows: "Appointments and promotions in the civil service of the State, and of all the civil divisions thereof, including cities and villages, shall be made according to merit and fitness to be ascertained, so far as practicable, by examinations, which, so far as practicable, shall be competitive.' Referring to that provision you said, in your annual message, January 6, 1915: [9] ness. "I believe that many of the evils and much of the vast waste of the State's funds and the mal-administration of its affairs may be traced directly to the gross disregard of this basic law of the State in the management of its vast busiIndeed, careful inspection of the State's pay-rolls, and examination of the qualifications possessed by great numbers of the State's employees almost inevitably force a fair-minded man to the conclusion that for years the result of the administration by those charged by law with the duty of enforcing this provision of the Constitution, as embodied in the Civil Service Laws of the State, has been to defeat rather than to accomplish the purpose of the law." And in your address before the Lotos Club in New York City, January 30, 1915, in referring to possibilities for improvement in governmental affairs, you declared: "Heads of departments can, under a properly enforced Civil Service Law, be in a position to fill practically all subordinate offices with men who are competent to carry out the will of the people and to render a real and efficient service. * * * One cause of evil, in my opinion, has been the total disregard of the basic law of the State requiring appointments to office after competitive examination. * * I am going to try, with the aid of a Commission which I expect to appoint on the 1st of February. * to make a start in the right direction; for I believe it is to-day the most vitally important undertaking in which the Executive can be engaged." The enforcement of the principle of competitive examination as embodied in the Constitution, and which you have so strongly endorsed, has been the policy of this Commission throughout the past year. We have realized that unless the Civil Service Law, and the rules prescribed thereunder, are faithfully administered in all departments of the service, the benefits to accrue from the constitutional requirement for the filling of vacancies. for merit and fitness cannot be realized. We have endeavored to provide appropriate and practical tests for examinations, and |