In my judgment all laws providing for the
temporary employment of clerks should hereafter contain a provision that
they be selected under the Civil Service Law.
It is important to have this system obtain at home, but it is even more
important to have it applied rigidly in our insular possessions. Not
an office should be filled in the Philippines or Puerto Rico with any
regard to the man's partisan affiliations or services, with any regard
to the political, social, or personal influence which he may have at his
command; in short, heed should be paid to absolutely nothing save the
man's own character and capacity and the needs of the service.
The administration of these islands should be as wholly free from the
suspicion of partisan politics as the administration of the Army and
Navy. All that we ask from the public servant in the Philippines or
Puerto Rico is that he reflect honor on his country by the way in which
he makes that country's rule a benefit to the peoples who have come
under it. This is all that we should ask, and we cannot afford to be
content with less.
The merit system is simply one method of securing honest and efficient
administration of the Government; and in the long run the sole
justification of any type of government lies in its proving itself both
honest and efficient.
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