Karen O'Hara, age 14, of Columbus, Ohio, for her question:
WHAT IS CIVIL SERVICE?
Civil service includes all civilian government employees who are appointed rather than elected. It usually covers only those workers who were hired under the merit system. This system provides a means of selecting the best qualified person for each job.
The system also provides a guarantee that the employees will keep his job on the basis of good performance and not on allegiance to a political party.
The United States government hires and assigns workers in ail parts of the country, in the territories and possessions and in many other lands. Less than 10 out of every 100 such employees work in Washington, D.C.
The federal government is the largest single employer in the country. It has almost three million employees working for about 110 different agencies. Nearly half of them work for the Department of Defense and about a fourth work for the U.S. Postal Service.
More than two thirds of the states and many cities and counties have civil service systems similar to that of the federal government. Even in states without a merit system, a 1940 law requires that employees who administer certain federal funds be placed under a merit system. These funds include federal grants under the Social Security Act and grants for public health, child welfare, public employment and vocational rehabilitation.
By 1820, it had become common to use government jobs as political rewards. All incoming presidents would dismiss a large number of government workers and replace them with members of his own party, regardless of their qualifications.
This turnover was based on the idea that "to the victor belong the spoils." The system became known as the spoils system. By 1841, when William Henry Harrison became president the spoils system had reached great proportions. Forty thousand office seekers swarmed into Washington D.C. to claim the 23,700 jobs that then composed the federal service.
In 1881, a disappointed office seeker shot and killed President James Garfield. Garfield's death brought public demands for civil service reforms and led to the passage of a bill introduced by Sen. George Pendleton of Ohio. The bill became the Civil Service Act of 1883. About the same time, New York and Massachusetts began merit programs.
The new federal law called for examinations open to all citizens. It provided for selection of new workers from among those making the highest grade in those examinations.
The new act made unlawful the firing or demoting of workers for political reasons. It relieved government workers from any obligation to give political service or payments. It established the United States Civil Service Commission to enforce the law.
At first the Civil Service Act covered only about one of every 10 federal positions. Later laws and executive orders have placed more jobs under civil service. They have sought to make civil service a true career service, with opportunity for advancement on merit, and with benefits in line with those offered by progressive private employers.