The New Nation, of New York, said:—
“Mr. Sumner has recently brought a bill in the Senate to regulate the conditions of admission to public offices of the highest importance to the country. This bill is based upon the most equitable, the most sincerely republican, and the most progressive principles as yet adopted in any country. We have not sufficient space to review this project at present. At the first glance we find it deficient only in one respect, namely, in carrying respect for seniority to too great an extent. If this bill is passed, the era of inefficiency and favoritism, hitherto prevailing, will be at an end.”
The New Bedford Mercury said:—
“Mr. Sumner’s bill will cure the evils of which every sensible man now complains, and avert the terrible dangers which menace us. It contemplates a return to the practice of the better days of the republic, and making that practice the rule. ‘Is he capable? Is he honest?’ were the inquiries propounded by Jefferson, when a candidate for office was named.”
The New York World devoted a leading article to the bill, which it criticized.
“We had supposed, that, in the opinion of Mr. Sumner, the disposition to be made of black men came nearest, in legislative importance, to the crushing out of the Rebels.… Mr. Sumner’s bill does not touch the evil in our clerical system. The difficulty is not in want of examination, classification, promotion, or pension, but springs, in the first place, out of the manner in which the President, through the heads of departments, exercises the appointing power, and, in the next place, out of the conduct of the clerks themselves, when in office. An examining board cannot change the general character of the men the President, directly or indirectly, sends before it.”
These notices show the interest excited by this effort. In the various labors which occupied Mr. Sumner he was not able to give it the attention it required. Meanwhile the cause found an able advocate elsewhere.
The next step was by Hon. Thomas A. Jenckes, of Rhode Island, who introduced into the House of Representatives, December 20, 1865, a bill “To regulate the Civil Service of the United States,” which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Subsequently a special committee was appointed on the Civil Service of the United States, with Mr. Jenckes as Chairman, and June 13, 1866, he reported his bill to the House. Then again, at the next session, he reported another bill, “To regulate the Civil Service of the United States, and promote the efficiency thereof,” which he sustained by a forcible and elaborate speech; but the bill was laid on the table,—Yeas 72, Nays 66. Other efforts followed at subsequent sessions, but without success.