attached to the appropriation bill in 1870, asking the President
"to prescribe such rules and regulations" as he saw fit, and "to
employ suitable persons to conduct" inquiries into the best
method for admitting persons into the civil service. A commission
of which George William Curtis was chairman made recommendations,
but they were not adopted and Curtis resigned. The New York Civil
Service Reform Association was organized in 1877; and the
National League, organized in 1881, soon had flourishing branches
in most of the large cities. The battle was largely between the
President and Congress. Each succeeding President signified his
adherence to reform, but neutralized his words by sanctioning
vast changes in the service. Finally, under circumstances already
described, on January 16, 1883, the Civil Service Act was passed.

This law had a stimulating effect upon state and municipal civil
service. New York passed a law the same year, patterned after the
federal act. Massachusetts followed in 1884, and within a few
years many of the States had adopted some sort of civil service
reform, and the large cities were experimenting with the merit
system. It was not, however, until the rapid expansion of the
functions of government and the consequent transformation in the
nature of public duties that civil service reform made notable
headway. When the Government assumed the duties of health
officer, forester, statistician, and numerous other highly
specialized functions, the presence of the scientific expert
became imperative; and vast undertakings, like the building of
the Panama Canal and the enormous irrigation projects of the
West, could not be entrusted to the spoilsman and his minions.

The war has accustomed us to the commandeering of utilities, of