general; but this doubt has now been dissipated by a decision of the supreme court.19 As a result of the rigidity of the law, the public service of Illinois was, at the time of its enactment, placed more completely under civil service rules than that of any other state. The list of the positions in the unclassified service, however, is rather large they include all officers elected by the people or appointed by the governor subject to senate confirmation; all officers and employees of the general assembly; notaries public, clerks, and other officers of courts; persons in the military service of the state; the academic staff of the university and normal schools; assistants and special attorneys employed by the attorney-general; superintendents, wardens, and chaplains of the state charitable and correctional institutions; one private secretary in each of the elective offices, and in the offices of the presidents of the University of Illinois and the normal schools; and all clerks and watchmen in the offices of governor, lieutenant governor, and the elective heads of departments.20 By an amendment to the civil service law enacted in 1917 the list of exempted positions was extended so as to include all law clerks and special investigators employed by the attorney-general and all policemen employed in the offices of the elective officers in the executive department.21 In providing for promotions, the commission is directed to note the duties of each office and to fix lines of promotion where practicable. Whenever a vacancy occurs in a superior grade, the commission is required to hold a competitive examination to fill the same, and incumbents of places next lower in rank are solely eligible for such promotional examination, unless the commission deems it for the interest of the service 19 Laws of 1915, p. 322; Constitution, article IV, section 22; Opinions of the Attorney-General, 1913, p. 21-22; People ex rel. v. Brady et al., 262 Illinois, 578. 20 The act also placed in the unclassified service one private secretary or stenographer in the offices of the dean of men and dean of women at the University of Illinois, and provided that students in the university and normal schools might be employed under the rules of the commission without examination or certification. 21 Laws of 1917, p. 290. to throw the examination open to the general public. Competition in promotion is not limited to the same department or institution, but persons of similar grade in all departments may compete for promotion. The statute makes no specific provision for transfers within the same grade, but the commission has at times suggested the transfer of employees from one department to another; and, in other cases, it has brought about coöperation in certain lines of work between departments.22 The provisions of the law relating to removals are distinctive. Prior to 1917, no person in the classified service, except laborers and employees having custody of public funds for the safe keeping of which another is responsible, was to be removed except for cause, upon written charges and with an opportunity to be heard in his defense. All charges were to be investigated by the civil service commission or its authorized representatives, and the decision of the commission must be enforced by the superior or appointing officer. In the holding of hearings for the investigation of charges, each member of the commission and any officer appointed by it to investigate has power to administer oaths and to secure by subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books and papers. "When the commission has proceeded according to law and has jurisdiction, its decision is not reviewable." 23 Suspensions may be made for a period of thirty days, but even in the matter of suspensions, the commission may make an investigation and restore the pay of an employee wrongfully discharged. The commission has provided for a local representative or investigating officer to hear charges in each place where a public institution is located. The provision that all appointments-both original and promotional-are to be made by selecting the highest name on the eligible list deprives the superior officer of all discretion in making an appointment. Furthermore, as a result of the former restrictions 22 Report of the State Civil Service Commission, 1912-1913, p. 9. upon removals, the discretion of the superior officer to discharge a subordinate was practically eliminated; and while this might lessen the possibility that the principles of the merit system would be evaded, it at the same time affected adversely the disciplinary power of the superior officer over the subordinates upon whom he was dependent for the performance of the duties of the office. Doubtless, under present conditions, some restriction upon the free power of removal is desirable; but even from the standpoint of the principles of the merit system, such restrictions may be pushed too far. The principle upon which civil service laws are based is essentially that of promoting the general welfare as contradistinguished from the protection of individual rights. Where restrictions upon removal are so rigid as to prevent the discharge of lax or indifferent employees, such restrictions really operate for the protection of the individual incumbent of the position rather than for the public interests. In order to remedy this difficulty, it has been suggested that it would be sufficient to require that removals be reported to the civil service commission and authorize that body to investigate any cases which it deems necessary, with power to reinstate after investigation, where conditions warrant such action.24 Since the making of the above suggestion as to the revision of the removal provision in the civil service law, the essence of the reform thus recommended has been put into effect by an amendment to the law enacted by the general assembly in 1917. According to this amendment, it is provided that no hearing is necessary for removing an employee in the classified service or for reducing him in rank or pay, but such employce may be removed or reduced by the appointing officer for any cause other than political, racial, or religious; and the removal or reduction becomes effective immediately upon the filing of a statement of the cause in the office of the civil service commission. The employee thus removed or reduced, however, has the right of appealing to the commission, which may 24 Report of the Efficiency and Economy Committee, 935-936. reinstate him in his former position and direct the payment of all back salary due him, if, after holding a hearing, the commission finds that the removal or reduction was made for political, racial, or religious causes.25 In its provisions requiring the keeping of efficiency records, the Illinois law contained, at the time of its enactment, an entirely new feature in state civil service reform. The responsibility of the state civil service commission does not end with the certification of a suitable employee to the proper appointing authority, but it may also follow the employee into the service and verify or withdraw his certification on the basis of his record in office. The commission prescribes standards of efficiency for each grade of employment, and keeps a record of the relative efficiency of each employee in the classified service. Moreover, the activities of the commission are not confined merely to the classified service, but the commission has been given the additional power to investigate the nature, tenure, and compensation of all places in the civil service of the state. In order to secure the enforcement of the civil service act, it is provided that all payrolls for the payment of persons in the classified service shall be certified by the state treasurer and auditor. It is made unlawful for such officers to be concerned in any way with the payment of a person, unless such person is holding his position according to law. Any person who wilfully violates or refuses to obey any provision of the law or the rules made in pursuance thereof is declared to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and any public office that such a person may hold is declared vacant upon his conviction. Shortly after the passage of the act of 1911, a controversy arose between the civil service commission and two state officers, the secretary of state and the state treasurer, as to the applicability of the law to certain employees in their offices. The attorney-general rendered an opinion holding the act unconstitutional on the ground that the journals of the general 25 Laws of 1917, p. 290-291. assembly did not show that amendments to the bill had been printed as required by the constitution. The matter was carried to the state supreme court, where certain clerks in the office of the secretary of state sought to compel the state auditor to issue them their salary warrants without the approval of the civil service commission, and where the constitutionality of the law was assailed on the ground that it violated the principle of separation of powers laid down in the constitution and that it also violated the provision of the constitution naming the officers of whom the executive department shall consist and the provision directing the executive officers to perform such duties as may be prescribed by law. The court, however, negatived all these contentions and upheld the constitutionality of the law.26 At the same session of 1911 at which the state wide civil service law was passed, the general assembly also passed an act broadening the Cook county civil service act so as to make it apply with certain exceptions to the entire county service. The same provisions were made applicable to any other county upon reaching a population of one hundred and fifty thousand or more.27 At the same time an act was passed putting under the merit system the employees of the parks of Chicago. Provision was also made at the same session to extend the Chicago civil service law to cover the employees in the municipal courts upon adoption by popular vote. There was also added to this provision a clause increasing the salaries of the municipal court judges. It was partly due to this clause and partly to the feeling that the judges could usually be expected not to make appointments for purely partisan reasons that the act was defeated at the popular referendum in November, 1911, by a vote of two to one.28 In 1913, the supreme court declared the county civil serv 26 Opinions of the Attorney-General, 1913, p. 117; People ex rel. v. McCullough, 254 Illinois, 9; see also People v. Brady, 262 Illinois, 578. 27 Hurd's Revised Statutes, 1911, chapter 24a, sections 38-72. |