Présentation de l'éditeur
The strong colors and the glorious beauty of the American flag express well the overwhelming fact of modern history the evolution of the American Republic. Wherever it may be, the flag is both attractive and assertive. In the home the colors do not clash with other colors. If they do not blend, neither do they repel. In the remotest distance the flag may be seen above every other object and distinguished from every other flag. The red and white stripes standing for the original states, and the silvery stars representing the Union, radiate and scintillate as far as the eye can reach. Far or near, the American flag is true and sure, brilliant and radiant, cordial and independent. It is a modern flag. There are no myths or legends, no ruins or heraldry, no armour or castles about it. It expresses the political independence of a plain people, the advance of a new nation, the self-conscious power, the confident aspirations, and the universal good will of popular government. What has been said of the flag has largely been inspired by war. Souls must be aflame to give out oratory and poetry. The flag has many times been at the battle front. The sight of it has inspired many a boy to do and die for his country. It was in the crucial campaign of the Revolution, that for the possession of New York, beginning at Fort Schuyler, continuing at Oriskany, and ending with the surrender of Burgoyne sentire army at Saratoga, that the flag was first given to the air in the face of an enemy. In this state it began to gather the deep love of a free people. That love has since grown deeper and yet deeper through the hail and flame, the heroisms and deaths, of an hundred battles. It is sad that war had to be, but for us there was no other way. Independence of Britain could not come by arbitration. The Union could not be saved by negotiation. Fighting is bad business, but there are
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)
Présentation de l'éditeur
Mr President: You have very courteously invited me to discuss the State civil service laws and regulations from the standpoint of officers who have to make appointments. If a multiplicity of appointments could qualify one for the duty I might be expected to be able to meet it, for there are something like three hundred employees in the Education Department and there are few of them whose status has not been changed, upon my responsibility, in the last two and a half years, since the educational unification act went into operation. Still, I am bound to say that I have no special preparation for the task your courtesy has assigned to me, and I know I shall stand sorely in need of your consideration when I accept such a conspicuous and favorable opportunity for the expression of my rambling thoughts upon an exceedingly important subject. The last report of your commission, Mr President, shows that January 1, 1906, there were 84,479 persons in the employ of the State and the counties and cities of the State subject to civil service laws. Of these, 61,861 were in the classified service. I haveno exact information concerning the compensation of this service. If the average annual salary is $750, which seems small, then the total cost is about $63,000,000. To insure decent appointments, to protect places from imposition and occupants from outrage, to encourage competency and assiduity by proper rewards and make certain of reasonable justice as between rivals, to keep all of this employment and all of this money from appealing to the cupidity of the indolent and from debauching the sentiment of the State, to assure a service which is competent, alert, responsive, and polite, and which at the same time can be resistive and which will never sell out the interests for which it stands, provides a fit study for an expert and a very proper ground for solicitude on the par
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)
Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.
