nstruction to all who need it.
This is especially true where before emancipation the education of the
people was neglected or prevented, in the interest of slavery. Firmly
convinced that the subject of popular education deserves the earnest
attention of the people of the whole country, with a view to wise
and comprehensive action by the Government of the United States, I
respectfully recommend that Congress, by suitable legislation and
with proper safeguards, supplement the local educational funds in
the several States where the grave duties and responsibilities of
citizenship have been devolved on uneducated people by devoting to
the purpose grants of the public lands and, if necessary, by
appropriations from the Treasury of the United States. Whatever
Government can fairly do to promote free popular education ought to be
done. Wherever general education is found, peace, virtue, and social
order prevail and civil and religious liberty are secure.

In my former annual messages I have asked the attention of Congress to
the urgent necessity of a reformation of the civil-service system
of the Government. My views concerning the dangers of patronage,
or appointments for personal or partisan considerations, have been
strengthened by my observation and experience in the Executive office,
and I believe these dangers threaten the stability of the Government.
Abuses so serious in their nature can not be permanently tolerated.
They tend to become more alarming with the enlargement of
administrative service, as the growth of the country in population
increases the number of officers and placemen employed.

The reasons are imperative for the adoption of fixed rules for the
regulation of appointments, promotions, and removals, establishing
a uniform method having exclusively in view in every instance the
attainment of the best qualifications for the position in question.
Such a method alone is consistent with the equal rights of all
citizens and the most economical and efficient administration of the
public business.

Competitive examinations in aid of impartial appointments and
promotions have been conducted for some years past in several of
the Executive Departments, and by my direction this system has been
adopted in the custom-houses and post-offices of the larger cities of
the country. In the city of New York over 2,000 positions in the civil
service have been subject in their appointments and tenure of place to
the operati