6
Oregon State Government and the
Merit System
D r . W illiam C. J ones
Professor of Political Science
University of Oregon
(Published in Oregon Business Re
view Nov. 30, 1943, and reproduced
with the permission of the editor, Wes
ley C. Ball aine, and the author, Dr.
William C. Jones.)
The merit system of public person
nel administration may be described as
the practice of selecting public employ
ees on the basis of qualifications, to
gether with the assurance of relative
permanency of employment contingent
upon meritorious service. Further,
"under the merit system, if it worts
ideally, appointments, promotions, de
motions, and removals are made on a
merit basis. N o political or religious
considerations, nor in fact any consid
erations other than the competence,
trustworthiness, and efficiency of the
present or prospective worker, are per
mitted to affect employment proces
ses. Employees are selected for en
trance to or promotion in the service
by tests of fitness which, so far as prac
ticable, are made competitive. The
persons rated highest in the tests being
given the first chance of original ap
pointment or promotion. Salary in
creases are made in accordance with
demonstrated efficiency of employees,
and demotions and removals are made
only for the good of the service, not
for political or religious reasons. (Prob
lems of the American Public Service,
New York, 193 5, p. 82.)
Judged by these criteria, the Oregon
state government generally does not
utilize the merit system of personnel
administration. Employment as a re
ward for partisan political allegiance is
a recognized and accepted practice.
Dismissal of an employee from the ser
vice for any cause is a common pro
cedure.
The personnel practices of the Ore
gon state government agencies are not
of uniform standard. One former state
officer who dealt with state govern-
men personnel practices for an extend
ed period of time has described them
as "chaotic” . When the state budget
office at one time undertook to estab
lish a uniformity in salary policy
throughout the state government, glar
ing discrepancies were discovered in
salaries from department to department
for the same duties. One of the con
ditions under which the study was
made was agreement that there would
be no downward adjustment of salaries
of incumbents. Consequently, it may
be assumed that such discrepancies per
sist. Position titles were found fre
quently to have no relation to the ac
tual duties and were often merely an
excuse for extravagant salaries. Each
department carried on its recruiting
and training procedures without refer
ence to any central personnel agency.
No machinery was provided for the ex
change or transfer of employees from
department to department.
Other students of the Oregon State
government personnel policies have
noted a tendency of some departments
to play "spoils” politics more than
others. A change of administration is
a signal for a wholesale turnover in
some departments; others are quite
(Continued on page 14)