3
site of the old exploitation concept and
is responsible for the adoption of the
Oregon Civil Service Law which re
quires that
"A ll appointments and promo
tions to positions in the State Serv
ice shall be made on the basis of
merit and fitness, to be ascertained
by competitive examinations.”
Under this new merit system, poli
tical patronage is made most difficult
and the retirement system will care for
many o f the hidden pensions. Admin
istrators will not find it necessary to
keep their wage scales so low that poli
tical patronage will be unattractive.
Also, under the merit system, unscru
pulous administrators can hot auction
employment to those bidding for work
at the lowest substandard wage.
The adoption o f a merit system law
however can not immediately change
the thinking habits o f the public, the
officials, the administrators, and the
employees. We heard upon the end of
the war, that all reasons which had
justified equalizing state wage scales
with those of neighboring jurisdictions
and industry were upset and not valid
now because there would be an un
known number o f unemployed next
winter. We heard that public wages
should be reduced, when all about us
we see industrial wages about to be
raised to offset reduction in working
hours. We cannot help but believe that
these ideas hark back to the old con
cept of the exploited public service and
do not in any way line up with the
merit system concept of the public
service.
The task facing the Association then
is to advance the principle of merit in
the public consciousness, in every way,
at all times and in all places. Employees,
themselves, must realize their vital in
terest in the merit system which in
time will so raise the efficiency of the
public service that the m atter of ade
quate wages will meet no opposition.
Actuaries to Set Up
System
W. C. Schuppel, chairman of the
public employees retirement board, an
nounces that the board has employed
the firm of Coates & H erfurth, nation
ally-known consulting actuaries with
offices in San Francisco and Los A n
geles, as actuaries for the public em
ployees retirement system. This con
sulting firm will establish the system
created by the Oregon state legislature
at its last session.
The board held a preliminary unoffi
cial meeting in June so that many of the
questions to be considered might be re
viewed by the individual members of
the board sufficiently in advance that
well considered action could be taken
at the first official meeting.
Jerry Sayler was employed as the exe
cutive secretary of the board and was
authorized to secure temporary office
space and office assistants for the pre
liminary work incident to contacting
the groups covered by the act.
Forms necessary for assembling per
sonnel data to be used in calculating
rates of contribution by individual em
ployees are being prepared for the
printer. Mr. Schuppel said detailed costs
would not be available until after the
actuarial calculations are completed. It
is hoped that these may be ready early
in December.
Members of the board in addition to
Chairman Schuppel are Ralph A. Coan,
attorney, Portland; James M. Burgess,
superintendent of schools, The Dalles;
I. A. DeFrance, highway department,
Salem, and Frank L. Emery, insurance
department, Portland.
There is more wisdom in public opin
ion than is to be found in Napoleon,
Voltaire,_ or all the ministers of State,
present or to come.
— T alleyrand .