The  information  submitted  to  the  committee  indicates  that
there  are  at  present  over  fifteen  thousand  employees  in  the  classi-
fied service  of  the  State  and  in  addition  about  fifty-three  thousand
in  the  civil  divisions  thereof,  a  total  of  sixty-eight  thousand
places  in  the  classified  civil  service.  We  are  informed  that  there
are  some  twenty-five  thousand  Spanish  War  veterans  resident  in
the  State,  that  there  are  approximately  two  hundred  thousand
volunteer  firemen,  that  there  are  about  thirty  thousand  honorably
discharged  members  of  the  National  Guard  and  Naval  Militia  in
the  State.  Concerning  the  number  of  soldiers,  sailors  and  ma-
rines honorably  discharged  from  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the
United  States  who  reside  in  this  State  we  have  no  information.
These  proposed  preferred  groups  are  nearly  four  times  as  many
in  number  as  there  are  places  in  the  classified  public  service.
3  Doc.  No.  47

Against  the  granting  of  any  such  preference  in  the  civil  service
we  have  received  strong  protests  from  many  heads  of  departments
in  the  State  government  and  from  mayors  and  department  heads
of  many  of  the  cities  of  the  State,  as  well  as  from  superintendents
of  State  and  municipal  institutions.  All  these  men  have  had  ex-
perience in  making  appointments  in  the  civil  service,  some  of  them
for  many  years.  With  one  voice  they  protest  that  preference  for
special  classes  works  disaster  to  the  morals,  the  discipline  and  the
efficiency  of  the  office  for  which  they  are  responsible.
These  facts  have  convinced  the  majority  of  your  committee  that
no  change  should  be  recommended  in  the  present  form  of  the  civil
service  section  of  the  Constitution.
