"The great event of the year, which so aptly commemorates the 25th anniversary of the passage of the Pendleton bill, is the extension of the competitive system to all fourth class postmasters in the part of the country north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, that is, in the New England States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. This is an extension covering more positions than suggested by the civil service commission. It is an extension large enough to be of present advantage, is made in the more thickly settled portions of the country, where it is easiest to carry it out, and yet it is not on so large a scale as to invite mistakes or perhaps partial failure. This extension covers about 15,000 positions. The order of President Cleveland of May 26, 1896, covered about 31,000 places; and yet, from the point of political significance, this present extension is the most important, we believe, in the history of civil service reform since January 16, 1883, and when its purpose is fully carried out it will include some 53,000 places." _See, in Volume VI. of this work, Civil Service Reform: United States._ The report then reviewed the efforts that had been in progress since 1889, with the support of Presidents Cleveland and Roosevelt, to bring about the inclusion of this class of postmasters, at the least, under the rule of appointment subject to competitive examination. President Roosevelt, in his annual Message of 1907, had said: "The fourth-class postmasters’ convention has passed a very strong resolution in favor of placing the fourth-class postmasters under the civil-service law. The Administration has already put into effect the policy of refusing to remove any fourth-class postmasters save for reasons connected with the good of the service; and it is endeavoring so far as possible to remove them from the domain of partisan politics. It would be a most desirable thing to put the fourth-class postmasters in the classified service. It is possible that this might be done without Congressional action, but, as the matter is debatable, I earnestly recommend that the Congress enact a law providing that they be included under the civil-service law and put in the classified service."